B&H90
.US' 2.
I8Z6
v. A-
I
AN
EXPOSITION
OP TUB
Old and New Testament:
WHEREIN
EACH CHAPTER IS SUMMED UP IN ITS CONTENTS ; THE SACRED TEXT INSERTED
AT LARGE, IN DISTINCT PARAGRAPHS ; EACH PARAGRAPH REDUCED
TO ITS PROPER HEADS ; THE SENSE GIVEN,
AND LARGELY ILLUSTRATED ;
WITH
PRACTICAL REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS:
/
BY MATTHEW HENRY.
EDITED BY
THE REV. GEORGE BURDER, AND THE REV. JOSEPH HUGHES, A. M.
WITH THE
LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,
BY THE
REV. SAMUEL PALMER.
Jfiv at American IS&ition:
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,
A PREFACE,
BY ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER, D. D.
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE SEMINARY AT PRINCETON, M. i.
VOL. IV.
PHILADELPHIA .
ED. BARRINGTON & GEO. D. HASWE'LL,
MARKET STREET.
■ Z i H T ! > i / H
«
' Iff ►ir.tnloT ?»•>'/ \yv*. f>IO
r1 V
is ,<
,*! i i> fA - am' . • i • i «T
,• ■ ■ n v ■ , ■
■ ■ =: , , ? ; 1 :• ■ :
.
.
• • » f ; i ■ t .nr : <? « : » n
• U.*t it * '• ' * 1 .
: Jf « t i i d Z< »> >.i i m I 1 «• i i
?
" »<*■, •
. £ V / -sf i : i.
1 « : .It tij/ t . ..5# « c :f)ll >HA f»
iy
■ • •"Ml i i 11 TM<. .-IHT *<•
I
.
'
* ' ‘
-
■
AN
EXPOSITION,
»
WITH
PRACTICAL, OBSERVATIONS,
UPON THE
PROPHETICAL BOOKS
OF THE
OLD TESTAMENT,
/
KAMEL Y,
ISAIAH,
JEREMIAH,
LAMENTATIONS,
EZEKIEL,
DANIEL,
HOSEA,
JOEL,
AMOS.
OBADIAH,
JONAH,
MICAH,
NAHUM,
HABAKKUK,
ZEPHANIAH,
HAGGAI,
ZECHARIAH,
AND
MALACHI.
W *
V;-
♦
I* . •
■ ><k>t r t * / a
• ■ f ■ ; : ■. ■, - ■ ■■ . * ■ , y ;■ .. r •{■
.
■. ,i •
i'M ......
ili’l. .Lf I*
,K7
i
THE
PREFACE
TO THE
PROPHETICAL BOOKS.
T^HOSE books of scripture are all prophetical, of which here, in weakness , and in fear, and in much
trembling, we have endeavoured a methodical explication and a practical improvement. I call them
firofihetical, because so they are for the main, though we have some histories, £here and there brought
in for the illustration of the prophecies,) and a book of Lamentations. Our Saviour often puts the Law
and the Profihets for the Ola Testament. The prophets, by waving the ceremonial precepts, and not
insisting on them, but only on the weightier matters of the law, plainly intimated the abolishing of that
part of the law of Moses by the gospel; and by their many predictions of Christ, and the kingdom of his
grace, they intimated the accomplishing and perfecting of that part of the law of Moses in the gospel.
Thus the prophets were the nexus — the connecting bond between the law and the gospel, and are
therefore fitly placed between them.
These books, being prophetical, are, as such, divine, and of heavenly original and extraction. We
have human laws, human histories, and human poems, as well as divine ones, but we can have no human
prophecies. Wise and good men may make prudent conjectures concerning future events; ( moral firog-
nostications we call them;) but it is essential to true prophecy that it be of God. The learned Huetius*
lays this down for one of his axioms, Omnis firofihetica facultas a Deo est — The frofihetic talent is en¬
tirely from God; and he proves it to be the sense both of Jews and heathen, that it is God’s prerogative
to foresee things to come, and that whoever had such a power, had it from God. And therefore the Jews
reckon all prophecy to be given by the highest degree of inspiration, except that which was peculiat
to Moses. When our Saviour asked the chief priests whether John’s baptism were from heaven, or of
men, they durst not say, Of men, because the people counted him a prophet, and, if so, then not of men.
The Hebrew name for a prophet is tea) — a sfieaker, preacher, or orator, a messenger, or interpreter,
that delivers God’s messages to the children of men; as a herald to proclaim war, or an ambassador to
treat of peace. But then it must be remembered, that he was formerly called run or npn, that is, c
seer; (1 Sam. ix. 9.) for prophets, with the eyes of their minds, first saw what they were to speak, and
then spake what they haa seen.
Prophecy, taken strictly, is the foretelling of things to come; and there were those to whom God gave
this power, not only that it might be a sign for the confirming of the faith of the church concerning the
doctrine preached, when the things foretold should be fulfilled, but for warning, instruction, and comfort,
in prospect of what they themselves might not live to see accomplished, but which should be fulfilled in
its season; so, predictions of things to come long after, might be of present use.
The learned Dr. Grewf describes prophecy in this sense to be, “ A declaration of the divine pre¬
science, looking at any distance through a train of infinite causes, known and unknown to us, upon a sure
and certain effect ” Whence he infers, “ That the being of prophecies supposes the non-being of con¬
tingents, for though there are many things which seem to us to be contingents, yet, were they so indeed,
there could have been no prophecy; and there can be no contingent seemingly so loose and independent,
but it is a link of some chain.” And Huetius gives this reason, why none but God can foretell things to
come, Because every effect depends upon an infinite number of preceding causes, all which, in their or¬
der, must be known to him that foretells the effect, and therefore to God only, for he alone is omniscient.
So Tully argues; Qui teneat causas rerum futurarum, idem necesse est omnia teneat gute futurasint;
quod facere nemo nisi Deus potest — He who knows the causes of future events, must necessarily know
the events themselves; this is the prerogative of God alone. X And therefore we find that by this the God
of Israel proves himself to be God, that by his prophets he foretold things to come, which came to pass
according to the prediction, Isa. xlvi. 9, 10. And by this he disproves the pretensions of the Pagan deities,
that they could not show the things that were to come to pass hereafter, Isa. xli. 23. Tertullian proves
the divine authority of the scripture from the fulfilling of scripture-prophecies, Idoneum, oflinor, testi¬
monium Divinitatis, veritas Divinationis — I conceive the accomplishment of prophecy to be a satisfactory
attestation from God. || And beside the foretelling of things to come, the discovering of things secret by
revelation from God is a branch of prophecy, as Ahiiah’s discovering Jeroboam’s wife in disguise, an(
Elisha’s telling Gehazi what passed between him and Naaman.
But § prophecy, in scripture-language, is taken more largely for a declaration of such things to the chil¬
dren of men, either by word or writing, as God has revealed to them that speak or write it, by vision,
dream, or inspiration, guiding their minds, their tongue, and pens, by his Holy Spirit, anti giving them
not only ability, but authority, to declare such things in his name, and to preface what they say with,
Thus saith the Lord. In this sense it is said, The prophecy of scripture came not in old time by the will
of man, as other pious moral discourses might, but holy men spake and wrote as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. i. 20, 21. The same Holy Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters to produce
the world, moved upon the minds of the prophets to produce the Bible.
* Demonstrat. Evan j vag. 15.
P Apol cap. 20.
t Cosmol. Sacra, lib. 4. cap. 6«
$ Du Pin, Hi«t. of the Canon, lib. 1. cap. 2.
t Cicero do Divin lib 1
VI
PREFACE.
Now I think it is worthy to be observed, that all nations, having had some sense of God and religion,
have likewise had a nation of prophets and prophecy, have had a veneration ft r them, and a desire and
expectation of acquaintance and communion with the gods they worshipped in that way. Witness their
oracles, their augurs, and the many arts of divination they had in use among them, in all the ages, and all
the countries, of the world.
It is commonly urged as an argument against the Atneists, to prove that there is a Gcd, That all na¬
tions of the world acknowledged some god or other, some Being above them, to be worshipped and prayed
to, to be trusted in and praised; the most ignorant and barbarous nations could not avoid the knowledge
of it; the most learned and polite nations could not avoid the belief of it. And this is a sufficient proof
of the general and unanimous consent of mankind to this truth; though far the greatest part of men made
to themselves gods, which yet were no gods. Now I think it may be urged with equal force against the
Deists, for the proof of a divine revelation, that all nations of the world had, and had veneration for, that
which they at least took to be a divine revelation, and could not live without; though in this also they be¬
came vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart u<as darkened. But if there were not a true
Deity, and a true prophecy, there would never have been pretended deities and counterfeit prophecies.
Lycurgus and Numa, those two great lawgivers of the Spartan and Roman commonwealths, brought
their people to an observance of the laws by possessing them with a notion that they had them by divinf.
revelation, and so making it a point of religion to observe them. And those that have been ever so little
conversant with the Greek and Roman histories, as well as with the more ancient ones of Chaldea and
Egypt, cannot but remember what a profound deference their princes and great commanders, and not
their unthinking commonalty only, paid to the oracles and prophets, and the. prognostications of their
soothsayers, which, in all cases of importance, were consulted with abundance of gravity and solemnity;
and how often the resolutions of councils, and the motions of mighty armies, turned upon them, though
thev appeared ever so groundless and far-fetched.
There is a full account given by that learned philosopher and physician, Casper Peucer,* of the many
kinds of divination and prediction used among the Gentiles, by which they took on them to tell the for¬
tune both of states and particular persons. They were all, he says, reduced by Plato to two heads; Di-
vinatio, Mavrin), which was a kind of inspiration, or was thought to be so; the prophet or prophetess
foretelling things to come by an internal flatus or fury; such was the oracle of Apollo at Dclphos, and
that of Jupiter Trophonius; which, with others like them, were famous for many ages, during the pre¬
valency of the kingdom of darkness, but (as appears by some of the Pagan writers themselves) they were
all silenced and struck dumb, when the gospel (that truly divine oracle) began to be preached to the na¬
tions. The other kind of divination was that which he calls 0'imi<rrt*.», which was a prognostication
by signs, according to rules of art, as by the flight of birds, the entrails of beasts, by stars or mete¬
ors, and abundance of ominous accidents, with which a foolish world was miserably imposed upon. A
large account of this matter we have also in the late learned dissertations of Anton. Van Dale, to which
I refer the reader, f
But nothing of this kind made a greater noise in the Gentile world than the oracles of the Sybils, and
their prophecies; their name signifies a divine counsel: Sibyllx, qu. Siobulse; Sios, in the fEolic dialect,
being put for Theos. Peucer says, Almost every nation had its Sibyls, but those of Greece were most
celebrated. They lived in several ages; the most ancient is said to be the Sibylla Delfihica, who lived
before the Trojan war, or about that time. The Sibylla Erythrea was the most noted; she lived about
the time of Alexander the Great. But it was the Sibylla Cumana of whom the story goes, that she pre¬
sented herself, and nine books of oracles, to Tarquinius Superbus, which she offered to sell him at so
vast a rate, that he refused to purchase them, upon which she burnt three, and, upon his second re¬
fusal, the other three, but made him give the same rate for the remaining three, which were deposited
with great care in the Capitol. But those being afterward burnt accidentally with the Capitol, a col¬
lection was made of the other Sibylline oracles, and those are they which Virgil refers to in his fourth
Eclogue. £
All the oracles of the Sibyls that are extant, were put together, and published in Holland not many
years ago, by Servatius Gallxus, in Greek and Latin, with large and learned notes; together with all that
could be met with of the metrical oracles that go under the names of Jupiter, Apollo, Serapis, *md others,
by Joannes Osopxus.
The oracles of the Sibyls were appealed to by many of the Fathers, for the confirmation of the Chris¬
tian religion. Justin Martyr|| appeals with a great deal of assurance, persuading the Greeks to give credit
to that ancient Sibyl, whose works were extant all the world over; and to their testimony, and that of Hy-
daspis, he appeals concerning the general conflagration, and the torments of hell. Clemens Alexandri-
nus§ often quotes the Sibyls’ verses with great respect; so does Lactantius^f; St. Austin.** Dc Civitate
Dei, has the famous acrostic at large, said to be one of the oracles of the Sibylla Erythrea, the first let¬
ters of the verses making ’I»<r»c Xpurrls QiS vii: zZmp — Jesus Christ the Son of God the Saviour. Di¬
vers passages they produce out of these oracles which expressly foretell the coming of the Messiah, his
being born of a virgin, his miracles, his sufferings, particularly his being buffetted, spit upon, crowned
with thorns, having vinegar and gall given him to drink, &c.
Whether these oracles were genuine and authentic or no, has been much controverted among the
learned. Baronius and the Popish writers generally admit and applaud them, and build much upon
them; so do some Protestant writers; Isaac Vossius has written a great deal to support the reputation
of them, and (as I find him quoted by Van Dale) will needs have it that they were formerly a part of
the canon of scripture; and a learned prelate of our own nation, Bishop Montague, pleads largely, and
with great assurance, for their authority, and is of opinion that some of them were divinely inspired.
But many learned men look upon it to be a pious fraud, as they call it; that those verses of the Sibyls,
which speak so very expressly of Christ and the future state, were forged by some Christians, and im¬
posed upon the over-credulous. Huetius,ff though of the Romish church, condemns both the ancient
and modern composures of the Sibyls, and refers his reader, for the proof of their vanity, to the learned
Blondel. Van Dale and Gallxus look upon them to be a forgery. And the truth is, they speak so much
* Hi* Prsacipuifl Bivinationum Gencribus, A. 1591. f De Ver;\ ac Falsa Prophetic, A. 1696. t Vid. Vir". Aaneid, lib. 6.
|| Ad Grrccos Cohortat. juzta finem. $ Apol. 2. p. mihi. 66. 1. IT Quroet. et Reapons v 436
•* Aug. do Civ. Dei, lib 18. cap. 23. ft Demonstrat. p. 748.
PREFACE.
VII
ni' .reparticularly and plainly concerning our Saviour and the future state, than any of the prophets of the
(fid Testament do, that we must conclude St. Paul, who was the apostle of the Gentiles, guilty net only
of a very great omission, (that in all his preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, and in all his epistles to
the Gentile churches, he never so much as mentions the prophecies of the Sibyls, nor vouches their au¬
thority, as he does that of the Old Testament prophets, in his preaching and writing to the Jews,) but
likewise of a very great mistake, in making it the particular advantage which the Jews had above the
Gentiles, that to them were committed the oracles of God, (Rom. iii. 1, 2.) and that they were the chil¬
dren of the prophets, while he speaks of the Gentiles as sitting in darkness, and being afar off. We can¬
not conceive that heathen women, and those actuated by demons, should speak more clearly and fully of
the Messiah than those holy men did, who, we are sure, were moved by the Holy Ghost; or that the
Gentiles should be instructed with larger and earlier discoveries of the great salvation than that people
of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ was to come. But enough, if not more than enough, of the pre¬
tenders to prophecy. It is a good remark which the learned Gallieus makes upon the great veneration
which the Romans had for the oracles of the Sibyls, for which he quotes Dionysius Halicarnassccus, OlSh
«Tt fjt-.ar^anr, irTi Inw uri/xt. are Ufit, ic t« CarfxTa — The Romans preserve nothing
with such sacred care, nor do they hold any thing in stich high estimation, as the Sibylline oracles. Hi si
pro vitreis suis thesauris adeo decertarunt, quid nos pro genuinis nostris, a Deo inspiratis! — If they had
such a value for these counterfeits, how precious should the true treasure of the divine oracles be to us!
Of these we come next to speak.
Prophecy, we are sure, was of equal date with the church; for faith comes, not by thinking and seeing,
as philosophy does, but by hearing, by hearing the word of God, Rf m. x. 17. In the antediluvian period
Ad.un received divine revelation in the promise of the Seed of the woman, and, no doubt, communicated
it, in the name of the Lord, to his seed, and was prophet as well as priest, to his numerous family. Enoch
was a prophet, and foretold perhaps the deluge, however, the last judgment, that of the great day: Be¬
hold, the Lord comes, Jude 14. When men began, as a church, to call upon the name of the Lord,
(Gen iv. 26.) or to call themselves by his name, they were blessed with prophets, for the prophecy came
in old time; (2 Pet. i. 21.) it is venerable for its antiquity.
When God renewed his covenant of providence (and that a figure of the covenant of grace) with Noah
and his sons, we soon after find Noah, as a prophet, foretelling, not only the servitude of Canaan, but
G >d’s enlarging Japhetby Christ, and his dwelling in the tents of Shem, Gen. ix. 26, 27. And when,
up. n the general revolt of mankind to idolatry, (as, in the former period, upon the apostacy of Cain)) God
distinguished a church for himself by the call of Abraham, and by his covenant with him and his seed, he
conferred upon him and the other patriarchs the spirit of prophecy; for when he reproved kings for their
sakes, he said, Touch not mine anointed, who have received that unction from the Holy One; and do my
prophets no harm, Ps. cv. 14, 15. And of Abraham, he said expressly, He is a prophet; (Gen. xx. 7.)
for it was with a prophetic eye, as a seer, that Abraham saw Christ’s day, (John viii. 56.) saw it at so
great a distance, and yet with so great an assurance triumphed in it. And Stephen seems to speak of the
first settling of a correspondence between him and God, by which he was established to be a prophet,
when he says, The Goa of glory appeared to him, (Acts vii. 2.) appeared in glory. Jacob upon his death¬
bed, as a prophet, told his sons what should befall them in the last days, (Gen. xlix. 1, 10.) and spake very
particularly concerning the Messiah.
Hitherto was the infancy of the church, and with it of prophecy; it was the dawning of that day; and
that morning light owed its rise to the Sun of righteousness, though he rose not till long after; but it shone
more and more. During the bondage of Israel in Egypt, this, as other glories of the church, was eclipsed;
but as the church made a considerable and memorable advance in the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt,
and the forming of them into a people, so did the Spirit of prophecy in Moses, the illustrious instrument
employed in that great service; and it was by that Spirit that he performed that service; so it is said, Hos.
xii. 13. By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved through
the wilderness to Canaan, by Moses as a prophet. It appears, by what God said to Aaron, that there
were then other prophets among them, to whom God made known himself and his will in dreams and vi¬
sions, (Numb. xii. 6.) but to Moses he spake in a peculiar manner, mouth to mouth, even apparently, and
not in dark speeches, Numb. xii. 8. Nay, such a plentiful effusion was there of the Spirit of prophecy at
that time, (because Moses was such a prophet as was to be a type of Christ the great Prophet,) that seme
of his Spirit was put upon seventy elders of Israel at once, and they prophesied, Numb. xi. 25. What
they said, was extraordinary, and not only under the direction of a prophetic inspiration, but under the
constraint of a prophetic impulse; as appears by the case of Eldad and Medad.
When Moses, that great prophet, was lying down, he promised Israel that the Lord God would raise
'.hem up a Prophet of their brethren like unto him, Deut. xviii. 15, 18. In these words, says the learned
Bishop Stillingfieet, * (though in their full and complete sense, they relate to Christ, and to him they are
more than once applied in the New Testament,) there is included a promise of an order of prophets, which
should succeed Moses in the Jewish church, and be the Asyi* — the living oracles among them,
(Acts vii. 38;) by which they might know the mind of God. For, in the next words, he lays down rules
tor the trial of prophets, whether what they said was of God or no. And it is observable, that that pre¬
mise comes in immediately upon an express prohibition of the Pagan rites of divination, and the consulting
of wizards and familiar spirits; “ You shall not need to do that,” (said Moses,) “ for, to vour much better
satisfaction, you shall have prophets divinely inspired, by whom you may know from God himself both
what to do, and what to expect.”
But as Jacob’s dying prophecy concerning the sceptre in Judah, and the lawgiver between his feet, did
not begin to be remarkably fulfilled till David’s time, most of the Judges being of other tribes, so Moses’s
promise of a succession of prophets began not to receive its accomplishment till Samuel’s time, a little be¬
fore the other promise began to emerge and operate; and it was an introduction to the other, for it was by
Samuel, as a prophet, that David was anointed king; which was an intimation that the prophetical office
of our Redeemer should make way, both in the world, and in the heart, for his kingly office; and therefore
when he was asked, Art thou a king'/ (John xviii. 37. ) he answered, not evasively, but very pertinently, I
came to bear witness to the truth; and so to rule as a king, purely by the power "of truth.
* Ori". Sacr. B. 2. c 4.
PREFACE.
viii
During the government of the Judges, there was a pouring out of the Spirit, but more as a Spirit of con¬
duct and courage for war, than as a Spirit of prophecy. Deborah is indeed called a prophetess, because
of her extraordinary qualifications forjudging Israel; but that is the only mention of prophecy, that 1 ri
member, in all the book of Judges. Extraordinary messages were sent by angels, as to Gideon and Ma
noah; and it is expressly said, that before the word of the Lord came to Samuel, (1 Sam. iii. 1.) it was
precious, it was very scarce, there was no open vision. And it was therefore with more than ordinary
solemnity that the word of the Lord came first to Samuel; and by degrees notice and assurance were given
to all Israel, that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord, v. 20.
In Samuel’s time, and by him, the schools of the prophets were erected, by which prophecy was digni¬
fied, and provision made for a succession of prophets; for it should seem, that, in those colleges, hopeful
young men were bred up in devotion, in a constant attendance upon the instruction the prophets gave from
< rod, and under a strict discipline, as candidates, or probationers, for prophecy, who were called the sons
■jf the prophets; and their religious exercises of prayer, conference, and psalmody especially, are called
prophecyings; and their prefect, or president, is called their father, 1 Sam. x. 12. Out of these, God,
ordinarily, chose the prophets he sent; yet not always: Amos was no prophet, or prophet’s son, (Amos
vii. 14. ) had not his education in the schools of the prophets, and yet was commissioned to go on God’s er¬
rands, and (which is observable) though he had not an academical education himself, yet he seems to speak
of it with great respect, when he reckons it among the favours God had bestowed upon Israel, that he
raised up of their sons for prophets, and of their young men for JVazarites, Amos ii. 11.
It is worth noting, that when the glory of the priesthood was eclipsed by the iniquity of the house of
Eli, the desolations of Shiloh, and the obscurity of the ark, there was then a' more plentiful effusion of the
Spirit of prophecy than had been before; a standing ministry of another kind was thereby erected, and a
succession of it kept up. And thus afterwards, in the kingdom of the ten tribes, where there was no legal
priesthood at all, yet there were prophets and prophets’ sons; in Ahab’s time, we meet with a hundred of
them, whom Obadiah hid by fifty in a cave, 1 Kings xviii. 4. When the people of God, who desired to
know his mind, wanted one way of instruction, God furnished them with another, and a less ceremonious
one; for he left not himself without witness, nor them without a guide. And when they had no temple or
altar, that they could attend upon with any safety or satisfaction, they had private meetings at the pro¬
phets’ houses, to which the devout faithful worshippers of God resorted, (as we find the good Shunamite
did, 2 Kings iv. 23. ) and where they kept their new-moons, and their sabbaths, comfortably, and to their
edification.
David was himself a prophet; so St. Peter calls him; (Acts ii. 30.) and though we read not of God’s
speaking to him by dreams and visions, yet we are sure that Me Spirit of the Lord spake by him, and his
word was in his tongue; (2 Sam. xxiii. 2.) and he had those about him, that were seers, that were his
seers, as Gad and Iddo, that brought him messages from God, and wrote the history of his times. And
now the productions of the Spirit of prophecy were translated into the service of the temple, not only in
the model of the house which the Lord made David understand in writing by his hand upon him, (1 Chron.
xxviii. 19.) but in the worship performed there; for there we find Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, pro¬
phesying with harps and other musical instruments, according to the order of the king, not to foretell things
to come, but to give thanks, and to praise the Lord; (1 Chron. xxv. 1 — 3.) yet, in their psalms, they
spake much of Christ and his kingdom, and the glory to be revealed.
In the succeeding reigns, both of Judah and Israel, we frequently meet with prophets sent on particulai
errands to Rehoboam, Jeroboam, Asa, and other kings, who, it is probable, instructed the people in the
things of God at other times, though it is not recorded. But prophecy growing into contempt with many,
God revived the honour of it, and put a new lustre upon it, in the power given to Elijah and Elisha to
work miracles, and the great things that God did by them, for the confirming of the people’s faith in it,
and the awakening of their regard to it, 2 Kings ii. 3. — iv. 1, 38. — v. 22. — vi. 1. In their time, and by their
agency, it should seem, the schools of the prophets were revived, and we find the sons of the prophets,
fellows of those sacred colleges, employed in carrying messages to the great men, as to Ahab, (1 Kings
xx. 35.) and to Jehu, 2 Kings ix. 1.
Hitherto, the prophets of the Lord delivered tlieir messages by word of mouth; only we read of one
writing which came from Elijah the prophet to Jehoram king of Israel, 2 Chron. xxi. 12. The histories
of those times, which are left us, were compiled by prophets, under a divine direction; and when the
Old Testament is divided into the Law and the Prophets, the historical books are, for that reason, rec¬
koned among the prophets. But, in the latter times of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, some of the pro¬
phets were divinely inspired to write their prophecies, or abstracts of them, and to leave them upon record,
for the benefit of after ages, that the children which should be born might praise the Lord for them, and,
by comparing the event with the prediction, might have their faith confirmed. And, probably, those later
prophets spake more fully and plainly of the Messiah and his kingdom than their predecessors had done,
and for that reason their prophecies were putin writing, not only for the encouragement of the pious Jews
that looked for the consolation of Israel, but for the use of us Christians, upon whom the ends of the world
are come, as David’s psalms had been for the same reason, that the Old Testament and the New might
mutually give light and lustre to each other. Many other faithful prophets there were at the same time,
who spake in God’s name, who did not commit their prophecies to writing, but were of those whom God
sent, rising up betimes, and sending them; the contempt of whom, and of their messages, brought ruin
without remedy upon that sottish people, that knew not the day of their visitation.
In their captivity, they had some prophets, some to show them how long; and though it was not by ;;
prophet, like Moses, that they were brought up out of Babylon, as they had been out of Egypt, but by
Joshua the High Priest first, and afterward by Ezra the scribe, to show that God can do his work by or
dinary means when he pleases; yet, soon after their return, the Spirit of prophecy was poured out plenti¬
fully, and continued (according to the Jews’ computation) forty years in the second temple, but ceased in
Malachi. Then (say the Rabbins) the Holy Spirit was taken from Israel, and they had the benefit only
of the Bathkdl, the daughter of a voice, a voice from heaven, which they look upon to be the lowest de¬
gree of divine revelation. Now herein they are witnesses against themselves for rejecting the true Mes¬
siah; for our Lord Jesus, and he only, was spoken to by a voice from heaven at his baptism, his transfigu
ration, and his entrance on his sufferings.
In John the Baptist prophecy revived, and therefore in him the gospel is said to begin, when the churc*
PREFACE.
IX
find had no prophets for above 300 years. We have not only the vox populi — the voice of the people, to prove
John a prophet, for all the people counted him so, but vox Dei — the voice of God too; for Christ calls
him a prophet, Matth. xi. 9, 10. He had an extraordinary commission from God to call people tore
pent.mce, was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, and was therefore called the prophet
of the Highest, because he went before the face of the Lord, to prepare his way; (Luke i. 15, 16.) and
though he did no miracle, nor gave any sign or wonder, yet this proved him a true prophet, that all he
said of Christ was true, John x. 41. Nay, and this proved him more than a prophet, than any of the
other prophets, that whereas by other prophets Christ was discovered as at a great distance, by him he
was discovered as already come, and he was enabled to say, Behold the Lamb of God.
But after the ascension of our Lord Jesus there was a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit of prophecy
than ever before; then was the promise fulfilled, that God would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, (and
not as hitherto upon the Jews only,) and their sons and their daughters should prophesy, Acts ii. 16, & c.
The gift of tongues was one new product of the Spirit of prophecy, and given for a particular reason,
that the Jewish pale being taken down, all nations might be brought into the church. These and other
gifts of prophecy', being for a sign, are long since ceased, and laid aside, and we have no encouragement
to expect the revival of them; but, on the contrary, are directed to call the scriptures the more sure word
of prophecy, more sure than voices from heaven; and to them we are directed to take heed, to search
them, and to hold them fast, 2 Pet. i. 19. All God’s spiritual Israel know that they are established to
be the oracles of God, (1 Sam. iii. 20.) and if any add to, or take from, the book of that prophecy, they
may read their doom in the close of it; God shall take blessings from them, and add curses to them,
Rev. xxii. 18, 19.
Now concerning the prophets of the Old Testament, whose writings are before us; observe,
I. That they were all holy men; we are assured by the apostle, that the prophecy came in old time by
holy men of God, (and men of God they were commonly called, because they were devoted to him,)
who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. They were men, subject to like passions as we arc,
(so Elijah, one of the greatest of them, is said to have been. Jam. v. 17.) but they were holy men,
men that in the temper of their minds, and the tenour of their lives, were examples of serious piety.
Though there were many pretenders, that, without warrant, said, Thus saith the Lord, when he sent
them not; and some that prophesied in Christ’s name, but he never knew them, and they indeed were
workers of iniquity; (Matth. vii. 22, 23.) and though the cursing, blaspheming lips of Balaam and Caia-
phas, even then when they actually designed mischief, were overruled to speak oracles; yet none were
emploved and commissioned to speak as prophets, but those that had received the Spirit of grace and
sanctification; for holiness becomes God’s house.
The Jewish doctors universally agree in this rule. That the Spirit of prophecy never rests upon any but
a holy and wise man, and one whose passions are allayed;* or, as others express it, an humble man, and
a man of fortitude; one that has power to keep his sensual, animal part in due subjection to religion and
right reason. And some of themf give this rule; That the Spirit of prophecy does not reside where
there are either, on the one hand, grief and melancholy, or, on the other hand, laughter and lightness of
behaviour, and impertinent, idle talk: and it is commonly observed by them, both from the musical in
struments used in the schools of the prophets in Samuel’s time, and from the instance of Elisha’s calling
fra minstrel, (2 Kings iii. 15.) that the divine presence does not reside with sadness, but with cheerful¬
ness; and Elisha, they say, had not yet recovered himself from the sorrow he conceived at parting with
Elijah. They have also a tradition, (but I know no ground for it,) that all the while Jacob mourned for
Joseph, the Shechinah, or Holy Spirit, withdrew from him. Yet I believe, when David intimates that
by Ins sin in the matter of Uriah he had lost the right Spirit, and the free Spirit, Ps. li. 10, 12. (which
therefore he begs might be renewed in him, and restored to him,) it was not because he was under grief,
but because he was under guilt. And therefore, in order to the return of that right and free Spirit, he
prays that God would create in him a clean heart.
It. That they had all a full assurance in themselves of their divine mission; and (though they could net
always prevail to satisfy others) they were abundantly satisfied themselves, that what they delivered as
from God, and in his name, was indeed from him ; and with the same assurance did the apostles speak of
the word of life, as that which they had heard, and seen, and looked on, and which their hands had
handled, 1 John i. 1. Nathan spake from himself, when he encouraged David to build the temple, but
afterward knew he spake from God, when, in his name, he forbade him to doit.
God had various ways of making known to his prophets the messages they were to deliver to his people;
it should seem, ordinarily, to have been by the ministry of angels. In the Apocalypse, Christ is expressly
said to have signified by his angel to his servant John, Rev. i. 1. It was sometimes done in a vision, when
the prophet was awake; sometimes in a dream, when the prophet was asleep; and sometimes bv a secret
nut strong impression upon the mind of the prophet. But Maimonides has laid down, as a maxim, Tha!
all prophecy makes itself known to the prophet that it is prophecy indeed; that is, says another of the
Rabbins, By the vigour and liveliness of the perception, whereby he apprehends the thing propounded;
(which Jeremiah intimates when he says, The word of the Lord was as a fire in my bones, Jer. xx. 9.)
and therefore they always spake with great assurance, knowing they should be justified. Isa. 1. 7.
III. That in their prophesying, both in receiving their message from God, and in delivering it to the
people, they always kept possession of their own souls, Dan. x. 8. Though sometimes their bodily
strength was overpowered by the abundance of the revelations, and their eyes dazzled with the visionary
light, as in the instances of Daniel and John, (Rev. i. 17.) yet still their understanding remained with
them, and the free exercise of their reason. This is excellently well expressed by a learned writer cf
our own;}: “ The prophetical Spirit, seating itself in the rational powers, as well as in the imagination,
did never alienate the mind, but inform and enlighten it; and they that were actuated bv it, alwavs mair-
t lined a clearness and consistency of reason, with strength and solidity rf judgment. For,” (says lie after
w',rds,§) “ God did not make use of idiots or fools to reveal his will by, but such whose intellectuals were
entire and perfect; and he imprinted such a clear copy of his truth upon them, as that it became then
own sense, being digested fully into their understandings, so that they were able to deliver and represent
: toothers, as truly as any can point forth his own thoughts.” God’s messengers were speaking men,
•tot speaking trumpets.
* Sec Mr. Smith of Prophecy. * 'Jemara Schnb. r. 2. t Smith of Prophecy, p. 190. $ Pag. 26G.
Vol. iv. — B
PREFACE.
The Fathers frequently took notice of this difference between the prophets of the Lord and the false
prophets — that the pretenders to prophecy (who either were actuated by an evil spirit, or were under
the force of a heated imagination) underwent alienations of mind, and delivered what they had to say ir.
the utmost agitation and disorder, as the Pythian prophetess, who delivered her infernal oracles witl.
many antic gestures, tearing her hair, and foaming at the mouth. And by this rule they condemned the
Montanists, who pretended to prophecy, in the second century, that what they said was in a way of ec-
stacy, not like rational men, but like men in a frenzy. Chrysostom,* having described the furious, violent
motions of the pretenders to prophecy, adds, 'O Si n^<p»Ti); ii#: — A true prophet does not do so, Sed
mcnte sobrid, isf constanti animi statu, ist intelligens qure profert, omnia jironunciat — He understands
what be utters , and utters it soberly and calmly. And Jerom, in his preface to his Commentaries upi n
Nahum, observes, that it is called the book of the vision of Nahum; Non enim loquitur h sko-t d?u, sect est
liber intelligentis omnia quee loquitur — For he speaks not in an ecstacy, but as one who understands every
thing he says. And again,! JVon ut amens loquitur propheta, nec in tnorem insanientium fsminarum
d at sine mente sonum — The prophet speaks not as an insane person , nor, like women wrought into a fury,
does he utter sound nvithout sense.
IV. That they all aimed at one and the same thing, which was, to bring people to repent of their sins,
and to return to God, and to do their duty to him. This was the errand on which all God’s messengers
were sent, to beat down sin, and to revive and advance serious piety; the burthen of every song was,
Turn ye now every one from his evil way ; amend your ways and your doings, and execute judgment
between a man and his neighbour, Jer. vii. 3, 5. See Zech. vii. 8, 9. — viii. 16. The scope and design
of all their prophecies were, to enforce the precepts and sanctions of the law of Moses, the moral law,
which is of universal and perpetual obligation. Here is nothing of the ceremonial institutes, of the carnal
ordinances, that were imposed only till the times of reformation, Heb. ix. 10. These were now waxing
old, and ready to vanish away; but they make it their business to press the great and weighty matters of
the law, judgment, mercy, and truth.
V. That they all bare witness to Jesus Christ, and had an eye to him. God’s raising up the horn of sal¬
vation for us, in the house of his servant David, was consonant to, and in pursuance of, what he spake by
the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began, Luke i. 69, "0. They prophesied
of the grace that should come to us, and it was the Spirit of Christ in them, one and the same Spirit, that
testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11. Christ
was then made known, and yet comparatively hid, in the predictions of the prophets, as before in the
types of the ceremonial law. And the learned HuetiusJ observes it as really admirable, that so many
persons in different ages, should conspire with one consent, as it were, to foretell, some one particular,
and others another, concerning Christ, all which had, at length, their full accomplishment in him. Ab
ipsis mundi incunabulis, per quatuor annorum millia, uno ore venturum Christum priedixerunt viri
complures, in ejusque ortu, vita, virtutibus, rebus gestis, morte, ac Iota denique 0’nu.v.ui* prxmonstranda
consenserunt — From the earliest period of time for 4000 years, a great number of men have predicted
the advent of Christ, and presented an harmonious statement of his birth, life, character, act ons, and
death , and of that economy which he came to establish.
VI. That these prophets were generally hated and abused in their several generations bv those that
lived with them. Stephen challenges his judges to produce an instance to the contrary; fThich of the
'irophets have not your fathers persecuted? Yea, and, as it should seem, for this reason, because they
showed before of the coming of the Just One, Acts vii. 52. Some there were, that trembled at the word
of God in their mouths, but by the most they were ridiculed and despised, and (as ministers are now bv
profane people) made a jest of; (Hos. ix. 7.) the prophet was the fool in the play. Wherefore came this
mad fellow unto thee? (2 Kings ix. 11.) said one of the captains concerning one of the sons of the prophets!
The Gentiles never treated their false prophets so ill as the Jews did their true prophets, but, on the
contrary, had them always in veneration. The Jews’ mocking of the messengers of the Lord, killing of
the prophets, and stoning of them that were sent unto them, was as amazing, unaccc untable an instance of
the enmity that is in the carnal mind against God, as any that can be produced. And this makes their
rejection of Christ’s gospel the less strange, that the Spirit of prophecy, which, for many ages, was so
much the glory of Israel, in every age met with so much opposition, and there were those that always
resisted the Holy Ghost in the prophets, and turned that glory into shame, Acts vii. 51. But this was it
that was the measure-filling sin of Israel, that brought upon them both their first destruction by the Chal
deans, and their final ruin by the Romans, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16.
VII. That though men slighted these prophets, God owned them, and put honour upon them. As
they were men of God, his immediate servants, and his messengers, so he always showed himself the
I.ord God of the holy prophets, (Rev. xxii. 6.) stood by them and strengthened them, and by his Spirit
they were full of power; and those that slighted them, when they had lost them, were made to know, to
their confusion, that a prophet had been among them. What was said < f one of the primitive fathers of
the prophets, was true of them all, The Lord was with them, and did let none of their words fall to the
ground, 1 Sam. iii. 19. What they said by way of warning and encouragement, for the enforcing of their
calls to repentance and reformation, was to be understood cenditionallv. When God spake by them
either, on the one hand, to build and to plant, or, on the other hand, to pluck up and pull down, the
change of the people’s way might produce a change of God’s way, (Jer. xviii. 7 — 10.) such was Jois h’s
prophecy of Nineveh’s min within forty days; or God might sometimes be better than his word in grant¬
ing a reprieve. But what they said by way of prediction of a particular matter, and ; s a sign, did always
come to pass exactly as it was foretold; yea, and the general predictions, sooner or later, took hold even
of those that would fain have got clear of them; (Zech. i. 6. ) for this is that which God glories in, that hr
confirms the word of his servants, and performs the counsel of his messengers, Isa. xliv. 26.
In opening these prophecies, I have endeavoured to give the genuine sense of them, as f ir as I could
reach it, by consulting the best expositors, considering the scope and coherence, and comparing spiritual
tilings with spiritual, the spiritual things of the Old Testament with those of the New, and especially bv
prayer to God for the conduct and direction of the Spirit of truth. But, after all, there are many things
here dark and hard to be understood, concerning the certain meaning of which though 1 could irt gain
myself, much less expect to give my reader, full satisfaction, yet I have n- 1, with the unlearned and tin
* In 1 Cor. xii. 1. f Prolog, in Tiabac. J Deir.onstrat. Evnng. |>. 737
PREFACE.
xi
stable, wrested them to the destruction of any, 2 Pet. iii. 16. It is the prerogative of the Lamb of God to
take this book, and to open all its seals. I have likewise endeavoured to accommodate these prophecies
to the use and service of those who desire to read the scripture, net only with understanding, hut with
pious affections, and to their edification in faith and holiness. And we shall find that whatever is given
by the inspiration of God is profitable, (2 Tim. iii. 16.) though not all alike profitable, nor all alike easy
or improvable; but when the mystery of God shall be finished, we shall see what we are now bound to
believe, that there is not one idle word in all the prophecies of this book. What God has said, as well as
what he does, we know not now, but we shall know hereafter.
The pleasure I have had in studying and meditating upon those parts of these prophecies which arc-
plain and practical, and especially those which are evangelical, has been an abundant balance to, and re¬
compense for, the harder tasks we have met with in other parts that are more obscure. In many parts
of this field, the treasure must be digged for, as that in the mines; but in other parts the surface is covered
with rich and precious products, with corn, and flocks, of which we may say, as we said of Noah, These
same have comforted us greatly concerning our work, and the toil of our hands, and have made it verv
pleasant and delightful; God grant it may be no less so to the readers!
And now let me desire the assistance of my friends, in setting up my Eben-Ezer here, in a thankful
acknowledgment that hitherto the Lord has helped me. I desire to praise God that he lias spared mv
life to finish the Old Testament, and has graciously given me some tokens of his presence with me in car
rying on of this work; though, the more I reflect upon myself, the more unworthy I see myself of the
honour of being thus employed, and the more need I see of Christ and his merit and grace. Remember
me, 0 my God, for good, and spare me according to the multitude of thy mercies. The Lord forgive
what is mine, and accept what is his own !
I purpose, if God continue my life and health, according to the measure of the grace given to me, and
in a constant and entire dependence upon divine strength, to go through the New Testament in twe
volumes more. I intimated in my preface to the first volume, that I had drawn up some expositions upor.
some parts of the New Testament; namely , The gospels of St. Matthew and St. John; but they are so
large, that to make them bear some proportion to the rest, it is necessary that they be much contracted,
so that I shall be obliged to write them all over again, and to make considerable alterations, and therefore
I cannot expect they should be published but as these hitherto have been, if God permit, a volume every
other year. I shall begin it now shortly, if the Lord will, and apply myself to it as closely as I can; and
I earnestly desire the prayers of all that wish well to the undertaking, that if the Lord spare me to go on
with it, I may be enabled to do it well, and so as that by it some may be led into the riches of the full as¬
surance of understanding in the mystery of God, even of the Father, and of Christ, Col. li. 2. And if
it shall please God to remove me by death before it is finished, I trust I shall be able to say not only.
Welcome his blessed will, but, Welcome that blessed world, in which, though now we know but in part
and prophesy but in part, that knowledge which is perfect will come, and that which is partial, will b-
done away; (1 Cor. xiii. 8. — 10, 12.) in which all our mistakes will be rectified, all our doubts resolved
all our deficiences made up, all our endeavours in preaching, catechizing, and expounding, supersedec
and rendered useless, and all our prayers swallowed up in everlasting praises; in which, prophecy, now
so much admired, shall fail, and tongues shall cease; and the knowledge we have now, shall vanish away,
as the light of the morning-star does when the sun is risen; in which we shall no longer see through a
glass darkly, but face to face. In a believing, comfortable, well-grounded expectation of that true and
perfect light, I desire to continue, living and dying; in a humble and diligent preparation for it, let me
spend my time, and in the full enjoyment of it, O that I may spend a glorious eternity !
Jult 18, 1712.
M. H
AN
EXPOSITION,
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
OF THE
BOOK OF THE PROPHET
ISAIAH.
Prophet is a title that sounds very great to those who understand it, though, in the eye of the world,
many of those who were dignified with it, appeared very mean. A prophet is one who has a great in¬
timacy with Heaven, and a great interest there, and, consequently, a commanding authority upon earth.
Prophecy is put for all divine revelation, (2 Pet. i. 20, 21.) because that was most commonly, by
dreams, voices, or visions, communicated to prophets first, and by them to the children of men, Numb,
xii. 6. Once indeed God himself spake to all the thousands of Israel, from the top of Mount Sinai; but
it was so intolerably dreadful, that they entreated God would, for the future, speak to them as he had
done before, by men like themselves, whose terror should not make them afraid, nor their hands be
heavy ufion them. Job xxxiii. 7. God approved the motion; They have well said; (says he, Deut. v
27, 28. ) and the matter was then settled by consent of parties, that we must never expect to hear from
God any more in that way, but by prophets, who received their instructions immediately from God,
with a charge to deliver them to his church. Before the sacred canon of the Old Testament began to
be written, there were prophets, who were instead of Bibles to the church. Our Saviour seems to
reckon Abel among the prophets, Matth. xxiii. 31, 35. Enoch was a prophet; and by him that was
first in prediction, which is to be last in execution — the judgment of the great day; (Jude 14.) Behold,
the Lord comes with his holy myriads. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. God said of Abraham,
He is a firofihet, Gen. xx. 7. Jacob foretold things to come, Gen. xlix. 1. Nay, all the patriarchs are
called firofihets; (Ps. cv. 15.) Do my firofihets no harm. Moses was, beyond all comparison, the most
illustrious of all the Old Testament prophets, for with him the Lord sfiake face to face, Deut. xxxiv.
10. He was the first writing prophet, and by his hand the first foundations of holy writ were laid; even
those who were called to be his assistants in the government, had the Spirit of prophecy, such a plenti¬
ful effusion was there of that Spirit at that time, Numb. xi. 25. But after the death of Moses, for some
ages, the Spirit of the Lord appeared and acted in the church of Israel more as a martial Spirit, than as
a Spirit of prophecy, and inspired men more for acting than speaking; I mean, in the time of the Judges.
We find the Spirit of the Lord coming upon Othniel, Gideon, Samson, and others, for the service of
their country, with their swords, not with their pens; messages were then sent from heaven by angels,
as to Gideon and Manoah, and to the people, Judges ii. 1. In all the book of Judges there is never once
mention of a prophet, only Deborah is called a prophetess; then the word of the Lord was precious,
there was no open vision, 1 Sam. iii. 1. They had the law of Moses, recently written; let them study
that. But in Samuel prophecy revived, and in him a famous epocha, or period, of the church began;
a time of great light in a constant uninterrupted succession of prophets, till some time after the captivity,
when the canon of the Old Testament was completed in Malachi; and then prophecy ceased for near
400 years, till the coming of the great Prophet and his forerunner. Some prophets were divinely in¬
spired to write the histories of the church; but they did not put their names to their writings, thev only
referred themselves for proof to the authentic records of those times, which were known to be drawn
up by prophets, as Gad, Iddo, &c. David and others were prophets, to write sacred songs for the use
of the church. After them, we often read of prophets, sent on particular errands, and raised up for
special public services; among whom the most famous were Elijah and Elisha in the kingdom of Israel
but none of these put their prophecies in writing, nor have we any remains of them but some fragments
in the histories of their times; there was nothing of their own writing, (that I remember,) but one epis¬
tle of Elijah’s, 2 Chron. xxi. 12. But toward the latter end of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, it
pleased God to direct his servants the prophets, to write and publish some of their sermons, or abstracts
of them. The dates of many of their prophecies are uncertain, but the earliest of them was in the days
of Uzziah king of Judah, and Jeroboam the second, his contemporary, king of Israel, about 200 years
before the captivity, and not long after Joash had slain Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, in the courts of
the temple. If they begin to murder the prophets, yet they shall not murder their prophecies; they
shall remain as witnesses against them. Hosea was the first of the writing prophets; and Joel, Amos,
and Obadiah published their prophecies about the same time. Isaiah began some time after, and not
long; but his prophecy is placed first, because it is the largest of them all, and has most in it of Him to
whom all the prophets bare witness; and indeed, so much of Christ, that he is justly styled the F.van-
14
ISAIAH, 1.
gelical Prophet, and by some of the ancients, a fifth Evangelist. We shall have the general title of
this book, v. 1. and therefore shall here only observe some things,
I. Concerning the prophet himself; he was (if we may believe the tradition of the Jews) of the roj J
family, his father being (they say) brother to king Uzziah: however, he was much at court, especially
in Hezekiah’s time, as we find in his story; to which many think it is owing that his style is more cu¬
rious and polite than that of some other of the prophets, and, in some places, exceedingly lofty and
soaring. The Spirit of God sometimes served his own purpose by the particular genius of the prophet;
for prophets were not speaking trumpets through which the Spirit spake, but speaking otto, by whom
the Spirit spake, making use of their natural powers, in respect both of light and flame, and advancing
them above themselves.
II. Concerning the prophecy; it is transcendently excellent and useful; it was so to the church of God
then, serving for conviction of sin, direction in duty, and consolation in trouble. Two great distresses
of the church are here referred to, and comfort prescribed in reference to them; That by Sennacherib’s
invasion, which happened in his own time, and that of the captivity in Babylon, which happened lone
after; in the supports and encouragements laid up for each of these times of need we find abundance of
the grace of the gospel. There are not so many quotations in the gospels out of any, perhaps not out
of all, the prophecies of the Old Testament, as out of this; nor such express testimonies concerning
Christ; witness that of his being bom of a virgin, (ch. 7. ) and that of his sufferings, ch. 53. The begin¬
ning of this book abounds most with reproofs for sin, and threatenings of judgment; the latter end of it
is full of good words and comfortable words; this method the Spirit of Christ took formerly in the pro¬
phets, and does still; first to convince, and then to comfort; and those who would be blessed with the
comforts, must submit to the convictions. Doubtless, Isaiah preached many sermons, and delivered
many messages, to the people, which are not written in this book, as Christ did; and, probably, these
sermons were delivered more largely and fully than they are here related: but so much is left on record
as Infinite Wisdom thought fit to convey to us on whom the ends of the world are come; and these pro¬
phecies, as well as the histories of Christ, are written, that we might believe on the name of the Son oj
God , and that, believing, we might have life through his name; fir to us is the gospel here preached, as
well as unto them who lived then, and more clearly. O that it may be mixed with faith!
ISAIAH.
CHAP. I.
The first verse of this chapter is intended for a title to the
whole book, and it is probable that this was the first ser¬
mon that this prophet was appointed to publish, and to af¬
fix in writing (as Calvin thinks the custom of the prophets
was] to the door of the temple, as with us proclamations
are nxed to public places, that all might read them; ( Hab.
ii. 2.) and those who would, might take out authentic
copies of them; the original being, after some time, laid
up by the priests among the records of the temple. The
sermon which is contained in this chapter has in it, I. A ;
high charge exhibited, in God’s name, against the Jewish j
church and nation : l. For their ingratitude, v. 2, 3. 2. |
For their incorrigibleness, v. 5. 3. For the universal
corruption and degeneracy of the people, v. 4, 6, 21, 22.
4. For the perversion of justice by their rulers, v. 23. II.
A sad complaint of the judgments of God, which they
had brought upon themselves by their sins, and by which
they were brought almost to utter ruin, v. 7. .9. III. A
just rejection of those shows and shadows of religion,
which they kept up among them, notwithstanding this
general defection and apostasy, v. 10 . . 15. IV. An
earnest call to repentance and reformation, setting be¬
fore them life and death; life if they complied with the
call, and death, if they did not, v. 16. . 20. V. A threat¬
ening of ruin to those who would not be reformed, v. 24,
28. . 31. VI. A promise of a happy reformation at last,
and a return to their primitive purity and prosperity, v.
25 . . 27. And all this is to be applied by us, not only to
the communities we are members of, in their public in¬
terests, but to the state of our own souls.
1 . fTVHE vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz,
I which he saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Here is, 1. The name of the prophet, Isaiah; or
Jesahiahu, for so it is in the Hebrew; which, in the
New Testament, is read Esaias. His name signi¬
fies, the salvation of the Lord. A proper name for
a prophet by whom God gives knowledge of salva¬
tion to his people, especially for this prophet, who
prophesies so much of Jesus the Saviour, and the
great salvation wrought out by him. He is said to
be the son of Amoz; not Amos the prophet, the two
names in the Hebrew differ more than in the Eng¬
lish; but, as the Jews think, of Amoz the brother,
or son, of Amaziah king of Judah; a tradition as un¬
certain as that rule which they give, That where a
prophet’s father is named, he also was himself a
prophet. The prophets, pupils and successors, are
indeed often called their sons, but we have few in¬
stances, if any, of their own sons being their succes¬
sors.
2. The nature of the prophecy; it is a vision, be¬
ing revealed to him in a vision, when he was awake,
and heard the words of God, and saw the visions of
the Almighty, as Balaam speaks, (Numb. xxiv. 4. )
though perhaps it was not so illustrious a vision at
first, as that afterwards, ch. vi. 1. The prophets
were called seers, or seeing-men, and therefore theii
prophecies are fitly called visions. It was what he
saw with the eyes of his mind, and foresaw as clear¬
ly by divine revelation, was as well assured of it, as
fully apprised of it, and as much affected with it, as
if he had seen it with his bodily eyes. Note, (1.)
God’s prophets saw what they spake of, knew what
they said, and require our belief of nothing but what
they themselves believed and were sure of, John vi.
69. — 1 John i. 1. (2.) They could not but speak
what they saw; because they saw how much all
about them were concerned jn it, Acts iv. 20. — 2
Cor. iv. 13.
3. The subject of the prophecy; it was what he
saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, the country
of the two tribes, and that city which was their me¬
tropolis; and there is little in it relating to Ephraim,
or the ten tribes, of whom there is so much in the
prophecy of Hosea. Some chapters there are in
this book, which relate to Babylon, Egypt, Tvre,
and some other neighbouring nations; but it takes
its title from that which is the main substance of it,
and it is therefore said to be concerning Judah and
Jerusalem; the other nations spoken of are such as
the people of the Jews had concerns with. Isaiah
brings to them in aspecial manner, (1.) Instruction,
for it is the privilege of Judah and Jerusalem, that to
them pertain the oracles of God. (2.) Reproof and
threatening; for if in Judah, where God is known,
if in Salem, where his name is great, iniquity be
found, they, sooner than any other, shall be reckon¬
ed with for it. (3.) Comfort and encouragement in
evil times; for the children of Zion shall be joyr il
in their king.
ISAIAH, I. lb
4. The date of the prophecy; he prophesied in
the days of Uzziah , Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
jiy this it appears, (1. ) That he prophesied long;
especially if (as the Jews say) he was at last put to
death by Manasseh, to a cruel death, being sawn
asunder; to which some suppose the apostle refers,
Heb. xi. 37. From the year that king Uzziah died,
[eh. vi. 1.) to Hezekiah’s sickness and recovery,
was 47 years; how much before, and after, he pro¬
phesied, is not certain; some reckon 60, and others
80 years in all. It was an honour to him, and a
happiness to his country, that he was continued so
long in, his usefulness: and we must suppose both
that he began young, and that he held out to old
age; for the prophets were not tied, as the priests
were, to a certain age, for the beginning or ending
of their ministration. (2.) That he passed through
a variety of times. Jotham was a good king, and
Hezekiah a better, who, no doubt, gave encourage¬
ment to, and took advice from, this prophet, were
atrons to him, and he privy-counsellor to them;
ut between them, and when Isaiah was in the
prime of his time, the reign of Ahaz was very pro¬
fane and wicked; then, no doubt, he was frowned
upon at court, and, it is likely, forced to abscond;
good men and good ministers must expect bad
times in this world, and prepare for them. Then
religion was run down to that degree, that the doors
of the house of the Lord were shut up, and idola¬
trous altars were erected in every corner of Jerusa¬
lem; and Isaiah, with all his divine eloquence and
messages immediately from God himself, could not
help it The best men, the best ministers, cannot
do the good they would do in the world.
2. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O
earth ; for the Lord hath spoken : 1 have
nourished and brought up children, and they
have rebelled against me : 3. The ox know-
eth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib:
but Israel doth not know, my people doth
not consider. 4. Ah, sinful nation, a people
laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers,
children that are corrupters! they have for¬
saken the Lord, they have provoked the
Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are
gone away backward. 5. Why should ye
be stricken any more? ye will revolt more
and more. The whole head is sick, and
the whole heart faint 6. From the sole of
the foot even unto the head there is no
soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises,
and putrefying sores : they have not been
closed, neither bound up, neither mollified
with ointment 7. Your country is desolate,
your cities are burnt with fire : your land,
strangers devour it in your presence, and it
is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8.
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cot¬
tage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden
of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9. Ex¬
cept the Lord of hosts had left unto us a
very small remnant, we should have been
as Sodom, and we should have been like
unto Gomorrah.
We will hope to meet with a bl ighter and more
leasant scene before we come to the end of this
ook ; but truly here, in the beginning of it, every
thing looks very bad, very black, with Judah and
Jerusalem. What is the wilderness of the world,
if the church, the vineyard, have such a dismal as¬
pect as this?
I. The prophet, though he speaks in God’s name,
yet, despairing to gain audience with the children
of his people, addresses himself to the heavens and
the earth, and bespeaks their attention; [v. i. )
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, 0 earth! Sooner
will the inanimate creatures hear, who observe the
law, and answer the end of their creation, than this
stupid senseless people. Let the lights of heaven
shame their darkness, and the fruitfulness of the
earth their barrenness, and the strictness of each t<
its time, their irregularity. Moses begins thus
(Deut. xxxii. 1.) to which the prophet here refers
intimating, that now those times were come, which
Moses there foretold, Deut. xxxi. 29. Or this is
an appeal to heaven and earth, to angels, and then
to the inhabitants of the upper and lower world; let
them judge between God and his vineyard: can
either produce such an instance of ingratitude? Note,
God will be justified when he speaks, and both hea¬
ven and earth shall declare his righteousness, Mic.
vi. 2. Ps. 1. 6.
II. He charges them with base ingratitude, a
crime of the highest nature: call a man ungrateful,
and you can call him no worse: let heaven and
earth hear, and wonder at, 1. God’s gracious deal¬
ings with a peevish provoking people as they were;
“ I have nourished and brought them up as chil¬
dren; they have been well fed and well taught;”
(Deut. xxxii. 6.) “I have magnified and exalted
them:” (so some;) “not only made them grow, but
made them great; not only maintained them, but
preferred them; not only trained them up, but rais¬
ed them high.” Note, We owe the continuance of
our lives, and comforts, and all our advancements,
to God’s fatherly care of us and kindness to us.
2. Their ill-natured conduct toward him, who was
so tender of chem; “ They have rebelled against
me;” or (as some read it) “ they have revolted from
me; they have been deserters, nay, traitors, against
my crown and dignity.” Note, all the instances of
God’s favour to us, as the God both of our nature
and of our nurture, aggravate our treacherous de¬
partures from him, and all our presumptuous oppo¬
sitions to him : children, and yet rebels!
III. He attributes this to their ignorance and in¬
consideration: (tt 3.) The ox knows, but Israel does
not. Observe, 1. The sagacity of the ox and the
ass, which are not only brute creatures, but of the
dullest sort: yet the ox has such a sense of duty, as
to know his owner, and to serve him, to submit to
his yoke, and to draw in it; the ass has such a sense
of interest, as to know his master’s crib or manger,
where he is fed, and to abide by it; he will go to
that of himself, if he is turned loose. A fine pass
man is come to, when he is shamed even in know¬
ledge and understanding by these silly animals; and
is not only sent to school to them, (Prov. vi. 6, 7.)
but set in a form below them, (Jer. viii. 7.) taught
more than the beasts of the earth, (Job xxxv. 11.)
and yet knowing less. 2. The sottishness and stu¬
pidity of Israel. God is their Owner and Proprie¬
tor; he made us, and his we are, more than our cat¬
tle are ours; he has provided well for us; providence
is our M ister’s crib: yet many that are called the
people of God, do not know, and will not consider
this; but ask, “ What is the Almighty, that we
should serve him? He is not our owner; and what
profit shall we have if we pray unto him? He has
no crib for us to feed at.” He had complained (v.
2. ) of the obstinacy of their wills; They have rebelled
against me; here he runs it up to its cause; “ There
fore they have rebelled, because they do not know,
they do not consider.” The understanding is dark
16
ISAIAH, I.
ened, and therefore the whole soul is alienated from
the life of God, Eph. iv. 18. Israel does not know,
though their land was a land of light and know¬
ledge; in Judah is God known, yet, because they
do not live up to what they know, it is, in effect, as
if they did not know. They know; but their know¬
ledge does them no good, because they do not con¬
sider what they know; they do not apply it to
their case, nor their minds to it. Note, (1.) Even
among those that profess themselves G<xl’s people,
that have the advantages, and lie under the engage¬
ments, of his people, there are many that are very
careless in the affairs of their souls. (2.) Inconsi¬
deration of what we do know, is as great an enemy
to us in religion as ignorance of what we should
know. (3.) Therefore men revolt from God, and
rebel against him, because they do not know and
consider their obligations to God, in duty, gratitude,
and interest.
IV. He laments the universal pravity and cor¬
ruption of their church and kingdom ; the disease
of sin was epidemical, and all orders and degrees
of men were infected with it; Ah, sinful nation! v. 4.
The prophet bemoans those that would not bemoan
themselves; Alas for them, wo to them ! He speaks
with a holy indignation at their degeneracy, and a
dread of the consequences of it. See here,
1. How he aggravates their sin, and shows the
malignity that there was in it, v. 4. ( 1. ) The wick¬
edness was universal; they were a sinful nation, the
generality of the people were vicious and profane;
they were so in their national capacity, in the ma¬
nagement of their public treaties abroad, and in the
administration of public justice at home, they Were
corrupt. Note, It is ill with a people when sin be¬
comes national. (2.) It was very great and heinous
in its nature. They were laden with iniquity; the
guilt of it, and the curse incurred by that guilt, lay
very heavy upon them; it was a heavy charge that
was exhibited against them, which they could never
clear themselves from; their wickedness was upon
them as a talent of lead, Zech. v. 7, 8. And their
sin, as it did easily beset them, and they were prone
to it, was a weight upon them, Heb. xii. 1. (3.)
They came of a bad stock, they were a seed of evil¬
doers; treachery ran in the blood, they had it by
kind, which made the matter so much the worse,
more provoking and less curable; they rose up in
their fathers’ stead, and trod in their fathers’ steps,
to fill ufi the measure of their iniquity; (Numb,
xxxii. 14. ) they were a race and family of rebels.
(4.) They were themselves debauched, did what
they could to debauch others; they are not only cor¬
rupt children, bom tainted, but children that are
corrupters, that propagate vice, and infect others
with it; not only sinners, but tempters, not only ac¬
tuated by Satan, but agents for him. If those that
are called children, God’s children, that are looked
upon as belonging to his family, be wicked and vile,
their example is of the most malignant influence.
5.) Their sin was a treacherous departure from
Jod, they were deserters from their allegiance;
They have forsaken the Lord, to whom they had
joined themselves; they are gone away backward;
are alienated or separated from God, have turned
the back upon him, deserted their colours, and quit¬
ted their service; when they were urged forward,
they ran backward, as a bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke, Hos. iv. 16. (6. ) It was an impudent and
daring defiance of him; They have provoked the
Holy One of Israel tinto anger, wilfully and design¬
edly; they knew what would anger him, and that
they did. Note, The backslidingsof those that have
professed religion, and relation to God, are in a spe
cial manner provoking to him.
2. How he illustrates it by a comparison taken
from a sick and diseased body, all overspread with
leprosy, or, like Job’s, with sore boils, v. 5, 6. (1.)
The distemper has seized the vitals, and so threat¬
ens to be mortal. Diseases in the head and heart
are most dangerous; now the head, the whole head,
is sick, the heart, the whole heart, is faint; they
were become corrupt in their judgment, the leprosy
was in their head, they were utterly unclean; their
affection to God and religion was cold and gone; the
things which remained were ready to die away,
Rev. iii. 2. (2.) It has overspread the whole body,
and so becomes exceedingly noisome; From the salt
of the foot even unto the head, from the meanest
peasant to the greatest peer, there is no soundness,
no good principles, no religion, (for that is the
health of the soul,) nothing but wounds and bruises,
guilt and corruption, the sad effects of Adam’s fall;
noisome to the holy God, painful to the sensible
soul; they were so to David, when he complained,
(Ps. xxxviii. 5.) My wounds stink, and are corrupt,
because of my foolishness, Ps. xxxii. 3, 4. No at¬
tempts were made for reformation, or, if they were,
they proved ineffectual; The wounds have not been
closed, nor bound up, nor mollified with ointment.
While sin remains unrepented of, the wounds are
unsearched, unwashed, the proud flesh in them not
cut out, and while consequently, it remains unpar¬
doned, the wounds are not mollified or closed up,
nor any thing done toward the healing of them, and
the preventing of their fatal consequences.
V. He sadly bewails the judgments of God, which
they had brought upon themselves by their sins, and
their incorrigibleness under those judgments.
1. Their kingdom was almost ruined, v. 7. So
miserable were they, that both their towns and their
lands were wasted, and yet so stupid, that they
needed to be told this, and to have it showed them;
“Look, and see how it is; your country is desolate,
the ground is not cultivated, for want of inhabitants,
the villages being deserted, Judg. v. 7. And thus
the fields and vineyards become like deserts, ail
grown over with thorns ; (Prov. xxiv. 31.) your ci¬
ties are burned with fire, by the enemies that invade
you;” (fire and sword commonly go together;) “ as
for the fruits of your land, which should be food
for your families, strangers devour them; and, to
your greater vexation, it is before your eyes, and
you cannot prevent it; you starve, while your ene¬
mies surfeit on that which should be your mainte¬
nance. The overthrow of your country is as the
overthrow of strangers; it is used by the invaders
as one might expect it should be used by stran¬
gers.” — Jerusalem itself, which was as the daugh¬
ter of Zion; (the temple built on Zion was a mother,
a nursing mother, to Jerusalem ;) or Zion itself, the
holy mountain, which had been dear to God as a
daughter, was now lost, deserted, and exposed, as a
cottage in a vineyard, which, when the vintage is
over, nobody dwells in, or takes any care of, and
looks as mean and despicable as a lodge, or hut,
in a garden of cucumbers; and every person is afraid
of coming near it, and solicitous to remove his ef¬
fects out of it, as if it were a besieged city, v. 8.
And some think it is the calamitous state of the
kingdom, that is represented by a diseased body, v
6. Probably, this sermon was preached in the reign
of Ahaz, when Judah was invaded by the kings of
Syria and Israel, the Edomites, and the Philistines,
who slew many, and carried many away into cap¬
tivity, 2 Chron. xxviii. 5, 17, 18. Note, National
impiety and immorality bring national desolation.
Canaan, the glory of all lands, mount Zion, the
joy of the whole earth, both became a reproach
and a ruin; and sin made them so, that great mia-
chief-maker.
2. Yet they were not at all reformed, and there¬
fore God threatens to take another course with
them; (v. 5.) “ Why should ye be stricken any
ISAIAH, J.
mure, with any expectation of doing you good by it, j
when you increase revolts as your rebukes are in¬
creased? You will revolt more and more, as you
have done;” as Ahaz particularly did, who, in his
distress, trespassed yet more against the Lord, 2
Chron. x’xviii. 22. Thus the physician, when he
sees the patient’s case desperate, troubles him no
more with physic; and the father resolves to cor¬
rect his child no more, when, finding him hardened,
ne determines to disinherit him. Note, (1.) There
are those who are made worse by the methods God
takes to make them better; the more they are
stricken, the more they revolt; their corruptions,
instead of being mortified, are irritated and exas-
erated, by their afflictions, and their hearts more
ardened. (2. ) God sometimes, in a way of righ¬
teous judgment, ceases to correct those who have
been long incorrigible, and whom therefore he de¬
signs to destroy. The reprobate silver shall be cast,
not into the furnace, but to the dunghill, Jer. vi. 29,
30. See Ezek. xxiv. 13. Hos. iv. 14. He that is
filthy, let him be filthy still.
VI. He comforts himself with the consideration
of a remnant that should be the monuments of di¬
vine grace and mercy, notwithstanding this general
corruption and desolation, v. 9. See here, 1. How
near they were to an utter extirpation; they were
almost like Sodom and Gomorrah, in respect both
of sin and ruin, grown almost so bad, that there
could not have been found ten righteous men among
them, and almost so miserable, that none had been
left alive, but their country turned into a sulphu¬
reous lake. Divine Justice said, Make them as Ad-
mah, set them as Zeboim; but Mercy said, How shall
I do it? Hos. xi. 8, 9. 2. What it was that saved
them from it; The Lord of hosts left unto them a
very small remnant , that were kept pure from the
i ommon apostacy, and kept safe and alive from the
common calamity. This is quoted by the apostle,
(Rom. ix. 27.) and applied to those few of the Jew¬
ish nation, who, in his time, embraced Christianity,
when the body of the people rejected it, and in
whom the promises made to the fathers were ac¬
complished. Note, (1.) In the worst of times there
is a remnant preserved from iniquity, and reserved
for mercy, as Noah and his family in the deluge,
Lot and his in the destruction of Sodom. Divine
grace triumphs in distinguishing by an act of sove¬
reignty. (2.) This remnant is often a very small
one, in comparison with the vast numbers of revolt¬
ing ruined sinners. Multitude is no mark of the
true church; Christ’s is a little flock. (3.) It is
God’s work to sanctify and save some, when others
are left to perish in their impurity; it is the work
of his power, as the Lord of hosts; except he had
left us that remnant, there had been none left; the
corrupters (x>. 4.) did what they could to debauch
all, and the devourers (to 7.) to destroy all; and
they would have prevailed, if God himself had not
interposed to secure to himself a remnant, who are
bound to give him all the glory. (4.) It is good for
a people that have been saved from utter ruin, to
look back, and see how near they were to it, just
upon the brink of it, to see how much they owed to
a few good men that stood in the gap, and that that
was owing to a good God, who left them these good
men. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not
consumed.
1 0. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers
of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our
God, ye people of Gomorrah ; 11. To what
purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices
unto me? saith the Lord : I am full of the
burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed
beasts ; and I delight not in the blood of
Vol. iv — C
bullocks, or of lambs, or of ne- goals. 12.
When ye come to appear before me, who
hath required this at your hand to tread my
courts? 13. Bring no more vain oblations:
incense is an abomination unto me : the
new-moons and sabbaths, the calling of as¬
semblies, I cannot away with : it is iniquity,
even the solemn meeting. 1 4. \ our new-
moons and your appointed feasts my soul
hateth : they are a trouble unto me ; I am
weary to bear them. 15. And when ye spread
forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from
you ; yea, when ye make many prayers I will
not hear : your hands are full of blood.
Here,
I. God calls to them, (but calls in vain,) to hear
his word, v. 10. 1. The title he gives them is very
strange, Ye rulers of Sodom, and Ye people of Go-
morrah. This intimates what a righteous thing it
had been with God to make them like Sodom and
Gomorrah, in respect of ruin; ( v . 9.) because they
had made themselves like Sodom and Gomorrah,
in respect of sin. The men of Sodom were wicked,
and sinners before the Lord exceedingly, (Gen. xiii.
13. ) and so were the men of Judah ; when the rulers
were bad, no wonder the people were so. V ice
overpowered virtue, for it had the rulers, the men
of figure, on its side; and it outpolled it, for it had
the people, the men of number, on its side: the
streams being thus strong, no less a power than that
of the Lord of hosts could secure a remnant, v. 9.
The rulers are boldly attacked here by the prophet,
as rulers of Sodom, for he knew not how to give flat¬
tering titles; the tradition of the Jews is, that for this
he was impeached long after, and put to death, as
having cursed the gods, and spoken evil of the ruler
of his people. 2. "His demand upon them is very-
reasonable; “ Hear the word of the Lord, and give
ear to the law of our God; attend to that which God
has to say to you, and let his word be a law to yrcu.”
The following declaration of dislike to their sacri¬
fices, would be a kind of new law to them; though
really it was but an explication of the old law; but
special regard is to be had to it, as is required to the
like, Ps. 1. 7, 8. “ Hear this, and tremble; hear it,
and take warning.”
II. He justly refuses to hear their prayers and ac¬
cept their services, their sacrifices and burnt-offer¬
ings, the fat and blood of them, (x». 11.) their atten¬
dance in his courts, (y. 12.) their oblations, their
incense, and their solemn assemblies, (v. 13.) their
new-moons, and their appointed feasts, (x>. 14.) their
devoutest addresses; (v. 15.) they are all rejected,
because their hands were full of blood. N ow observe,
1. There are many who are strangers, nay ene¬
mies, to the power of religion, and yet seem very-
zealous for the show and shadow and form of it.
This sinful nation, this seed of evil-doers, these ru¬
lers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, brought not
to the altars of false gods, (they are not here charged
with that,) but to the altar of the God of Israel,
sacrifices, a multitude of them, as many as the_ law
required, and rather more, not only peace-offerings,
which they themselves had their share of, but burnt-
offerings, which were wholly consumed to the ho¬
nour of God; nor did they bring the torn, and lame,
and sick, but fed beasts, and the fat of them, the
best of the kind: they did not send others to offer
their sacrifices for them, but came themselves tr
appear before God; they observed the instituted
places, not in high-places, or groves, but in God’s
own courts; and the instituted time, the new-moons.
[ and sabbaths, and appointed feasts, none of which.
IK ISAIAH, 1.
they omitted; nay, it should seem, they called ex- !
traordinary assemblies, and held solemn meetings, I
f jr religious worship, beside those that God had ap¬
pointed; vet this was not all, they applied them¬
selves to God not only with their ceremonial observ¬
ances, hut with the moral instances of devotion; they
prayed, they prayed often, made many prayers,
thinking they should be heard for their much speak¬
ing; nay, they were fervent and importunate in
prayer, they spread forth their hands as men in
earnest. Now we should have thought these, and
no doubt they thought themselves, a pious, religious
people; and yet they were far from being so, for,
( 1. ) Their hearts were empty of true devotion ; they
came to aftfiear before God, (v. 12.) to be seen be¬
fore him; so the margin reads it; they rested in the
outside of the duties, they looked no further than to
be seen of men, and went no further than that which
men see. (2. ) Their hands were full of blood; they
were guilty of murder, rapine, and oppression, un¬
der colour of law and justice. The people shed
blood, and the rulers did not punish them for it; the
rulers shed blood, and the people were aiding and
abetting, as the elders of Jezreel were to Jezebel in
shedding Naboth’s blood. Malice is heart-murder,
in the account of God; he that hates his brother in
his heart, has, in effect, his hands full of blood.
2. When sinners are under the judgments of God,
they will more easily be brought to fly to their de¬
votions, than to forsake their sins, and reform their
lives. Their country was now desolate, and their
cities burnt; ( v. 7.) and this awakened them to
bring their sacrifices and offerings to God more con¬
stantly than they had done, as if they would bribe
God Almighty to remove the punishment, and give
them leave to go on in the sin. When he slew them,
then they sought him, Ps. lxxviii. 34. Lord, in
trouble have they visited thee, ch. xxvi. 16. Many
that will readily part with their sacrifices, will not
be persuaded to part with their sins.
3. The most pompous and costly devotions of
wicked people, without a thorough reformation of
the heart and life, are so far from being acceptable
to God, that really they are an abomination to him.
It is showed here in a great variety of expressions,
that to obey is better than sacrifice ; nay, that sacri¬
fice, without obedience, is a jest, an affront and pro¬
vocation to God. The comparative neglect which
God here expresses of ceremonial observances, was
a tacit intimation of what they would come to at last,
when they would all be done away by the death of
Christ; what was now made little of, would, in due
time, be made nothing of. Sacrifice and offering,
and prayer made in the virtue of that, thou wouldest
not; then said I, Lo, I come. Their sacrifices are
here represented,
(1.) As fruitless and insignificant. To what pur¬
pose is it? v. 11. They are vain oblations, v. 13.
In vain do they worshifi me, Matth. xv. 9. It was
all lost labour, and served not to answer any good
intention; for, [4. ] It was not looked upon as any act
of duty or obedience to God; Who has required these
things at your hands? v. 12. Not that God disowns
nis institutions, or refuses to stand by his own war¬
rants; but in what they did they hail not an eve to
Him that required it, nor indeed did he require it
of them, whose hands were full of blood, and who
continued impenitent. [2.] It did not recommend
them to God’s favour; he delighted not in the blood
of their sacrifices, for he did not look upon himself
as honoured by it. [3.] It would not obtain any re¬
lief for them. They pray, but God will not hear,
because they regard iniquity; (Ps. lxvi. 18.) he
would not deliver them, for though they make many
prayers, none of them came from an upright heart.
All their religious services turned to no account to
them. Nay, ||
(2. ; As odious and offensive, God did not only •’Ot
accept them, but he did detest and abhor them.
“They are your sacrifices, they are none of mine;
I am full of them, even surfeited with them.” He
needed them not, (Ps. 1. 10.) did not desire them,
had had enough of them, and more than enough.
Their coming into his courts he calls treading them,
or trampling upon them, their very attendance on
his ordinances was construed into a contempt ot
them. Their incense, though ever so fragrant, was
an abomination to him, for it was burnt ir. hypocrisy,
and with an ill design. Their solemn assemblies h<
could not away with, could not see them with an)
patience, nor bear the affront they gave him. Tht
solemn meeting is iniquity; though the thing itself
was not, yet, as they managed it, it was. It is a
vexation, (so some read it,) a provocation, to God,
to have ordinances thus prostituted, not only by
wicked people, but to wicked purposes; “ My soul
hates them, they are a trouble to me, a burthen, an
incumbrance; I am perfectly sick of them, and weary
to bear them.” He is never weary of hearing the
prayers of the upright, but soon weary of the costly
sacrifices of the wicked. He hides his eyes from
their prayers, as that which he has an aversion to,
and is angry at.
All this is to show, [1.] That sin is very hateful
to God, so hateful that it makes even men’s prayers
and their religious services hateful to him. [2.]
That dissembled piety is double iniquity. Hypo¬
crisy in religion is of all things most abominable to
the God of heaven. Jerom applies it to the Jews in
Christ’s time, who pretended a great zeal for the
law and the temple, but made themselves and all
their services abominable to God, by filling their
hands with the blood of Christ and his apostles, and
so filling up the measure of their iniquities.
1 6. Wash you, make you clean ; put away
the evil of your doings from before mine
eyes; cease to do evil ; 1 7. Learn to do well :
seek judgment, relieve the oppressed; judge
the fatherless; plead for the widow. 18.
Come now, let us reason together, saith the
Lord : Though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 1 9.
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat
the good of the land : 20. But if ye refuse
and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the
sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it.
Though God has rejected their services as insuffi¬
cient to atone for their sins, while they persisted in
them, yet he does not reject them as in a hopeless
condition; but here calls upon them to forsake their
sins, which hindered the acceptance of their servi¬
ces, and then all would be well. Let them not say
that God picked quarrels with them; no, he pro¬
poses a method of reconciliation. Observe here,
1. A call to repentance and reformation ; “ If you
would have your sacrifices accepted, and your
prayers answered, you must begin your work at the
right end; Be converted to my law,” (so the Chal¬
dee begins this exhortation,) “make conscience of
second-table-duties, else expect net to be accepted
in the acts of your devotion. ” As justice and charity
will never atone for atheism and profaneness, so
prayers and sacrifices will never atone for fraud and
oppression; for righteousness toward men is as much
a branch of pure religion, as religion toward God if
a branch of universal righteousness.
1. They must cease to do evil, must do no more
19
ISAIAH, I.
wrong, shed no more innocent blood; that is the
meaning of washing them, and making them clean,
v. 16. It is not only sorrowing for the sin they had
committed, but breaking of!' the practice of it for the
future, and mortifying all those vicious affections
and dispositions which incline them to it. Sin is
defiling to the soul; our business is to wash ourselves
from it bv repenting of it, and turning from it to
God. We must put away not only that evil of our
doings, which is before the eye of the world, by re¬
fraining from the gross acts of sin, but that which is
before God’s eyes, the roots and habits of sin, that
are in our hearts; those must be crushed and mor¬
tified.
2. They must leant to do well. This was neces¬
sary to the completing of their repentance. Note,
It is not enough that we cease to do evil, but we
must learn to do well. (1.) We must be doing; not
cease to do evil, and then stand idle. (2.) We must
be doing good, the good which the Lord our God re-
uires, and which will turn to a good account. (3. )
Ye must do it well, in a right manner, and for a
right end; and, (4.) We must learn to do well, we
must take pains to get the knowledge of our duty,
be inquisitive concerning it, in care about it, and ac¬
custom ourselves to it, that we may readily turn cur
hands to our work, and become masters of this holy
art of doing well.
He urges them particularly to those instances of
well-doing, wherein they had been defective; to se¬
cond-table-duties; “Seek judgment; inquire what is
right, that ye may do it: be solicitous to be found in
the way of your duty, and do not walk at all adven¬
tures; seek opportunities of doing good. Relieve
the oppressed, those whom you yourselves have op¬
pressed; ease them of their burthens, ch. lviii. 6.
You that have power in your hands, use it for the
relief of those whom others do oppress, for that is
your business; right those that suffer wrong; in a
special manner concern yourselves for the fatherless
and the widow, whom, because they are weak and
helpless, proud men trample upon and abuse; do
you appear for them at the bar, on the bench, as
there is occasion; speak for those that know not how
to speak for themselves, and that have not where¬
withal to gratify you for vour kindness.” Note,
W e are truly honouring God when we are doing
good in the world; and acts of justice and charity are
more pleasing to him than all burnt-offerings and
sacrifices.
II. A demonstration, at the bar of right reason,
of the equity of God’s proceeding with them; “ Come
now, and let us reasoti together; {y. 18.) while your
hands are full of blood, I will have nothing to do
with you, though you bring me a multitude of sacri¬
fices: but if you wash you, and make you clean, you
are welcome todraw nigh to me; come now, and let
us talk the matter over. ” Note, Those, and those
only, that break off their league with sin, shall be
welcome into covenant and communion with God;
he says, Come now, who before God forbade them
his courts. See Jam. iv. 8. Or rather thus; there
were those among them who looked upon them¬
selves as offended by the slights God put upon the
multitude of their sacrifices, as ch. lviii. 3. Where¬
fore have we fasted, (say thev,) and thou seest not ?
They represented God as a hard Master, whom it
was impossible to please; “ Come,” says God, “ let
us debate the matter fairly, and I doubt not but to
m ike it out that my ways are equal, but yours are
unequal.” Ezek. xviii. 25. Note, 1. Religion has
re son on its side: there is all the reason in the world
that we should do as God would have us to do. 2.
The God of heaven condescends to reason the case
with those who contradict him and find fault with
ms proceedings, for he will be justified when he
•‘beaks, Ps. li. 4. The case needs only to be stated,
(as it is here very fairly,) and it will determine it
.self. Gcd shows here upon what terms they stood,
(as he does Ezek. xviii. 21, 24. — xxxiii. 18, 19.)
and then leaves it to them to judge whether thev
were not fair.
(1.) They cannot in reason expect any more than
that, it they repent and reform, they should be re¬
stored to God’s favour, notwithstanding theirformer
provocations; “This you may expect,” says God,
“ and it is very kind; who could have the face to de¬
sire it upon any other terms?” [1.] “ It is very lit¬
tle that is required, only that you be willing and
obedient, that you consent to obey;” so some read
it; “ that you subject your wills to" the will of God,
acquiesce in that, and give up yourselves in all
things to be ruled by him that is infinitely wise and
good.” Hereisnopenance imposed for their former
stubbornness, nor the yoke made heavier, or bound
harder, on their necks; only, “Whereas hitherto
you have been perverse and refractory, and would
not comply with that which was for your own good,
now be tractable, be governable. ” He does not say,
“ If you be perfectly obedient,” but, “ If you be wil¬
lingly so;” for if there be a willing mind, it is ac¬
cepted. [2. ] That is very great, which is promised
hereupon, first. That all their sins should be par¬
doned to them, and should not be mentioned against
them ; “ Though they be as red as scarlet and
crimson, though you "lie under the guilt of blood,
yet, upon your repentance, even that shall be for¬
given you, and you shall appear in the sight of God
as white as snow.” Note, The greatest sinners, if
they truly repent, shall have their sins forgiven
them, and so have their consciences pacified ar.d
purified. Though our sins have been as scarlet and
crimson, a deep dye, a double dye, first in the wool
of original corruption, and afterwards in the many
threads of actual transgression, though we have
been often dipped, by our many backslidings, into
sin, and though we have lain long soaking in it, as
the cloth does in the scarlet dye, yet pardoning
mercy will thoroughly discharge the stain, and, be¬
ing by it purged as with hyssop, we shall be clean,
Ps. li. 7. If we make ourselves clean by repentance
and reform ation,(r. 16.) God will make us white bv
a full remission. Secondly, That they should have
all the happiness and comfort they could desire;
“Be but willing and obedient and you shall eat the
good of the land, the land of promise; you shall
have all the blessings of the new covenant, of the
heavenly Canaan; all the good of that land. ” They
that go on in sin, though they dwell in a good land,
cannot with any comfort eat the good of it, guilt im-
bitters all; but if sin be pardoned, creature-comforts
become comforts indeed.
(2. ) They cannot in reason expect any other than
that, if they continue obstinate in their disobedience,
they should be abandoned to ruin, and the sentence
of the law should be executed upon them; what can
be more just? (v. 20.) “ If you refuse and rebel, ii
you continue to rebel against the divine government,
and refuse the effers of divine grace, you shall be
devoured with the sword; with the sword of your
enemies, which shall be commissioned to destroy
you, with the sword of God’s justice, his wrath, anil
vengeance, which shall be drawn against you; for
this is that which the mouth o f the Lord has' spoken,
and which he will make good, for the maintaining
of his own honour.” Note, Those that will not be
governed by God’s sceptre, will certainly and justly
be devoured by his sword. ’
“ And now life and death, good and evil, are thus
set before you; Come and let us reason together.
What have you to object against the equity of this
or against complying with God’s terms?”
21 . How is the faithful city become a hai
'.’0
ISAIAH, 1.
lot! it was full of judgment; righteousness
lodged in it; but now murderers. 22. Thy
silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with
water: 23. Thy princes are rebellious, and
companions of thieves: every one loveth
gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge
not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of
the widow come unto them. 24. Therefore
saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the
Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of
mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine
enemies : 25. And I will turn my hand upon
thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and
take away all thy tin : 26. And I will re¬
store thy judges as at the first, and thy coun¬
sellors as at the beginning: afterward thou
shalt be called, The city of righteousness,
Tire faithful city. 27. Zion shall be redeem¬
ed with judgment, and her converts with
righteousness. 28. And the destruction of
the transgressors and of the sinners shall be
together, and they that forsake the Lord
shall be consumed. 29. For they shall be
ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired,
and ye shall be confounded for the gardens
that ye have chosen. 30. For ye shall be
as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a gar¬
den that hath no water. 31. And the strong
shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a
spark, and they shall both burn together,
and none shall quench them.
Here,
I. The woful degeneracy of Judah and Jerusalem
is sadly lamented. See, 1. What the royal city had
been; a faithful city, faithful to God and the inte¬
rests of his kingdom among men; faithful to the na¬
tion and its public interests. It was full of judg¬
ment; justice was duly administered upon the thrones
of judgment which were set there, the thrones of
the house of David, Ps. exxii. 5. Men were gene¬
rally honest in their dealings, and abhorred to do an
unjust thing; righteousness lodged in it, was con¬
stantly resident in their palaces and in all their
dwellings, not called in now and then to serve a
turn, but at home there. Note, Neither holy cities,
nor royal ones, neither places where religion is pro¬
fessed, nor places where government is administer¬
ed, are faithful to their trust, if religion do not dwell
in them. 2. What it was now become : that beau¬
teous virtuous spouse was now debauched, and be¬
come an adulteress; righteousness no longer dwelt
in Jerusalem, ( terras Astrsea reliquit — Astrea left
the earth,) even murderers were unpunished, and
lived undisturbed there; nay, the princes themselves
were so cruel and oppressive, that they were be¬
come no better than murderers; an innocent man
might better guard himself against a troop of ban¬
ditti or assassins, than against a bench of such
judges. Note, It is a great aggravation of the wick¬
edness of any family or people, that their ancestors
were famed for virtue and probity; and commonly
Sfcose that thus degenerate, prove the most wicked
* all others. Corrufitio ofitimi est pessima — That
7 :hkh originally mas the best, when corrupted, be-
.onies the worst, Luke xi. 26. Eccl. iii. 16. See
h r xxiii. 15--17.
This is illustrated, (1.) By similitudes; (y. 22.)
Thy silver is become dross; this degeneracy of the
magistrates, whose character is the reverse of that
of their predecessors, is as great a reproach and in¬
jury to the kingdom, as the debasing of their coin
would be, and the turning of their silver into dross.
Righteous princes, and righteous cities, are as silver
for the treasury; but unrighteous ones are as dross
for the dunghill — Dow is the gold become dim ! Lam.
iv. 1. Thy wine is mixed with water, and so is be¬
come flat and sour. Some understand both these
literally; the wine they sold was adulterated, it was
half water; the money they paid was counterfeit,
and so they cheated all they dealt with. But it is
rather to be taken figuratively : justice was pervert¬
ed by their princes; and religion and the word of
God were sophisticated by their priests, and made
to serve what turn they pleased. Dross may shine
like silver, and the wine that is mixed with water
may retain the colour of wine, but neither is worth
any thing. Thus they retained a show and pretence
of virtue and justice, but had no tme sense of either.
(2.) By some instances; ( v . 23.) “Thy princes, that
should keep others in their allegiance to God, and
subjection to his law, are themselves rebellious, and
set God and his law at defiance.” They that should
restrain thieves, proud and rich oppressors, those
worst of robbers, and those that designedly cheat
their creditors, who are no better, they are them¬
selves companions of thieves, connive at them, do as
they do, and with greater security and success, be¬
cause they are princes, and have power in their
hands; they share with the thieves they protect in
their unlawful gain, (Ps. 1. 18.) and cast in their lot
among them, Prov. i. 13, 14. [1.] The profit of
their places is all their aim; to make the best hand
they can of them, right or wrong. They love gifts,
and follow after reward; they set their hearts upon
their salary, the fees and perquisites of their offices,
and are greedy of them, and never think they can
get enough; nay, they will do any thing, though
ever so contrary to law and justice, for a gift in se¬
cret. Presents and gratuities will blind their eyes
at any time, and make them pervert judgment:
these they love, and are eager in the pursuit of,
Hos. iv. 18. [2.] The duty of their places is none
of their care ; they ought to protect those that are
injured, and take cognizance of the appeals made
to them; why else were they preferred? But they
judge not the fatherless, take no care to guard the
orphans, nor does the cause of the widow come unto
them; because the poor widow has no bribe to give,
with which to make way for her, and to bring her
cause on. Those will have a great deal to answei
for, who, when they should be the patrons of the
oppressed, are their greatest oppressors.
II. A resolution is taken up to redress these griev¬
ances; (y. 24.) Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord
of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, who has power to
make good what he says, who has hosts at command
for the executing of his purposes, and whose power
is engaged for Israel; Ah, I will ease me of mine ad¬
versaries. Observe, 1. Wicked people, especially
wicked rulers that are cruel and oppressive, are
God’s enemies, his adversaries, and shall so be ac¬
counted of, and so dealt with. If the holy seed cor¬
rupt themselves, they are the foes of his own house.
2. They are a burthen to the God of heaven, which
is implied in his easing himself of them; the Mighty
One of Israel, that can bear any thing, nay, that up¬
holds all things, complains of his being wearied with
men’s iniquities, ch. xliii. 24. Amos li. 13. 3. God
will find out a time and a way to ease himself of
this burthen, by avenging himself on those that thus
bear hard upon his patience. He here speaks as
one triumphing in the foresight of it; Ah, I will ease
me. He will ease the earth of the burthen under
which it groans, (Rom. viii. 21, 22.) will ease his
own name of the reproaches with which it is loaded.
in
ISAIAH, 11.
He will be eased of his adversaries, by taking ven¬
geance on hts enemies; he will s/me them out of his
'mouth, and so be eased of them, Rev. iii. 16. He
speaks with pleasure of the clay of vengeance being
in his heart, ch. lxiii. 4. If God’s professing people
conform not to his image, as the Holy One of Israel,
(?'. 4. ) they shall feel the weight of His hand as the
. Mighty One of Israel: his power, which was wont to
be engaged for them, shall be armed against them.
T wo ways God will ease himself of this grievance:
(1.) By reforming his church and restoring good
judges in the room of those corrupt ones. Though
the church has a great deal of dross in it, yet it shall
not be thrown away, but refined; (i>. 25. ) “ I will
purely purge away thy dross; I will amend what is
amiss. Vice and profaneness shall be suppressed,
and put out of countenance; oppressors displaced,
and deprived of their power to do mischief. ” When
things are ever so bad, God can set them to rights,
and bring about a complete reformation; when he
begins, he will make an end, will take away all
the tin.
Observe, [1.] The reformation of a people is
God’s own work ; and, if ever it be done, it is he that
brings it about; “ I will turn my hand upon thee; I
will do that for the reviving of religion, which I did,
at first, for the planting of it.” He can do it easily,
with the turn of his hand; but he does it effectually,
for what opposition can stand before the arm of the
Lord revealed? [2.] He does it by blessing them
with good magistrates, and good ministers ot state;
(n. 26.) “I will restore thy judges, as at the first,
to put the laws into execution against evil-doers;
and thy counsellors, to transact public affairs, as at
the beginning;” either the same persons that had
been turned out, or others of the same character.
[3.] He does it by restoring judgment and righ¬
teousness among them, (y. 27.) by planting in men’s
minds principles of justice, and governing their lives
by those principles. Men may do much by exter¬
nal restraints; hut God does it effectually by the in¬
fluences of his Spirit, as a Spirit of Judgment, ch.
iv. 4. — xxviii. 6. SeePs. lxxxv. 10, 11. [4.] The
reformation of a people will be the redemption of
them and their converts, for sin is the worst cap¬
tivity, the worst slavery; and the great and eternal
redemption is that by which Israel is redeemed from
all his iniquities; (Ps. exxx. 8.) and the blessed Re¬
deemer is he that turns away ungodliness from
Jacob, (Rom. xi. 26.) and saves his people from
their sins, Matth. i. 21. All the redeemed of the
Lord shall be converts, and their conversion is then-
redemption. Her converts, or, they that return of
her; so the margin. God works deliverance for us,
by preparing us for it with judgment and righteous¬
ness. [5.] The reviving of a people’s virtue, is the
restoring of their honour; Afterward thou shall be
called the city of righteousness, the faithful city;
First, Thou shaft fie so; the reforming of the magis¬
tracy is a good step toward the reforming of the city
and the country too. Secondly, Thou shalt have
the praise of being so; and a greater praise there
cannot be to any city, than to be called the city of
righteousness, and to retrieve the ancient honour,
which was lost, when the faithful city became a
harlot, v. 21.
(2.) Bv cutting off those that hate to be reform¬
ed, that they may not remain either as snares, or as
scandals, to the faithful city. [1.] It is an utter
ruin that is here threatened. They shall be de¬
stroyed and consumed, and not chastened and cor¬
rected only. The extirpation of them will be ne¬
cessary to the redemption of Zion. [2.] It is a uni¬
versal ruin, which will involve the transgressors
and the sinners together; the openly profane, that
have quite cast off all religion, and the hypocrites,
that live wicked lives under the cloak cf a religious
J profession — they sliall both be destroyed together;
; tor they are both alike an abomination to God, both
those that contradict religion, and thoSe that con¬
tradict themselves in their pretensions to it. And
they that forsake the Lord, to whom they had for
merly joined themselves, shall be consumed as the
water in the conduit-pipe is soon consumed when it
is cut off from the fountain. [3.] It is an inevitable
ruin; there is no escaping it.
First, Their idols shall not be able to help them;
the oaks which they have desired, and the gardens
which they have chosen; the images, the dunghill-
gods, which they have worshipped in their groves,
and under the green trees, which they were iond of,
and wedded to, for which they forsook the true God,
and which they worshipped privately in their own
gardens, even then when idolatry was publicly dis¬
countenanced. This was the practice of the trans¬
gressors and the sinners; but they shall be ashamed
of it, not with a show of repentance, but of despair,
v. 29. They shall have cause to be ashamed of
them; for after all the court they have made to them,
they shall find no benefit by them; but the idols
themselves shall go into captivity, ch. xlvi. 1, 2.
Note, They that make creatures their confidence,
are but preparing confusion for themselves. You
were fond of the oaks and the gm-dens; but you
yourselves shall be, 1. Like an oak without leaves,
withered and blasted, and stripped of all its orna¬
ments. Justly do those wear no leaves, that bear
no fruit; as the fig-tree that Christ cursed. 2. Like
a garden without water, that is neither rained upon,
nor watered with the foot, (Deut. xi. 10.) that has
no fountains, (Cant. iv. 15.) and consequently, is
parched, and all the fruits of it gone to decay.
Thus shall they be, that trust in idols, or in an arm
of flesh, Jer. xvii. 5, 6. But they that trust in God
never find him as a wilderness, or as waters that
fail, Jer. ii. 31.
Seco?idly, They shall not be able to help them¬
selves; (r. 31.) Fven the strong man shall be as tow;
not only soon broken, and pulled to pieces, but easily
catching fire; and his work, (so the margin reads
it,) that by which he hopes to fortify and secure
himself, shall be as a spark to his own tow, shall
set him on fire, and he and his wofk shall burn to¬
gether. His own counsels shall be his ruin; his own
sin kindles the fire of God’s wrath, which shall burn
to the lowest hell, and none shall quench it. When
the sinner has made himself as tow and stubble,
and God makes himself to him as a consuming fire,
what can prevent the utter ruin of the sinner?
Now all this is applicable, 1. To the blessed work
of reformation, which was wrought in Hezekiah’s
time, after the abominable corruptions of the reign
of Ahaz. Then good men came to be preferred, and
the faces of the wicked were filled with shame. 2.
To their return out of their captivity in Babylon,
which had thoroughly cured them of idolatry. 3.
To the gospel-kingdom, and the pouring out of the
Spirit, by which the New Testament church should
be made a new' Jerusalem, a city of righteousness.
4. To the second coming of Christ, when he shall
thoroughly purge his floor, his field, shall gather
the wheat into his barn, into his garner, and burn
the chaff, the tares, with unquenchable fire.
CHAP. II.
With this chapter begins a new sermon, which is continu¬
ed in the two following: chapters. The subject of thi*
discourse is Judah and Jerusalem, v. 1. In this chapter,
the prophet speaks, I. Of the glory of the Christians, Je
rusalem, the gospel-church in the la! ter days, in the ac¬
cession of many to it, (v. 2, 3.) and the great peace it
should introduce into the world, (v. 4.) whence he infers
the duty of the bouse of Jacob, v. 5. II. Of the shame
of the Jews, Jerusalem, as it then was, and as it would
1 be after its rejecting of the gospel, and being rejected o i
ISAIAH, 11.
God. 1. Their ain was their shame, v. 6..9. 2. God
by his judgments would humble them, and put them to
hame, v. 10. . 17. They should themselves be ashamed
of their confidence in their idols, and in an arm of flesh,
v. 19 . . 22. And now which of these Jerusalems will we
be the inhabitants of? Thai, which is full of the knowledge
of God, which will be our everlasting honour, or that
which is full of horses and chariots, and silver and gold,
and such idols, which will, in the end, be our shame.
I. npHE word that Isaiah the son of
A Amoz saw concerning Judah and
Jerusalem. 2. And it shall come to pass
in the last days, that the mountain of the
Lord’s house shall be established in the top
of the mountains, and shall be exalted
above the hills; and all nations shall flow
unto it. 3. And many people shall go and
say, Come ye, and let us go up to the moun¬
tain of the Lord, to the house of the God
of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways,
and we will walk in his paths: for out of
Zion shall go forth the law, and the word
of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4. And he
shall judge among the nations, and shall re¬
buke many people ; and they shall beat their
swords into ploughshares, and their spears
into pruning-hooks : nation shall not lift up
sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war any more. 5. O house of Jacob,
come ye, and let us walk in the light of the
Lord.
The particular title of this sermon, ( v . 1.) is the
same with the general title of the book; (ch. i. 1.)
only that what is there called the vision, is here
called the word which Isaiah saw, or the matter
or thing, which he saw, the truth of which he had
as full an assurance of in his own mind, as if he had
seen it with his bodily eyes. Or, this word was
brought to him in a vision, he saw something, when
he received this message from God. St. John turn¬
ed to see the voice that spake with him, Rev. i. 12.
This sermon begins with the prophecy relating
to the last days, the days of the Messiah, when
his kingdom should be set up in the world, at
the latter end of the Mosaic economy. In the
last days of the earthly Jerusalem, just before the
destruction of it, this heavenly Jerusalem should be
erected, Heb. xii. 22. Gal. iv. 26. Note, Gospel-
times are the last days. For, 1. They were long in
coming, were a great time waited for by the Old
Testament saints, and came at last. 2. We are not
to look for any dispensation of divine grace, but
what we have in the gospel, Gal. i. 8, 9. 3. We
are to look for the second coming of Jesus Christ at
the end of time, as the Old Testament saints did
for his first coming; this is the last time, 1 John ii. 18.
Now the prophet here foretells,
I. The setting up of the Christian church, and
the planting of the Christian religion in the world.
Christianity shall then be the mountain of the Lord’s
house; where that, is professed, God will grant his
presence, receive his people’s homage, and grant
instruction and blessing, as he did of old in the tem¬
ple of Mount Zion. The gospel-church, incorpo-
r ited by Christ’s charter, shall then be the ren¬
dezvous of all the spiritual seed of Abraham. Now
it is here promised, 1. That Christianity shall be
openly preached and professed; it shall be prepared
(so the margin reads it) in the top of the mountains,
in the view and hearing of all. Hence Christ’s disci¬
ples are compared to a city on a hill, which cannot
be hid, Matth. v. 14. They had many eyes upon
them. Christ himself spake openly to the world,
John xviii. 20. What the apostles did, was not
done in a comer, Acts xxvi. 26. It was the light¬
ing of a beacon, the setting up of a standard. Its
being ever)' where spoken against, supposes that it
was every where spoken of. 2. That it shall be
firmly fixed and rooted; that it shall be established
on the top of the everlasting mountains, built upon
a rock, so that the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it, unless they could pluck up mountains by
the roots. He that dwells safely, is said to dwell
on high, ch. xxxiii. 16. The Lord has founded the
gospei-Zion. 3. That it shall not only overcome
all opposition, but overtop all competition; it shall
be exalted above the hills. This wisdom of God
in a mystery shall outshine all the wisdom of
this world, all its philosophy, and all its politics.
The spiritual worship which it shall introduce,
shall put down the idolatries of the heathen; and
all other institutions in religion shall appear mean
and despicable, in comparison with this. See Ps.
lxviii. 16. Why leap ye, ye high hills ? This is the
hill which God desires to dwell in.
II. The bringing in of the Gentiles into it; 1.
The nations shall be admitted into it, even the un¬
circumcised, who were forbidden to ceme into the
courts of the temple at Jerusalem; the partition-
wall, which kept them out, kept them off, shall be
taken down. 2. sill nations shall flow into it; hav¬
ing liberty of access, they shall improve their li¬
berty, and multitudes shall embrace the Christian
faith. They sh ill flow into it, as streams of water;
which denotes the abundance of converts that the
gospel should make, and their speed and cheerful¬
ness in coming into the church. They shall not be
forced into it, but shall naturally flow into it. Thy
people shall be wilting; all volunteers, Ps. cx. 3.
To Christ shall the gathering of the people be, Gen.
xlix. 10. See ch. lx. 4, 5.
III. The mutual assistance and encouragement
which this confluence of converts shall give to one
another. Their pirus affections and resolutions
shall be so intermixed, that they shall come in,
in one full stream. As when the Jews from all
parts of the country went up thrice a year to wor¬
ship at Jerusalem, they called cn their friends in
the road, and excited them to go along with them,
so shall many of the Gentiles court their relations,
friends, and neighbours, to join with them in em¬
bracing the Christian religion; (v. 3.) “ Come, and
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord; though it
be up hill, and against heart, yet it is the mountain
of the Lord, who will assist the ascent ef our srub
toward him.” Note, Those that are entering into
covenant and communion with God themselves,
should bring as many as they can along with them:
it becomes Christians to provoke one another to
good works, and to further the communion of saints
by inviting one another into it: not, “ Do veu go up
to the mountain of the Lord, and pray for us, and
we will stay at home;” nor, “ We will go, and do
you as you will;” but, “ Come, and let us go, let
us go in concert, that we may strengthen one an¬
other’s hands, and support one another’s reputa¬
tion:” not, “ We will consider of it, and advise
about it, and go hereafter;” but, “ Come, and let
us go forthwith ,” Ps. exxii. 1. Many shall say this;
those that have had it said to them, shall say it to
others. The gospel-church is here called, not only
the mountain of the Lord, but the house of the God
of Jacob; for in it God’s covenant with Jaorb and
his praying seed is kept up, and has its acccmplish-
ment; for to us now, as unto them, he never said,
Seek ye me, in vain, ch. xlv. 19.
Now see here, 1, What they promise them¬
selves, in going up to the mountain of the 1 vj,
ISAIAH, II. 23
There hi will teach us of his ways. Note, God’s
ways are to be learned in his church, in communion
with his people, and in the use of instituted ordi¬
nances; the ways of duty, which he requires us to
walk, in, the ways of grace, in which he walks to¬
wards us. It is God that teaches his people, by his
word and Spirit. It is worth while to take pains to
go up to his holy mountain, to be taught his ways,
tor those who are willing to take that pains, shall
never find it labour in vain. Then shall we know,
if we follow on to know, the Lord. 2. What they
p romise for themselves, and one another; “ If he
will teach us his ivays, we will walk in his paths;
if he will let us know our duty, we will by his grace
make conscience of doing it.” Those who attend
God’s word with this humble resolution, shall not
be sent away without their lesson.
IV. The means by which this shall be brought
about; Out of Zion shall go forth the law, the New
Testament law, the law of Christ; as, of old, the
law of Moses from mount Sinai, even the word of
the Lord from Jerusalem. The gospel is a law, a
law of faith; it is the word of the Lord; it went
forth from Zion, where the temple was built, and
from Jerusalem. Christ himself began in Galilee,
Matth. iv. 23. Luke xxiii. 5. But when he com¬
missioned his apostles to preach the gospel to all na¬
tions, he appointed them to begin at Jerusalem,
Luke xxiv. 47. See Rom. xv. 19. Though most
of them had their home in Galilee, yet they must
stay at Jerusalem, there to receive the promise of
the Spirit, Acts i. 4. And in the temple on Mount
Zion they preached the gospel, Acts v. 20. This
honour was allowed to Jerusalem, even after Christ
was crucified there, for the sake of what it had
been. And it was by this gospel which took rise
from Jerusalem, that the gospel-church was estab¬
lished on the top of the mountains. This was the
rod of divine strength, that was sent forth out of
Zion, Ps. cx. 2.
V. The erecting of the kingdom of the Re¬
deemer in the world; He shall judge among the na¬
tions. He whose word goes forth out of Zion, shall
by that word not only subdue souls to himself, but
rule in them, v. 4. He shall, in wisdom and justice,
order and overrule the affairs of the world for the
good of his church, and rebuke and restrain those
that oppose his interest. By his Spirit working on
men’s consciences, he shall judge and rebuke, shall
try men, and check them; his kingdom is spiritual,
and not of this world.
VI. The great peace which should be the effect
of the success of the gospel in the world; (y. 4.)
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares;
their instruments of war shall be converted into im¬
plements of husbandry; as, on the contrary, when
war is proclaimed, ploughshares are beaten into
swords, Joel iii. 10. Nation shall not then lift up
sword against nation, as now they do, neither shall
they learn war any more, for they shall have no
more occasion for it. This does not make all war
absolutely unlawful among Christians, nor is it a
prophecy that in the days of the Messiah there
shall be no wars. The Jew* urge this against
Christians, as an argument that Jesus is not the
Messiah, because this promise is not fulfilled. But,
1. It was in part fulfilled in the peaceableness of
the time in which Christ was bom, when wars were
in a great measure ceased; witness the taxing,
Luke ii. 1. 2. The design and tendency of the
gospel are to make peace, and to slay all enmities.
It has in it the most powerful obligations and in¬
ducements to peace; so that one might reasonably
have expected it should have had this effect, and it
would have had it, if it had not been for those lusts
of men, from which come wars and fightings. 3.
Jews and Gentiles were reconciled, and brought to- 1
gether, by the gospel, and there were no more such
wars between them as had been; for they became
one sheep-fold under one shepherd, Eph. ii. 15. 4.
The gospel of Christ, as far as it prevails, disposes
men to be peaceable, softens men’s spirits, and
sweetens them; and the love of Christ, shed abroad
in the heart, constrains men to love one another.
5. The primitive Christians were famous for bro¬
therly love; their very adversaries took notice of it.
6. We have reason to hope that this promise shall
yet have a more full accomplishment in the latter
times of the Christian church, when the Spirit shall
be poured out more plentifully from on high. Then
there shall be on earth peace. Who shall live when
God doeth this? But do it he will in due time, for
he is not a man that he should lie.
Lastly, Here is a practical inference drawn from
all this; (v. 5.) O house of Jacob, come ye and let us
walk in the light of the Lord. By the house of Ja¬
cob is meant either, 1. Israel 'according to the flesh.
Let them be provoked by this to a holy emulation.
Rom. xi. 14. “Seeing the Gentiles are thus ready,
and resolved for God, thus forward to go up to the
house of the Lord, let us stir up ourselves to go too.
Let it never be said that the sinners of the Gentiles
were better friends to the holy mountain, than the
house of Jacob.” Thus the zeal of some should
rovoke many. Or, 2. Spiritual Israel, all that are
rought to the God of Jacob. Shall there be such
great knowledge in gospel times, (x>. 3.) and such
great peace? ( v . 4.) And shall we share in these
privileges? Come, then, and let us live accordingly.
Whatever others do, come, O come, let us walk in
the light of the I^ord. (1.) Let us walk circum¬
spectly in the light of this knowledge. Will God
teach us his ways? will he show us his glory in the
face of Christ* Let us then walk as the children of
the light and of the day, Eph. v. 8. 1 Thess. v. 8.
Rom. xiii. 12. (2.) Let us walk circumspectly in the
light of this peace. Shall there be no more war?
Let us then go on our way rejoicing, and let this jov
terminate in God, and be’our strength, Neh. viii. 10.
Thus shall we walk in the beams of the Sun of
righteousness.
6. Therefore thou hast forsaken thy peo¬
ple, the house of Jacob, because they be
replenished from the east, and are sooth
sayers like the Philistines, and they please
themselves in the children of strangers. 7.
Their land also is full of silver and gold,
neither is there any end of their treasures;
their land is also full of horses, neither is
there any end of their chariots. 8. Their
land also is full of idols; they worship the
work ot their own hands, that which their
own fingers have made. 9. And the mean
man boweth down, and the great man hum-
bleth himself: therefore forgive them not.
The calling in of the Gentiles was accompanied
with the rejection of the Jews; it was their fall, and
the diminishing of them, that was the riches of the
Gentiles; and the casting off of them, that was the
reconciling of the world; (Rom. xi. 12- - 15. ) and it
should seem that these verses have reference to
that, and are designed to justify God therein; and
yet, probably, they are primarily intended for the
convincing and awakening of the men of that gene¬
ration in which the prophet lived; it being usual
with the prophets to speak of the things that then
were, both in mercy and judgment, as types of the
things that should be hereafter. Here is,
I. Israel’s doom ; this is set forth in two words.
34 ISAIAH, 11.
ilie first and last of this paragraph; but they are two I
dreadful words, and which speak, 1. Their case [
sad, very sad; (y. 6.) Therefore thou hast forsaken
thy people. Miserable is the condition of that peo¬
ple whom God has forsaken, and great certainly
must the provocation be, if he forsake those that
have been his own people. This was the deplora¬
ble state of the Jewish church after they had re¬
jected Christ; Migremus hinc — Let us go hence.
Your house is left unto you desolate, Matth. xxiii.
38. Whenever anv sore calamity came upon the
Jews, thus far the Lord might be said to forsake
them, when he withdrew his help and succour from
them, else they had not fallen into the hands of
their enemies. But God never leaves any till they
first leave him. 2. Their case desperate, wholly
desperate; ( v . 9.) Therefore forgive them not.
This prophetical prayer amounts to a threatening,
that they should not be forgiven: and so some think
it may be read, And thou wilt not forgive them.
This refers not to particular persons, (many of
whom repented, and were pardoned,) but to the
body of that nation against whom an irreversible
doom was passed, that they should be wholly cut
off, and their church quite dismantled, never to be
formed into such a body again, nor ever to have
their old charter restored to them.
II. Israel’s desert of this doom, and the reasons
upon which it is grounded; in general, it is sin; that
is it, and nothing but that which provokes God to for¬
sake his people. The particular sins he specifies, are
such as abounded among them at that time, which
he makes mention of for the conviction of those to
whom he then preached, rather than that which
afterward proved the measure-filling sin, their cru¬
cifying of Christ, and persecuting of his followers;
tor the sins of every age contributed toward the
making up of the dreadful account at last. And
there was a partial and temporary rejection of
them by the captivity in Babylon hastening on,
which was a type of their final destruction by the
Romans, and which the sins here mentioned brought
upon them.
Their sins were such as directly contradicted
all God’s kind and gracious designs concerning
them.
1. God set them apart for himself, as a peculiar
people distinguished from, and dignified above, all
other people; (Numb, xxiii. 9.) but they were re¬
plenished from the east; they naturalized foreign¬
ers, not proselyted; and encouraged them to settle
among them, and mingled with them, Hos. vii. 8.
Their country was peopled with Syrians and Chal¬
deans, Moabites and Ammonites, and other eastern
nations, and with them they admitted the fashions
and customs of those nations, and pleased themselves
in the children of strangers, were fond of them, pre¬
ferred their country before their own, and thought
that the more they conformed to them, the more
polite and refined they were; thus did they profane
their crown and their covenant. Note, Those are
in danger of being estranged from God, who please
themselves with those who are strangers to him,
for we soon learn the ways of those whose company
we love.
2. God gave them his oracles, which they might
ask counsel of, not only the scriptures, and the seers,
hut the breast-plate o'f judgment; but they slighted
these, and became soothsayers like the Philistines,
introduced their arts of divination, and hearkened
to those who, by the stars, or the clouds, or the
flight of birds, or the entrails of beasts, or other
magic superstitions, pretended to discover things se¬
cret, or foretell things to come; the Philistines were
noted for diviners, 1 Sam. vi. 2. Note, Those who
slight true divinity, are justlv given up to lying di¬
vinations; and they will certainly be forsaken of
!' God, who thus forsake him and their own mercies
1 ! for lying vanities.
3. God encouraged them to put their confidence
in him, and assured them th.it he would be their
Wealth and Strength; but, disti-usting his power
and promise, they made gold their hope, and fur¬
nished themselves with horses and chariots, and re
lied upon them for their safety, x>. 7. God had ex¬
pressly forbidden even their kings to multiply horses
to themselves, and greatly to multiply silver and
gold, because he would have them to depend upon
liimself only; but they did not think their interest in
God made them a match for their neighbours, unless
they had as full treasures of silver and gold, and as
formid; ble hosts of chariots and horses, as they had.
It is not having silver and gold, horses and chariots,
that is a provocation to God, but, (1.) Desiring
them insatiably, so that there is no end of the trea¬
sures, no end of the chariots, no bounds or limits
set to the desire of them. Those shall never have
enough in God, (who alone is all-suflicient,) that
never know when they have enough of this world,
which, at the best, is insufficient. (2.) Depending
upon them, as if we could not be safe, and easy, and
happy, without them, and could not but be so with
them.
4. God himself was their God, the sole Object of
their worship, and he himself 'instituted ordinances
of worship for them; but they slighted both him
and his instljAions; (m 8. ) their land was full of
idols, every city had its god, (Jer. xi. 13.) and, ac¬
cording to the goodness of their lands, they made
goodly images, Hos. x. 1. They that think one
Gcd too little, will find two too many, and yet hun¬
dreds not sufficient; for they that love idols, will
multiply them; so sottish were they, and so wretch¬
edly infatuated, that they worshipped the work of
their own hands; as if that could be a god to them,
which was not only a creature, but their creature,
and that which their own fancies had devised, and
their own fingers had made. It was an aggravation
of their idolatry, that God had enriched them with
silver and gold, and yet of that silver and gold they
made idols; so it was, Jeshurun waxed fat, and
kicked, Hos. ii. 8.
5. God had advanced them, and put honour upon
them; but they basely diminished and disparaged
themselves; (r. 9.) The mean man boweth down to
his idol; a thing below the meanest that have any
spark of reason left them. Sin is a disparagement
to the poorest, and those of the lowest rank. It be¬
comes the mean man to bow down to his superiors,
but it ill becomes him to bow down to the stock of a
tree, ch. xhv. 19. Nor is it only the illiterate and
poor-spirited that do this, but even the great man
forgets his grandeur, and humbles himself to wor¬
ship idols, deifies men no better than himself, and
consecrates stones so much baser than himself.
Idolaters are said to debase themselves even to hell,
ch. lvii. 9. What a shame is it, that great men
think the service of the true God below them, and
will not stoop to it; and yet will humble themselves
to bow down to an idol! Some make this a threaten¬
ing, that the mean men shall be brought down, and
the great men humbled, by the judgments cf God,
when they come with commission.
10. Enter into the rock, and hide thee in
the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the
glory of his majesty. 11. The lofty loo s
of man shall be humbled, and the haughti¬
ness of men shall be bowed down ; and the
Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
12. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall
be upon every one that is proud and lofty.
25
ISAIAH, 11.
and ipon every one that is lifted up, and he |
si tall be brought low ; 13. And upon all the
cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted '
up, and upon all tbe oaks of Bashan. 14.
And upon all the high mountains, and upon
all the hills that are lifted up. 15. And
upon every high tower, and upon every
fenced wail, 16. And upon all the ships
of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
1 7. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed
down, and the haughtiness of men shall be
made low; and the Lord alone shall be
exalted in that day. 18. And the idols he
shall utterly abolish. 19. And they shall
go into the holes of the rocks, and into the
caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and
for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth
to shake terribly the earth. 20. In that day
a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his
idols of gold, which they made each one for
himself to worship, to the moles, and to the
bats; 21. To go into the clefts of the rocks,
and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for
fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his ma¬
jesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the
earth. 22. Cease ye from man, whose
breath is in his nostrils ; for wherein is he to
be accounted of?
The prophet here goes on to show what desola¬
tions would be brought upon their land, when God
had forsaken them; which may refer particularly to
their destruction by the Chaldeans first, and after¬
wards by the Romans; or it may have a general
respect to the method God takes to awaken and
humble proud sinners, and to put them out of con¬
ceit with that which they delighted in, and depend¬
ed on, more than God.
We are here told, that, sooner or later, God will
find out a way,
I. To startle and awaken secure sinners, who cry
peace to themselves, and bid defiance to God and
his judgments; (v. 10.) “ Enter into the rock; God
will attack you with such terrible judgments, and
strike you with such terrible apprehensions of them,
that you shall be forced to enter into the rock and
hide you in the dust, for fear of the Lord. You
shall lose all your courage, and tremble at the shak¬
ing of a leaf; your heart shall fail you for fear,
(Luke xxi. 26. j and you shall flee when none pur¬
sues," Prov. xxviii. 1. To the same purport, v. 19.
They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into
the caves of tie earth, the darkest, and the deepest,
places; they shall call to the rocks and mountains
to fall on them, and rather crash them than not co¬
ver them, Hos. x. 8. It was so particularly at the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, (Lukexxiii.
30.) and of the persecuting pagan powers, Rev. vi.
16. And all, for fear of the Lord and of the glory
of his majesty, looking upon him then to be a con¬
suming fire, and themselves as stubble before him,
when he arises to shake terribly the earth, to shake
the wicked out of it, (Job xxxviii. 13.) and to shake
all those earthly props and supports which they
have buoved themselves up with, to shake them
from under them. Note, 1. With God is terrible
majesty, and the glory of it is such as, sooner or la¬
ter, will oblige us all to flee before him. 2. Those
that will not fear God, and flee to him, will be forced
Vol. iv. — D
to fear him, and flee from him to a refuge of lies,
3. It is folly for those that are pursued by the
wrath of God, to think to escape it, and to hide or
to shelter themselves from it. 4. The things of the
earth are things that will be shaken; they are sub¬
ject to concussions, and hastening towards a dissolu¬
tion. 5. The shaking of the earth is, and will be, a
terrible thing to those who set their affections wholly
on things of the earth. 6. It will be in vain to
think of finding refuge in the caves of the earth,
when the earth itself is shaken; there will be no
shelter then but in God, and in things above.
II. To humble and abase proud sinners, that look
big, and think highly of themselves, and scornfully
of all about them; ( v . 11.) The lofty looks of man
shall be humbled; the eyes that aim high, the coun¬
tenance in which the pride of the heart shows itself,
these shall be cast down in shame and despair.
And the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
their spirits shall be broken, and they shall be
crest-fallen, and those things which they were
proud of the)- shall be ashamed of. It is repeated
again, (v. 17.) The loftiness of man shall be bowed
down. Note, Pride will, one way or other, have a
fall. Men’s haughtiness will be brought down,
either by the grace of God convincing them of the
evil of their pride, and clothing them with humility,
or by the providence of God depriving them of all .
those things they were proud of, and laying them
low. Our Saviour often laid it down for a maxim,
that he who exalts himself shall be abased; he shall
either abase himself in true repentance, or God will
abase him, and pour contempt upon him. Now
here we are told,
1. Why this shall be done; because the Lord alone
will be exalted. Note, Therefore proud men shall
be vilified, because the Lord alone will be magnified.
It is for the honour of God’s power to humble the
proud; by this he proves himself to be God, and
disproves Job’s pretensions to rival with him; (Job
xl. 11* • 14.) Behold every one that is proud, and.
abase him; then will I also confess unto thee. It is
likewise for the honour of his justice; proud men
stand in competition with God, who is jealous for his
own glory, and will not suffer men either to take
that to themselves, or give it to another, which is
due to him only ; they likewise stand in opposition
to God, they resist him, and therefore he resists
them; for he will be exalted among the heathen,
Ps. xlvi. 10. And there is a day coming in which
he alone will be exalted, when he shall have put
down all opposing rule, principality, and power, 1
Cor. xv. 24.
2. How this shall be done; by humbling judg¬
ments, that shall mortify men, and bring them
down; ( v . 12.) The day of the Lord of hosts, the
dav of his wrath and judgment, shall be upon every
one that is proud; and therefore he now laughs at
their insolence, because he sees that his day is com¬
ing; this dav, which will be upon them ere they are
aware, Ps. xxxvii. 13. This day of the Lord is
here said to be upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that
are high and lifted up. Jerom observes that the
cedars are said to praise God, (Ps. cxlviii. 9.) and
are trees of the Lord, (Ps. civ. 16.) of his planting;
(Isa. xli. 19.) and yet here God’s wrath fastens up¬
on the cedars, which denotes (says he) that some of
every rank of men, some great men, will be saved,
and some perish. It is brought in as an instance of
the strength of God’s voice, that it breaks the cedars;
(Ps. xxix. 5.) and here the day of the Lord is said
to be upon the cedars, those of Lebanon, that were
the straightest and stateliest; upon the oaks, those
of Bashan, that were the strongest and sturdiest;
and (r>. 14.) upon the natural elevations and for¬
tresses, the high mountains, and the hills that arc
lifted up, that overtop the valleys, and seem tt
< 20
ISAIAH, II.
push the skies; and ( v . 15.) upon the artificial fast¬
nesses, every high tower, and every fenced wall.
Understand these,
( 1. ) As representing the proud people themselves,
that are like the cedars and the oaks, in their own
apprehensions firmly rooted, and not to be stirred
by any storm, and looking on all around them as
shrubs; these are the high mountains and the lofty
hills, that seem to fill the earth, that are gazed on
by all, and think themselves immoveable, but lie
most obnoxious to God’s thunderstrokes; Feriunt-
que summos fulmina monies — The highest hills are
most exfiosed to lightning. And before the power
of God’s wrath these mountains are scattered, and
these hills bow and melt like wax, Hab. iii. 6. Ps.
lxviii. 8. These vaunting men, who are as high
towers in which the noisy bells are hung, on which
the thundering murdering cannon are planted, these
fenced walls, that fortify themselves with their na¬
tive hardiness, and intrench themselves in their fast¬
nesses, they shall be brought down.
(2.) As particularizing the things they are proud
of, in which they trust, and of which they make
their boasts. The day of the Lord shall be upon
those very things which they put their confidence in
as their strength and security; he will take from
them all their armour wherein they trusted. Did
the inhabitants of Lebanon glory in their cedars,
and those of Bashan in their oaks, such as no coun¬
try could equal? The day of the Lord should rend
those cedars, those oaks, and the houses built of
them. Did Jerusalem glory in the mountains that
were round about it, as its impregnable fortifica¬
tions, or in its walls and bulwarks? These should
be levelled, and laid low in the day of the Lord.
Beside those things that were for their strength
and safety, they were proud, [1.] Of their trade
abroad; but the day of the Lord shall be upon all
the ships of Tarshish, they shall be broken as Je-
hoshaph it’s were, shall founder at sea, or be ship¬
wrecked in the harbour. Zebulun was a haven of
ships, but should now no more rejoice in his going
out. When God is bringing ruin upon a people, he
sinks all the branches of their revenue. [2. ] Of
their ornaments at home; but the day of the Lord
shall be upon all pleasant pictures, the painting of
their ships, (so some understand it,) or the curious
pieces of painting they brought home in their ships
from other countries, perhaps from Greece, which
afterward was famous for painters. Upon every
thing that is beautiful to behold, so some read it.
Perhaps they were the pictures of their relations,
and, for that reason, pleasant, or of their gods,
which to the idolaters were delectable things; or
they admired them for the fineness of their colours
or strokes. There is no harm in making pictures,
or in adorning our rooms with them, provided they
transgress not either the second or the seventh com¬
mandment. But to place our pictures among our
pleasant things, to be fond of them and proud of
them, to spend that upon them that should be laid
out in charity, and to set our hearts upon them, as
it ill becomes those who have so many substantial
things to take pleasure in, so it provokes God to
strip us all of such vain ornaments.
III. To make idolaters ashamed of their idols,
and of all the affection they have had for them, and
the respect they have paid to them; ( v . 18.) The
idols he shall utterly abolish. When the Lord alone
shall be exalted, ( v . 17. ) he will not only pour con¬
tempt upon proud men, who, like Pharaoh, exalt
themselves against him, but much more upon all
pretended deities, who are rivals with him for di¬
vine honours; they shall be abolished, utterly abol¬
ished; their friends shall desert them, their enemies
shall destroy them, so that, one way or other, an
utter riddance shall be made of them. See here, 1.
The vanity of false gods; they cannot secure them
selves, so far are they from being able to secure
their worshippers. 2. The victory of the true Gcd
over them; for great is the truth, and will prevail.
Dagon fell before the ark, and Baal before the Lord
God of Elijah. The gods of the heathen shall be
famished, (Zeph. ii. 11.) and by degrees shall pe¬
rish, Jer. x. 11. The rightful Sovereign shall tri¬
umph over all pretenders.
And as God will abolish idols, so their worship¬
pers shall abandon them; either from a gracious
conviction of their vanity and falsehood, (as Ephraim,
when he said. What have I to do any more with
idols?) or from a late and sad experience of their
inability to help them, and a woful despair of relief
by them, v. 20. When men are themselves fright¬
ened by the judgments of God into the holes of the
rocks and the caves of the earth, and find that they
do thus in vain shift for their own safety, they shall
cast their idols, which they had made their gods,
and hoped to make their friends in the time of need,
to the moles and to the bats, any whither out cf
sight, that, being freed from the incumbrance of
them, they may go into the clefts of the rocks, for
fear of the Lord, v. 21. Note, (1.) Those that
will not be reasoned out of their sins, sooner or later
shall be frightened out of them. (2. ) God can make
men sicx of those idols that they have been most
fond of; even the idols of silver, and the idols of geld,
the most precious. Covetous men make silver and
gold their idols, money their god; but the time may
come when they may feel it as much their burthen
as ever they made it their confidence, and may find
themselves as much exposed by it as ever they hop¬
ed they should be guarded by it, when it tempts
their enemy, sinks their ship, or retards their flight;
there was a time when the mariners threw the
wares, and even the wheat, into the sea; (Jonah i.
5. Actsxxvii. 38.) and the Syrians cast away their
garments for haste, 2 Kings vii. 15. Or men may
cast it away out of indignation at themselves for
leaning upon such a broken reed. See Ezek. vii.
19. The idolaters here throw away their idols,
because they are ashamed of them, and of their own
folly in trusting to them; or because they are afraid
of having them found in their possession when the
judgments of God are abroad; as the thief throws
away his stolen goods, when he is searched for or
pursued. (3.) The darkest holes, where the moles
and the bats lodge, are the fittest places for idols,
that have eyes, and see not; and God can force men
to cast their own idols there, ( ch . xxx. 22.) when
they are ashamed if the oaks which they have de¬
sired, ch. i. 29. Moab shall be ashamed of Che-
mosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Beth-el,
Jer. xlviii. 13. (4.) It is possible that sin may be
both loathed and left, and yet not truly repented of;
loathed, because surfeited on; left, because there is
no opportunity of committing it; yet not repented
of out of any love to God, but only from a slavish
fear of his wrath.
IV. T o make those that have trusted in an arm
of flesh, ashamed of their confidence; (v. 22.)
“ Cease ye from man. The providences of God con¬
cerning you shall speak this aloud to you, and there
fore take warning beforehand, that you may pre¬
vent the uneasiness and shame of a disappointment;
and consider,” 1. How weak man is; His breath is
in his nostrils, puffed out every moment, soon gone
for good and all. Man is a dying creature, and may
die quickly; our nostrils, in which our breath is,
are of the outward parts of the body; what is there
is like one standing at the door, ready to depart,
nay, the doors of the nostrils are always open, the
breath in them may slip away, ere we are aware,
in a moment. Wherein is man then to be account
ed of? Alas, no reckoning is to be made of him.
27
ISAIAH, III.
for lie is not what he seems to be, what he pretends
to be, what we fancy him to be. Man is like to
vanity, nay, he is vanity, he is altogether vanity, he
is less, he is lighter, than vanity, when weighed in
the balance of the sanctuary. 2. How wise there¬
fore they are that cease from man; it is our duty,
it is our interest, to do so. “ Put not your trust in
man, nor make even the greatest and mightiest of
men your confidence; cease to do so. Let not your
eye be to the power of man, for it is finite and limit¬
ed, derived and depending; it is not from him that
vour judgment proceeds: let not him be your fear,
let not him be your hope; but look up to the power
of God, to which all the powers of men are subject
and subordinate; dread his wrath, secure his favour,
take him for your Help, and let your ho/. le be in the
Lord your God.”
CHAP. III.
The prophet, in this chapter, goes on to foretell the desola¬
tions that were coming upon Judah and Jerusalem for
their sins, both that by the Babylonians, and that which
completed their ruin by the Romans; with some of the
grounds of God’s controversy with them. God threatens,
1. To deprive them of all the supports, both of their life
and of their government, v. 1 . . 3. II. To leave them to
fall into confusion and disorder, v. 4, 5, 12. III. To
deny them the blessings of magistracy, v. 6 . . 8. IV. To
strip the daughters of Zion of their ornaments, v. 1 7 . . 24.
V. To lay all waste by the sword of war, v. 25, 26. The
sins that provoked God to deal thus with them, were,
1. Their defiance of God, v. 8. 2. Their impudence, v.
9. 3. The abuse of power to oppression and tyranny, v.
13 . . 15. The pride of the daughters of Zion, v. 16. In
the midst of the chapter, the prophet is directed how to
apply himself to particular persons. (1.) To assure good
people that it should be well with them, notwithstanding
those general calamities, v. 10. (2.) To assure wicked
people that, however God might, in judgment, remember
mercy, yet it should go ill with them, v. 11. O that the
nations of the earth, at this day, would hearken to the
rebukes and warnings which this chapter gives !
I. ~B7'OR, behold, the Lord, the Lord
JC of hosts, doth take away from Jeru¬
salem, and from Judah, the stay and the
staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole
stay of water. 2. The mighty man, and the
man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and
the prudent, and the ancient, 3. The cap¬
tain of fifty, and the honourable man, and
the counsellor, and the cunning artificer,
and the eloquent orator. 4. And I will
give children to be their princes, and babes
shall rule over them. 5. And the people
shall be oppressed, every one by another,
and every one by his neighbour: the child
shall behave himself proudly against the an¬
cient, and the base against the honourable.
6. When a man shall take hold of his bro¬
ther, of the house of his father, saying, Thou
hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this
ruin be under thy hand: 7. In that day
shall he swear, saying, I will not be a healer:
for in my house is neither bread nor cloth¬
ing: make me not a ruler of the people.
3. For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is
fallen ; because their tongue and their do¬
ings are against the Lord, to provoke the
eyes of his glory.
t he prophet, in the clr se of the foregoing chap¬
ter, h id given a necessary caution to all, net to put
confidence in man, or any creature; he had also
given a general reason for that caution, taken from
the frailty of human life, and the vanity and weak¬
ness of human powers: here he gives a particular
reason for it — God was now about to ruin all their
creature-confidences, so that they should meet with
nothing but disappointments in all their expecta¬
tions from them, v. 1. The stay and the stun shall
be taken away; all their supports, of what kind so¬
ever, all the things they trusted to, and looked for
help and relief from. Their church and kingdom
were grown old, and going to decay, and they were
(after the manner of aged men, Zech. viii. 4.) lean¬
ing on a staff; now God threatens to take away
their staff, and then they must fall of course; to
take away the stays both of the city and of the
country, of Jerusalem and of Judah, which are in¬
deed stays to one another, and if one fail, the other
feels from it.
He that does this, is the Lord, the Lord of hosts;
Adon, the Lord that is himself the Stay or Founda¬
tion; if that Stay depart, all other stays certainly
break under us, for he is the Strength of them all.
He that is the Lord, the Ruler, that has authority
to do it, and the Lord of hosts, that has ability to
do it, he shall take away the stay and the staff. St.
Jerom refers this to the sensible decay of the Jew¬
ish nation, after they had crucified our Savieur,
Rom. xi. 9, 10. I rather take it as a warning to
all nations not to provoke God: for if they make
him their Enemy, he can, and will, thus make them
miserable. Let us view the particulars:
I. Was their plenty a support to them? It is so
to any people; bread is the staff of life: but God
can take away the whole stay of bread, and the
whole stay of water; and it is just with him to do so,
when fulness of bread becomes an iniquity, (Ezek.
xvi. 49.) and that which was given to be provision
for the life, is made provision for the lusts. He can
take away the bread and the water, by withholding
the rain, Deut. xxviii. 23, 24. Or, if he allow them,
he can take away the stay of bread and the stay
of water, by withholding this blessing, by which man
lives, and not by bread only, and which is the staff of
bread; (Matt. iv. 4.) and then the bread is not nour¬
ishing, the water not refreshing, Hag. i. 6. Christ
is the bread of life and the water of life; if he be
our Stay, we shall find that a good part not to be
taken away, John vi. 27. ch. iv. 14.
II. Was their army a support to them — their
generals and commanders, and military men?
These shall be taken away: either cut erf by the
sword, or so discouraged with the defeats they meet
with, that they shall throw up their commissions,
and resolve to act no more; or they shall be disabled
by sickness, or dispirited, so as to be unfit for busi¬
ness; the mighty man, and the man of war, and
even the inferior officer, the captain of fifty, shall
be removed. It bodes ill with a people when their
valour is lost, and their valiant men. Let not the
strong man therefore glory in his strength, nor any
people trust too much to their mighty men; but let
the strong people glorify God, and the city of the
terrible nations fear him, who can make them weak
and despicable, ch. xxv. 3.
III. W ere their ministers of state a support to
them — their learned men, theirpoliticians, their cler-
gy, their wits and virtuosos? These also should be
taken away; the judges, who were skilled in the laws,
and expert in administering justice, and the pro¬
phets, whom they used to consult in difficult cases,
the prudent, who were celebrated as men of sense
and sagacity above others, and were assistants to tli
judges; the diviners, (so the word is,) those wh •
used unlawful arts, who, though rotten stays, yei
were stayed on; but it may be taken, as we iear
it, in a good sense; the ancients, elders in ag> , ii
28
ISAIAH, III.
office, the honourable man, the gravity of whose
aspect commands reverence, and whose age and
experience make him fit to be a counsellor. Trade
is one great support to a nation, even manufactures
and handicraft trades; and therefore when the old
stay is to be broken, the cunning artificer too shall
be taken away; and the last is the eloquent orator,
the man skilful of speech, who in some cases may
do good service, though he be none of the prudent
or the ancient, by putting the sense of others in good
language; Moses cannot speak well, but Aaron can.
God threatens to take these away, 1. To disable
them for the service of their country; making the
judges fools, taking away the sfieech of the trusty,
and the understanding of the aged. Job xii. 17, 8cc.
Every creature is that to us, that God makes it to
be ; and we cannot be sure that those who have been
serviceable to us, shall always be so. 2. To put an
end to their days; for princes are therefore not to be
trusted in, because their breath goeth forth, Ps.
cxlvi. 3, 4. Note, The removal of useful men by
death, in the midst of their usefulness, is a very
threatening symptom to any people.
IV. Was their government a support to them?
It ought to be so, it is the business of the sovereign
to bear up the pillars of the land, Ps. lxxv. 3. But
it is here threatened that this stay should fail them.
When the mighty men and the prudent are remov¬
ed, Children shall be their princes; children in age,
who must be under tutors and governors, who will
be clashing with one another, and making a prey of
the young king and his kingdom; children in under¬
standing and disposition, childish men, such as are
babes in knowledge, no more fit to rule than a child
in the cradle, these shall rule over them, with all the
folly, fickleness, and frowardness, of a child. And,
reo unto thee, O land, when thy king is such a one!
Ecc.l. x. 16.
V. Was the union of the subjects among them¬
selves, their good order, and the good understanding
and correspondence that they kept with one an¬
other, a stay to them? Where this is, a people may
do better, though their princes be not such as they
should be ; but it is here threatened that God would
send an evil spirit among them too, (as Judg. ix.
23.) which would make them, 1. Injuriousandun-
neighbnurly one towards another; {v. 5.) The peo¬
ple shall be oppressed every one by his neighbour;
and their princes being children, take no care to
restrain the oppressors, or relieve the oppressed;
nor is it to any purpose to appeal to them, (which
is a temptation to every man to be his own avenger;)
and then they bite and devour one another, and will
soon lie consumed one of another. Then Homo ho-
mmi lupus — Man becomes a wolf to man. Jusquc da¬
tum sceleri — Wickedness receives the stamp of law.
jYec hospesab hospite tutus — The guest and the host
are in danger from each other. 2. Insolent and dis¬
orderly towards their superiors. It is as ill an
omen to a people as can be, when the rising genera¬
tion among them are generally untractable, rude,
and ungovernable, when the child behaves himself
proudly against the ancient; whereas he should
rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face
oj theold man, Lev. xix. 32. When young people
are conceited and pert, and carry it scornfully to¬
ward their superiors, it is not only a reproach to
themselves, but of ill consequence to the public; it
slackens the reins of government, and weakens the
hands that hold them. It is likewise ill with a peo¬
ple when persons of honour cannot support their
authority, but are affronted by the base and beg¬
garly; when judges are insulted by the mob, and
their powers set at defiance. Those have a great
deni to answer for, who do this.
VI. Is it some stay, some support, to hope that,
though matters mat' be now ill managed, yet others
! maybe raised up, who may manage better? Yet this
expectation also shall be frustrated, for the case
shall be so desperate, that no man of sense or sub¬
stance will meddle with it.
1. The government shall go a begging, v. 5.
Here, (1. ) It is taken for granted that there is no
way of redressing all these grievances, and bringing
things into order again, but by good magistrates,
who shall be invested with power by common con¬
sent, and shall exert that power for the good cf the
community. And it is probable that this was, in
many places, the true origin of government; men
found it necessary to unite in a subjection to one
who was thought fit for such a trust, in order to the
welfare and safety of them all; being aware that
they must either be ruled or ruined. Here there¬
fore is the original contract; “ Be thou our ruler,
and we will be subject to thee, and let this ruin be
under thy hand, to be repaired and restored, and
then to be preserved and established, and the inter¬
ests of it advanced, ch. lviii. 12. Take care to pro¬
tect us by the sword of war from being injured from
abroad, and by the sword of justice from being in¬
jurious one to another, and we will bear faith and true
allegiance to thee. ” (2. ) The case is represented as
very deplorable, and things were come to a sad pass;
for, [1.] Children being their princes, every man
will think himself fit to prescribe who shall be a ma¬
gistrate, and will be for preferring his own relations;
whereas, if the princes were as they should be, it
would be left entirely to them to nominate the rulers,
as it ought to be. [2.] Men will find themselves un¬
der a necessity even of forcing power into the hands
of those that are thought to be fit for it; a man shall
take hold by violence of one to make him a ruler,
perceiving him ready to resist the motion; nay, he
shall urge it upon his brother; whereas commonly,
men are not willing that their equals should be their
superiors; witness the envy of Joseph’s brethren.
[3.] It will be looked upon as ground sufficient for
the preferring of a man to be a ruler, that he has
clothing better than his neighbours; a very poor
qualification to recommend a man to a place of trust
in the government: it was a sign that the country
was much impoverished, when it was a rare thing
to find a man that had good clothes, or that could
afford to buy himself an alderman’s gown, or a
judge’s robe; and that the people were very un¬
thinking, when they had so much respect to a man
in gay clothing, with a gold ring, (Jam. ii. 2, 3.) that,
for the sake thereof, they would make him their
ruler. It had been some sense to have said, “ Thcu
hast wisdom, integrity, experience; be thou cur
ruler;” but it was a jest to say, Thou hast clothing;
be thou our ruler. A poor wise man, though in
vile raiment, delivered a city, Eccl. ix. 15. We
may allude to this, to show how desperate the case
of fallen man was, when our Lord Jesus was pleas
ed to become our Brother, and, though he was not
courted, offered himself to be ourRulerand Saviour,
and to take this ruin under his hand.
2. Those who are thus pressed to come into office,
will swear themselves off, because, though they are
taken to be men of some substance, yet they know
themselves unable to bear the charges of the r ffice,
and to answer the expectations of those that choose
them, v. 7. He shall swear, (shall lift up the hand,
the ancient ceremony used in taking an oath,) I will
not be a healer, make not me a ruler. Note, Rulers
must be healers, and good rulers will be so; they
must study to unite their subjects, and not widen
the differences that are among them; those only are
fit for government, that are of a meek, quiet, heal¬
ing spirit: they must also heal the wounds that are
given to any of the interests of their people, by suit
able applications. But why will he not be a ruler?
Because in my house is neither bread nor clothing.
29
ISAIAH, III.
(1.) If he said true, it was a sign that men’s estates
were sadly ruined, when even those who made the
best appearance, really wanted necessaries; a com¬
mon case, and a piteous one; some, who, having
lived fashionably, are willing to put the best side
outward, are yet, if the truth were known, in great
straits, and go with heavy hearts, for want of bread
and clothing. (2.) If lie'didnot speak truth, it was
a sign that men’s consciences were sadly debauched,
when, to avoid the expense of an office, they would
load themselves with the guilt of perjury, and
(which is the greatest madness in the world)' would
damn their souls to save their money. Mutth. xvi.
26. (3.) However it was, it was a sign that the case
of the nation was very bad, when nobody was willing
to accept a place in the government of it, as despair¬
ing to hav e either credit or profit by it, which are
tlte two things aimed at in men’s common ambition
of preform out.
3. The reason why God brought things to this
sad pass, even among his own people; (which is
giv en either by the prophet, or by him that refused
to be a ruler;) it was not for want' of good will to his
country, but because he saw the case desperate,
and past relief, and it would be to no purpose to
att nipt it; (n. 8.) Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah
is fallen; and they may thank themselves, they have
brought their destruction upon their own heads, for
their tongue and their doings are against the
Lord; in word and action they brake the law of
God, and therein designed an affront to him ; they
wilfully intended to offend him, in contempt of his au¬
thority, and defiance of his justice: their tongue was
against the Lord, for they contradicted his prophets;
and their doings were no better, they acted as they
talked; it was an aggravation of their sin, that God’s
eye was upon them, and that his glory was mani¬
fested among them; but they provoked him to his
face, as if the more they knew of his glory, the
greater pride they took in slighting it, and turning
'it into shame. And this, this is it, for which Jerusa¬
lem is ruined. Note, the ruin both of persons and
people is owing to their sins. If they did not pro¬
voke God, he would do them no hurt, Jer. xxv. 6.
9. The show of their countenance doth
witness against them, and they declare their
sin as Sodom, they hide it not: Wo unto
their soul ! For they have rewarded evil
unto themselves. 10. Say ye to the righte¬
ous, that it shrill be well with him ; for they
shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11.
Wo unto the wicked ! Tt shall be ill with
him ; for the reward of his hands shall be
given him. 12. As far my people, children are
their oppressors, and women rule over them.
O my people, they which lead thee cause
thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
1 3. The Loan standeth up to plead, and
standeth to judge the people. 14. The
Loan will enter into judgment with the
ancients of his people, and the princes
thereof : for ye have eaten up the vineyard ;
the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 1 5.
What mean ye that ye beat my people to
pieces, and grind the faces of the poor ?
saith the Lord God of hosts.
Hers God proceeds in his controversy with his
p ' pie. Observe,
I. The ground of his controversy; it was for sin
that God contended with them; if they vex then;
selves, let them look a little further, and they will
see that they must thank themselves; IVo unto
their souls ! For they have rewarded evil unto them¬
selves. jilas for their souls ! (so it may be read,
in a way of lamentation,) for they have f irocured
evil to themselves, v. 9. Note, 1. The condition
of sinners is woful and very deplorable. 2. It is
the soul that is damaged and endangered by sin.
Sinners may prosper in their outward estates, and
yet at the same time there may be a wo to their
souls. 3. Whatever evil befalls sinners, it is of their
own procuring, Jer. ii. 19.
That which is here charged upon them, is,
(1.) That the shame which should restrain them
from their sins, was quite thrown off, and they were
grown impudent, v. 9. This hardens men against
repentance, and ripens them for ruin, as much as
any thing; The show of their countenance doth witness
against them, that their minds are vain, and lewd,
and malicious; their eyes speak it plain, that thev
cannot cease from sin, 2 Pet. ii. 14. One may look
them in the face, and guess at the desperate wick¬
edness that there is in their hearts; They declare
their sin as Sodom; so impetuous, so imperious, are
their lusts, and so impatient of the least check; ; nd
so perfectly are all the remaining sparks of virtue
extinguished in them. The Sodcmites declared
their sin, not onlv by the exceeding greatness of it,
(Gen.xiii. 13.) so that it cried to heaven, (Gen.
xviii. 20.) but by their shameless owning of that
which was most shameful; (Gen. xix. 5.) and thus
Judah and Jerusalem did: they were so far from
hiding it, that they gloried in it, in the bold attempt
they made upon virtue, and the victory they gained
over their own convictions: they had a whore’s
forehead, (Jer. iii. 3.) and could not blush, (Jer. vi.
15.) Note, Those that are grown impudent in sin,
arc ripe for ruin ; they that are past shame, (we sav,)
are past grace, and then past hope.
(2.) That their guides, who should direct them
in the right way, put them out of the way, v. 12.
“They who lead, (the princes, priests, and pro¬
phets,) mislead thee, they cause thee to err.” Ei¬
ther they preached to them that which was false and
corrupt, or if they preached that which was true
and good, they contradicted it by their practices;
and the people would sooner follow a bad example
than a good exhortation: thus they destroyed the
way of their paths, pulling down with one hand
what thev built up with the other. Qui te beati-
ficant — They that call thee blessed, cause thee to
err; so some read it. Their priests applauded
them, as if nothing was amiss among them; cried,
Peace, peace, to them, as if they were in no dan¬
ger; and thus they caused them to go on in their
errors.
(3.) That their judges who should have patron¬
ized and protected the oppressed, were themselves
the greatest oppressors, v. 14, 15. The elders of
the people, and the princes, who had learning, and
could not but know better things, who had great
estates, and were not under the temptation of neces¬
sity to encroach upon those about them, and who
were men of honour, and should scorn to do a base
thing, yet they have eaten up the vineyard. God’s
vineyard, which they were appointed to be the
dressers and keepers of, they burnt; so the word
signifies; they did as ill bv it as its worst enemies
could do, Ps.' lxxx. 16. Or the vineyards of the
poor; thev wrested them out of their possession, ?'
Jezebel did Naboth’s; or devoured the fruits of
them, fed their lusts with that which should have
been the necessary food of indigent families; the
spoil of the poor was hoarded up in their houses;
when God came to search for stolen goods, their
he found it, and it wras a witness against them. P
30
ISAIAH, III.
was to ne had, and they might have made restitu¬
tion, but would not. God reasons with those great
men; (to 15.) “ What mean you, that ye oeat my
/ leofile in pieces? What cause have you for it ?
What good does it do you ?” Or, “ What hurt have
they done you ? Do you think you have power given
you for such a purpose as this ?” Note, There is
nothing more unaccountable, and yet nothing which
must more certainly be accounted for, than the in-
luries and abuses that are done to God’s people by
their persecutors and oppressors; “ Ye grind the
face of the poor; ye put them into as much pain
and terror as if they were ground in a mill, and as
certainly reduce them to dust by one act of oppres¬
sion after another. Or, “ Their faces are bruised
and crushed with the blows you have given them;
you have not only ruined their estates, but given
them personal abuses.” Our Lord Jesus was smit¬
ten on the face, Matt. xxvi. 67.
II. The management of this controversy; 1. God
himself is the Prosecutor; (x\ 13.) The Lord
stands up to plead, or he sets himself to debate the
matter, and he stands to judge the people, to judge
for those that were oppressed and abused; and he
will enter into judgment with the princes, v. 14.
Note, The greatest men cannot exempt or secure
themselves from the scrutiny and sentence of God’s
judgment, nor demur to the jurisdiction of the court
of heaven. 2. The indictment is proved by the
notorious evidence of the fact; “Look upon the
oppressors, and the show of their countenance
witnesses against them; (y. 9.) look upon the op¬
pressed, and you see how their faces are battered
and abused,” v. 15. 3. The controversy is already
begun, in the change of the ministry; to punish
those that had abused their power to bad purposes,
God sets those over them, that had not sense to use
it to any good purpose; Children are their oppres¬
sors, and women rule over them, (y. 12.) men that
have as weak judgments, and strong passions, as
women and children: this was their sin, that their
rulers were such, and it became a judgment upon
them.
III. The distinction that shall be made between
particular persons, in the prosecution of this con¬
troversy; ( v . 10, 11.) Say to the righteous. It shall
be well with thee. Wo to the wicked, it shall be ill
with him. He had said, (u. 9.) they have reward¬
ed evil to themselves; and to prove that, he here
shows that God will render to every man accord¬
ing to his works. Had they been righteous, it
had been well with them; but if it be ill with them,
it is because they are wicked, and will be so. Thus
God stated the matter to Cain, to convince him
that he had no reason to be angry, Gen. iv. 7. Or
it may be taken thus; God is threatening national
judgments, which will ruin the public interests.
Now, 1. Some good people might fear that they
should be involved in that ruin, and therefore God
bids the prophets comfort them against those fears;
“ Whatever becomes of the unrighteous nation, say
ye to the righteous man, that ye shall not be lost in
the crowd of sinners, the Judge of all the earth
will not slay the righteous with the wicked; (Gen.
xviii. 25.) no, assure him in God’s name, that if
shall be well with him. The property of the trouble
shall be altered to him, and he shall be hid in the
dan of the Lord’s anger. He shall have divine
supports and comforts, which shall abound as afflic¬
tions abound, and so it shall be well with him.”
When the whole stay of bread is taken away, yet
in the day of famine they shall be satisfied , they
shall eat the fruit, of their doings; they shall have
th e t estimony of their consciences for them, that they
k' pt themselves pure from the common iniquity,
an I therefore the common calamity is not the same
thing to them that it is to otners; they brought no
fuel to the flame, and therefore are not themselves
fuel for it. 2. Some wicked people might hope
that they should escape that ruin, and therefore
God bids the prophets shake their vain hopes;
“ Wo to the wicked, it shall be ill with him-, (y.
11.) to him the judgments shall have a sting, and
there shall be wormwood and gall in the affliction
and misery.” There is a wo to wicked people,
and though they may think to shelter themselves
from public judgment, yet it shall be ill with them;
it will grow worse and worse with them if they re¬
pent not, and the worst of all will be at last; for the
reward of his hands shall be done to him, in the day
when every man shall receive according to the
things done in the body.
16. Moreover, the Lord saith, Because
the daughters of Zion are haughty, and
walked with stretched-forth necks and wan¬
ton eyes, walking, and mincing as they go,
and making a tinkling with their feet : 1 7.
Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab
the crown of the head of the daughters of
Zion, and the Lord will discover their
secret parts. 18. In that day the Lord
will take away the bravery of their
tinkling ornaments about their feet , and
their cauls, and their round tires like the
moon, 19. The chains, and the brace¬
lets, and the mufflers, 20. The bonnets,
and the ornaments of the legs, and the
head-bands, and the tablets, and the ear¬
rings, 21. The rings, and nose-jewels, 22.
The changeable suits of apparel, and the
mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping-
pins, 23. The glasses, and the fine linen,
and the hoods, and the vails. 24. And it
shall come to pass, that instead of sweet
smell, there shall be stink ; and instead of a
girdle, a rent ; and instead of well-set hair,
baldness; and instead of a stomacher, a
girding of sackcloth! and burning instead of
beauty. 25. Thy men shall fall by the
sword, and thy mighty in the war. 26.
And her gates shall lament and mourn :
and she, being desolate, shall sit upon the
ground.
The prophet’s business was to show all sorts of
people what they had contributed to the national
guilt, and what share they must expect in the na¬
tional judgments that were coming; here he re¬
proves and warns the daughters of Zicn, tells the
ladies of their faults; and Moses, in the law, having
denounced God’s wrath against the tender and deli¬
cate woman, (the prophets being a comment upon
the law, Dent, xxviii. 56.) he here tells them how
they should sm: • rt by the calamities that were coming
upon them. Observe,
1. The sin charged upon the daughters of Zion,
v. 16. The prophet expressly vouches God’s au¬
thority for what he said, lest it should be thought
it was unbecoming him to take notice of such things,
and should be ill-resented by the ladies; The Lord
saith it. Whether they will hear, or whether they
will forbear, let them know that God takes notice
of, and is much displeased with, the folly and vanity
of proud we men, and his law takes cognizance
ISAIAH, III.
SI
even of their dress. T wo things they here stand
nciicted for, haughtiness and wantonness; directly
contrary to that modesty, shamefacedness, and so¬
briety, with which women ought to adorn them¬
selves, 1. Tim. ii. 9. They discovered the disposi¬
tion of their mind by their gait and gesture, and the
lightness of their carriage. They are haughty, for
they walked with stretched-forth necks, that they may
seem tall, or, as thinking nobody good enough to
speak to them, or, to receive a look ora smile;
their eyes are wanton; receiving, so the word is;
with their amorous glances thev draw men into
their snares; they affect a formal starched way of
going, that people may look at them, and admire
them, and know they have been at the dancing-
school, and have learned the minuet-step; they go
mincing, or nicely tripping, not willing to set so
much as the sole of their foot to the ground, for
tenderness and delicacy; they make a tinklingwith
their feet, having, as some think, chains, or little
bells, upon their shoes, that made a noise; they go
as if they were fettered; so some read it; like a horse
trammelled, that he may learn to pace. Thus
Agag came delicately, 1 Sam. xv. 32. Such a nice
affected mien is not only a force upon that which is
natural, and ridiculous before men, men of sens ;
but as it is an evidence of a vain mind, it is offensive
to God. And two things aggravated it here, (1.)
That these were the daughters of Zion the holy
mountain, who should have behaved with the gravity
that becomes women professing godliness. (2.)
That it should seem, by the connexion, they were
the wives and daughters of the princes who spoil¬
ed and oppressed the poor, ( v . 14, 15.) that they
might maintain this pride and luxury of their fa¬
milies.
2. The punishments threatened for this sin; and
they answer the sin, as face answers to face in a
glass, x'. 17, 18.
(1.) They walked with stretched-forth necks, but
God will smite with a scab the crown of their head,
which shall lower their crests, and make them
ashamed to show their heads, being obliged by it to
cut off their hair. Note, Loathsome diseases are
often sent as the just punishment of pride, and are
sometimes the immediate effect of lewdness, the
flesh and the body being consumed by it.
(2.) They cared not what they laid out in fur¬
nishing themselves with great variety of fine clothes;
but God will reduce them to such poverty and dis¬
tress, that they should not have clothes sufficient to
cover their nakedness, but their uncomeliness should
be exposed through their rags.
(3. ) They were extremely fond and proud of their
ornaments; but God will strip them of those orna¬
ments, when their houses should be plundered,
their treasures rifled, and they themselves led into
captivity. The prophet here specifies many of the
ornaments which they used, as particularly as if he
had been the keeper of their wardrobe, or had at¬
tended them in their dressing-room. It is not at
all material to inquire what sort of ornaments these
respectively were, and whether the translations
rightly express the original words; perhaps a hun¬
dred years hence the names of some of the orna¬
ments that are now in use in our land will be as lit¬
tle understood as some of those here are. Fashions
alter, and so do the names of them ; and yet the 1
mention of them is not in vain, but is designed to
expose the folly of the daughters of Zion; for, (1.)
Many of these things, we may suppose, were very
odd and ridiculous, and if they had not been in
fashion, would have been hooted at. They were
fitter to be toys for children to play with, than oma-
nv-nts for grown people to go to mount Zion in.
(2.) Those things that were decent and convenient,
as the linen, hoods, and the veils, needed not to
have been provided in such abundance and va¬
riety. It is necessary to have apparel, and that
all should have it according to their rank; be* what
occasion was there for so many changeable suits
: of apparel, (x>. 22.) that they might not be seen
two days together in the same suit? “They must
have (as the homily against excess of apparel
speaks) one gown for the day, another for the
night; one long, another short; one for the working-
day, another for the holy-day; ancther of this co¬
lour, another of that colour; one of cloth, another
of silk or damask; one dress afore dinner, another
after; one of the Spanish fashion, another Turkey,
and never content with sufficient.” Which, as it is
an evidence of pride and vain curiosity, so must
needs spend a great deal, in gratifying a base lust,
that ought to be laid out in works of piety and cha¬
rity; and it is well if poor tenants be not racked, or
poor creditors defrauded, to support it. (3.) The
enumeration of these things intimates what care
they were in about them, how much their hearts
were upon them, what an exact account they kept
of them, how nice and critical they were about
them, how insatiable their desire was of them,
and how much of their comfort was bound up in
them. A maid could forget none of these orna¬
ments, though they were ever so many, (Jer. ii.
32.) but would report them as readily, and talk of
them with as much pleasure, as if they had been
things of the greatest moment. The prophet does
not speak of these things as in themselves sinful;
they may lawfully be had and used, but as things
which they were proud of, and should therefore be
deprived of.
4. They were verv nice and curious about their
clothes; but God would make those bodies of theirs
which they were at such expense to beautify and
make easy, a reproach and burthen to them; (x'.
24. ) Instead of sweet smell (those tablets, or boxes
of perfume, houses of the soul or breath, as they are
called, x>. 20. margin) there shall be stink, garments
grown filthy, with being long worn, or from some
loathsome disease, or plasters for the cure of it; in¬
stead of a rich embroidered girdle, used to make the
clothes sit tight, there shall be a rent, a rending of
the clothes for grief, or old rotten clothes rent into
rags; instead of well-set hair, curiously plaited and
powdered, there shall be baldness, the hair being
plucked off or shaven, as was usual in times of great
affliction, ( ch . xv. 2. Jer. xvi. 6.) or in great servi¬
tude, Ezek. xxix. 18. Instead of a stomacher, or a
scarf, or sash, a girding of sackcloth, in token of
deep humiliation; and burning instead of beauty.
Those that had a good complexion, and were proud
of it, when they are carried into captivitv, shall be
tanned and sun-burnt; and it is observed, that the
best faces are soonest injured by the weather. F rom
all this let us learn, (1.) Not to be nice and curious
about our apparel, nor to affect that which is gay
and costly, or to be proud of it. (2.) Not to be se¬
cure in the enjoyment of any of the delights of sense,
because we know not how soon we may be stripped
of them, nor what straits we may be reduced to.
5. They designed by these ornaments to charm
the gentlemen, and win their affections, (Prov. vii.
16, 1~. ) but th' re shall be none to be cnarmed by
them; (xe 25.) Thy men shall fall by the sword,
and thy mighty in the war. The fire shall consume
them , and then the maidens shall not be given in
marriage; as it is, Ps. lxxviii. 63. When the sword
comes with commission, the mighty commonly fall
first by it, because they are most forward to ven¬
ture. And when Zion’s guards are cut off, no mar¬
vel that Zion’s gates lament and mourn, (x>. 26.) the
enemies having made themselves masters of them,
and the city itself, being desolate, being emptied or
swept, shall sit upon the ground, like a disconsolate
32
ISAIAH, IV.
widow. If sin be harboured within the walls, la¬
mentation and mourning are near her gates.
CHAP. IV.
In this chapter, we have, 1. A threatening or the paucity
and scarceness of men, (v. I.) which might fitly enough
have been added to the close of the foregoing chapter, to
which it has a plain reference. 11. A promise of the res¬
toration of Jerusalem’s peace and purity, righteousness
and safety, in the days of the Messiah, v. 2. . 6. Thus,
in wrath,' mercy is remembered, and gospel grace is a
sovereign relief, in reference to the terrors of the law,
and the desolations made by sin.
1. A ND in that day seven women shall
j\_ take hold of one man, saying, We
will eat our own bread, and wear our own
apparel : only let us be called by thy name,
to take away our reproach.
It was threatened (ch. iii. 25.) that the mighty
men should fall by the sword in war; and it was
threatened as a punishment to the women that af¬
fected gaiety, and a loose sort of conversation. Now
here we have the effect and consequence of that
great slaughter of men;
1. That, though Providence has so wisely ordered
that, communibus annis — on an ax’erage of years,
there is nearly an equal number of males and fe¬
males born info the world, vet through the devasta¬
tions made by war, there should scarcely be one
man in seven left alive. As there are deaths at¬
tending the bringing forth of children, which are
peculiar to the woman, who was first in the trans¬
gression, so, to balance that, there are deaths pecu¬
liar to men; those by the sword in the high places
of the field, which perhaps devour more than child¬
bed does. Here it is foretold, that such multitudes
of men should be cut off, that there should be seven
women to one man.
2. That, by reason of the scarcity of men, though
marriage should be kept up, for the raising of re¬
cruits, and the preserving of the race of mankind
upon earth, yet the usual method of it should be
quite altered; that whereas men ordinarily, make
their court to the women, the women should now
take hold of the men, foolishly fearing (as Lot’s
daughters did, when they saw the ruin of Sodom,
and perhaps thought it reached further than it did)
that in a little time there would be none left; (Gen.
xix. 31.) and that, whereas women naturally hate
to come in sharers with others, seven should now, by
consent, become the wives of one man; and that,
whereas, by the law, the husband was obliged to
provide food and raiment for his wife, (Exod. xxi.
10.) which with many would be the most powerful
argument against multiplying wives, these women
will be bound to find themselves, they will eat bread
of their own earning, and wear apparel of their
oxen working; and the man they court shall be at no
expense with them, onlv they desire to be called his
wives, to take away the reproach of a single life.
Thev are willing to be wives upon any terms, though
ever so unreasonable; and perhaps the rather, be¬
cause in these troublesome times it would be a kind¬
ness to them to have a husband for their protector.
St. Paul, on the contrary, in the time of distress,
thinks the single state preferable, 1 Cor. vii. 26. It
were well if this were not introduced here partly as
a reflection upon the daughters of Zion, that, not¬
withstanding the humbling providences they were
under, (eh. iii. 18.) they remained unhumbled, and,
instead of repenting of their pride and vanity, when
God was contending with them for it, all their
rare was to get them nusbands — that modesty,
which is the greatest beauty of the fair sex, was for¬
gotten, and with them the reproach of vice was no¬
thing to the reproach of virginity ; a sad symptom of
the irrecoverable desolations of virtue.
2. In that day shall the Branch of the
Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the
fruit of the earth shall be excellent and
comely for them that are escaped of Israel
3. And it shall come to pass, that he that is
left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jeru¬
salem, shall be called holy, even every one
that is written among the living in Jerusa¬
lem: 4. When the Lord shall have wash¬
ed away the filth of the daughters of Zion,
and shall have purged the blood of Jerusa
lem from the midst thereof, by the spirit o)
judgment, and by the spirit of burning. .6
, And the Lord will create upon eveiy dwel
ling-place of mount Zion, and upon her as
semblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the
shining of a flaming fire by night : for upon all
the glory shall be a defence. 6. And there
shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day¬
time from the heat, and for a place of refuge,
and for a covert from storm and from rain.
Bv the foregoing threatenings, Jerusalem is
brought into a very deplorable condition; eveiy
thing looks melancholy: but here the sun breaks out
from behind the cloud; many exceeding great and
precious promises we have in these verses, giving
assurance of comfort which may be discerned
through the troubles, and cf happy days which
shall come after them. And these certainly point
at the kingdom of the Messiah, and the great re¬
demption to be wrought out by him, under the
figure and type of the restoration of Judah and Je¬
rusalem by the reforming reign of Hezekiah after
Ahaz, and the return out of their captivity in Baby¬
lon; to both which it may have some reference, but
chiefly to Christ.
It is here promised, as the issue of all these
troubles,
I. That God will raise up a righteous Branch,
which should produce fruits of righteousness; (v. 2.)
In that day, that, same day, at that very time, when
Jerusalem shall be destroyed, and the Jewish nation
extirpated and dispersed, the kingdom of the Mes¬
siah shall be set up; and then shall be the reviving
of the church, when every one shall fear the utter
ruin of it.
1. Christ himself shall be exalted; lie is the
! Branch of the Lord, the Man, the Branch: it is one
of his prophetical names, my Servant, the Branch,
(Zech. iii. 8. — vi. 12.) the Branch of righteousness,
(Jer. xxiii. 5. — xxxiii. 15.) a Branch out of the
stem of Jesse; ( ch . xi. 1.) and that, as some think,
is alluded to when he is called a JVazarene, Matth.
ii. 23. Here he is called the Branch of the Lord,
because planted by his power, and flourishing to his
praise. The ancient Chaldee Paraphrase here reads
ft, The Christ, or Messiah of the Lord. He shall
be the Beauty, and Glory, and Joy. (1.) He shall
himself be advanced to the joy set before him, and
the glory which lie had with the Father before ‘110
world was. He that was a Reproach of men, .. nd
whose visage was marred more than any man’s, is
now, in the upper world, beautiful and glorious, as
the sun in his strength, admired and adored by an¬
gels. (2. ) He shall be beautiful and glorious in tin-
esteem of all believers, shall gain an interest in th-
world, and a name among men, above every name.
To them that believe he is precious, he is an Hu
notir, (1 Pet. ii. 7.) the L'airest of ten thousand,
(Cant. v. 10.) and altogether glorious. Let us re
joice that he is so, and let him be so to us.
ISAlAH, IV. 3 1
2. His gospel shall be embraced. The gospel is
the fruit of the Branch of the Lord; all the graces
and comiorts i f the gospel spring from Christ. But
it is called the fruit of the earth, because it sprang
up in tins world, and was calculated for the present
state. And Christ compares himself to a corn of
•wheal, that falls into the ground, and dies, and so
brings forth much fruit, John xii. 24. The success
of the gospel is represented by the earth's yielding
her increase, (Ps. lxvii. 6.) and the planting of the
Christian church is God’s sowing it to himself in the
earth, Hos. ii. 23. We may understand it of both
the persons, and the things, that are the products
of the gospel; they shall be excellent and comely,
shall appear very agreeable, and be very acceptable
to them that are escaped of Israel, of that remnant
of the Jews, which was saved from perishing with
the rest in unbelief, Rom. xi. 5. Note, If Christ
be precious to us, his gospel will be so, and all its
truths and promises; his church will be so, and all
that belong to it. These are the good fruit of the
earth, in comparison with which, all other things
are but weeds. It will be a good evidence to us,
that we are of the chosen remnant, distinguished
from the rest that are called Israel, and marked for
salvation, if we are brought to see a transcendent
beauty in Christ and holiness, and the saints, the
excellent ones of the earth. As a type of this blessed
day, Jerusalem, after Sennacherib's invasion, and
after the captivity in Babylon, should again flourish
as a branch, and be blessed with the fruits of the
earth: compare ch. xxxvii. 31, 32. The remnant
shall again take root downward, and bear fruit up¬
ward . And if by the fruit of the earth here we un¬
derstand the good things of this life, we may ob¬
serve, that those have peculiar sweetness in them to
the chosen remnant, who, having a covenant-right
to them, have the most comfortable use of them.
If the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious
in our eyes, even the fruit of the earth also will be
excellent and comely, because then we may take it
as the fruit of the promise, Ps. xxxvii. 16. 1 Tim.
iv. 8.
II. That God will reserve to himself a holy seed;
(x\ 3.) when the generality of those that have a
lace and a name in Zion, and in Jerusalem, shall
e cut off, as withered branches, by their own unbe¬
lief, yet some shall be left. Some shall remain,
some shall still cleave to the church, when its pro¬
perty is altered, and it is become Christian; for God
will not quite cast off his people, Rom. xi. 1. There
is here and there one that is left: now, 1. This is a
remnant according to the election of grace, (as the
apostle speaks, Itom. xi. 5.) such as are written
Among the living, marked in the counsel and fore¬
knowledge of God for life and salvation; written to
life, (so the word is,) designed and determined for
it unalterably; for What I have written, I have
written. Those that are kept alive in killing, dying
times, were written for life in the book of Divine
Providence: and shall we not suppose those who are
rescued from a greater death, to be such as were
written in the Lamb’s book of life? Rev. xiii. 8. As
many as were ordained unto eternal life, believed,
to the salvation of the soul. Acts xiii. 48. Note, All
that were written among the living, shall be found
among the living, every one; for of all that were
given to Christ, he shall lose none. 2. It is a rem¬
nant tinder the dominion of grace; for every one that
is written among the living, and is, accordingly,
left, shall be called holy, shall be holy, and shall be
accepted of God accordingly. Those only that are
holy, shall be left, when the Son of man shall gather
out of his kingdom every thing that offends : and all
that are chosen to salvation, are chosen to sanctifi¬
cation. See 2 Thess. ii. 13. Eph. i. 4.
III. That God will reform his church, and will
Vo D IV. — E
rectify and amend whatever (s i.miss in it, v.
Then the remnant shall be called holy, when the
Lord shall have washed away their filth, washed it
from among them by cutting off the wicked persons,
washed it from within them by purging cut the
wicked thing. They shall not be called so, till
they are in some measure made so. Gospel-times
are times of reformation, (Heb. ix. 10.) typified by
the reformation in the days of Hezekiah, and tluit
after the captivity, to which this promise refers.
Observe, 1. The places and persons to be reformed.
Jerusalem, though the holy city, needed reforma¬
tion: and, being the royal city, the reformation if
that would have a good influence upon the whole-
kingdom. The daughters of Zion also must be re¬
formed, the women in a particular manner, whom
he had reproved; ch. iii. 16. When they were
decked in, their ornaments, they thought themselves
wondrouselean; but, being proud of them, the pro¬
phet calls them theiryf ////, tor no sin is more abomi¬
nable to God than pride: or by the daughters <f
Zion may be meant the country, towns, and villages,
which were related to Jerusalem, asthe mother-city,
and which needed reformation. 2. The reforma¬
tion itself; the filth shall be washed away, for wick¬
edness is filthiness, particularly bloodshed, for
which Jerusalem was infamous, (2 Kings xxi. 16.)
and which defiles the land more than any other sin.
Note, The reforming of a city is the cleansing cf it;
when vicious customs and fashions are suppressed,
and the open practice of wickedness is restraint d,
the place is made clean and sweet, which before
was a dunghill; and this is not only for its credit and
reputation among strangers, but for the comfort and
health of the inhabitants themselves. 3. The Author
of the reformation; The Lord shall do it: reforma¬
tion-work is God’s work; if any thing be done to
purpose in it, it is his doing. But how ? By the judg¬
ment of his providence the sinners were destroyed
and consumed; but it is by the Spirit of his grace
that they are reformed and converted. This is
work that is done, not by might, or by power, but
by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, (Zech. iv. 6. )
working both upon the sinners themselves that are
to be reformed, and upon magistrates, ministers,
and others that are to be employed as instruments
of reformation. The Spirit herein acts, (1.) Asa
Spirit of judgment, enlightening the mind, convin¬
cing the conscience, as a Spirit of wisdom, guiding
us to deal prudently, (Isa. Iii. 13.) as a discerning,
distinguishing Spirit, separating between the pre
cious and the vile. (2.) As a Spirit of burning,
quickening and invigorating the affections,- and
making men zealously affected in a good work. The
Spirit works as fire, Matth. iii. 11. An ardent love
to Christ and souls, and a flaming zeal against sin,
will carry men on with resolution in their endea¬
vours to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. See
Isa. xxxii. IS, 16.
IV. That God will protect bis church, and all
that belong to it: (u. 5, 6.) when they are purified
and reformed, they shall no longer lie exposed, but
God will take a particular care of them : they that
are sanctified are well fortified, for God will be to
them a Guide and a Guard.
1. Their tabernacles shall be defended, v. 5. (1.)
Their dwelling-places; the tabernacles of their rest,
their own houses, where they worship God, alone,
and with their families. That blessing which is
upon the habitation of the just, shall be a protection
to it, Prov. iii. 33. In the tabernacles of the righ
teous shall the voice of rejoicing and salvation be,
Ps. cxviii. 15. Note, God takes particular ccg
nizance and care of the dwelling-places of his peo¬
ple, of every one of them, the poorest cottage as
well as the stateliest palace. When iniquity fiui
far from the tabernacle, the Almighty shall be its
ISAIAH. V.
34
Defence, Job xxii. 23, 25. (2.) Their assemblies
or tabernacles of meeting for religious worship. No
■mention is made of the temple, for the promise
points at a time when not one stone of that shall be
left upon another; but all the congregations of Chris¬
tians, though but two or three meet together in
Christ’s name, shall be taken under the special pro¬
tection of Heaven; they shall no more be scattered,
no more disturbed, nor shall any weapon formed
against them prosper. Note, \Ve ought to reckon
it a great mercy, if we have liberty to worship God
in public, free from the alarms of the sword of war
or persecution.
Now this writ of protection is drawn up, [1.] In
a similitude taken from the safety of the camp of
Israel, w hen they marched through the wilderness.
God will give to the Christian church as real proofs,
though not so sensible of his care of them, ns he gave
to them then. The Lord will again create a cloud
and smoke by day, to screen them from the scorch¬
ing heat of the sun, and the shining of a flaming
fire by night, to enlighten and warm the air, which,
in the night, is cold and dark. See Exod. xiii. 21.
Neh. ix. 19. This pillar of cloud and fire interposed
between the Israelites and the Egyptians, Exod.
xiv. 20. Note, Though miracles are ceased, yet
God is the same to the Newr Testament church,
that he was to Israel of old; the very same yester¬
day, to-day, and for ever. [2.] In a similitude
taken from the outside cover of rams’ skins and
badgers’ skins, that was upon the curtains of the ta¬
bernacle, as if every dwelling-place of mount Zion
and every assembly were as dear to God as that ta¬
bernacle was; Upon all the glory shall be a defence,
to save it from wind and weather. Note, The
church on earth has its glory ; gospel-truths and or¬
dinances, the scriptures and the ministry, are the
church’s glory; and upon all this glory there is a de¬
fence, and ever shall be, for the gates of hell shall
not prex’ail against the church. If God himself be
the Glory in the midst of it, he will himself be a
Wall of fire round about it, impenetrable, and im¬
pregnable. Grace in the soul is the glory of it, and
those that have it, are kept by the power of God as
in a strong hold, 1 Pet. i. 5.
2. Their tabernacle shall be a defence to them,
v. 6. God’s tabernacle was a pavilion to the saints,
Ps. xxvii. 5. But when that is taken down, they
shall not wrant a covert: the divine power and good¬
ness shall be a tabernacle to all the saints, God him¬
self will be their Hiding-place, (Ps. xxxii. ".) they
shall be at home in him, Ps. xci. 9. He will him¬
self be to them as the shadow of a great rock, ( ch .
xxxii. 2.) and his name a strong tower, Prov. xviii.
10. He will be not only a Shadow from the heat in
the day-time, but a Covert from storm and rain.
Note, In this world we must expect change of
weather, and all the inconveniences that attend it;
we shall meet with storm and rain in this lower re¬
gion, and at other times the heat of the day, no less
burthensome : but God is a Refuge to his people, in
all weathers.
CHAP. V.
In this chapter, the prophet, in God’s name, shows the
people of God their transgressions, even the house of
Jacob their sins, and the judgments which were likely to
be brought upon them for their sins: I. By a parable,
under the similitude of an unfruitful vineyard, represent¬
ing the great favours God had bestowed upon them,
their disappointing of his expectations from them, ana
the ruin they had thereby deserved, v. 1 . . 7. II. By an
enumeration of the sins that did abound among them,
with a threatening of punishments that should answer to
the sins: 1. Covetousness, and greediness of worldly
wealth, which shall be punished with famine, v. S. . 10.
2. Rioting, revelling, and drunkenness, (v. 11, 12, 22.)
which shsHl be punished with captivitv and all the mise¬
ries that attend it, v. 13. . 17. 3. Presumption in sin,
and defying the justice of God, v. 18, 19. 4. Confound¬
ing the distinctions between virtue and vice, and so un¬
dermining the principles of religion, v. 20. 5. Self-
conceit, v. 21. 6. Perverting justice; for which, and the
other instances of reigning wickedness among them, a
great and general desolation is threatened, whicli should
lay all waste, (v. 24, 25.) and which should be effected
by a foreign invasion, (v. 26 . . 30.) referring perhaps to
the havoc made not tong after by Sennacherib’s army.
1. OW will I sing to my well-beloved
_L^ a song of my beloved touching his
vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vine¬
yard in a very fruitful hill; 2. And he fenced
it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and
planted it with the choicest vine, and built
a tower in the midst of it, and also made a
wine-press therein: and he looked that it
should bring forth grapes, and it brought
forth wild grapes. 3. And now, O inhabit¬
ants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge,
I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
4. W hat could have been done more to my
vineyard that I have not done in it? where¬
fore, when I looked that it should bring forth
grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ? 5. And
now, go to; I will tell you what I will do to
my vineyard : I will take, away the hedge
thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break
down the wall thereof, and it shall be trod¬
den down : 6. And I will lay it waste : it
shall not be pruned nor digged ; but there
shall come up briers and thorns : I will also
command the clouds that they rain no rain
upon it. 7. For the vineyard of the Lord
of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men
of Judah liis pleasant plant: and he looked
for judgment, but behold oppression; for
! righteousness, but behold a cry.
See what variety of methods the great God takes
to awaken sinners to repentance, by convincing
them of sin, and showing them their misery and
danger, by reason of it: to this purport he speaks
sometimes in plain terms, and sometimes in para¬
bles, sometimes in prose, sometimes in verse, as
here; “ VVe have tried to reason with you, ( ch . i.
18.) now let us put your case into a poem, inscribed
to the honour ot my Well-beloved. ’ God the Fa¬
ther dictates it to the honour of Christ his well-be¬
loved Son, whom he has constituted Lord of the
vineyard. The prophet sings it to the honour of
Christ too, for he is his \\ ell-beloved. 1 he Old
Testament prophets were friends of the Bridegroom :
Christ is God’s beloved Son, and our beloved Sa¬
viour: whatever is said or sung of the church, must
be intended to his praise, even that which (like this)
tends to our shame. This parable is put into a song,
that it might be the more moving and affecting,
might be the more easily learned, and exactly re
membered, and the better transmitted to posterity;
and it is an exposition of the song of Moses, (Deut.
I xxxii.) showing, that what he then foretold, was
I now' fulfilled. Jerom says, Christ, the \\ ell-belov
| ed, did, in effect, sing this mournful song, when he
j beheld Jerusalem, and wept over it, (Lvike xix.
41.) and had reference to it in the parable ot the
vineyard; (Matth. xxi. 33.) only here the fault was
in the vines, there in the husbandmen. Here is,
I. The great things which Grd had done for the
i Jewish church and nation: when all the rest of the
35
ISAIAH, V.
world lay in common, not cultivated by divine reve¬
lation, tliat was his vineyard, they were his pecu¬
liar people; he owned them, set them apart for him¬
self; the soil they were planted in was extraordi¬
nary; it was a very fruitful hill, the horn of the son
of oil; so it is in the margin. There was plenty, a
cornucopia; and there was dainty, they did there
eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and so were fur¬
nished with abundance of good things to honour
God with in sacrifices and free-will-offerings. The
advantages of our situation wi 1 be brought into the
account another day. Observe further, what God
did for this vineyard: 1. He fenced it; took it under
his special protection, kept it night and day under
his own eye, lest any should hurt it, ch. xxvii. 2, 3.
If they had not themselves thrown down their fence,
no inroad could have been made upon them, Ps.
cx;xv. 2. — cxxi. 4. 2. He gathered the stones out
of it, that, as nothing from without might damage it,
so nothing within might obstruct its fruitfulness. He
proffered his grace to take away the stony heart.
3. He planted it with the choicest vine, set up a
pure religion among them, gave them a most excel¬
lent law, instituted ordinances very proper for the
keeping up of their acquaintance with God, Jer. ii.
21. 4. He built a tower in the midst of it, either
for defence against violence, or for the dressers of
the vineyard to lodge in; or rather, for the Owner
of the vineyard to sit in, to take a view of the vines,
(Cant. vii. 12.) a summer-house. The temple ivas
this tower, about which the priests lodged, and
where God promised to meet his people, and gave
them the tokens of his presence among them, and
pleasure in them. 5. He made a wine-press there¬
in, set up his altar, to which the sacrifices, as the
fruits of the vineyard, should be brought.
II. The disappointment of his just expectations
from them; He looked that it should bring forth
gra/ies, and a great deal of reason he had for that
expectation. Note, God expects vineyard-fruit
from those that enjoy vineyard-privileges; not leaves
only, as Mark xi. 13. A bare profession, though
ever so green, will not serve: there must be more
than buds and blossoms; good purposes and good be¬
ginnings are good things, but not enough, there must
be fruit; a good heart and a good life; vineyard-fruit;
thoughts and affections, words and actions, agreea¬
ble to the Spirit, which is the fatness of the vine¬
yard, (Gal. v. 22, 23. ) answerable to the ordinances,
which are the dressings of the vineyard, and ac¬
ceptable to God, the Lord of the vineyard, and fruit
according to the season. Such fruit as this God ex¬
pects from us, grapes, the fruit of the \ ine, with
which they honour God and man; (Judg. ix. 13.)
and his expectations are neither high nor hard, but
righteous and verv reasonable. Yet see how his
expectations are frustrated; it brought forth wild
grapes; not only no fruit at all, but bad fruit, worse
th in none; grapes of Sodom, Deut. xxxii. 32. 1.
Wild grapes are the fruits of the corrupt nature;
fruit according to the crab-stock, not according to
the engrafted branch; from the root of bitterness,
Heb. xii. 15. Where grace does not work, corrup¬
tion will. 2. Wild grapes are hypocritical per¬
formances in religion, that look like grapes, but are
sour or bitter; and are so far from being pleasing to
Gad, that they are provoking, as theirs, ch. i. 11.
Counterfeit graces are wild grapes.
III. An appeal to themselves, whether, upon the
wh le, God must not be justified, and they con¬
demned, v. iii. 4. And now the case is plainly
st it d, 0 inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Ju¬
dah, judye, I ftray you, betwixt me and my vine¬
yard. This implies that God was blamed about
ih m: there was a controversy between them and
nim; but the equity was so plain on his side, that
'ir could venture to put the decision of the contro-
| versy to their own consciences; “ Let any inhabi-
! tant of Jerusalem, any man of Judah, that has but
the use of his reason, and a common sense of equity
and justice, speak his mind impartially in this mat-
j ter. ” Here is a challenge to any man to show,
1. Any instance wherein God had been wanting
| to them; What could have been done more to my
I vineyard, that I have not done in it? He speaks ct
! the external means of fruitfulness, and such as might
■ be expected from the dresser of a vineyard, fre m
whom it is net required that he should change the
nature of the vine. What ought to have been done
more? (so it may be read. ) They had every' thing
requisite for instruction and direction in their duty,
for the quickening of them to it, and putting of them
in mind of it: no inducements were wanting to per¬
suade them to it, but all arguments were used, pre-
per to work either upon hope or fear; and they had
all the opportunities they could desire for the per¬
formance of their duty, the new-mcons, and the sab¬
baths, and solemn feasts; they had the scriptures,
the lively oracles, a standing ministry in the priests
and Levites, beside what was extraordinary in the
prophets. No nation had statutes and judgments
so nghteous.
2. Nor could any tolerable excuse be offered for
their walking thus contrary to God; “Wherefore,
what reason can be given why it should bring forth
wild grapes, when I looked for grapes?” Note, The
wickedness of those that profess religion, and enjoy
the means of grace, is the most unreasonable, unac¬
countable thing in the world, and the whole blame
of it must lie upon the sinners themselves; If thou
scomest, thou alone shalt bear it, and shalt not have
a word to say for thyself in the judgment of the
great day. God will prove his own ways equal, and
the sinner’s ways unequal.
IV. Their doom read, and a righteous sentence
passed upon them for their bad conduct toward God;
(v. 5, 6.) “ And now go to; since nothing can be of¬
fered in excuse of the crime, or arrest of the judg¬
ment, I will tell you what I am now determined to
do to my v ineyard; I will be vexed and troubled
with it no more; since it will be good for nothing,
it shall be good for nothing; in short, it shall cease
to be a vineyard, and be turned into a wilderness;
the church of the Jews shall be unchurched, their
charter shall be taken away, and they shall become
lo-ammi — not my people. ” 1. “ They shall no
longer be distinguished as a peculiar people, but be
laid in common; I will take away the hedge thereof,
and then it will soon be eaten up, and become as
bare as other ground.” They mingled themselves
with the nations, and therefore were justly scattered
among them. They shall no longer be protected as
God’s people, but left exposed. God will not onlv
suffer the wall to go to decay, but he will break it
down, will remove all their defences from them;
and then they become an easy prey to their ene¬
mies, who had long waited for an opportunity to do
them a mischief, and will now tread them down,
and trample upon them. 3. They shall no longer
have the face of a vineyard, the form and shape of
a church and commonwealth, but shall be levelled
and laid waste. This was fulfilled when Jerusalem
for their sakes was ploughed as a field, Mic. iii. 12
4. No more pains shall be taken with them by ma
gistrates or ministers, the dressers and keepers cf
their vineyard; it shall not be pruned ordigged, but
every thing shall run wild, and nothing shall come
up but briers and thorns, the products of sin and
the curse, Gen. iii. 18. When errors and corrup¬
tions, race and immorality, go without check or con¬
trol, no testimony borne against them, no rebuke
given them, or restraint put upon them, the vine
vard is unpruned, is not dressed or ridded; and ther
it will soon be like the vineyard of the man void ' i
36
ISAIAH, V.
understanding, all grown over with thorns. 5. That
which completes its wo, is, that the dews of heaven
shall be withheld; he that has the key of the clouds,
will command them that they rain no rain upon it;
and that alone is sufficient to turn it into a desert.
Note, God, in a way of righteous judgment, denies
his grace to those that have long received it in vain.
The sum of all is, that they who would not bring
forth good fruit, should bring forth none. The curse
of barrenness is the punishment of the sin of barren¬
ness; as Mark xi. 14. This had its accomplishment,
in part, in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chal¬
deans, its full accomplishment in the final rejection
of the Jews, and has its frequent accomplishment in
the departure of God’s Spirit from those persons
who have long resisted him, and striven against
him, and the removal rjf his gospel from those places
that have been long a reproach to it, while it has
been an honour to them. It is no loss to God to lay
his vineyard waste; for he can, when he pleases,
turn a wilderness into a fruitful field; and when he
does thus dismantle a vineyard, it is but as he did
by the garden of Eden, which, when man had by
sin forfeited his place in, was soon levelled with
common soil.
V. The explanation of this parable, or a key to
it, (n. 7.) where we are told, 1. What is meant by
the vineyard; it is the house of Israel, the body of
the people, incorporated in one church and com¬
monwealth; and what by the vines, the pleasant
plants, the plants of God’s pleasure, which he had
been pleased in, and delighted in doing good to;
they are the men of Judah; these he had dealt gra¬
ciously with, and from them he expected suitable
returns. 2. What is meant by the grapes that were
expected, and the wild grapes that were produced;
he looked for judgment and righteousness, that the
people should be honest in ail their dealings, and
the magistrates should strictly administer justice;
this might reasonably be expected among a people
that had such excellent laws and rules of justice
given them ; (Deut. iv. 8. ) but it was quite other¬
wise; instead of judgment there was the cruelty of
the oppressors, and instead of righteousness the cry
of the oppressed; every thing was carried by cla¬
mour and noise, and not by equity, and according
to the merits of the cause. It is sad with a people,
when wickedness has usurped the place of judg--
inent, Eccl. iii. 16. It is very sad with a soul, when,
instead of the grapes of humility, meekness, pa¬
tience, love, and contempt of the world, which God
looks for, there are the wild grapes of pride, pas¬
sion, discontent, malice, and contempt of God; in¬
stead of the grapes of praying and praising, the
wild grapes of cursing and swearing, which are a
great offence to God. Some of the ancients apply
this to the Jews in Christ’s time, among whom Gocl
looked for righteousness, that they should have re¬
ceived and embraced Christ, but behold, a cry, that
cry, Crucify him, crucify him.
8. Wo unto them that join house to
house, that lay field to field, till there he no
place, that they may be placed alone in the
midst of the earth ! 9. In mine ears, said
die Lord of hosts, Of a truth, many houses
shall be desolate, even great and fair, with¬
out inhabitant. 10. Yea, ten acres of vine¬
yard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a
homer shall yield an ephah. 11. Wo unto
them that rise up early in the morning, that
i hey may follow strong drink; that continue
until night,//// wine inflame them! 12. And
the haip and the viol, the tabret and pipe,
and wine, are in their feasts: but they re¬
gard not the work of the Lord, neither con¬
sider the operation of his hands. 13. There¬
fore my people are gone into captivity,
because they have no knowledge; and then-
honourable men are famished, and then-
multitude dried up with thirst. 14. There¬
fore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened
her mouth without measure: and their glory
and their multitude, and their pomp, and he
that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. 15
And the mean man shall be brought down,
and the mighty man shall be humbled, and
the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: 16.
But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in
judgment, and God, that is holy, shall be
sanctified in righteousness. 1 7. Then shall
the lambs feed after their manner, and the
waste places of the fat ones shall stranger?
eat.
The world and the flesh are the two great ene¬
mies that we are in danger of being oveipowered
by; yet we are in no danger, if we do not ourselves
yiulti to them. Eagerness of the world, and indul¬
gence of the flesh, are the two sins against which
the prophet in God’s name, here denounces woes;
these sins abounded then among the men of Judah,
and were some of the wild grapes they brought
forth, ( v . 4. ) for which God threatens to bring ruin
upon them; they are sins which we have all need
to stand upon our guard against, and dread the con¬
sequences of.
I. Here is a wo to those who set their hearts
upon the wealth of the world, and place their hap¬
piness in that, and increase it to themselves by indi
rect and unlawful means, (y. 8. ) who join house to
house, and lay field to field, till there be no place .
no room for any body to live by them; could they
succeed, they would be placed alone in the midst ci
the earth, would monopolize possessions and pre¬
ferments, and engross all profits and employments
to themselves. Not that it is a sin for those who
have a house and a field, if they have wherewithal
to purchase another; but their fault is, 1. That they
are inordinate in their desires to enrich themselves,
and make it their whole care and business to raise
an estate; as if they had nothing to mind, nothing to
seek, nothing to do, in this world, but that. They
never know v-hen they have enough, but the mi re
they have, the more they would have; and, like the
daughters of the horseleech, they cry, Give, give;
they cannot enjoy what they have, nor do good with
it, being so intent on contriving and studying to
make it more. They must have variety of houses,
a winter-house, and a summer-house; and if am then
man’s house, oj- field, lie convenient to theirs, os
Naboth’s vineyard to Ahab’s, they must have that
too, or they cannot be easy. Their fault is, 2. That
they are herein careless of others, nay, and injurious
to them; they would live so as to let nobody live but
themselves; so that their insatiable covetings be
gratified, they matter not what becomes of all about
them : what encroachments they make upon their
neighbour’s rights, what hardships they put upon
those that they have power over, or advantage
against, or what base and wicked arts they use to
heap up treasure to themselves. They would swell
so big as to fill all space, and yet are still unsatisfied,
| Eccl. v. 10. As Alexander, who, when he fancied
j he had conquered the world, wept because hr- had
net another world to conquer: Deficiente terra, non
37
1SA1 1
imfilctur avaritia — If the whole earth were mono¬
polized, avarice would thirst for more. What, will
you be placed alone in the midst of the earth? (so
some read it.) Will you be so foolish as to desire
it, when we have so much need of the service of
others, and so much comfort in their society? Will
you be so foolish as to expect that the earth should
be forsaken for us, (Job xviii. 4.) when it is by mul¬
titudes that the earth is to be replenished? An prop¬
ter vos solos tanta terra creata est ? — Was the wide
world created merely for you? Lyra.
Now that which is threatened, as the punishment
of this sin, is, th.it neither the houses nor the fields
they were thus greedy of, should turn to any ac¬
count, v. 9, 10. God whispered it to the prophet
in his ear, as he speaks in a like case; (c/i. xxii. 14.)
It was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts;
(as God told Samuel a thing in his ear, 1 Sam. ix.
15.) he thought he heard it still sounding in his ears;
but he proclaims it as he ought to do, upon the house¬
tops, Matth. x. 27. (1.) That the houses they were
so fond of, should be untenanted, should stand long
empty, and so should yield them no rent, and go out
of repair: Many houses shall be desolate, the people
that should dwell in them being cut off by sword,
famine, or pestilence, or carried into captivity; or,
trade being dead, and poverty coming upon the
country like an armed man, those that had been
house-keepers, were forced to become lodgers, or
shift for themselves elsewhere. Even great and fair
houses, that would invite tenants, and (there being
a scarcity of tenants) might be taken at low rates,
shall stand empty without inhabitants. God creat¬
ed not the earth in vain: he formed it to be inhabit¬
ed, ch. xlv. 18. But men’s projects are often frus¬
trated, and what they frame, answers not the in¬
tention. We have a saying, That fools build houses
for wise men to live in; but sometimes it proves
for no man to live in. God has many ways to empty
the most populous cities. (2. ) That the fields they
were so fond of should be unfruitful ; (y. 10. ) Ten
acres of vineyard shall yield only such a quantity
of grapes as will m ike but one bath of wine, which
was about eight gallons; and the seed of an homer,
a bushel’s sowing of ground, shall yield but an
eplvth, which was the tenth part of an homer; so
that, through the barrenness of the ground, or the
unseasonableness of the weather, they should not
have more than a tenth part of their seed again.
Note, Those that set their hearts upon the world,
will justly be disappointed in their expectations
from it.
II. Here is a wo to those that doat upon the plea¬
sures and delights of sense, v. 11, 12. Sensuality
ruins men as certainly as worldliness and oppres¬
sion. As Christ pronounced a wo against those that
are rich, so also against those that laugh now, and
are full, (Luke vi. 24, 25.) and fare sumptuously,
Luke xvi. 19.
Obseri e, 1. Who the sinners are against whom
this wo is denounced; (1.) They are such as are
given to drink, they make it their business, have
their hearts upon it, and overcharge themselves
with it. They rise early to follow strong drink, as
husbandmen and tradesmen do to follow their em¬
ployments; as if they were afraid of losing time
from that which is the greatest mispendingof time.
Whereas commonly they that are drunken, are
drunken in the night, when they have despatched
the day, these neglect business, abandon it, and give
up themselves to the service of the flesh; for they
sit at their cups all day, and continue till night, till
wine inflame them — inflame their lusts; chambering [
and wantonness follow upon rioting and drunkenness
— inflame their passions; for who but such have
contentions and wounds without cause? Prov. xxiii.
29 — 33. They make a perfect trade of drinking; ,
\H, V.
nor do they seek the shelter of the night for this
work of darkness, as men ashamed of it, but count
it a /ileasure to riot in the clay-timc. See 2 Pet. ii.
13. (2.) They are such as are given to mirth; they
have their feasts, and they are so merrily disprsed,
that they cannot dine or sup without music, musical
instruments of all sorts, like David, (Amos vi. 5.)
like Solomon; (Eccl. ii. 8.) the harp and the viol,
the tabret and pipe, must accompany the wine, that
every sense may be gratified to a nicety: they take
the timbrel and harp. Job xxi. 12. The use (if mu¬
sic is lawful in itself; but when it is excessive, when
we set our hearts upon it, mispend time in it, so
that it crowds our spiritual and divine pleasures,
and draws away the heart from God, then it turns
into sin to us. (3.) They are such as never give
their mind to anv thing that is serious; they regard
not the work of the Lord, they observe' not his
power, wisdom, and goodness, in those creatures
which they abuse, and subject to vanity, nor the
bounty of his providence, in giving them those good
things which they make the food and fuel of their
lusts. God’s judgments have already seized them,
and they are under the tokens of his displeasure, but
they regard not, they consider not the hand cf God
in all these things; his hand is lifted up, but they
will not see, because they will not disturb them¬
selves in their pleasures, nor think what God is do¬
ing with them.
2. What the judgments are, which are denounc¬
ed against them, and in part executed. It is here
foretold,
(1.) That they should be dislodged; the land
should spue out these drunkards; (v. 13.) My peo¬
ple (so they called themselves, and were proud of
it) are therefore gone into captivity, are as sure p
go, as if they were gone already, because they have
no knowledge; how should they have knowledge,
when by their excessive drinking they make sots
and fools of themselves? They set up for wits, but,
because they regard not God’s controversy with
them, nor take any care to make their peace with
him, they may tnilv be said to have no knowledge;
and the reason is, because they will have none; they
are inconsiderate and wilful, and therefore destroyed
for lack of knowledge.
(2.) That they should be impoverished, and come
to want that which they had wasted and abused to
excess; Even their glory are men of famine, subject
to it, and slain by it; and their multitude are dried
up with thirst: both the great men and the common
people are ready to perish for want of bread and
water; this is the effect of the failure of the com,
(v. 10.) for the king himself is served of the field,
Eccl. v. 9. And when the vintage fails, the dnmk
ards are called upon to weep, because the new wim
is cut off from their mouth, (Joel i. 5.) and not so
much because now they want it, as because, when
they had it, they abused it. It is just with God to
make men want that for necessity, which they have
abused to excess.
(3.) That multitudes should be cut off by famim
and sword; (v. 14.) Therefore hell has enlarged
herself; Tophet, the common burving-place, proves
too little; so many are there to be buried, that thev
shall be forced to enlarge it: the grave has opened
her mouth without measure, never saying, It it
enough, Prov. xxx. 15, 16. It may be understood
of the place of the damned; luxury and sensuality
fill those regions of darkness and horror; there they
are tormented, who made a god of their belly, Luke
xvi. 25. Phil. iii. 19.
(4.) That they should be humbled and abased,
and all their honours laid in the dust. This will be
done effectually by death and the grave; Their glory
shall descend, not only to the earth, but into it; it
shall not descend after them, (Ps. xlix. 17.) to stano
33
ISAIAH, V.
diem in any stead on the other side death, but it
shall die and he buried with them; poor glory,
which will thus wither! Did they glory in their
numbers? Their multitude shall go down to the pit,
Ezek. xxxi. 18. — xxxii. 32. Did they glory in the
figure they made? Their pomp shall be at an end;
their shouts with which they triumphed, and were
attended. Did they glory in their mirth? Death will
turn it into mounting; he that rejoices and revels,
and never knows what it is to be serious, shall go
thither where there is weeping and wailing. Thus
the mean man and the mighty man meet together
in the grave, and under mortifying judgments. Let
a man be ever so high, death will bring him low,
ever so mean, death will bring him lower; in the
prospect of winch, the eyes of the lofty should now
be humbled, v. 15. It becomes those to look low,
that must shortly be laid low.
3. What the fruit of these judgments shall be.
(1.) God shall be glorified, v. 16. He that is the
Lord of hosts, and the holy God, sh ill be exalted
and sanctified in the judgment and righteousness of
these dispensations. His justice must be owned, in
bringing those low that exalted themselves; and
herein he is glorified; [1.] As a God of irresistible
power: he will herein be exalted as the Lord of
hosts, that is able to break the strongest, humble
the proudest, and tame the most unruly. Power is
not exalted but in judgment. It is the honour of
God, that, though he has a mighty arm, yet judg¬
ment and justice are always the habitation of his
throne , Ps. lxxxix. 13, 14. [2.] As a God of un¬
spotted purity; he that is holy, infinitely holy, shall
be sanctified, shall be owned and declared to be so
in the righteous punishment of proud men. Note,
When proud men are humbled, the great God is
honoured, and ought to be honoured by us.
(2.) Good people shall be relieved and succoured;
(v. 17.) Then shall the lambs feed after their man¬
ner; the meek ones of the earth, who follow the
Lamb, who were persecuted, and put into fear by
those proud oppressors, shall feed quietly, feed in
the green pastures, and there shall be none to make
them afraid. See Ezek. xxxiv. 14. When the ene¬
mies of the church are cut off, then have the church¬
es rest; they shall feed at their pleasure; so some
read it. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth, and delight themselves in abundant peace.
They shall feed according to their order or capacity ;
so others reads it; as they are able to hear the word,
that bread of life.
(3.) The country shall be laid waste, and be¬
come a prey to the neighbours; the waste places
of the fat ones, the possessions of those inch men
that lived at their ease, those shall be eaten by
strangers that were nothing akin to them. In the
captivity, the poor of the land were left for vine¬
dressers and husbandmen; (2 Kings xxv. 12.) those
were the lambs, that feed in the pastures of the fat
ones, which were laid in common for strangers to
eat. When the church of the Jews, those fat ones,
was laid waste, their privileges were transferred to
the Gentiles, who had been long strangers; and the
lambs of Christ’s flock were welcome to them.
18. Wo unto them that draw iniquity
with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with
a cart-rope ! 1 9. That say, Let him make
speed, anti hasten his work, that we may
see it : and let the counsel of the Holy One
of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may
know it! 20. Wo unto them that call evil
good, and good evil; that put darkness for
ligot, and light for darkness; that put bitter
for sweet, and sweet for hitter! 21. Wo |
unto them that are wise in their own eyes,
and prudent in their own sight ! 22. Wo
unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and
men of strength to mingle strong drink : 23.
M Inch justify the wicked for reward, and
fake away the righteousness of the righteous
from him ! 24. Therefore as the fire devour¬
ed) the stubble, and the flame consumeth the
chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and
their blossom shall go up as dust: because
they have cast away the law of the Loud of
hosts, and despised the word of the HolyOne
of Israel. 25. Therefore is the anger of the
Lord kindled against his people, and he
hath stretched forth his hand against them,
and hath smitten them : and the hills did
tremble, and their carcases were torn in the
midst of the streets. For all this his anger
is not turned away, but his hand is stretched
out still. 26. And he will lift up an ensign
to the nations from far, and will hiss unto
them from the end of the earth: and, behold,
they shall come with speed swiftly. 27.
None shall be weary nor stumble among
them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither
shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor
the latehet of their shoes be broken: 23.
W hose arrows are sharp, and all their bows
bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted
like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
29. Their roaring shall be like a lion, they
shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall
roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall
carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it
30. And in that day they shall roar against
them like the roaring of the sea; and if one
look unto the land, behold darkness and sor¬
row ; and the light is darkened in the hea
vens thereof.
Here are,
I. Sins described, which will bring judgments
upon a people; and this perhaps is not onlv a charge
drawn up against the men of Judah', who lived at
that time, and the particular articles of that charge,
though it may relate primarily to them; but it is ra¬
ther intended for warning to ail people, in all ages, to
take heed to these sins, as destructive both to par¬
ticular persons and to communities, and exposing
men to God’s wrath and his righteous judgments.
Those that are here said to be in a woful condi
tion,
1. Who are eagerly set upon sin, and violent in
their sinful pursuits; (r. 18.) who draw iniquity
with cords of vanity, who take as much pains to
sin, as the cattle do, that draw in a team; who put
themselves to the stretch for the gratifying of theit
inordinate appetites, and to humour a base lust, of
fer violence to nature itself. They think themselves
as sure of compassing their wicked projects, as if
they were pulling it to them with strong cart-ropes:
but they will find themselves disappointed, for thev
will prove cords of vanity, which will break when
they come to any stress; for the righteous I.ord wi/i
cut in sunder the cords of the wicked, Ps. cxxix. 4.
Job iv. 8. Prow xxii. 8. They are bv long custom
ISAIAH, Vr.
30
ami confirmed habits, so hardened in sin, that they
cannot get clear of it: those that sin through infir¬
mity, are drawn away by sin; those that sin pre¬
sumptuously, draw it to them, in spite of the oppo¬
sitions of Providence and the checks of conscience.
Some by sin understand the punishment of sin; they
■■'ull God’s judgments upon their own heads, as it
were with cart-ropes.
2. Who set the justice of God at defiance, and
challenge the Almighty to do his worst; (x>. 19.)
They say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work;
this is the same language with that of the scoffers
of the last days, who say. Where is the promise of
his coining? And therefore it is, that, like them,
the)' draw iniquity with cords of vanity, are violent
and daring in sin, and walk after their own lusts, 2
Pet. iii. 1, 3, 4. (1.) They ridicule the prophets,
and banter them; it is in scorn that they call God
the Holy One of Israel, because the prophets used
with great veneration to call him so. (2. ) They will
not believe the revelation of God’s wrath from hea¬
ven against their ungodliness and unrighteousness;
unless they see it executed, they will not know it,
as if the curse were brutum fulmen — a mere flash,
and all the threatenings of the word bugbears to
frighten fools and children. (3. ) If God should ap¬
pear against them, as he has threatened, yet they
think themselves able to make their part good with
him, and provoke him to jealousy, as if they were
stronger than he, 1 Cor. x. 22. “We have heard
his word, but it is all talk; let him hasten his work,
we shall shift for ourselves well enough.” Note,
Those that wilfully persist in sin, consider not the
power of God’s anger.
3. Who confound and overthrow the distinctions
between moral good and evil, who call evil good,
and good evil, (x>. 20.) who not only live in the
omission of that which is good, but condemn it, ar¬
gue against it, and, because they will not practise it
themselves, run it down in others, and fasten invi¬
dious epithets upon it; they not only do that which
is evil, but justify it, and applaud it, and recom¬
mend it to others as safe and good. Note, (1.) Vir¬
tue and piety are good, for they are light and sweet,
they are pleasant and right; but sin and wickedness
are evil, they are darkness, all the fruit of ignorance
and mistake, and will be bitterness in the latter end.
(2.) Those do a great deal of wrong to God, and re¬
ligion, and conscience, to their own souls and to the
souls of others, who misrepresent these, and put false
colours upon them, who call drunkenness good fel¬
lowship, and covetousness good husbandry, and,
when they persecute the people of God, think they
do him good service; and, on the other hand, who
call seriousness ill-nature, and sober singularity ill-
breeding, who say all manner of evil falsely con¬
cerning the ways of godliness, and do what they
can to form in men’s minds prejudices against them ;
and this in defiance of evidence as plain and con¬
vincing as that of sense, by which we distinguish,
beyond contradiction, between light and darkness,
and that which to the taste is sweet and bitter.
4. Who, though they are guilty of such gross mis¬
takes as these, have a great opinion of their own
judgments, and value themselves mightily upon
their understanding; (x». 21.) they are wise in their
own eyes; the)' think themselves able to disprove
and baffle the reproofs and convictions of God’s
word, and to evade and elude both the searches
and the reaches of his judgments; that they can out¬
wit Infinite Wisdom, and countermine Providence
itself. Or, it may be taken more generally; God
resists the proud, those particularly who arc con¬
ceited of their own wisdom, and lean to their own
understanding; such must become fools, that they
may be truly wise, or else, at their end, they shall
appear to be fools before all the world.
5. Who gloried in it as a great accomplisninent,
that they were able to bear a great deal of strong
liquor without being overcome by it; (v. 22.) Who
are mighty to drink wine, and "use their strength
and vigour, not in the service of their country, but
in the Service of their lusts. Let drunkards know
from this scripture, that, (1.) They ungratefully
abuse their bodily strength, which God has given
them for good purooses, and by degrees cannot but
weaken it. (2.) It will not excuse them from the
guilt of drunkenness, that they can drink hard, and
yet keep their feet. (3.) Those who boast of their
drinking down others, glory in their shame. (4.)
How light soever men make of their drunkenness, it
is a sin which will certainly lay them open to the
wrath and curse of God.
6. Who, as judges, perverted justice, and went
counter to all the rules of equity, xs 23. This fol¬
lowed upon the former; they drink, and forget the
law, (Prov. xxxi. 5.) and err through wine, ( ch .
xxviii. 7.) and take bribes, that they may have
wherewithal to maintain their luxury. They" justify
the wicked for reward, and find some pretence or
other to clear him from his guilt, and shelter him
from punishment; and they condemn the innocent,
and take away their righteousness from them, over-
rale their pleas, deprive them of the means of clear¬
ing up their innocency, and give judgment against
them. In causes between man and man, might and
money would at any time prevail against right and
justice; and he who was ever so plainly in the
wrong, with a small bribe would carry the cause,
and recover costs. In criminal causes, though the
prisoner ever so plainly appeared to be guilty, yet,
for a reward, they would acquit him; if he were
innocent, yet, if he did not fc-e them well, nay, if
they were fee’d by the malicious prosecutor, or they
themselves had spleen against him, they would con¬
demn him.
II. The judgments described, which these sins
would bring upon them. Let not those expect to
live easily, who live thus wickedly; for the righte¬
ous God will take vengeance, v '. 24 — 30. Where
we may observe,
1. How complete this ruin will be, and how ne¬
cessarily and unavoidably it will follow upon their
sins. He had compared this people to a vine, (x\
7.) well-fixed, and which, it was hoped, would be
flourishing and fruitful; but the grace of God to¬
wards it was received in vain, and then the root be¬
came rottenness, being dried up from beneath, and
the blossom wculd of course blow off as dust, as a
light and worthless thing, Job xviii. 16. Sin weak¬
ens the strength, the root, of a people, so that they
are easily rooted up; it defaces the beauty, the blos¬
soms, of a people, and takes away the hopes of fruit.
The sin of unfruitfulncss is punished with the plague
of unfruitfulness. Sinners make themselves as
stubble and chaff, combustible matter, proper fuel
to the fire of God’s wrath, which then, of course,
devours and consumes them, as the fire devours the
stubble, and nobody can hinder it, or cares to hin
der it. Chaff is consumed, unhelped and unpitied.
2. How just the ruin will be; Because they have
cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and would
not have him to reign over them ; and as the law of
i Moses was rejected and thrown off, so the word of
the Holy One of Israel by his servants the prophets,
j putting them in mind of his law, and calling them
' to obedience, was despised and disregarded. God
does not reject men for every transgression of his
law and word; but, when his word is despised, and
his law cast away, what can they expect, but that
God should utterly abandon them?
3. Whence this rain should come; (x>. 25.) it is
j destruction from the Almighty. (1.) The justice
I of God appoints it; for that is the anger of the Lord
■10
ISAIAH, VI.
which is kindled against his people, his necessary
vindication of the honour of his holiness and autho¬
rity. (2.) The power of God effects it; he hath
stretched forth his hand against them; that hand
which had many a time been stretched out for them
against their enemies, is now stretched out against
them, at full length, and in its full vigour; and who
knows the / tower of his anger? Whether they are
sensible of it or no, it is God that has smitten them,
has blasted their vine, and made it wither.
4. The consequences and continuance of this ruin.
When God comes forth in wrath against a people,
the hills tremble, fear seizes even their great men,
who are strong and high; the earth shakes under
men, and is ready to sink; and as this feels dread¬
ful, (what does more so than an earthquake?) so
what sight can be more frightful than the carcases of
of men torn with dogs, or thrown as dung (so the mar¬
gin reads) in the midst of the streets? This intimates
that great multitudes should be slain, not only soldiers
in the field of battle, but the inhabitants of their cities
put to the sword in cold blood, and that the survi¬
vors should neither have hands nor hearts to bury
them. This is very dreadful, and vet such is the
merit of sin, that, for all this, God's anger is not
turned away; that fire will burn as long as there
nemains any of the stubble and chaff to be fuel for
it: and his hand, which he stretched forth against
his people to smite them, because they do not by
prayer take hold of it, nor by reformation submit
themselves to it, is stretched out still.
5. The instruments that should be employed in
bringing this ruin upon them; it should be done by
the incursion of a foreign enemy, that should lay all
waste: no particular enemy is named, and therefore
we are to take it as a prediction of all the several
judgments of this kind which God brought upon the
Jews, Sennacherib’s invasion soon after, and the de¬
struction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans first, and
at last by the Romans; and I think it is to be looked
upon also as a threatening of the like desolation of
those countries which harbour and countenance
those sins mentioned in the foregoing verses: it is
an exposition of those woes.
When God designs the ruin of a provoking peo-
ple,
(1.) He can send a great way off for instruments
to be employed in it; he can raise forces from afar,
and summon them from the end of the earth to at¬
tend his service, v. 26. Those who know him not,
are made of use to fulfil his counsel, when, by rea¬
son of their distance, they can scarcely be supposed
to have any ends of their own to serve. If God set
up his standard, he can incline men’s hearts to en¬
list themselves under it, though perhaps they know
not whv or wherefore. When the Lord of hosts is
pleased to make a general muster of the forces he
has at his command, he has a great army in an in¬
stant, Joel ii. 2, 11. He needs not sound a trumpet,
or beat a drum, to give them notice, or to animate
them; no, he does but hiss to them, or rather whis¬
tle to them, and that is enough; they hear that, and
that puts courage into them. Note, God has all the
creatures at his beck.
(2. ) He can make them come into the service with
incredible expedition; Behold , they shall come with
sfieed swiftly. Note, [1.] Those who will do God’s
work must not loiter, must not linger, nor shall they
when his time is come. [2.] Those who defy God’s
judgments, will be ashamed of their insolence when
it is too late; they said scornfully, (u. 19.) Let him
make sfieed, let him hasten his work, and they shall
find, to their terror and confusion, that he will; in
one hour is the judgment come.
(2.) He can carry them on in the service with
amazing forwardness and fury. This is described
here in very elegant and lofty expressions, v. 27 —
30. [1.] Though their marches be very long, yet
none among them shall be weary; so desirous shall
they be to engage, that they shall forget their wea¬
riness, and make no complaints of it. [2.] Though
the way be rough, and perhaps embarrassed by the
usual policies of war, yet none among them shall
stumble, but all the difficulties in their way shall
easily be got over. [3.] Though they be forced to
keep constant watch, none shall slumber nor sleep,
so intent shall they be upon their vvork, in prospect
of having the plunder of the city for their pains.
[4.] They shall not desire any rest or relaxation;
they shall not put off their clothes, nor loose the gir-
dle’of their loins, but shall always have their belts
on, and swords by their sides. [5.] They shall net
meet with the least hindrance to retard their march,
or oblige them to halt; not a latchet of their shoes
shall be broken, which they must stay to mend, as
Josh. ix. 13. [6.] Their arms and ammunition
shall all be fixed, and in good posture; their arrows
sharp, to wound deep, and all their bows bent, none
unstrung, for they expect to be soon in action. [7.]
Their horses and chariots of war are all fit for ser¬
vice; their horses so strong, so hardy, that their
hoofs shall be like flint, far from being beaten or
made tender, bv their long march; and the wheels
of their chariots not broken, or battered, or cut of
repair, but swift like a whirlwind, turning round so
strongly upon their axle-trees. [8.] All the soldiers
shall be bold and daring; (x>. 29.) their roaring, or
shouting, before a battle, shall be like a lion, who
with his roaring animates himself, and terrifies all
about him. They who would not hear the voice of
| God speaking to them by his prophets, but stopped
their ears against their charms, shall be made to
1 hear the voice of their enemies roaring against them,
and shall not be able to turn a deaf ear to it; they
shall roar like the roaring of the sea in a storm ; it
roars, and threatens to swallow up, as the lion roars,
and threatens to tear in pieces. [9.] There shall
not be the least prospect of relief or succour; the
enemy shall come in like a flood, and there shall be
none to lift up a standard against him; he shall seize
the prey, and none shall deliver it, none shall be able
to deliver it, nay, none shall so much as dare to at¬
tempt the deliverance of it, but shall give it up for
lost. Let the distressed look which way they will,
every thing appears dismal; for if God frown upon
us, how can any creature smile? First, Lock round
to the earth, to" the land, to that land that used to
be a land of light, and the joy of the whole earth,
and behold, darkness and sorrow, all frightful, all
mourning, nothing hopeful. Secondly, Look up to
heaven, and there the light is darkened, where one
would expect to have found it. If the light is dark¬
ened in the heavens, how great is that darkness!
If God hide his face, no marvel the heavens hide
theirs, and appear gloomy. Job xxxiv. 29. It is cur
wisdom, bv keeping a good conscience, to keep all
clear between us and heaven, that we may have
light from above, when clouds and darkness are
round about us.
CHAP. VI.
Hitherto, it should seem, Isaiah had prophesied a? a can
didate, having only a virtual and implicit commission
but here we have him (if I may so speak) solemnly or
dained and set apart to the prophetical office by a more
express explicit commission, as his work grew more upon
his hands: or, perhaps, having seen little success of his
ministry, he began to thinJr of giving it up; and there¬
fore God saw fit to renew m» commission here in this
chapter, in such a manner as might excite and encour¬
age his zeal and industry in the execution of if, though
he seemed to labour in vain. In this chapter, we have,
I. A very awful vision which Isaiah saw of the glory of
God, (v. 1 . .4.) the terror it put him into, (v. 5. ) and the
relief given him against that terror by an assurance of
I the pardon of his sins, v. 6,7. II. A very awful com-
ISAIAH, VI
41
aJssion which Isaiah received to go as a prophet, in Ciod’s
name, (v. 8.) by his preaching to harden the impenitent
in sin, and ripen them for ruin; (v. 9--12.) yet with a
reservation ol mercy for a remnant, v. 13. And it was
as to an evangelical prophet, that these things were show¬
ed him, and said to him.
IN the year that king Uzziah died 1
saw also the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled
‘he temple. 2. Above it stood the Sera¬
phims: each one had six wings; with twain
lie covered his face, and with twain he co¬
vered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3. And one cried unto another and said,
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the
whole earth is full of his glory. 4. And the
posts of the door moved at the voice of him
that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke.
The vision which Isaiah saw when he was, as is
said of Samuel, established to be a j iro/ihet of the
Lord, (1 Sam. iii. 20.) was intended, 1. To con¬
firm his faith, that he might himself be abundantly
satisfied of the truth of those things which should
afterward be made known to him. Thus God
opened the communications of himself to him: but
such visions needed not to be afterward repeated,
upon every revelation. Thus God appeared at first
as a God of glory to Abraham, (Acts vii. 2.) and to
Moses, Exod. iii. 2. Ezekiel’s prophecies, and St.
John’s, begin with visions of the divine glory. 2.
To work upon his affections, that lie might be possessed
of such a reverence of God, as would both quicken
him, and fix him, to his service. They who are to
teach others the knowledge of God, ought to be well
acquainted with him themselves.
The vision is dated, for the greater certainty of
it ; it was in the year that king Uzziah died, who had
reigned, for the most part, as prosperously and well
as any of the kings of Judah, and reigned very long,
above fifty years: about the time that he died, Isaiah
saw this vision of God upon a throne; for when the
breath of princes goes forth, and they return to their
earth, this is our comfort, that the Lord shall reign
for ever, Ps. cxlvi. 3, 4, 10. Israel’s king dies,
but Israel’s God still lives. From the mortality of
great and good men, we should take occasion to look
up with an eve of faith to the King eternal, immor¬
tal. King Uzziah died under a cloud, for he was
shut up as a leper till the day of his death: as the
live’s of princes have their periods, so their glory is
often eclipsed; but as Goa is everlasting, so his
glory is everlasting. King Uzziah dies in a hospital,
but the King of kings still sits upon his throne.
What the prophet here saw is revealed to us,
that we, mixing faith with that revelation, may in
it, as in a glass, behold the glory of the Lord: let us
turn aside therefore, and see this great sight with
humble reverence.
I. See God upon his throne, and that throne high
and lifted up, not only above other thrones, as it
transcends them, but over other thrones, as it rales
and commands them. Isaiah saw not Jehovah —
the essence of God, (no man has seen that, or can
see it,) but Adonai — his dominion ; he saw the Lord
Jesus; so this vision is explained, (John xii. 41.) that
Isaiah now saw Christ’s glory, and spake of him;
which is an incontestable proof of the divinity of our
Saviour. He it is, who, when, after his resurrec¬
tion, he sat down on the right hand of God, did but
sit down where he was before, John xvii. 5. See
the rest of the Eternal Mind; Isaiah saw the Lord
Vol. iv. — F
sitting, Ps. xxix. 10. Sec the sovereignty rt the
Eternal Monarch; he shs upon a thmv , a throne
of glory, befi re which we must worship, a throne
of government, under which we must be subject,
and a throne i f grace, to which we may come bold
ly. This throne is high, and lifted up above all com¬
petition and contradiction.
II. See his temple, his church on earth, filled
with manifestations of his glory. His throne being
erected at the door of the temple, (as princes sat in
judgment at the gates,) his train, the skirts of his
robes, filled the temple, the whole world; for it is
all God’s temple; and as the heaven is his throne,
so the earth is his footstool; or, rather, the church,
which is filled, enriched, and beautified, with the
tokens of God’s special presence.
III. See the bright and blessed attendants on his
throne, in and by whom his glory is celebrated, and
his government served; (r. 2.) Above tie throne,
as it were hovering about it, or nigh to the throne,
bowing before it, with an eye to it, the seraphim
stood, the holy angels, who are called seraphim —
burners; for he makes his ministers a flaming fire,
(Ps. civ. 4.) they burn in love to God, and zeal for
his glory against sin, and he makes use of them as
instruments of his wrath, when he is a consuming
Fire to his enemies. Whether they were only two
or four, or (as I rather think) an innumerable com¬
pany of angels, that Isaiah saw, is uncertain; sec
Dan. v'li. 10. Note, It is the glory of the angels, tha*
they are seraphim, have heat proportionable to
their light, have abundance, not only cf divine
knowledge, but of holy love.
Special notice is taken of their -wings, (and of no
other part of thc-ir appearance,) because of the use
they made of them; which is designed for instruc¬
tion to us. They had each of them six wings, not
stretched upward, (as those whom Ezekiel saw, ch.
i. 11.) but, 1. Four were made use of for covering,
as the wings of a fowl, sitting, are; with the two
upper wings, next the head, they covered their
faces; and with the two 1 west wings they covered
their feet, or lower parts. This bespeaks their great
humility and reverence in their attendance upon
God, for he is greatly feared in the assembly of those
saints, Ps. lxxxix. 7. They not only cover their
feet, those members of the body which are less ho
nourable, (1 Cor. xii. 23.) but even their faces;
though angels’ faces, doubtless, are much fairer
than those of the children of men, (Acts vi. 15.)
yet, in the presence of God, they cov er them, be¬
cause they cannot bear the dazzling lustre of the
divine glory, and because, being conscious of an in¬
finite distance front the divine perfection, they are
ashamed to show their faces before the holv God,
who charges even his angels with folly, If they
should offer to vie with him, Job iv. 18. If angels
be thus reverent in their attendance on God, with
what godly fear should we approach his throne!
Else we do not the will of God as the angels do it.
Yet Moses, when he went into the mount with God,
took the vail from off his face, 2 Cor. iii. 18. 2.
Two were made use of for flight; when they are
sent on God’s errands, they fly swiftly, (Dan. ix.
21.) more swiftly with their own wings than if they
flew on the wings of the wind. This teaches us to
do the work of God with cheerfulness and expe di¬
tion. Do angels come upon the wing fr< m heaven
to earth, to minister for our good, and shall net we
soar upon the wing from earth to heaven, to share
with them in their glory? Luke xx. 36.
IV. Hear the anthem, or srng cf praise, which
the angels sing to the honour of him that sits on the
throne, v. 3. Observe, 1. How this song was sung;
with zeal and fervency they cried aloud; and with
unanimity they cried one to another, or with one
another; they sang alternately, but in concert, and
42
ISAIAH, VI.
without the least jarring voice to interrupt the har¬
mony. 2. What the song was; it is the same with
that’ which is sung by the four living creatures,
Rev. iv. 8. Note, (1.) Praising God always was,
and will be, to eternity, the work of heaven, and
the constant employment of blessed spirits above,
Ps. lxxxiv. 4. (2.) The church above is the same
in its praises; there is no change of times, or notes,
there.
Two things the seraphim here give God the
praise of;
[1.] His infinite perfections in himself. Here is
one of his most glorious titles praised; he is the
Lord of hosts, of their hosts, of all hosts; and one
of his most glorious attributes, his holiness, without
which his being the Lord of hosts, or, (as it is in the
parallel place, Rev. iv. 8.) the Lord God Almighty,
could not be, so much as it is, the matter of. our joy
and praise; for power, without purity to guide it,
would be a terror to mankind. None of all the di¬
vine attributes are celebrated in scripture so as this
is; God’s power was spoken twice, (Ps. lxii. 11.)
but his holiness thrice, Holy, holy, holy. This be¬
speaks, First, The zeal and fervency of the angels,
in praising God; they even want words to express
themselves, and therefore repeat the same again.
Secondly, The particular pleasure they take in
contemplating the holiness of God; this is a sub¬
ject they love to dwell upon, to harp upon, and are
loath to leave. Thirdly, The superlative excel¬
lency of God’s holiness above that of the purest
creatures. He is holy, thrice holy, infinitely holy,
originally, perfectly, and eternally, so. Fourthly,
It may refer to the three persons in the Godhead,
Holv Father, Holy Son, and Holy Spirit; (for it
follows, (x. 8.) Who will go for us?) or, perhaps,
to that which was, and is, and is to come; for that
title of God’s honour is added to this song, Rev. iv. 8.
Some make the angels here to applaud the equity
of that sentence which God was now about to pro-
n mice upon the Jewish nation. Herein he was,
and is, and will be, holy; his ways are equal.
[2. ] The manifestation of these to the children
of men; the earth is full of his glory, of the glory
of his power and purity; for he is holy in all his
works, Ps. cxlv. 17. The Jews thought the glory
of God should be confined to their land; but it is
here intimated, that, in gospel-times, (which are
pointed to in this chapter, ) the glory of God should
fill all the earth; the glory of his holiness, which is
indeed the glory of all his other attributes; this, then,
filed the temple, (v. 1.) but, in the latter days, the
earth shall be full of it.
V. Observe the marks and tokens of terror with
which the temple was filled, upon this vision of the
divine glory, v. 4. 1. The house was shaken; not
only the door, but even the posts of the door, which
were firmly fixed, moved at the voice of him that
cried, at the voice of God, who called to judgment,
(Ps. 1. 4.) at the voice of the angel, who praised
him. There are voices in heaven sufficient to drown
all the noises of the many waters in this lower world,
Ps. xciii. 3, 4. This violent concussion of the tem¬
ple was an indication of God’s wrath and displea¬
sure against the people for their sins; it was an
earnest of the destruction of it and the city, by the
Babylonians first, and afterwards by the Romans;
and it was designed to strike an awe upon us. Shall
walls and posts tremble before God, and shall not
we tremble? 2. The house was darkened; it was
filled with smoke, which was as a cloud spread upon
the face of his throne-, (Job xxvi. 9.) we cannot take
a full view of it, nor order our speech concerning it,
by reason of darkness. In the temple above there
will be no smoke, but every thing will be seen clear¬
ly; there God dwells in light, here he makes dark-
ntss his pavilion, 2 Chron. vi. 1.
5. Then said I, Wo is me ! for 1 am un¬
done; because I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people of un¬
clean lips: for mine eyes have seen the
King, the Lord of hosts. 6. Then tlew one
of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal
in his hand, which he had taken with the
tongs from off the altar; 7. And he laid it
upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath
touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken
away, and thy sin purged. 3. Also I heard
the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall
I send, and who trill go for us? Then 1
said, Here am I; send me.
Our curiosity would lead us to inquire further
concerning the seraphim, their songs, and their ser¬
vices; but here we leave them, and must attend to
what passed between God and his prophet; secret
things belong not to us, the secret things of the
worfd of angels, but things revealed to and by the
rophets, which concern the administration of God’s
ingdom among men. Now here we have,
I. The consternation that the prophet was put
into by the vision which he saw of the glory of Gcd;
(v. 5.) Then said I, Wo is me! I should have said,
“ Blessed art thou, who hast been thus highly fa¬
voured, highly honoured, and dignified, for a time,
with the privilege of those glorious beings that al¬
ways behold the face of our Father. Blessed were
those eyes which saw the Lord sitting on his throne,
and those ears which heard the angels’ praists.”
And, one would think, he should have said, “ Hap¬
py am I, for ever happy; nothing now shall trouble
me, nothing make me blush or tremble;” on the
contrary, he cries out, “ Wo is me, for I am u?i-
done. Aias for me! I am a gone man, I shall surely
die; (Judges xiii. 22. — vi. 22.) I am silenced, I am
struck dumb, struck dead.” Thus Daniel, when
he heard the words of the angel, became dumb, and
there was no strength, no breath, left in him. Dan.
x. 15, 17. Observe,
1. What the prophet reflected upon in himself,
which terrified him; “lam undone, if Gcd deal
with me in strict justice, for I have made myself
obnoxious to his displeasure, because I am a man
of unclean lips.” Some think he refers particularly
to some rash word he had spoken, or to his sinful
silence in not reproving sin with the boldness and
freedom that were necessary; a sin which God’s
ministers have too much cause to charge themselves
with, and to blush at the remembrance of it. But
it may be taken more generally; I am a sinner;
particularly, I have offended in word; and who is
there that does not? Jam. iii. 2. WTe all have rea¬
son to bewail it before the Lord; (1.) That we are
of unclean lips ourselves; our lips are not consecra¬
ted to God; he has not had the first-fruits of our
lips, (Heb. xiii. 15.) and therefore they are counted
common and unclean, uncircumcised lips, Exod. vi.
30. Nay, they have been polluted with sin; we have
spoken the language of an unclean heart; that evil
communication corrupts good manners, and thereby
many have been defiled. We are un worth v and
unmeet to take God’s name into our lips. With
what a pure lip did the angels praise God ! “ But,”
says the prophet, “ I cannot praise him so, for I am
a man of unclean lips.” The best men in the world
have reason to be ashamed of themselves, and the
best of their services, when the)- come to compare
with the holy angels. The angels had celebrated
the purity and holiness of God; and therefore the
prophet, when he reflects upon sin, calls it unclean-
43
ISAIAH, VI.
ness; for the sinfulness of sin is its contrariety to the
holy nature of God, and, upon that account, espe¬
cially, it should appear both hateful and frightful
to us. The impurity of our lips ought to lie the
grief of our souls, for by our words we shall be jus¬
tified or condemned. (2. ) That we dwell among
those who are so too. We have reason to lament
it, that not we ourselves only are polluted, but that
the nature and race of mankind are so, the disease
i> hereditary and epidemical; which is so far from
lessening our guilt, that it should rather increase
our grief, especially considering that we have not
done what we might have done for the cleansing of
th ■ pollution of other people’s lips; nay, we have
rather learned their way, and spoken their language,
as Joseph in Egypt learned the courtier’s oath,
Gen. xlii. 16. “ I dwell in the midst of a people,
who by their impudent sinnings are pulling down
desolating judgments upon the land, which I, who
am a sinner, too justly may expect to be involved
in. ”
2. What gave occasion for these sad reflections at
this time; Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord
of Hosts. He saw God’s sovereignty to be incon-
t stable, he is the King; and his power irresistible,
he is the Lord of hosts: these are comfortable truths
to God’s people, and yet they ought to strike an
awe upon us. Note, A believing sight of God’s glo¬
rious majesty should affect us all with reverence
and godly fear. We have reason to be abased in
the sense of that infinite distance that there is be¬
twixt us and God, and our own sinfulness and vile¬
ness before him, and to be afraid of his displeasure.
We are undone, if there be not a Mediator between
us and this holy God, 1 Sam. vi. 20. Isaiah was
thus humbled, to prepare him for the honour he
was now to be called to as a prophet. Note, Those
are fittest to be employed for God, who are low in
their own eyes, and are made deeply sensible of
their own weakness and un worthiness.
II. The silencing of the prophet’s fears by the
good words, and comfortable words, with which the
angel answered him, v. 6, 7. One of the seraphim
immediately flew to him, to purify him, and so to
pacify him. Note, 1. God has strong consolations
ready for holy mourners: they that humble them¬
selves in penitential shame and fear shall soon be
encouraged and exalted; they that are struck down
with the visions of God’s glory, shall soon be raised
up again with the visits of his grace; he that tears
will heal. 2. Angels are ministering spirits for the
good of the saints, for their spiritual good. Here
was one of the seraphim dismissed, for a time, from
attending on the throne of God’s glory, to be a mes¬
senger of his grace to a good man ; and so well pleas¬
ed was he with the office that he came flying to him.
To our Lord Jesus himself, in his agony, there ap¬
peared an angel from heaven, strengthening him,
Luke xxii. 43.
Here is, (1.) A comfortable sign given him of the
purging away of his sin. The seraph brought a
live coal from the altar, and touched his lips with
it ; not to hurt them, but to heal them ; not to cau¬
terize, but to cleanse them; for there were purifica¬
tions by fire, as well as by water, and the filth of
Jerusalem was purged by the spirit of burning, ch.
iv. 4. The blessed Spirit works as fire, Matth. iii. 1 1.
The seraph, being himself kindled with a divine
fire, put life into the prophet, to make him also
z •aiously affected, for the way to purge the lips
from the uncleanness of sin, is, to fire the soul with
the love of God. This live coal was taken off from the
altar, either the altar of incense, or that of burnt-
offerings; for they had both of them fire burning on
them continually. Nothing is powerful to cleanse
and comfort the soul, but what is taken from
Christ's satisfaction, and the intercession he ever
lives to make in the virtue of that satisfaction. It
must be a coal from his altar, that must put life
into us, and be our peace; it will not be done with
strange fire.
(2.) An explication of this sign; Lo, this has
touched thy lips, to assure thee of this, that thine
iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. The
guilt of thy sin is removed by pardoning mercy, the
guilt of thy tongue-sins; thy corrupt disposition to
sin is removed by renewing grace; and therefore no¬
thing can hinder thee from being accepted with
God as a worshipper, in concert with the holy an¬
gels, or from being employed for God as a messen¬
ger to the children of men.” Those only who arc
thus purged from an evil conscience, are pixpared
to serve the living God, Heb. ix. 14. The taking
away of sin is necessary to our speaking with confi¬
dence and comfort, either to God in prayer, or from
God in preaching; nor are any so fit to display to
others the riches and power of gospel-grace, as
those who have themselves tasted the sweetness,
and felt the influence of that grace; and those shall
have their sin taken away, who complain of it as a
burthen, and see themselves in danger of being un¬
done by it.
III. The renewing of the prophet’s mission, v. 8.
Here is a communication between God and Isaiah
about this matter. Those that would assist others
in their correspondence with God, must not them¬
selves be strangers to it; for how can we expect that
God should speak by us, if we never heard him
speaking to us, or that we should be accepted as the
mouth of others to God, if we never spake to him
heartilv for ourselves? Observe here,
1. The counsel of God concerning Isaiah’s mis¬
sion. God is here brought in, after the manner rf
men, deliberating and advising with himself; Whom
shall I send? And who will go for us? God needs
not either to be counselled bv others, or to consult
with himself, he knows what he will do; but thus
he would show us that there is a counsel in his whole
will, and teach us to consider our ways, and parti¬
cularly, that the sending forth of ministers is a work
not to be done but upon mature deliberation.
Observe, (1.) Who it is that is consulting; it is
the Lord; God in his glory, whom he saw upon the
throne high and lifted up. It puts an honour upon
the ministry, that, when God would send a prophet
to speak in his name, he appeared in all the glories
of the upper world: ministers are the ambassadors
of the King of kings; how mean soever the)’ are,
he who sends them is great; it is God in three per¬
sons. Who will go for us? As Gen. i. 26. Let us
make man — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; they all
concur, as in the creating, so in the redeeming, and
governing, of man. Ministers are ordained in the
same name into which all Christians are baptized.
(2.) What the consultation is; Whom shall I send?
And who will go? Some think it refers to the par¬
ticular message of wrath against Israel, v. 9, 10.
Who will be willing to go on such a melancholy er¬
rand, on which they will go in the bitterness of their
souls? Ezek. iii. i4. But I rather take it more
largely, for all those messages which he was intrusted
to deliver, in God’s name, to that people, in which
that hardening work was by no means the primarv
intention, but a secondary effect of them, 2 Cor. ii.
16. J Vhom shall I send? Intimating that the busi¬
ness was such as required a choice and well-accom¬
plished messenger, Jer. xlix. 19. God now appear¬
ed, attended with holy angels, and yet asks, IVhor.
shall I send? For he would send them a prophet
from among their brethren, Heb. ii. 5. Note, [1. ]
It is the unspeakable favour of God to us, that he it
pleased to send us his mind by men like ourselves,
whose terror shall not make us afraid, and who :.n
themselves concerned in the messages they bring
44
ISAIAH, VI.
They are workers together with God, who are sin- j
ners and sufferers together with us. [2. ] It is a rare
Ting to find one who is fit to go tor God, and to
carry his messages to the children of men; Whom
shall I send? Who is sufficient? Such a degree of
courage for God, and concern for the souls of men,
as is necessary to make a man faithful, and withal |
such an insight into the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven, as is necessary to make a man skilful, are
seldom to be met with'. Such an interpreter of the
mind of God is one of a thousand, Job xxxiii. 23.
[3.] None are allowed to go for God but those who
are sent by him ; he will own none but those whom
he appoints, Rom. x. 15. It is Christ’s work to put
men into the ministry, 1 Tim. i. 12.
2. Tire consent of Isaiah to it; Then said I, Here
am I, send me. He was to go on a melancholy er¬
rand; the office seemed to go a begging, and every
body declined it, and yet Isaiah offered himself to
the service. It is an honour to be singular in appear¬
ing for God, Judges v. 7. We must not say, “I
would go, if I thought I should have good success;”
but, “T will go, and leave the success to God; here
am I, send me.” Isaiah had been himself in a me¬
lancholy frame, (v. 5.) full of doubts and fears; but
now that he had the assurance of the pardon of his
sin, the clouds were blown over, and he was fit for
service, and forward to it. What he says bespeaks,
(1.) His readiness; “ Here am 1; a volunteer, not
pressed into the service. ” Behold me; so the word
is. God says to us. Behold me, ( ch . lxv. 1.) and,
Here I am, \ch. lviii. 9.) even before we call; let
us say so to him when he does call. (2.) His reso¬
lution; “Here lam, ready to encounter the greatest
difficulties. I have set my face as a Jlint.” Com¬
pare this with ch. 1. 4—7. (3.) His referring him¬
self to God; “Send me whither thou wilt; make
what use thou pleasest of me. Send me; Lord, give
me commission and full instruction; send me, and
then, no doubt, thou wilt stand by me.” It is a
great comfort to those whom God sends, that they
go f r God, and may therefore speak in his name,
as having authority; and be assured that he will
bear them out.
9. And he said, Go, and tell this people,
Hear ye indeed, hut understand not ; and
see ye indeed, but perceive not. 1 0. Make
the heart of this people fat, and make their
ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and understand with their heart, and con¬
vert, and be healed. 11. Then said I, Lord,
how long l And he answered, Until the ci¬
ties be wasted without inhabitant, and the
houses without man, and the land be utterly
desolate; 12. And the Lord have removed
men far away, and there be a great forsaking
in the midst of the land. 13. But yet in it
shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and
shall be eaten : as a teil-tree, and as an oak,
w hose substance is in them when they cast
their leaves , so the holy seed shall be the
substance thereof.
God takes Isaiah at his word, and here sends him
on a strange errand — to foretell the ruin of his peo¬
ple, and even to ripen them for that ruin; to preach
Oiat which, by their abuse of it, would be to them
a savour of death unto death. And this was to be
a type and figure of the state of the Jewish church
ii. *-1)0 days of the Messian. when they should obsti
nately reject the gospel, and should, thereupon, be
rejected of God. These verses are quoted in part,
or referred to, six times in the New Testament;
which intimates, that, in gospel-times, these spirit¬
ual judgments would be most frequently inflicted;
and though they make the least noise, and come
not with observation, yet they are of all other the
most dreadful.
Isaiah is here given to understand these four
things:
1. That the generality of the people to whom he
was sent, would turn a deaf ear to his preaching,
and wilfully shut their eyes against all the discove¬
ries of the mind and will of God he had to make to
them; (v. 9.) “Go, and tell this people, this foolish
wretched people, tell them their own, tell them
how stupid and sottish they are.” Isaiah must
preach to them, and they will hear him indeed, but
that is all; they will not heed him, they will not un¬
derstand him, thev will not take any pains, nor use
that application of mind which is necessary to the
understanding of him; they are prejudiced against
that which is the true intent and meaning of what
he says, and therefore they will not understand him,
or pretend they do not. They see indeed; (for the
vision is made plain on tables, so that he who runs
may read it;) but they perceive not their own con¬
cern in it; it is to them as a tale that is told. Note,
There are many who hear the sound of God’s word,
but do not feel the power of it.
2. That forasmuch as they would not be made
better by his ministry, they should be made worse
by it; they that were wilfully blind, should be judi¬
cially blinded; (x>. 10.) “ They will not understand
or perceive thee, and therefore thou shalt be instru¬
mental to make their heart fat, senseless, and sen¬
sual, and so to make their ears yet more heavy, and
to shut their eyes the closer; so that, at length, their
recovery and repentance will become utterly impos¬
sible; they shall no more see with their eyes the
danger they are in, the ruin they are upon the brink
of, or the way of escape from it; they shall no more
hear with their ears the warnings and instructions
that are given them, nor understand with their
heart the things that belong to their peace, so as to
be converted from the error of their ways, and thus
be healed.” Note, (1.) The conversion of sinners
is the healing of them. (2.) A right understanding
is necessary to conversion. (3.) God, sometimes,
in a way of righteous judgment, gives men up to
blindness of mind and strong delusions, because they
would not receive the truth in the love of it, 2
Tliess. ii. 11, 12. He that is filthy, let him be filthy
still. (4.) Even the word of God oftentimes proves
a means of doing this. The evangelical prophet
himself makes the heart of this people fat, not only
as he foretells it, passing this sentence upon them, in
God’s name, and seals them under it, but as his
preaching had a tendency to it, rocking some asleep
in security, to whom it was a lovely song, and mak¬
ing others more outrageous, to whom it was such
a reproach, that they were not able to bear it. Seme
looked upon the word as a privilege, and their con¬
victions were smothered by it; (Jer. vii. 4.) others
looked upon it as a provocation, and their corrup¬
tions were exasperated by it.
3. That the consequence of this would be their
utter ruin, v. 11, 12. The prophet had nothing to
object against the justice of this sentence, nor does
he refuse to go upon such an errand, but asks,
“Lord, horn long?” (an abrupt question;) “Shall
it always be thus? Must I and other prophets al¬
ways labour in vain among them, and will things
never be better?” Or, (as should seem by the an¬
swer,) “ Lord, what will it come to at last? What
will be in the end hereof?” In answer to which, he
was told that it should issue in the final destruction
46
ISA t AH, VII.
of the Jewish church find nation. When the word ■
of God, especially the word of the gospel, has been
thus abused by them, they shall be unchurched,
and, consequently, undone. Their cities shall be
uninhabited, and their country-houses too; the land
shall be untilled, desolate with desolation, as it is in
the margin; the people who should replenish the
h uses and cultivate the ground, being all cut off by
sw rd, famine, or pestilence, and those who escape
with their lives being removed far away into cap¬
tivity, so that there shall bea great and general for-
s iking in the midst of the land; that populous coun-
trv sh ill become desert, and that glory of all lands
sh 11 be abandoned. Note, Spiritual judgments often
bring temporal judgments along with them upon
pel s ns and places. This was in part fulfilled in !
the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans,
when the land, being left desolate, enjoyed her sab¬
baths seventy years; but the foregoing predictions
being so expressly applied in the New Testament
to the Jews in our Saviour’s time, doubtless this
points at the destruction of that people by the Ho¬
mans, in which it had a complete accomplishment;
and tlie effects of it that people and that land remain
under to this day.
4. That yet a remnant should be reserved to be
the monuments of mercy, v. 13. This was so in
the last destruction of the Jewish nation; (Rom. xi.
5.) sit this 1 iresent time there is a remnant; for so
it was written here, But in it shall be a tenth, a cer- I
tain number, but a very small number, in compari¬
son with the multitude that shall perish in their un¬
belief; it is that which under the law, was God’s
proportion; thev shall be consecrated to God as the
tithes were, and shall be for his service and honour.
Concerning this tithe, this saved remnant, we are
here told, (1.) That they shall return, ( ch . vii. 3.
— x. 21.) shall return from sin to God and duty;
shall return out of captivity to their own land. God
will turn them and they shall be turned. (2. ) That
they shall be eaten, shall be accepted of God, as the
tithe was, which was meat in God’s house, Mai. iii.
10. The saving of this remnant shall be meat to
the faith and hope of those that wish well to God’s
kingdom. (3.) That they shall be like a timber-
tree in winter, which has life, though it has no
leaves; as a teil-tree, and as an oak, whose sub¬
stance is in them, even then when they cast their
leaves: so this remnant, though they may be stript
of their outward prosperity, and share with others
in common calamities, yet they shall recover them¬
selves as a tree in the spring, and flourish again;
though they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down:
there is hope of a tree, though it be cut down, that
it will sprout again. Job xiv. 7. (4. ) That this dis¬
tinguished remnant shall be the stay and support of
the public interests: the holy seed in the soul is the
substance of the man; a principle of grace, reign¬
ing in the heart, will keep life there; he that is
born of God, has his seed remaining in him, 1 John
iii. 9. So the holy seed in the land is the substance
of the land, keeps it from being quite dissolved, and
bears up the pillars of it, Ps. lxxv. 3. See ch. i. 9.
Some read the foregoing clause with this, thus: sis
the support at Shallecheth is in the elms and the
oaks, so the holy seed is the substance thereof; as the
trees that grow on either side of the causey (the
raised way, or terrace-walk, that leads from the
king’s palace to the temple, (1 Kings x. 5.) at the
gate of Shallecheth, 1 Chron. xxvi. 16.) support
the causey by keeping up the earth, which would
otherwise be crumbling away; so the small residue
of religious, serious, praying, people, are the sup¬
port of the state, and help to keep things together,
and save them from going to decay. Some make
the holy seed to be Christ; the Jewish nation was
therefore saved from utter ruin, because out of it,
as concerning the flesh, Christ was to come, Rom.
ix. 5. Destroy it not, for that Blessing is in it; ■(•.-,.
Ixv. 8.) and when that blessing was ci.inv, it was
soon destroyed. Now the consideration < f this is
designed for the support of the prophet in his work.
Though far the greater part should perish in their
unbelief, yet to some his word should be a savi ur
of life unto life. Ministers do not wholly lose their
labour, if they be but instrumental to save one poor
soul.
CHAP. VII.
This Chapter is an occasional sermon, in which the pro
phet. sings both of mercy and judgment to those that did
not perceive or understand either; he piped unto them,
but they danced not; mourned unto them, but they wep
not. Here is, I. The consternation that. Ahaz was i
upon an attempt upon the confederate forces of Syria
and Israel against Jerusalem, v. 1,2. II. The assurance
which God, by the prophet, sent him for his encourage¬
ment, that the attempt should" be defeated, and Jerusa¬
lem should be preserved, v. 3. .9. III. The confirma¬
tion of this by a sign which God gave to Ahaz, when he
refused to ask one, referring to Christ, and our redemp¬
tion by him, v. 10. . 16. IV. A threatening of the great
desolation that God would bring upon Ahaz and his king¬
dom by the Assyrians, notwithstanding their escape from
this present storm, because they went on still in their
wickedness, v. 17. . 25. And this is written both for our
comfort and for our admonition.
1. 4 ND it came to pass in the clays of
Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of
Uzziah king of Judah, that Rezin the kin?
of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah,
king of Israel, went up towards Jerusalem
to war against it, but could not prevail
against it. 2. And it was told the house cl
David, saying, Syria is confederated with
Ephraim: and his heart was moved, and
the heart of his people, as the trees of the
wood are moved with the wind. 3. Then
said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now !o
meet Ahaz, thou and Shear-jashub thy son.
at the end of the conduit of the upper pool,
in the highway of the fuller’s field; 4. And
say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear
not, neither be faint-hearted, for the two
tails of these smoking firebrands, for (he
fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of
the son of Remaliah. 5. Recause Syria,
Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have
taken evil counsel against thee, saying, 6.
Let us go up against Judah and vex it, and
let us make a breach therein for us, and set
a king in the midst of it, even the son of
Tabeal: 7. Thus saith the Lord God, It
shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
3. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and
the head of Damascus is Rezin ; and with¬
in threescore and five years shall Ephraim
be broken, that it be not a people. 9. And
the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the
head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye
will not believe, surely ye shall not he es¬
tablished.
The prophet Isaiah had his commission renewed
in the year that king Uzziah died, ch. vi. 1. Jotham
I his son reigned, and reigned well sixteen years: a1
46
ISAIAH, Vll.
that time, no doubt, Isaiah prophesied as he was
commanded, and yet we have not in this book any
of his prophecies dated in the reign of Jotham; but
this which is put first, was in the days of Ahaz
-he son of Jotham. Many excellent useful sermons
he preached, which were not left and published
upon record; for if all that was memorable had been
written, the world could not have contained the
books, John xxi. 25. Perhaps in the reign of Ahaz,
a wicked king, he had not opportunity to preach
so much at court as in Jotham’s time, and therefore
then hetvrofethe more, fora testimony against them.
Here is, $
I. A very formidable design laid against Jerusa¬
lem by Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah king of Is¬
rael, two neighbouring potentates, who had of late
made descents upon Judah severally; at the end of
the reign of Jotham, the Lord began to send against
Judah, Rezin and Pekah, 2 Kings xv. 37. But now,
in the second or third year of the reign of Ahaz,
encouraged by their former successes, they entered
.ntoan alliance against Judah; because Ahaz, though
he found the sword over his head, began his reign
with idolatry, God delivered him into the hand of
the king of Syria and of the king of Israel, (2
Chron. xxviii. 5.) and a great slaughter they made
in his kingdom; ( v . 6, 7.) flushed with this victory,
they7 went up toward Jerusalem, the royal city, to
war against it, to besiege it, and make themselves
masters of it; but it proved, in the issue, that they
could not gain their point. Note, The sin of a lancl
brings foreign invasion upon it, and betrays the
most advantageous posts and passes to the enemy.
And God sometimes makes one wicked nation a
scourge to another; but judgment ordinarily begins
at the house of God.
II. The great distress that Ahaz and his court
were in, when they received advice of this design;
It was told the house of David that Syria and
Ephraim had signed a league against Judah, v. 2.
This degenerate royal family is called the house of
David, to put us in mind of that article of God’s
covenant with David, If his children forsake my
law , I will chasten their transgression with the rod;
but my loving-kindness will I not utterly take away;
which is remarkably fulfilled in this chapter, P’s.
lxxxix. 30. News being brought that the two ar¬
mies of Syria and Israel were joined, and had taken
the field, the court, the city, and the country, were
thrown into consternation: the heart of Ahaz was
moved with fear, and then no wonder that the heart
of his fleofile was so, as the trees of the wood are
moved with the wind; they were tossed and shaken,
and put into a great disorder and confusion, were wa¬
vering and uncertain in their counsels, hurried hither
and thither, and could not fix in any steady resolu¬
tion; they yielded to the storm, and gave up all for
gone, concluding it in vain to make any resistance.
Now that which caused this fright, was, the sense
of guilt, and the weakness of their faith: they had
made God their Enemy, and knew not how to make
him their Friend, and therefore their fears tyran¬
nized over them ; while those whose consciences are
kept void of offence, and whose hearts are fixed,
trusting in God, need not be afraid of evil tidings;
though the earth be removed, yet will not they fear;
but the wicked flee at the shaking of a leaf. Lev.
xxvi. 36.
III. The orders and directions given to Isaiah to
go and encourage Ahaz in his distress; not for his
own sake, (he deserved to hear nothing from God
but words of terror, which might add affliction to
his grief,) but because he was a son of David, and
king of Judah. God had kindness for him for his
father’s sake, who must not be forgotten, and fer his
pec, pie’s sake, who must not be abandoned, but
would be encouraged if Ahaz were. Observe,
1. God appointed the prophet to meet Ahaz,
though he did not send to the prophet to speak with
him, nor desire him to inquire of the Lord for him;
(v. 3.) Go to meet Ahaz. Note, God is often found
of those who seek him not, much more will he be
found of those who seek him diligently; he speaks
comfort to many who not only are not worthy of it,
but do not so much as inquire after it.
2. He ordered him to take his little son with him.
because he carried a sermon in his name, Shear
jashub — i remnant shall return. The prophets
sometimes recorded what they preached, in the
significant names of their children, (as Hrs. i. 4, 6,
9.) therefore Isaiah’s children are said to be for
signs, ch. viii. 18. This son was so called, for the
encouragement of those of God’s people who were
carried captive, assuring them that they should re¬
turn, at least a remnant of them, which is more
than we can pretend to merit: yet, at this time, God
was better than his word; for he took care not only
that a remnant should return, but the whole num¬
ber of those whom the confederate forces of Syria
and Israel had taken prisoners, 2 Chron. xxviii. 15.
3. He directed him where he should find Ahaz;
he was to meet with him not in the temple, or the
synagogue, or royal chapel, but at the end of the
conduit of the upper fiool, where he was, probably,
with many of his servants about him, contriving
how to order the water-works, so as to secure them
to the city, or deprive the enemy of the benefit of
them, (c/;. xxii. 9, 11. 2 Chron. xxxii. 3, 4.) or
giving some necessary directions for the fortifying
of the city as well as they could; and perhaps find¬
ing every thing in a very bad posture of defence,
the conduit out of repair, as well as other things
gone to decay, his fears increased, and he was now
in greater perplexity than ever; therefore, Go meet
him there. Note, God sometimes sends comforts to
his people very seasonably, and, what time they are
most afraid, encourages them to trust in him.
4. He put words in his mouth, else the prophet
would not have known how to bring a message of
good to such a bad man, a sinner in Zion, that
ought to be afraid; but God intended it for the sup¬
port of faithful Israelites.
(1.) The prophet must rebuke their fears, and ad¬
vise them by no means to yield to them, but keep
their temper, and preserve the possession of their
own souls; (u. 4.) Take heed, ana be quiet. Note,
In order to comfort, there is need of caution; that
we may be quiet, it is necessary that we take heed
and watch against those things that threaten to dis¬
quiet us. “Fear not with this amazement, this
fear, that weakens, and has torment; neither let thy
heart be tender, so as to melt and fail within thee;
but pluck up thy spirits, have a good heart on it,
and be courageous; let not fear betray the succours
which reason and religion offer for thy support.”
Note, Those who expert God should help them,
must help themselves, Ps. xxvii. 14.
(2.) He must teach them to despise their enemies,
not in pride, or security, or incogitancy, (nothing
more dangerous than so to despise an enemy,) but
in faith and dependence upon God. Ahaz’s fear
called them two powerful politic princes, for either
of which he was an unequal match; but if united,
he durst not look them in the face, or make head
against them. “ No,” says the prophet, “they are
two tails of smoking firebrands; they are angry,
they are fierce, they are furious, as firebrands, as
fireballs; and they make one another worse by-
being in a confederacy, as sticks of fire, put to¬
gether, burn the more violently: but they are only
smoking firebrands; and where there is smoke there
is some fire, but it mav not be so much as was fear¬
ed; their threatening will vanish into smoke; Pha
raoh king of F.gupt is but a noise, (Jer. xlvi. 17.)
ISAIAH. VII
47
and Rezinking of Syria but a smoke; (and such are
all the-enemies of God’s church, smoking fax, that
.vill soon be quenched;) nay, they are but tails of
sm 'king firebrands, in a manner burnt out already;
their force is spent, they have consumed themselves
with the heat of their own anger, you may put your
foot on them, and tread them out.” The two king¬
doms of Syria and Israel were now near expiring.
Note, The more we have an eye to God as a con¬
suming Fire, the less reason we shall have to fear
men, though they are ever so furious, nay, we shall
be able to despise them as smoking firebrands.
(3.) He must assure them that the present design
of these High allies (so they thought themselves)
against Jerusalem, should certainly be defeated, and
come to nothing, v. 5 — 7.
[1.] That very thing which Ahaz thought most
formidable, is made the ground of their defeat — and
that was the depth of their designs and the height
of their hopes; “ Therefore they shall be baffled
and sent back with shame, because they have taken
evil counsel against thee, which is an offence to God;
these firebrands are a smoke in his nose, (ch. lxv. 5. )
and therefore must be extinguished. ” First, They
are very spiteful and malicious, and therefore they
shall not prosper. Judah had done them no wrong,
they had no pretence to quarrel with Ahaz; but,
without any reason, Let us go ufi against Judah,
and vex it. Note, Those that are vexatious, can¬
not expect to be prosperous; they say. Those that
love to do mischief, cannot expect to do well. Se¬
condly, They are very secure, and confident of suc¬
cess; they will vex Judah by going up against it;
vet that is not all, they do not doubt but to make a
breach in the wall of Jerusalem, wide enough for
them to march their army in at; or they count upon
dissecting or dividing the kingdom into two parts,
one for the king of Israel, the other for the king of
Syria, who had agreed in one viceroy; a king to be
set in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal; some
obscure person; it is uncertain whether a Syrian or
an Israelite: so sure were they of gaining their
point, that they divided the prey before they had
caught it. Note, Those that are most scornful, are
commonly less successful, for surely' God scorns the
scorners.
[2.] God himself gives them his word that the
attempt should not take effect; (v. 7.) Thus saith
the Lord God, the sovereign Lord of all, who brings
the counsel of the heathen to nought, Ps. xxxiii. 10.
He saith, “ It shall not stand, neither shall come to
hass: their measures shall all be broken, and thev
shall not be able to bring to pass their enterprise.”
Note, whatever stands against God, or thinks to
stand without him, cannot stand long. Man pur¬
poses, but God disposes; and who is he that saith,
and it cometh to pass, if the Lord command it not,
or countermand it? Lam. iii. 37. SeeProv. xix. 21.
(4.) He must give them a prospect of the de¬
struction of these enemies, at last, that were now
such a terror to them. [1.] They should neither
of them enlarge their dominions, nor push their
conquests any further. The head city of Syria is Da¬
mascus, and the head man of Damascus is Rezin;
this he glories in, and this let him be content with,
v. 8. The head city of Ephraim has long been
Samaria, and the head man in Samaria is now
Pekah the son of Remaliah; these shall be made to
know their own, their bounds are fixed, and they
shall not pass them, to make themselves masters of
the cities of Judah, much less to make Jerusalem
their prey. Note, As God has appointed men the
bounds of their habitation, (Acts xvii. 26.) so he has
appointed princes the bounds of their dominion,
within which they ought to confine themselves, and
not encroach upon their neighbours’ rights. (2.)
Ephraim, which perhaps was the more malicious
and forward enemy ot me two, should shortly ne
quite rooted out, and should be so far from seizing
other people’s lands, that they should not be able to
hold their own. Interpreters are much at a loss
how to contemplate the sixty -five years within
which Ephraim shall cease to be a people ; for the
captivity of the ten tribes was but eleven years after
this; and some make it a mistake of the transcri¬
ber, and think it should be read, within six and
five years, just eleven. But it is hard to allow that.
Others make it to be sixty-five years from the time
that the prophet Amos first foretold the ruin of
the kingdom of the ten tribes: and some late inter¬
preters make it to look as far forward as the last
desolation of that country by Esarhaddon, which
was about sixty-five years after this; then Ephraim
was so broken, that it was no more a people. Now
it was the greatest folly in the world fer them to
be ruining their neighbours, who were themselves
marked for ruin, and so near to it. See what a pro¬
phet told them at this time, when they were tri¬
umphing over Judah, (2 Cbron. xxviii. 10.) .Ire
there not with you, even with you, sins against the
Lord your God?
(5.) He must urge them to mix faith with those as¬
surances which he had given them; (u. 9.) “If ye
will not believe what is said to you, surely ye shall
not be established; your shaken and disordered state
shall not be established, your unquiet unsettled
spirit shall not; though the things told you are very
encouraging, yet they will not be so to you, unless
you believe them, and be willing to take God’s
word.” Note, The grace of faith is absolutely ne¬
cessary to the quieting and composing of the mind
in the midst of all the tosses of this present time,
2 Chron. xx. 20.
10. Moreover, the Lord spake again
unto Ahaz, saying, 11. Ask thee a sign
of the Lord thy God: ask it either in the
depth, or in the height above. 1 2. But
Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I
tempt the Lord 13. And he said. Hear
ye now, O house of David; Is it a small
thing for you to weary men, but will ye
weary my God also ? 1 4. Therefore the
Lord himself shall give you a sign : Behold,
a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel. 15.
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may
know to refuse the evil and choose the good:
16. For before the child shall know to re¬
fuse the evil, and choose the good, the land
that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of
both her kings.
Here,
I. God, by tbe prophet, mokes a gracious offer
to Ahaz, to confirm the foregoing predictions, and
his faith in them, by such sign or miracle as he
should choose; (v. 10, 11.) Ask thee a sign of the
Lord thy God. See here the divine faithfulness
and veracity; God tells us nothing but what he is
able and ready to prove. See his wonderful conde¬
scension to the children of men, in that he is so
willing to show to the heirs of promise the immuta¬
bility of his counsel, Heb. vi. 17. He considers our
frame, and that, living in a world of sense, we are
apt to require sensible proofs, which therefore he
has favoured us with in sacramental signs and seals.
Ahaz was a bad man, yet God is called the Lord
his God, because he was a child of Abraham and
II David, and cf the covenants made with them. See
48
rSAIAH, VTI.
now gracious God is even to the evil and unthank¬
ful; Ahaz is bid to choose his sign, as Gideon about
the fleece; (Judg. vi. 37.) let him ask for a sign
either in the air, or earth, or water, for God’s power
is the same in each.
II. Ahaz rudely refuses this gracious offer, and
(which is not mannerly towards any superior) kicks
at the courtesy, and puts a slight upon it; ( v . 12.)
I will not ask. The true reason why he would not
ask for a sign, was, because, having a dependence
upon the Assyrians, their forces, and their gods, for
help, he would not thus far be beholden to the God
of Israel, or lay himself under obligations to him.
He would not ask a sign for the confirming of his
faith, because he resolved to persist in his unbelief,
and would indulge his doubts and distrusts; yet he
pretends a pious reason, I will not tomtit the Lord;
as if it would be a tempting of God to do that which
God himself invited and directed him to do. Note,
A secret disaffection to God is often disguised with
the specious colours of respect to him; and those
who are resolved that they will not trust God, yet
pretend that they will not tempt him.
III. The prophet reproves him and his court,
him and the house of David, the whole royal family,
for their contempt of prophecy, and the little value
they had for divine revelation; (v. 13.) “Is it a
small thing for you to weary men by your oppres¬
sion and tyranny, with which you make yourselves
burthensome and odious to all mankind? But will
you weary my God also, with the affronts you put
upon him?” As the unjust judge that neitheryhererf
God nor regarded man, Luke xviii. 2. Ye have
wearied the Lord with your words, Mai. ii. 17.
Nothing is more grievous to the God of heaven than
to be distrusted; “ Will ye weary my God? Will
ye suppose him to he tired and unable to help you,
or to be weary of doing you good? Whereas the
youths may faint and be weary, you may have tired
all your friends, the Creator of the ends of the earth
faints not, neither is weary,” ch. xl. 30, 31. Or
thus; in affronting the prophets, you think you put
a slight only upon men like yourselves, and consider
not that you affront God himself, whose messengers
they are, and put a slight upon him, who will resent
it accordingly. The prophet here calls God his
God, with a great deal of pleasure; Ahaz would not
say, He is my God, though the prophet had invited
him to say so, (v. 11.) The Lord thy God; but
Isaiah will say, “He is mine.” Note, Whatever
others do, we must avouch the Lord for ours, and
abide by him.
IV. The prophet, in God’s name, gives them a
sign; “ You will not ask a sign, but the unbelief of
man shall not make the promise of God of no effect;
The Lord himself shall give you a sign, (v. 14.) a
double sign:”
1. “ A sign in general of his good-will to Israel
and to the house of David; you may conclude that
he has mercy in store for you, and that you are not
forsaken of your God, how great soever your pre¬
sent distress and danger are; for of your nation, of
your family, the Messiah is to be born, and you
cannot be destroyed while that Blessing is in you;
which shall be introduced,” (1.) “In a glorious
manner; for whereas you have been often told that
he should be born among you, I am now further to
tell you that he shall be born of a virgin; which will
signify both the divine power and the divine purity
with which he shall be brought into the world; that
he shall be an extraordinary person, for he shall not
be born by ordinary generation, and that he shall he
a holy thing, not stained with the common pollu¬
tions of the human nature, therefore incontestably
fit to have the throne of his father David given
him.” Now this, though it was to be accomplished
above 500 years after, was a most encouraging sign
to the house of D avid, (and to them, under tnat
title, this prophecy is directed, r. 13.) and an assu¬
rance that God would not cast them < ff. Ephraim
did indeed envy Judah, (ch. xii. 13.) end s< light the
min of that kingdom, but could not prevail, for the
sceptre should never depart from Judah till the
coming of Shiloh, Gen. xlix. 10. Those whom God
designs for the great salvation, may take that for a
sign to them, that they shall ni t be swallowed up by
any trouble they may meet with in the way. (2.)
The Messiah shall be introduced on a glorious er¬
rand, wrapped up in his glorious name; they shall
call his name Immanuel — God with us, God-in our
nature, God at peace with us, in covenant with us.
This was fulfilled in their calling him Jesus — a Sa¬
viour; (M itth. i. 21 — 23.) for if he had not been
Immanuel — God with us, he could not have been
Jesus — a Saviour. Now this was a further sign of
God’s favour to the house of David and the tribe
of Judah; for he that intended to work this great
salvation among them, no doubt would work out for
them all those other salvations which were to be the
types and figures of this, and as it were preludes to
this. “ Here is a sign for you, not in the depth, or
in the height, but in the prophecy, in the promise,
in the covenant made with David, which you are
no strangers to; the promised Seed shall be Im¬
manuel, God with us; let that word comfort you,
(ch. viii. 10.) God is with us, and (v. 8.) that your
land is Immanuel’s land. Let not the heart of the
house of David be moved thus, (v. 2.) nor let Judah
fear the setting up of the son of Tabea], (v. 6.) for
nothing can cut off the entail on the Son of David
that shall be Immanuel.” Note, The strongest con¬
solations, in time of trouble, are those which are
borrowed from Christ, our relation to him, our inte¬
rest in him, and our expectations of him and from
him.
Of this Child it is further foretold, (v. 15.) that
though he shall not be born like other children, but
of a virgin, yet he shall be really and truly man, and
shall be nursed and brought up like other children;
Butter and honey shall he eat, as other children do,
particularly the children of that land which flowed
with milk and honey. Though he he conceived by
the power of the Holy Ghost, yet he shall not there¬
fore be fed with angels’ food, but, as it becomes
him, shall be in all things made like unto his bre¬
thren, Heh. ii. 17. Nor shall he, though horn thus
by extraordinary generation, be a man immediately,
but, as ether children, shall ntLance gradually
through the several states of infancy, childhood
and youth, to that of manhood, and, growing in
wisdom and stature, shall at length wax strong in
spirit, and come to maturity, so as to know how to
refuse the evil and choose the good. See Luke ii.
40, 52. Note, Children are fed when they are
little, that they may be taught and instructed when
they are grown up; they have their maintenance
in order to their education.
2. Here is another sign in particular of the speed j
destruction of these potent princes that were now a
terror to Judah, v. 16. “Before this child;” so it
should be read; “this child which I have now in
my arms,” (he means not Immanuel, but Shear-ja-
slmb his own son, whom he was ordered to takt
with him for a sign, v. 3.) “before this 'child shah
know how to refuse the evil and choose the good,”
(and those who' saw what his present stature and
forwardness were, would easily conjecture how long
that would be,) “ before this child will be three or
four years older, the land that thou abhorrest, these
confederate forces of Israelites and Syrians, whom
thou hast such an enmity to, and standest in such
dread of, shall be forsaken of both their kings, both
Pekah and Rezin;” who were in so close an alli¬
ance, that they seemed as if they were the kings
ISAIAH. VII.
49
b'lt of one kingdom. This was fully accomplished,
for within two or three years after this, Hosea con¬
spired ag linst Pekah, and slew him, (2 Kings xv.
30.1 and before that, the king of Assyria took Da¬
mascus, and slew Rezin, 2 Kings xvi. 9. Nay,
there was a present event, which happened imme¬
diately, and which this child carried the prediction
of in his name, which was a pledge and earnest of
• his further event. Shear-jashub signifies, The
remnant shall return, which doubtless points at the
wonderful return of those 200,000 captives which
Pekah and Rezin had carried away, who were
brought back, not by might or power, but by the
Spirit of the Lord of hosts. Read the story, 2
Chron. xxviii. 8 — 15. The prophetical naming of
this child having thus had its accomplishment, no
doubt this, which was further added concerning
him, should have its accomplishment likewise, that
Syria and Israel should be deprived of both their
kings. One mercy from God encourages us to hope
for another, if it engages us to prepare for another.
1 7. The Lord shall bring upon thee, and
upon thy people, and upon thy father’s
house, days that have not come, from the
day that Ephraim departed from Judah;
even the King of Assyria. 1 8. And it shall
come to pass in that day, that the Lord
shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost
part of the rivers of Egypt, and for t he -bee
that is in the land of Assyria: 19. And they
shall come, and shall rest all of them in the
desolate valleys, and in the holes of the
rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all
bushes. 20. In the same day shall the Lord
shave with a razor that is hired, namely , by
them beyond the river, by the king of As¬
syria, the head, and the hair of the feet:
and it shall also consume the beard. 21.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that
a man shall nourish a young cow and two
sheep : 22. And it shall come to pass, for
the abundance of milk that they shall give,
he shall eat butter: for butter and honey
shall every one eat that is left in the land.
23. And it shall come to pass in that day,
that every place shall be, where there were
i thousand vines at a thousand silverlings,
.t shall even be for briers and thorns. 24.
With arrows and with bows shall men
come thither; because all the land shall
become briers and thorns. 25. And on all
hills that shall be digged with the mattock,
there shall not come thither the fear of
briers and thorns: but it shall be for the
sending forth of oxen, and for the treading
of lesser cattle.
After the comfortable promises made to Ahaz as
a branch of the house of David, here follow terrible
threatenings against him, as a degenerate branch
of that house; for though the loving-kindness of
(rod shall not be utterly taken awav, for the sake
pf David and the covenant made with him, yet his
iniquity shall be chastened with the rod, and his sin
with stripes. Let those that will not mix faith with
the promises of God, expect to hear the alarms of
his threatenings.
Vol .iv. — G
! 1. The judgment threatened is very great, u. ir
It is very great, for it is general; it shall be bieughi
upon the prince himself, (high as he is, he shall not
be out of the reach of it,) and upon the people, the
whole body of the nation, and upon the royal family,
u/ton all thy father’s house; it shall be a judgmen*
entailed on posterity, and shall go along with the
royal blood. It is very great, for it shall be unpre¬
cedented, days that have not come; so dark, so
gloomy, so melancholy, as never were the like since
the revolt of the ten tribes, when Ephraim departed
from Judah, which was indeed a sad time to the
house of David. Note, The longer men c< ntinue
in sin, the sorer punishments they have reason to
expect: it is the Lord that will bring these days
upon them, for our times are in his hand; and who
can resist or escape the judgments he brings?
II. I he enemy that should be employed as the
instrument of this judgment, is the king of Assyria.
Ahaz reposed strong confidence in that prince for
help against the confederate powers of Israel and
Syria, and minded the less what God said to him by
his prophet for his encouragement, because he built
much upon his interest in the king of Assyria, and
had meanly promised to be his servant, if he would
send him some succours; he had also made him a
present of gold and silver, for which he drained the
treasures both of church and state, 2 Kings xvi. 7,
8. Now God threatens that that king of Assvria,
whom he made his stay instead of God, should be¬
come a scourge to him. He was so speedily; for
when he catne to him, he distressed hint, but
strengthened him not: the reed not only brake un¬
der him, but ran into his hand, and pierced it, (2
Chron. xxviii. 20.) and from thenceforward the
kings of Assyria were, for a long time, grieving
thorns to Judah, and gave them a great deal of
trouble. Note, The creature that we make eur
hope, commonly proves cur hurt: the king of As¬
syria, not long after this, made himself master if
the ten tribes, carried them captive, and laid their
country waste, so as fully to answer the prediction
here; and perhaps it may refer to that, as an expli¬
cation of v. 8. where it is foretold that Ephraim
shall be broken, that it shall not be a people; and it
is easy to suppose that the prophet, at v. 17. turns
his speech to the king of Israel, denouncing God’s
judgments against him for invading Judah. But the
expositors universally understand' it of Ahaz and
his kingdom. Now observe,
1. Summons given to the invaders; (y. 18.) The
Lord shall whistle for the fy and the bee: See ch.
v. 26. Enemies that seem as contemptible as a fly
or a bee, and are as easily crushed; yet, when God
pleases, they shall do his work as effectually as
lions and young lions. Though they are as far dis¬
tant from one another as the rivers of Egypt end
the land of Assyria, yet they shall punctually met t
to join in this work, when God commands their at¬
tendance; for when God has work to do, he will not
be at a loss for instruments to do it with.
2. Possession taken by them, v. 19. It should
seem as if the country were in no condition to make
resistance; they find no difficulties in forcing their
way, but come and rest all of them in the desolate
valleys, which the inhabitants had deserted, upon
the first alarm, and left them a cheap and easy prey
to the invaders: they shall come and rest in the low
grounds like swarms of flies and bees, and shall ren¬
der themselves impregnable by taking shelter in the
holes of the rocks, as bees often do; and show them¬
selves formidable by appearing openlv upon all
thorns and all bushes; so generally shall the find be
overspread with them. These bees shall knit upon
the thorns and bushes, and there rest undisturbed.
3. Great desolations made, and the country ge¬
nerally depopulated; (x>. 20. The Lord shall' have
ISAIAH, VIII.
5'.)
the hair of the head, and beard, and feet; he shall
sweep all away, as the leper, when he was cleansed,
shaved off all his hair, Lev. xiv. 8, 9. This is done
with a razor which is hired; which God has hired,
as if he had none of his own; but what he hires, and
whom he employs in any service for him, he will
^iv for: see Ezek. xxix". 18, 19. Or which Ahaz
has hired for his assistance. God will make that
to be an instrument of his destruction, which he
nired into his service. Note, Many are beaten with
that arm of flesh which they trusted to rather than
to the arm of the Lord, and which they were at a
great expense upon; when by faith and prayer they
might have found cheap and easy succour in God.
4. The consequences of this general depopulation:
(1.) The flocks of cattle shall be all destroyed; so
that a man who had herds and flocks in abundance,
shall be stripped of them all by the enemy, and shall
with much ado save for his own use a young cow
and two sheep; a poor stock, (v. 21.) yet he shall
think himself happy in having any left.
(2.) The few cattle that are left, shall have such
a large compass of ground to feed in, that they shall
give abundance of milk, and very good milk, such
as shall produce butter enough, v. 22. There shall
also be such want of men, that the milk of one cow
and two sheep shall serve a whole family, which
used to keep abundance of servants, and consume a
great deal, but is now reduced.
(3.) The breed of cattle shall be destroyed; so
that they who used to eat flesh, (as the Jews com¬
monly did,) shall be necessitated to confine them¬
selves to butter and honey; for there shall bene flesh
for them, and the country shall be so depopulated,
that there shall be butter and honey enough for the
few that are left in it.
(4.) Good land, that used to be let well, shall be
all overrun with briers and thorns; (t>. 23.) where
there used to be a thousand vines planted, for which
the tenants used to pay a thousand shekels, or pie¬
ces of silver, yearly rent, there shall be nothing now
but briers and thorns, no profit either for landlord
or tenant; all being laid waste by the army of the
invaders. Note, God can soon turn a fruitful land
into barrenness; and it is just with him to turn vines
nto briers, if we, instead of bringing forth grapes
to him, bring forth wild grapes, ch. v. 4.
(5. ) The instruments of husbandry shall be turned
into instruments of war, v. 24. The whole land
teing become briers and thorns, the grounds that
men used to come to with sickles and pruning-hooks
to gather in the fruits, they shall now come to with
arrows and bows, either to hunt for wild beasts in
the thickets, or to defend themselves from the rob¬
bers, that lurk in the bushes seeking for prey, or to
kill the serpents and venomous beasts that are hid
there. This bespeaks a very sad change of the face
of that pleasant land. But what melancholy change
is there, which sin will not make with a people?
(6.) There where briers and thorns were wont to
be of use, and to do good service, even in the hedges,
for the defence of the enclosed grounds, they shall
be plucked up, and all laid in common. There
shall be briers and thorns in abundance, there where
they should not be, but none where there should be,
v. 25. The hills that shall be digged with the mat¬
tock, for special use, from which the cattle used to
be kept off with the fear of briers and thorns, shall
now be thrown open; the hedges broken down for
the boar out of the wood to waste it, Ps. lxxx. 12,
13. It shall be left at large for oxen to run in, and
lesser cattle.
Seethe effect of sin and the curse; it has made
the earth a forest of thorns and thistles, except as it
is forced into some order by the constant care and la¬
bour of man: ahd see what folly it is to set our hearts
upon possession of lands, be they ever so fruitful.
| ever so pleasant; it they lie ever so little neglected
and uncultivated, or if they be abused by a wastefu’
careless heir or tenant, or the ccuntrv be laid waste
by war, they will soon become frightful deserts.
Heaven is a paradise not subject to such changes.
CHAP. VIII.
This chapter, and the four next that follow it, (to ch. 13.}
are all one continued discourse or sermon; the scope ot
which is, to show the great destruction that should now
shortly be brought upon the kingdom of Israel, and the
great disturbance that should be given to the kingdom
of Judah by the king of Assyria, and that both were for
their sins; but rich provision is made of comfort for those
that fear God, in those dark times, referring especially
to the days of the Messiah. In this chapter we have, 1.
A prophecy of the destruction of the confederate king¬
doms of Syria and Israel by the king of Assyria, v. 1 . . 4.
II. Of the desolations that should be made by that proud,
victorious prince, in the land of Israel and Judan, v.
5 . . 8. III. Great encouragement given to the people of
God in the midst of those destructions; they are assured,
1. That the enemies shall not gain their point against
them, v. 9, 10. 2. That if they kept up the fear of God,
and kept down the fear of man, they should find God
their Refuge, (v. 11 . . 14.) and, while others stumbled,
and fell into despair, they should be enabled to wait on
God, and should see themselves reserved for better times,
v. 15. . 18. Lastly , he gives a necessary caution to all,
at their peril, not to consult with familiar spirits, for
they would thereby throw themselves into despair, but
to keep close to the word of God, v. 19 . . 22. And these
counsels, and these comforts, will still be of use to us in
time of trouble.
1. %/TOREOVER the Lord said unto
■I? A me, Take thee a great roll, and
write in it with a man’s pen concerning
Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2. And I took unto
me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the
priest, and Zechariah the son of Jebere-
chiah. 3. And I went unto the prophetess;
and she conceived and bare a son. Then
said the Lord tome, Call his name Maher-
shalal-hash-baz: 4. For before the child
shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and
My mother, the riches of Damascus, and the
spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before
the king of Assyria. 5. The Lord spake
also unto me again, saying, 6. Forasmuch
as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah
that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Re-
maliah’s son : 7. Now therefore, behold,
the Lord bringeth up upon them the wa¬
ters of the river, strong and many, even the
king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he
shall come up over all his channels, and go
over all his banks: 8. And he shall pass
through .ludah; he shall overflow and go
over; he shall reach even to the neck: and
the stretching out of his wings shall fill the
breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
In these verses we have a prophecy of the suc¬
cesses of the king of Assyria against Damascus,
Samaria, and Judah; that the two former should be
laid waste by him, and the last greatly frightened.
Here we have,
I. Orders given to the prophet to write this pro
phecy, and publish it to be seen and read of all men,
and to leave it upon record, that when the thine
came to pass, they might know that God had sen'
him; for that was one end of the prophecy, John
xiv. 29. He must take a great roll, which would
61
ISAIAH, VTII.
contain those five chapters, fairly written in words
at length; he must write in it all that he had fore¬
told concerning the king of Assyria’s invading the
country; he must write it with a man’s pen, in the
usual way and style of writing, so as that it might
be legible and intelligible by all. See Hab. ii. 2.
Write the vision and make it plain. They that
speak and write of tne tilings of God, should avoid
obscurity, and study to speak and write so as to be
understood, 1. Cor. xiv. 19. They that write for
men, should write with a man’s pen, and not covet
the pen or tongue of angels. And, forasmuch as it
is usual to put some short but significant compre¬
hensive title before books that are published, the
prophet is directed to call his book Maher-shalal-
hash-baz — Make speed to the s/ioil, hasten to the
prey; intimating that the Assyrian army should
come upon them with great speed, and make great
spoil; by this title the substance and meaning of the
book would be inquired after by those that had read
it, or heard it read. It is sometimes a good help to
memory to put much matter in few words, which
serve as handles by which we take hold of more.
II. The care of this prophet to get this record
well attested; (v. 2. ) / took unto me faithful wit¬
nesses to record; he wrote the prophecy in their
sight and presence, and made them subscribe their
names to it, that they might be ready, if afterward
there should be occasion, to make oath of it, that the
prophet had foretold the descent which the As¬
syrians made upon that country so long before; he
names the witnesses for the greater certainty, that/
they might be appealed to by any; they were two in
number; (for out of the mouth of two witnesses shall
every word be established;) one was, Uriah the
priest; he is mentioned in the story of Ahaz, but for
none of his good deeds, for he humoured Ahaz with
an idolatrous altar; (2 Kings xvi. 10, 11.) however,
at this time, no exception lay against him, he was a
f .ithful witness. See what full satisfaction the pro¬
phets took care to give to all persons concerned, of
the sincerity of their intentions, that we might know
with a full assurance the certainty of the things
wherein we have been instructed, and that we have
not followed cunningly-devised fables.
III. The making of the title of his book the name
of his child, that it might be the more taken notice
of, and the more effectually perpetuated, v. 3. His
wife (because the wife of a prophet) is called the
hrophetess; she conceived and bare a son, another
son, who must carry a sermon in his name, as the
former had done, ( ch . vii. 3. ) but with this differ¬
ence, that spake mercy, Shear-jashub — The rem¬
nant shall return; but that being slighted, this
speaks judgment, Maher-shalal-hash-baz — In mak¬
ing speed to the spoil he shall hasten, or he has
hastened, to the prey. The prophecy is doubled,
even in this one name, for the thing was certain; I
will hasten my word, Jer. i. 12. Every time the
'■hild was called by his name, or any part of it, it
wi uld serve as a memorandum of the judgments ap¬
proaching. Note, It is good for us often to put our-
s.-lves in mind of the changes and troubles we are
li .Me 1 1 in this world, and which perhaps are at the
door. When we look with pleasure on our chil¬
dren, it should be with the allay of this thought,
We know not what they are yet reserved for.
IV. The prophecy itself, which explains this
mystical name;
1. That Syria and Israel, who were now in con¬
federacy against Judah, should in a very little time
become an easy prey to the king of Assyria and his
victorious army; (v. 4. )“ Before the child, now newlv
born and named, should have knowledge to cru, My
father, and My mother,” (which are usally some
of the first things that children know, and some of
the first word' rnat children speak,) “in about a
year or two, the riches of Damascus, and the spoil
of Samaria, those cities that are now so secure
themselves, and so formidable to their neighbours,
shall be taken away before the king of alssyria, who
shall plunder both city and country, and send the
best effects of both into his own land, to enrich that,
and as trophies of his victory.” Note, Those
that spoil others, must expect to be themselves
spoiled, (ch. xxxiii. 1.) for the Lord is righteous,
and those that are troublesome shall be troubled.
2. That for ismuch as there were many in Judah,
that were secretly in the interests of Syria and Israel,
and were disaffected to the house of David, God
would chastise them also by the king of Assyria,
who should create a great deal of vexation to Judah,
as was foretold, ch. vii. 17.
Observe, (1.) What was the sin of the discon¬
tented party in Judah; (v. 6.) This people, when;
the prophet here speaks to, refuse the waters cf
Shiloah that go softly, despise their own country
and the government of it, and love to run it down,
because it does not make so great a figure, and so
great a noise in the world, as some other kings and
kingdoms do. They refuse the comforts which
| God’s prophets offer them from the word of God,
j speaking to them in a still small voice, and make
i nothing of them; but they rejoice in Rezin and Re-
maliah's son, who were the enemies of their coun¬
try, and were now actually invading it; they cried
them up as brave men, magnified their policies and
strength, applauded their conduct, were well-pleas¬
ed with their success, and were hearty well-wishers
to their designs, and resolved to desert and go ovei
to them. Such vipers does many a state foster
its bosom, that eat its bread, and yet adhere to its
enemies, and are ready to quit its interests, if they
but seem to totter.
(2.) The judgment which God would bring upon
them for this sin. The same king of Assyria, that
should lay Ephraim and Syria waste, should be a
scourge and terror to those of their party in Judah,
v. vii. 8. Because they refuse the waters of Shiloah,
and will not accommodate themselves to tne govern¬
ment God has set over them, but are uneasy under
it, therefore the Lord brings upon them the waters
of the river, strong and many, the river Euphrates ;
they slighted the land of Judah, because it had no
river to boast of comparable to that; the river at Je¬
rusalem was a very inconsiderable one. “Well,”
says God, “ if you be such admirers of Euphrates,
you shall have enough of it; the king of Assyria,
whose country lies upon that river, shall come with
his glory, with his great army, which you cry up as
his glory, despising your own king, because he can¬
not bring such an army as that into the field; God
shall bring that army upon you. ” If we value men,
if we overvalue them, for their worldly wealth and
power, it is just with God to make them by that a
scourge to us. Tt is used as an argument against
magnifying rich men, that rich men oppress us,
Jam. ii. 3, 6. Let us be best pleased with the wa¬
ters of Shiloah, that go softly, for rapid streams are
dangerous. It is threatened that the Assyrian army
should break in upon them like a deluge, or inunda¬
tion of waters, bearing down all before it, should
come up over all his channels, and overflow all
his banks; it would be to no purpose to oppose
or withstand them; Sennacherib and his army
should pass through Judah, and meet with so
little resistance, that it should look more like a
march through the country, than a descent upon
it; He shall reach even to the neck; he shall ad¬
vance so far as to lay siege to Jerusalem, the
head of the kingdom, and nothing but that shall be
kept out of his hands; for that was the holy city
Note, in the greatest deluge of trouble, God can,
. and will, keep.the head of his people above wa' r.
ISAIAH, VIII.
52
nnd so preserve their comforts and spiritual lives ; 1
that the waters that come into their souls, may reach to!
the neck, (Ps. lxix. 1.) but there shall their proud
waves be stayed. And here is another comfortable
intimation, that though the stretching cut of the
wings of the Assyrian, that bird of prey, though the
right and left wing of his army, should fill the
breadth of the land of- Judah, yet still it was Im¬
manuel’s land. It is thy land, O Immanuel; it was
to be Christ’s land, for there he was to be born, and
live, and preach, and work miracles. He was Zi¬
on’s King, and therefore had a peculiar interest in,
and concern for, that land. Note, The lands that
Immanuel owns for his, as he does all those lands
that own him, though they may be deluged, shall
not be destroyed: for when the enemy shall come in
tike a flood, Immanuel shall secure his own, and
shall lift up a standard against him, ch. lix. 19.
9. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and
ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear,
all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and
ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves,
and ye shall be broken in pieces. 1 0. Take
counsel together, and it shall come to nought ;
speak the word, and it shall not stand: for
God is with us. 1 1. For the Lord spake
thus to me with a strong hand, and in¬
structed me, that I should not walk in the
way of this people, saying, 1 2. Say ye not,
A confederacy, to all them to whom this peo¬
ple shall say, A confederacy : neither fear ye
their fear, nor be afraid. 13. Sanctify the
Lord of hosts himself ; and let him he your
fear, and let him be your dread. 1 4. And he
shall be for a sanctuary: but for a stone of
stumbling, and for a rock of offence, to both
the houses of Israel; for a gin and for a snare
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15. And
many among them shall stumble and fall,
and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
The prophet here returns to speak of the present
distress that Ahaz, and his court and kingdom,
were in, upon account of the threatening confede¬
racy of the ten tribes, and the Syrians, against them.
And in these verses,
I. He triumphs over the invading enemies, and,
in effect, sets them at defiance, and bids them do
their worst; (y. ix. 10.) “ O ye people, ye of far
countries, give ear to what the prophet says to you
in God’s name.
1. “We doubt not but you will now make your
utmost efforts against Judah and Jerusalem; you as¬
sociate yourselves in a strict alliance, you gird your¬
selves, and again you gird yourselves, you prepare
far action, you address yourselves to it with resolu¬
tion, you gird on your swords, you gird up your
loins, you animate and encourage yourselves and
one another with all the considerations you can think
of, you take counsel together, call councils of war,
and all heads are at work, about the proper method
fir making yourselves masters of the land of Judah,
you speak the word, you cojne to resolutions con¬
cerning it, and are not always deliberating, you de¬
termine what to do, and are very confident of the
success of it, that the matter will be accomplished
with a word’s speaking.” Note, It is with a great
deal of policy, resolution, and assurance, that the
church’s enemies carry on their designs against it;
end abundance of pains they take to roll a stone
that will certainly return upon them. t
2. “ This is to let you know that all your efforts
will be ineffectual; you cannot, you shall not, gain
your point, nor carry the day; you shall be broken
in pieces; though you associate yourselves, though
you gird yourselves, thou you proceed with all the
policy and precaution imaginable, yet, I tell ycu
again and again, all your projects shall be baffled,
you shall be broken in pieces; nay, not only ycur
attempts shall be ruined, but your attempts shall be
your ruin; you shall be broken by those designs you
have formed against Jerusalem; your councils shall
come to naught; for there is no wisdom or counsel
against the Lord; your resolves will not be put in
execution, they shall not stand; you speak the word,
but who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, if the
Lord commandeth it not? What sets up itself against
God, and his cause, and counsel, cannot stand, but
must inevitably fall. For God is with us;” (this re¬
fers to the name of Immanuel — God with us;) “the
Messiah is to be bom among us, and a people de¬
signed for such an honour cannot be given up to ut¬
ter min; we have now the special presence of God
with us in his temple, his oracles, his promises, and
these are our defence. God is with us, he is on cur
side, to take our part, and fight for us; and if God
be for us, who can be against us?” Thus does the
daughter of Zion despise them.
II. He comforts and encourages the people of God
with the same comforts and encouragements which
he himself had received: the attempts made upon
them were very formidable; the house of David, the
court and royal family, were at their wits’ end, (ch.
vii. 2.) and then no marv el if the people were in a
consternation.
Now, 1. The prophet tells us how he was him¬
self taught of God not to give way to such amazing
fears as the people were disturbed with, nor to run
into the same measures with them ; (v. 11.) “ The
Lord spake to me with a strong hand, not to walk in
the way of this people; not to say as they say, nor
do as they do, nor to entertain the same frightful
apprehensions of things, nor to approve of their pro¬
jects of making peace upon any terms, or calling in
the help of the Assyrians.” God instructed the
prophet not to go down the stream. Note, .(1.)
There is a proneness in the best of men to be
frightened at threatening clouds, especially when
fears are epidemical. We are all too apt to walk in
the way of the people we live among, though it be
not a good way. (2.) Those whom God lov es and
owns, he will instruct, and enable to swim against
the stream of common cori-uptions, particularly of
common fears. He will find ways to teach his own
people not to walk in the way of other people, but
in a sober singularity. (3.) Corruption is some¬
times so active in the hearts even of good men, that
they have need to be taught their duty with a strong
hand, and it is God’s prerogative to teach so, for he
only can give an understanding, and overpower the
contradiction of unbelief and prejudice. He can
teach the heart; and herein none teaches like him.
(4.) Those that are to teach others have need
to be themselves well instructed in their duty, ar.d
then they teach most powerfully, when they teach
experimentally; the word that comes from the
heart, is most likely to reach to the heart; and
what we are ourselves by the grace of God instruct¬
ed in, we should, as we are able, teach others also.
2. Now what is it that he says to God’s people?
(1.) He cautions them againsta sinful fear, v. 12.
It seems, it was the way of this people at this time,
and fear is catching; he whose heart fails him,
makes his brethren’s heart to fail, like his heart;
(Deut. xx. 8.) therefore Say ye not, A confederacy ,
to all them to whom this people shall say, A con fede¬
racy: that is, [1.] “Be net associated with them
in the confederacies they are pr; jecting and fire
ISAIAH, VIII.
casting for. Do not join with those that, for the
securing of themselves, are for making a league
with the Assyrians, through unbelief, and distrust
of God and their cause. l)o not come into any such
confederacy.” Note, It concerns us, in time of
trouble, to watch against all such fears as put us
upon taking any indirect courses for our own securi¬
ty. [2.] “ Be not afraid of the confederacies they
frighten themselves and one another with. Do not
amuse yourselves with the apprehension of a con¬
federacy, upon every thing that stirs, nor, when any
little thing is amiss, cry out presently, There is a plot,
a plot. When they talk what dismal news there is,
Syria in joined with Efihraim, what will become of
us? Must we fight, or must we flee, or must we
yield? Do not you fear their fear. Be not afraid
of the signs of heaven, as the heathen are, Jer. x.
2. Be not afraid of evil things on earth, but let
your hearts be fixed. Fear not that which they
fear, nor be afraid as they are. Be not put into such
a fright as causes trembling and shaking;” so the
word signifies. Note, When the church’s enemies
have sinful confederacies on foot, the church’s
friends should watch against the sinful fears of those
confederacies.
(2.) He advises them to a gracious, religious fear;
But sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, v. 13. Note,
The believing fear of God is a special preservative
against the disquieting fear of man; see 1 Pet. iii.
Id, 15, where this is quoted, and applied to suffer¬
ing Christians, [l.j We must look upon God as
the Lord of hosts, that has all power in his hand,
and all creatures at his beck. [2.] We must sanc¬
tify him accordingly, give him the glory due to that
name, and carry it toward him as those that believe
him to be a holy God. [3.] We must make him
our Fear, the Object of our fear, and make him our
Dread; keep up a reverence of his providence, and
stand in awe of his sovereignty; be afraid of his dis¬
pleasure, and silently acquiesce in all his disposals.
Were we but duly affected with the greatness and
glory of God, we should see the pomp of our ene¬
mies eclipsed and clouded, and all their power re¬
strained and under check; see Neh. iv. 14. That
they are afraid of the re/iroach of men, forget the
Lord their Maker, ch. li. 12, 13. Compare Luke
xii. 4, 5.
(3.) He assures them of a holy security and se¬
renity of mind, in so doing; (y. 14.) “ He shall be
for a Sanctuary; make him your Fear, and vou
shall find him your Hope, your Help, your De¬
fence, and your mighty Deliverer. He will sanctify
and preserve you. He will be fora Sanctuary;’
[1.] “ To make you holy; He will be your Sancti¬
fication;” so some read if. If we sanctify God by
our praises, he will sanctify us by his grace. [2. ]
“To make you easy; He will be your Sanctuary,
to which you may flee for safety, and where you are
privileged from all the arrests of fear; you shall
find an inviolable refuge and security in him, and
see yourselves out of the reach of danger.” They
that’ truly fear God, shall not need to fear any evil.
III. He threatens the ruin of the ungodly and un¬
believing, both in Judah and Israel. They have no
part nor lot in the foregoing comforts; that God,
who will be a Sanctuary to those who trust in him,
will be a Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offence,
to those who leave these waters of Shiloah, and re¬
joice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son, (y. 6.) who
make the creature their fear and their hope, x>. 14,
15. The prophet foresees that the greatest part of
both the houses of Israel would not sanctify the Lord
of hosts, and to them he would be for a Gin and a
Snare; he would be a terror to them, as he would
be a Support and Stay to those that trusted in him.
Instead of profiting by the word of God, they should
be offended at it; and the providences of God, in- I
stead of leading then\ to him, would drive them
from him. What was a savour of life untc life to
others, would be a savour of death unto death to
them. So that many among them shall stumble
and fall; they shall fall both into sin and into ruin,
they shall fall by the sword, shall be taken prison¬
ers, and go into captivity. Note, If the things of
God be an offence for us, they will be an undoing to
us. Some apply this to the unbelieving Jews, who
rejected Christ, and to whom he became a Stone of
stumbling, for the apostle quotes this scripture with
application to all those who persisted in their unbe¬
lief of the gospel of Christ; (1 Pet. ii. 8.) to them
he is a rock of offence, because, being disobedient to
the word, they stumble at it.
16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law
among my disciples. 1 7. And 1 will wait
upon the Lord, that hideth his face from
the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
18. Behold, I, and the children whom the
Lord hath given me, are for signs and for
wonders in Israel, from the Lord of hosts,
which dwelleth in mount Zion. 19. And
when they shall say unto you, Seek unto
them that have familiar spirits, and unto the
wizards that peep and that mutter; should
not a people seek unto their God? for the
living to the dead? 20. To the law and to
the testimony: if they speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no light in
them. 21. And they shall pass through it
hardly bestead and hungry : and it Eyhall
come to pass, that, when they shall be hun¬
gry, they shall fret themselves, and curse
their king and their God, and look upward.
22. And they shall look unto the earth ; and
behold trouble and darkness, dimness of an¬
guish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
In these verses, we have,
I. The unspeakable privilege which the people
of God enjoy, in having the oracles of Gcd consigned
over to them, and being intrusted with the sacred
writings; that they may sanctify the Lord of hosts,
may make him their Fear, and find him their Sanc¬
tuary; Bind uji the testimony, v. 16. Note, It is a
great instance of God’s care of his church and love
of it, that he has lodged in it the valuable treasure
of divine revelation. 1. It is a testimony and a law;
not only this prophecy is so, which must therefore
be preserved safe for the comfort of God’s people in
the approaching times of trouble and distress, but
the whole word of God is so; God has attested it,
and he has enjoined it. As a testimony, it directs
our faith; as a law, it directs our practice; and we
ought both to subscribe to the truths of it, and tr
submit to the precepts of it 2. This testimony ana
this law are bound up and sealed, for we me not to
add to them, or diminish from them; tnev are a
letter from God to man, folded up and sealed; a
proclamation under the broad seal. The binding
up and sealing of the Old Testament signified, that
the full explication of many of the prophecies of it
was reserved for the New Testament times; (Dan
xii. 4.) Seal the book till the time of the end; but
what was then bound up and sealed, is now open
and unsealed, and revealed unto babes, Matth. xi.
25. Yet with reference to the other world, and the
future state, still the testimony is bound up and
sealed, for we know but in part, and prophecy bu'
54
ISAIAH, VIII.
in part. 3. They are lodged as a sacred deposit in
the hands of the disciples* of the children of the
fcrofiheta and the covenant, Acts iii. 25. This is
the good thing which is committed to tin m, and
which they are charged with the custody of, 2 Tim.
i. 13, 14. ' Those that had prophets for their tutors,
must still keep close to the written word.
II. The good use which we ought to make of this
privilege. This we are taught,
1. By the prophet’s own practice and resolutions,
17, i8. He embraced the law and the testimony,
and he had the comfort of it, in the midst of the
m my discouragements he met with. Note, Those
ministers can best recommend the word of God to
others, that have themselves found the satisfaction
of relying upon it. Observe,
(1.) The discouragements which the prophet la¬
ir lured under; he specifies two; [1.] 1 he frowns
of God, not so much upon himself, but upon his
people, whose interests lay very n.ear his heart;
“He hides his face from the house of Jacob, and
seems, at present, to neglect, and lay them under
the tokens of his displeasure.” The prophet was
himself employed in revealing God’s wrath against
them, and yet" grieved thus for it, as one that did
' not desire the woful day. If the house of Jacob for¬
sake the God of Jacob, let it not be thought strange
that he hides his face from them. [2.] The con¬
tempt and reproaches of men, not only upon him¬
self, but upon his disciples, among whom the law
and the testimony were sealed; I and the children
which the Lord hath given me, are for signs and
wonders; we are gazed at as monsters or outlandish
people, pointed at as we go along the streets. Pro¬
bably the prophetical names that were given his
children were ridiculed and bantered by the profane
scoffers of the town. Jam as a wonder unto many,
Ps. lxxi. 7. God’s people are the world’s wonder,
(Zecli. iii. 8.) for their singularity, and because
they run not with them to the same excess of riot,
1 Pet. iv. 4. The prophet was herein a type of
Christ; for this is quoted (Heb. ii. 13.) to prove
that believers are Christ’s children; Behold, land
the children which God hath given me. Parents
must look upon their children as God’s gifts, his
gracious gifts; Jacob did so, Gen. xxxiii. 5. Min¬
isters must look upon their converts as their chil¬
dren, and be tender of them accordingly, (1 Thcss.
ii. 7.) and as the children which God has given
them; for whatever good we are instrumental of to
others, it is owing to the grace of God. Christ
looks upon believers as his children, which the
Father gave him; (John xvii. 6.) and both he and
they are for signs and wonders, spoken against,
(Luke ii. 34.) every where spoken against, Acts
xxviii. 22.
(2. ) The encouragement he took, in reference to
these discouragements. [1.] He saw the hand of
God in all that which was discouraging to him, and
kept his eye upon that. Whatever trouble the
house of Jacob is in, it comes from God’s hiding his
face; nay, whatever contempt is put upon him or
his friends, it is from the Lord of hosts; he has bid¬
den Shimei curse David, Job xix. 13 — xxx. 11.
[2.] He saw God dwelling in mount Zion, mani¬
festing himself to his people, and ready to hear
their prayers, and receive their homage. Though,
for the present, he hide his face from the house of
Jacob, yet they know where to find him, and re¬
cover the sight of him; he dwells in Mount Zion.
[3.] He therefore resolved to wait upon the Lord,
: nd to look for him; to attend his motions, even
while he hid his face, and to expect with an hum¬
ble assurance his returns in a way of mercy. Those
that wait upon God by faith and prayer, may look
for him with hope and joy. When we have not
sensible comforts, we must still keep up our observ¬
ance of God and obedience to him, and then wait
awhile; at evening-time it shall be light.
2. By the. counsel and advice which he gives to
his disciples, among whom the law and the testi¬
mony were sealed, to whom were committed the
lively oracles.
(1.) He supposes they would be tempted, in the
day of their distress, to consult them that had fa¬
miliar spirits, that dealt with the devil, asked his
advice, and desired to be informed by him concern¬
ing things to come, that they might take their mea¬
sures accordingly. Thus Saul, when he was in
straits, made his application to the witch of F.ndor,
(1 Sam. xxviii. 7, 15.) and Ahaziah to the God ct
Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2. These conjurors had fantastic
gestures and tones; they peeped and muttered,
they muffled their heads, that they could neither
see nor be seen plainly, but peeped and were peep¬
ed at: or both the words here used may refer to
their voice or manner of speaking; they delivered
what they had to say with a low, hollow, broken
sound, scarcely articulate; and sometimes in a pul¬
ing or mournful tone, like a crane, or a swallow, or
a dove, ch. xxxviii. 14. They spake not with that
boldness and plainness which the prophets of the
Lord spake with, but as those who desire to amuse
people rather than to instinct them ; yet there were
those who were so wretchedly sottish as to seek to
them, and to court others to do so, even the prophet’s
hearers, who knew better things, whom therefore the
rophet warns not to say A confederacy with such.
'here were express laws against this wickedness,
(Lev. xix. 31. — xx. 27.) and yet it was found in Is¬
rael, is found even in Christian nations; but let all
that have any sense of religion show it, by startling
at the thought of it; Get thee behind me, Satan.
Dread the use of spells and charms, and consulting
those that by hidden arts pretend to tell fortunes,
cure diseases, or discover things lost; for this is a
heinous crime, and, in effect, denies the God that
is above.
(2.) He furnishes them with an answer to this
temptation, puts words into their mouths: “If any
go about to ensnare you, give them this reply ;
Should not a people seek to their God? What !
for the living to the dead!” [1.] “Tell them it
is a principle of religion, that a people ought to
seek unto their God; now Jehovah is our God, and
therefore to him we ought to seek, and to consult
with him, and not with them that have familiar
spirits. All people will thus walk in the name of
their God, Mic. iv. 5. They that made the hosts
of heaven their gods, sought unto them, Jer. viii. 2.
Should not a people under guilt, and in trouble,
seek to their God for pardon and peace? Should
not a people in doubt, in want, and in danger, seek
to their God for direction, supply, and protection?
Since the Lord is our God, and we are his people,
it is certainly our duty to seek him.” [2.] “Tell
them it is an instance of the greatest fi 11 v in the
world, to seek for living men to dead idols. ’’ What
can be more absurd than to seek to lifeless images
for life and living comforts, or to expect that our
friends that are dead, when we deify them and pray
to them, should do that for us which cur living friends
cannot do? The dead know not any thing, nor is
there with them any dei’ice or working, Ecol. ix.
5, 10. It is folly therefore for the living to make
their court to them, with any expectation of relief
from them. Necromancers consulted the dead, as
the witch of Endor, and so proclaimed their ovn
folly; we must live by the living, and not by the
dead; what life or light can we look for from them
that have no light or life themselves?
(3.) He directs them to consult with the oracles
of God; if the prophets that were among them did
not speak directly to every case, yet they had the
bo
SAIAH, IX.
written word, and to that they must have recourse.
Note, Those will never be drawn to consult wizards,
that know how to make a good use of their Bibles.
Would we know how we may seek to our God, and
co>-'e to the knowledge of liis mind? To the law
and o the testimony. There you will see what is
good, and what the Lord requires of you. Make
God's statutes your counsellors, and you will be
counselled right.
Observe, [1.] What use we must make of the
lnv and the testimony; we must speak according
to that word; we must make this our standard,
conform to it, take advice from it, make our ap-
pea. to it, and in every thing be overruled and de-
termwed by it; consent to those wholesome healing
words, (1 Tim. vi. 3.) and speak of the things of
Go l in the words which the Holy Ghost teaches.
It is not enough to say nothing against it, but we
must speak according to it.
l2.] Why we must make this use of the law and
the testimony; because we shall be convicted of
the greatest folly imaginable if we do not. They
that concur not with the word of God, prove there
is no light, no morning-light, (so the word is,) in
them; they have no right sense of things; they do
not understand themselves, nor the difference be¬
tween good and evil, truth and falsehood. Note,
Those that reject divine revelation, have not so
much as human understanding; nor do they rightly
admit the oracles of reason, who will not admit the
oracles of God. Some read it as a threatening; “ If
they speak not according to this word, there shall
be no light to them, no good, no comfort, or relief;
but they shall be driven to darkness and despair;”
as it follows here, (v. 21, 22.) What light had
Srul when he consulted the witch? 1 Sam. xxviii.
18, 20. Or what light can they expect, that turn
away from the Father of lights?
(4. ) He reads the doom of those that seek to fa¬
miliar spirits, and regard not God’s law and testi¬
mony; there shall not only be no light to them, no
comfort or prosperity, but they may expect all hor¬
ror and misery, v. 21, 22. [1.] The trouble they
feared shall come upon them; they shall pass
through the land, or pass to and fro in the land,
unfixed, unsettled, and driven from place to place
by the threatening power of an invading enemy;
they shall be hardly bestead whither to go for the
necessary supports of life; either because the coun¬
try would be so impoverished, that there would be
nothing to be had, or at least themselves and their
friends so impoverished, that there would be nothing
to be had for them; so that they who used to be fed
to the full shall be hungry. Note. Those that go
away from God, go out of the way of all good. [2. ]
They shall be very uneasy to themselves, by their
discontent and impatience under their trouble. _ A
good man may be in want, but then he quiets him¬
self, and strives to make himself easy; but these
people, when they shall be hungry, shall fret them¬
selves, and when they have nothing to feed on,
their vexation shall prey upon their own spirits; for
fretfulness is a sin that is its own punishment. [3.]
They shall be very provoking to all about them,
triv, to all above them; when they find all their
nv isures broken, and themselves at their wit’s
end, they will forget all the rules of duty and de¬
cency, and will treasonably curse their king, and
blasphemously curse their God; and this more than
in their thought , and in their bed-chamber, Eccl.
x. 20. They begin with cursing their king, for
managing the public affairs no better, as if the fault
were his, when the best and wisest kings cannot
secure success; but when they have broken the
bonds of their allegiance, no marvel if those of their
religion do not hold them long; they next curse
t’.ieir God, curse him, and die; they quarrel with his
providence, and reproach that, as if he had done
them wrong; The foolishness of man perverts his
way, and then his heart frets against the Lord,
Prov. xix. 3. See what need we have to keep our
mouth as with a bridle, when our heart is hot within
us; for the language of fretfulness is commonly
very offensive. [4] They shall abandon them¬
selves to despair, and, which way soever they lock,
shall see no probability of relief; they shall look up¬
ward, but heaven shall frown upon them, and look
gloomy; and how can it be otherwise, when they
curse their God? They shall look to the earth, but
what comfort can that yield to those whom God is
at war with? Thereis nothing there but trouble,
and darkness, and dimness of anguish, every thing
threatening, and not one pleasant gleam, not one
hopeful prospect; but they shall be driven to dark¬
ness by the violence of their own fears, which re
present every thing about them black and frightful.
This explains what he had said, (v. 20.) that there
shall be no light to them. Those that shut their
eves against the light of God’s word, will justly be
abandoned to darkness, and left to wander endless¬
ly, and the sparks of their own kindling will do
them no kindness.
CHAP. IX.
The prophet, in this chapter, (according to the directions
iven him ch. iii. 10, 11.) saith to the righteous, It shall
e well with thee , but Wo to the wicked, it shall be ill
with him . Here are, I. Gracious promises to those
that adhere to the law and to the testimony; while those
that seek to familiar spirits, shall be driven into dark¬
ness and dimness, they shall see a great light, relief in
the midst of their distresses, typical of gospel-grace.
1. In the doctrine of the Messiah, v. 1 . . 3. 2. His vic¬
tories, v. 4, 5. 3. His government and dominion, as
Immanuel, v. 6, 7. II. Dreadful threatenings against
the people of Israel, who had revolted fromj and were
enemies to, the house of David; that they should be
brought to utter ruin, that their pride should bring them
down, ( v. 8 . . 10.) that their neighbours should make a
prey of* them, (v. 11, 12.) that, for their impenitency
and hypocrisy, all their ornaments and supports should
be cut off, (v. 13. . 17.) and that by the wrath of Goa
against them, and their wrath one against another, they
should be brought to utter ruin, v. 18. .21. And this
is typical of the final destruction of all the enemies of
the son of David and his kingdom.
1. '1^'EVERTHELESS, the dimness
.1x1 shall not be such as was in her
vexation, when at the first he lightly afflict¬
ed the land of Zebulun and the land of
Naphtali, and afterward did more griev¬
ously afflict her by the way of the sea, be¬
yond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
2. The people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light : they that dwell in
the land of the shadow of death, upon them
hath the light shined. 3. Thou hast multi¬
plied the nation, and not increased the joy:
they joy before thee according to the joy in
harvest, and as men rejoice when they di¬
vide the spoil. 4. For thou hast broken the
yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoul¬
der, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day
ofMidian. 5. For every battle of the war¬
rior is with confused noise, and garments
rolled in blood ; but this shall be with burn¬
ing and fuel of fire. 6. For unto us a
Child is born, unto us a Son is given ; and
the government shall be upon his shoulder :
i6 1SAI
and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlast¬
ing Father, The Prince of Peace. 7. Of the
increase of his government anil peace there
shall be no end, upon the throne of David,
and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to
establish it with judgment and with justice,
from henceforth even for ever. The zeal
of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
The first words of this chapter plainly refer to the
close of the foregoing chapter, where every thing
looked black and melancholy: Behold, trouble, and
darkness, and dimness; very bad, yet not so bad, but
that to the upright there shall arise light in the dark¬
ness, (Ps. cxii. 4.) and at evening-time it shall be
light, Zech. xiv. 7. Nevertheless, it shall not be
such dimness (either not such for kind, or not such
for degree,) as sometimes there has been. Note,
In the worst of times, God’s people have a never¬
theless to comfort themselves with, something to
allay and balance their troubles; they are perse¬
cuted, but not forsaken, (2 Cor. iv. 9.) sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing, 2 Cor. vi. 10. And it is a
matter of comfort to us, when things are at the
darkest, that he who forms the light, and creates
the darkness, ( ch . xlv. 7.) has appointed both their
bounds, and set the one over against the other, Gen.
i. 4. He can say, “ Hitherto the dimness shall go,
so long as it shall last, and no farther, no longer. ”
Three things are here promised, and they all point
ultimately at the grace of the gospel, which the
saints then were to comfort themselves with the
hopes of, in every cloudy and dark day, as we now
are to comfort ourselves, in time of trouble, with
the hopes of Christ’s second coming, though that
be now, as his first coming then was, a thing at a
great distance. The mercy likewise which God
has in store for his church, in the latter days, mav
be a support to those that are mourning with her
for her present calamities. We have here the pro¬
mise,
I. Of a glorious light, which shall so qualify, and
by degrees dispel, the dimness, that it shall hot be,
as it sometimes has been not such as ivas in her
vexation; there shall not be such dark times as
w .re formerly,, when, at first, he lightly afflicted
the land of Zebulun and JVaphtali, which lay re¬
mote, and most exposed to the inroads of the neigh¬
bouring enemies ; and, afterward, he more griev¬
ously afflicted the land by the way of the sea, and
beyond Jordan, ( v . 1.) referring, probably, to those
days when God began to cut Israel short, and to
smite them in all their coasts, 2 Kings x. 32. Note,
1. God tries what lesser judgments will do with a
people, before he brings greater. But, 2. If a light
affliction do not do its work with us, to humble and
reform us, we must expect to be afflicted more
grievously; for when God judges he will overcome.
Well, those were dark times with the land of
Zebulun and Naphtali, and there was dimness of
anguish in Galilee of the Gentiles, both in respect of
ignorance, (they did not speak according to the laiu
and testimony, and then there was no light in them,
ch. viii. 20.) and in respect of trouble and the des-
erate posture of their outward affairs; we have
oth together, 2. Chron. xv. 3, 5. Israel has been
without the true God and a teaching priest, and in
those times there was no peace: but the dimn»ss
threatened (ch. viii. 22.) shall not prevail to such
a degree; for, (t>. 2.) The people that walked in
darkness have seen a great light. (1.) At this time,
when the prophet lived, there were manv prophets
in Judah and Isnel, whose prophecies were a great
light both for direction and comfort to the people
lH, IX.
of God, who adhered to the law and the testimony;
beside the written word, thev had prophecy; there
were those that had showed them how I ng, (Ps.
lxxiv. 9.) which was a great satisfaction tc them,
when, in respect of their outward troubles, they
sat in darkness, and dwelt in the land of the shadow
of death. (2.) This was to have its full accom¬
plishment when our Lord Jesus began to appear as
a Prophet, and to preach the gospel in the land of
Zebulun and Naphtali, and in Galilee of the Gen¬
tiles. And the Old Testament prophets, as they
were witnesses to him, so they were types of him.
When he came, and dwelt in the borders of Zebu¬
lun and Naphtali, then this prophecy is said to be
fulfilled, Matth. iv. 13 — 16. Note, [1.] Those
that want the gospel, walk in darkness, and know
not what they do, or whither they go; and they
dwell in the land of the shadow of 'death, in thick
darkness, and in the utmost danger. [2.] When
the gospel comes to any place, to any soul, light
comes, a great light, a shining light, ' which will
shine more and more. It should be welcome to us,
as light is to them that sit in darkness, and we
should readily entertain it, both because it is of
such sovereign use to us, and brings its own evi
dence with it. Truly this light is sweet.
II. Of a glorious increase, and an universal joy
arising from it; (d. 3.) “ Thou, O God, hast mul
tiplied the nation, the Jewish nation, which thou
hast mercy in store for; though it has been dimin¬
ished by one sore judgment after another, yet now
thou hast begun to multiply it again.” The num¬
bers of a nation are its strength and wealth, if the
numerous be industrious; and it is God that in¬
creases nations, Job xii. 23. Yet it follows, “ Thou
hast not increased the joy; the carnal joy and mirth,
and those things that are commonly the matter and
occasion of that; but, notwithstanding that, they
joy before thee, there is a great deal of serious spi¬
ritual joy among them, joy in the presence of God,
with an" eye to him.” This is verv applicable to
the times of gospel-light, spoken of, v. 2. Then
God multiplied the nation, the gospel-Israel. “ And
to him” (so the Masorites read it) “ thou hast mag¬
nified the joy, to every one that receives the light!”
The following words favour this reading; thev joy
before thee; they come before thee in holy ordi¬
nances with great joy; their mirth is net like that
of Israel, under their vines and fig-trees, (thou hast
not increased that joy,) but it is in the favour of God
and in the tokens of his grace.” Note, The gospel,
when it comes in its light and power, brings joy
along with it, and those who receive it aright, there¬
in do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice; therefore the
conversion of the nations is prophesied of by this,
Ps. lxvii. 4. Let the nations be glad, and sing for
joy, Ps. xevi. 11. 1. It is holy joy: “They joy be¬
fore thee;” they rejoice in spirit, (as Christ did,
Luke x. 21.) and that is before God. In the eve
of the world, they are always as sorrowful, and ye t,
in God’s sight, always rejoicing, 2 Cor. vi. 10. ' 2.
It is great joy, it is according to the joy in harvest,
when those who sowed in tears, and have with long
patience waited for the precious fruits of the earth,
reap in joy; and as in war, men rejoice, when, after
a hazardous battle, they divide the spoil. The grs-
pel brings with it plenty and victory; but those that
would hat e joy of it, must expect to go through a
hard work, as the husbandman, before he has the
joy of harvest, and a hard conflict, as the soldier,
before he has the Joy of dividing the spoil; but the
joy, when it comes, will be an abundant recom
pense for the toil. See Acts viii. 8, 39.
III. Of a glorious liberty and enlargement; (r.
4,5.) “They shall rejoice before thee, and with
good reason, for thou hast broken the yoke of his
burthen, and made him easy, for he shall no longer
ISAIAH, IX.
t>7
be in servitude, and thou hast broken the stuff of
his shoulder, and the rod of his oppressor, that red
of the wicked which rested long on the lot of the
righteous;” as the Midi-unites’ yoke was broken
from off the neck of Israel by the agency of Gideon.
If Gad makes former deliverances his patterns in
working tor us, we ought to make them our en¬
couragements to hope in him, and to seek to him;
(Ps. lxxxiii. 9.) Do unto them as to the Midian-
iles. What temporal deliverance this refers to, is
not clear, probably, the preventing of Sennacherib
from making himself master of Jerusalem, which
was done, as in the day of Midian, by the imme¬
diate hand of God; and whereas other battles were
usually won with a great deal of noise, and by the
expense of much blood, this shall be done silently
and without noise; Under his g'ory God shall kin¬
dle a burning; (ch. x. 16.) a fire not blown shall
consume him, Job xx. 26. But doubt'iess it looks
further, to the blessed fruits and effects of that
great light which should visit them that sat in dark¬
ness; it would bring liberty along with it, deliver¬
ance to the ca/itives, Luke iv. 18. 1. The design
of the gospel, and the grace of it, is, to break the
yoke of sin and Satan, to remove the burthen of
guilt and corruption, and to free us from the rod
of those oppressors, that we might be brought into
the glorious liberty of the children of God. Christ
brake the yoke of the ceremonial law, (Acts xv.
10. Gal. v. 1.) and delivered us out of the hands
of our enemies, that we might serve him without
far, Luke i. 74, 75. 7- This is done by the Spirit
working like fire, (Matth. iii. 11.) not as the battle
of the warrior is fought, with confused noise; no,
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal; but it is
done with the spirit of judgment and the spirit of
burning, ch. iv. 4. It is done as in the day of Mi¬
dian, bv a work of God upon the hearts of men.
Christ is our Gideon; it is his sword that doeth
wonders.
But who, where is he that shall undertake and
accomplish these great things for the church? He
tells us, (t>. 6, 7.) they shall be done by the Messi¬
ah, Immanuel, that son of a virgin, whose birth he
had foretold, (ch. vii. 14. ) and now speaks of, in the
rophetic style, as a thing already done: the Child is
om; not only because it was as certain, and lie was
as certain of it, as if it had been done already; but
because the church, before his incarnation, reaped
great benefit and advantage by his undertaking in
the virtue of that first promise concerning the Seed
of the woman, Gen. iii. 15. As he was the Lamb
slain, so he was the Child bom, from the founda¬
tion of the world, Rev. xiii. 8. All the great things
that God did for the Old Testament church, were
done bv him as the eternal Word, and for his sake
as the Mediator. He was the Anointed, to whom
God had respect, (Ps. lxxxiv. 9.) and it was for the
Lord’s sake, for the Lord Christ’s sake, that God
caused his face to shine upon his sanctuary, Dan.
ix. 17. Therefore the Jewish nation, and particu¬
larly the house of David, were preserved many a
time from imminent ruin, because that blessing was
in them. What greater security therefore could be
given to the church of God then, that it should be
preserved, and be the special care of Divine Provi¬
dence, than this, that God had so great a mercy in
res Tve for it? The Chaldee Paraphrase understands
it of the Man that shall endure for ever, even Christ.
And it is an illustrious prophecy of him and of his
kingdom, which doubtless they that waited for the
consolation of Israel built much upon, often turned
tA, and read with pleasure.
(1.) See him in his humiliation; the same that is
th ■ mighty God, is a Child boro; the Ancient of
I) tvs becomes the Infant of a span long; the ever-
1 .sthig Father is a Son given. Such was his conde- '
Vox., iv -P
scension in taking our nature upon him; thus did he
humble and empty himself, to exalt and fill us. He
is bom into our world; the I l ord was made flesh,
and dwelt among us. He is given, freely given, to
be all that to us, which our case, in our fallen state,
c dls for; God so loved the world, .that he gave him.
He is born to us, he is given to us, us men, and not
to the angels that sinned; it is spoken with an air
of triumph, and the angel seems to refer to these
words in the notice he gives to the shepherds of the
Messiah’s being come; (Luke ii. 11.) unto you is
bom, this day, a Saviour. Note, Christ’s being
born and giv en to us, is the great foundation of our
hopes, and fountain of our joys, in times of greatest
grief and fear.
(2.) See him in his exaltation; this Child, this
Son, this Son of God, this Son of man, that is given
to us, in a capacity to do us a great deal of kind¬
ness; for he is invested with the highest honour and
power, so that we cannot but be happy if he be our
Friend.
[1.] See the dignity he is advanced to, and the
name he has above every name. He shall be called
(and therefore we are sure he is, and shall be,)
Wonderful, Counsellor, &c. His people shall know
him, and worship him, by these names; and as one
that fully answers them, they shall submit to him,
and depend upon him.
First, He is Wonderful, Counsellor. Justly he is
called Wonderful, for he is both God and man.
His love is the wonder of angels and glorified saints;
in his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension,
he was wonderful. A constant series of wonders
attended him, and, without controversy, great was
the mystery of godliness concerning him. He is the
Counsellor, for he was intimately acquainted with
the counsels of God from eternity, and he gives
counsel to the children of men, in which he consults
our welfare. It is by him that God has given us
counsel, Ps. xvi. 7. Rev. iii. 18. He is the vVisdcm
of the Father, and is made of God to us Wisdom.
Some join these together; He is the Wonderful
Counsellor, a wonder or miracle of a counsellor; in
this, as in other things, he has the pre-eminence;
none teaches like him.
Secondly, He is the mighty God; God, the mighty
One. As he has wisdom, so he has strength, to go
through with his undertaking; he is able to save to
the utmost; and such is the work of the Mediator,
that no less a power than that of the mighty God
could accomplish it.
Thirdly, He is the everlasting Father, or the Fa¬
ther of eternity; he is God, one with the Father,
who is from everlasting to everlasting. His fatherly
care of his people and tenderness toward them are
everlasting. He is the Author of everlasting life
and tenderness to them, and so is the Father of a
blessed eternity to them. He is the Father of the
world to come; so the LXX read it; the Father of
the gospel-state, which is put in subjection to him,
not to the angels, Heb. ii. 5. He was, from eternity,
Father of the great work of Redemption: his heart
was upon it; it was the product of his wisdem, as
the Counsellor; of his love, as the everlasting Fa
ther.
Fourthly, He is the Prince of Peace; as a King,
he preserves the peace, commands peace, nay, he
creates peace, in his kingdom. He is cur Peace,
and it is his peace that both keeps the hearts < f his
people, and rules in them. He is not only a peace¬
able Prince, and his reign peaceable, but he is the
Author and Giver of all good, all that peace which
is the present and future bliss of Lis subjects.
[2.] See the dominion he is advanced to, and the
throne he has, above every throne; (v. 6.) The go¬
vernment shall be u/ion his shoulder; his only: he
shall not only wear *ht badge cf it upon his
58
ISAIAH, IX.
•shoulder, (the key of the house of David, ch. xxii.
'22.; out he shall bear the burthen of it. The Fa¬
ther shall devolve it upon him, so that he shall have
an incontestable right to govern; and he shall un¬
dertake it, so that ■-» doubt can be made of his go¬
verning well, for lie shall set his shoulder to it, and
will never complain, as Moses did, of his being over¬
charged; lam not able to bear all this fieofile.
Numb. xi. 11, 14.
Glorious things are here spoken of Christ’s go¬
vernment, v. 7.
First, That it shall be an increasing government;
it shall be multiplied, the bounds of his kingdom
shall be more and more enlarged, and many shall
be added to it daily; the lustre of it shall increase,
and it shall shine more and more brightly in the
world. The monarchies of the earth were each less
illustrious than the other; so that what began in
gold ended in iron and clay, and every monarchy
dwindled by degrees: but the kingdom of Christ is
a growing kingdom, and will come to perfection at
last.
Secondly, That it shall be a peaceable govern¬
ment, agreeable to his character as the Prince of
Peace: he shall rule by love, shall rule in men’s
hearts; so that wherever his government is, there
shall be peace; and as his government increases,
the peace shall increase; the more we are subject
to Christ, the more easy and safe we are.
Thirdly, That it shall be a rightful government;
he that is the Son of David, shall reign upon the
throne of David, and over his kingdom, which he is
entitled to; God shall give him the throne of his fa¬
ther David, Luke i. 32, 33. The gospel-church, in
which Jew and Gentile are incorporated, is the holy
hill of Zion, on which Christ reigns, Ps. ii. 6.
Fourthly, That it shall be administered with pru¬
dence and equity, and so as to answer the great end
of government, which is the establishment of the
kingdom; he shall order it, and settle it, with jus¬
tice and judgment; every thing is, and shall be, well
managed, in the kingdom of Chi'ist, and none of his
subjects shall ever have cause to complain.
Fifthly, That it shall be an everlasting kingdom ;
here shall be no end of the increase of his govern-
nent, it shall be still growing; no end of the in-
.rease of the peace of it, for the happiness of the
•ubjects of this kingdom shall last to eternity, and
■ erhaps shall be progressive in infinitum — for ever.
He shall reign from henceforth even for ever; not
only throughout all generations of time, but even
then when the kingdom shall be delivered up to
God, even the Father, the glory both of the Re¬
deemer and the redeemed shall continue eternally.
Lastly, That God himself has undertaken to bring
all this about; The Lord of hosts, who has all power
in his hand, and all creatures at his beck, shall per¬
form this, shall preserve the throne of David till
this Prince of peace is settled in it; his zeal shall
do it; his jealousy for his own honour, and the truth
ofhis promise, and the good of his church. Note,
The heart of God is much upon the advancement
of the kingdom of Christ among men; which is very
comfortable to all those that wish well to it; the
zeal of the Lord of hosts will overcome all opposi¬
tion.
8. The Lord sent a word into Jacob,
and it hath lighted upon Israel. 9. And all
the people shall know, even Ephraim and
the inhabitants of Samaria, that say in
the pride and stoutness of heart, 10. The
bricks are fallen down, but we will build
with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut
down, but we will change them into cedars.
11. Therefore the Lord shall set up the
adversaries of liezin against him, and join
his enemies together; 12. The Syrians be¬
fore, and the Philistines behind ; and they
shall devour Israel with open mouth. For
all this his anger is not turned away, but his
hand is stretched out still. 13. For the peo¬
ple turneth not unto him that smiteth them,
neither do they seek the Lord of hosts. 1 4.
Therefore the Lord will cut off from Isiael
head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
15. The ancient and honourable, he is the
head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he
is the tail. 1 6. F or the leaders of this peo¬
ple cause them to err; and they that arc led
of them are destroyed. 17. Therefore the
Lord shall have no joy in their young men,
neither shall have mercy on their fatherless
and widows: for every one is a hypocrite
and an evil-doer, and every mouth speaketh
folly. For all this his anger is not turned
away, but his hand is stretched out still.
18. For wickedness burneth as the fire:
it shall devour the briers and thorns, and
shall kindle in the thickets of the forest;
and they shall mount up like the lifting up
of smoke. 19. Through the wrath of the
Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the
people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no
man shall spare his brother. 20. And he
shall snatch on the right hand, and be hun¬
gry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and
they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat
eveiy man the flesh of his own arm : 21.
Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Ma-
nasseh : and they together shall he against
Judah. For this his anger is not turned
away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Here are terrible threatenings, which are directed
primarily against Israel, the kingdom of the ten
tribes, Ephraim and Samaria, the ruin of which is
here foretold, with all the woful confusions that were
the prefaces to that ruin, all which came to pass
within a few years after; but they look further, to
all the enemies of the throne and kingdom of Christ
the Son of David, and read the doom of all nations
that forget God, and will not have Christ to reign
over them. Observe,
I. The preface to this prediction; (v. 8.) The
Lord sent a word into Jacob; sent it by his servants
the prophets; he warns before he wounds; he sent
notice what he would do, that they might meet him
in the wav of his judgments, but they would not
take the hint, took no care to turn away his wrath,
and so it lighted upon Israel; for no word of God
shall fall to the ground. It fell upon them as a
storm of rain and hail from on high, which they
could not avoid. “ It has lighted ufion them; it is
as sure to come as if it were come already ; and all
the people shall know bv feeling it, what they would
not know by hearing of it. ” Those that are wil¬
lingly ignorant of the wrath of God revealed from
heaven against sin and sinners, shall be made to
know it.
II. The sins charged upon the people of Israel,
59
ISAIAH, IX.
Which provoked God to bring these judgments upon
them.
]. Their insolent defiance of the justice of God,
thinking themselves a match for him; They say , in
the pride and stoutness of their heart, “ Let God
himself do his worst, we will hold our own, and
make our part good with him; if he ruin our houses,
we will repair them, and make them stronger and
finer than they were before; our Landlord shall not
turn us out of doors, though we pay him no rent,
but we will keep in possession. It the houses that
were built of bricks, be demolished in the war, we
will rebuild them with hewn stones, that shall not so
easily be thrown down. If the enemy cut down the
svcamores, we will plant cedars in the room of them.
VVe will make a hand of God’s judgments, gain by
them, and so outbrave them.” Note, Those are
ripening apace for ruin, whose hearts are unhum¬
bled under humbling providences; for God will
walk contrary to those who thus walk contrary to
him, and provoke him to jealousy, as if they were
stronger than he.
2. Their incorrigibleness under all the rebukes
of Providence hitherto; (v. 13.) The people turn
not unto him that smites them; they are not wrought
upon to reform their lives, to forsake their sins, and
to return to their duty; neither do they seek the Lord
of hosts; either they are atheists, and have no reli¬
gion, or idolaters, and seek to those gods that are
the creatures of their own fancy, and the works of
their own hands. Note, That which God designs,
in smiting us, is, to turn us to himself, and to set us a
seeking him; and if this point be not gained by lesser
judgments, greater may be expected. God smites,
that he may not kill.
3. Their general corruption of manners and
abounding profaneness. (1.) Those that should
have reformed them, helped to debauch them; ( v .
16.) The leaders of this people mislead them, and
cause them to err, by conniving at their wicked¬
ness, and countenancing wicked people, and by set¬
ting them bad examples; and then no wonder if
they that are led of them be deceived, and so destroy¬
ed; but it is ill with a people when their physicians
are their worst disease. They that bless this fieople,
or call them blessed, (so the margin reads it,) that
flatter them, and soothe them up in their wicked¬
ness, and cry Peace, peace, to them, they cause them
to err; and they that are called blessed of them, are
swallowed up ere they are aware. We have reason
to be afraid of those that speak well of us when we
do ill; see Prov. xxiv. 24. — xxix. 5. (2.) Wicked¬
ness was universal, and all were infected with it;
v. 17.) Every one is a hypocrite and evil-doer.
f there be any that are good, they do not, they dare
not, appear; for every mouth speaks folly and vil-
lany; every one is profane toward God, (so the word
properly signifies,) and an evil-doer toward man;
these two commonly go together; they that fear not
God, regard not man; and then every mouth speaks
folly, falsehood, and reproach, both against God
and man; for out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaks.
III. The judgments threatened against them for
this wickedness of theirs; let them not think to go
unpunished.
1. In general, hereby they exposed themselves to
the wrath of God, which should both devour as fire,
and darken as smoke. (1.) It should devour as fire;
( v . 18. ) Wickedness shall burn as the fire; the dis¬
pleasure of God, incurred by sin, shall consume the
sinners, who have made themselves as briers and
thorns before it, and as the thickets of the forest;
combustible matter, which the wrath of the Lord
of hosts, the mighty God, will go through, and bum
together. (2.) It should darken as smoke; the
briers and thorns, when the fire consumes them,
shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke, so that
the whole land shall be darkened by it; they shell
be in trouble, and see no way out; (v. 19.) Tie
people shall be as the fuel of the fire. God’s wratf
fastens upon none but those that make themselvtt
fuel for it, and then they mount up as the smoke ( f
sacrifices, being made victims to divine justice.
2. God would arm the neighbouring powers
against them, v. 11, 12. At this time, the kingdom
of Israel was in league with that of Syria against
Judah; but the Assyrians, who were adversaries to
the Syrians, when they had conquered them, should
invade Israel; and God will stir them up to do it,
and join the enemies of Israel together in alliance
against them, who yet have particular ends of their
own to serve, ;ind are not aware of God’s hand in
their alliance. Note, (1.) When enemies are set
up, and joined in confederacy against a people, God’s
hand must be acknowledged in it. (2.) Those that
partake with each other in sin, as Syria and Israel
in invading Judah, must expect to share in the pu¬
nishment of sin. Nay, the Syrians themselves,
whom they were now in league with, should be a
scourge to them, (for it is no unusual thing for those
to fall out, that have been united in sin,) they be¬
fore, and the Philistines behind; one attacking them
in the front, the other flanking them, or falling upon
their rear; so that they should be surrounded with
enemies on all sides, who should devour them with
open mouth, v. 12. The Philistines were not now
looked upon as formidable enemies, and the Syrians
were looked upon as fast friends; and yet these shall
devour Israel. When men’s ways displease the
Lord, he makes even their friends to be at war with
them.
3. God would take from the midst of them those
they confided in, and promised themselves help
from, v. 14, 15. Because the people seek not God,
those they seek to, and depend upon, shall stand
them in no stead. The Lord will cut off head and
tail, branch and rush, which is explained in the
next verse. (1.) Their magistrates, that were ho¬
nourable by birth and office, and were the ancients
of the people, these were the head, these were the
branch which they promised themselves spirit and
fruit from; but because these caused them to err,
they shall be cut off, and their dignity and power
shall be no protection to them, when the abuse of
that dignity and power was the great provocation :
it was a judgment upon the people to have their
princes cut off, though they were not such as they
should be. (2.) Their prophets, their false pro¬
phets, were the tail and the rush, the most despica¬
ble of all others. A wicked minister is the worst
of men; Corruptio optimi est pessima — That which
is best, proves, when corrupted , to be the worst.
The blind led the blind, and so both fell into the
ditch; and the blind leaders fell first, and fell unde) -
most.
4. That the desolation should be as general as the
corruption had been, and none should escape it, v.
17. (1.) Not those that were the objects of com¬
placency: none shall be spared for love: The Lord
shall have no joy in their young men, that were in
the flower of their youth; nor will he say, Deal
gently with the young men for my sake; no, “ Let
them fall with the rest, and with them let the seed
of the next generation perish.” (2.) Not these that
were the objects of compassion; none shall be spared
for pity ; He shall not have mercy on the fatherless
and widows, though he is, in a particular manner,
their Patron and Protector: they had corrupted
their way like all the rest; and if the poverty and
helplessness of their state was not an argument with
them to keep them from sin, they could not expect
it should be an argument with God to protect tl era
from judgments.
CO
ISAIAH, X.
5. That they should pull one another to pieces,
and every one should help forward the common
ruin, and they should be cannibals to themselves
and one another; JVb man shall spare his brother , if
he come in the way of his ambition or covetousness,
or if he have any colour to be revenged on him; and
how can they expect God should spare them, when
they show no compassion one to another? Men’s
passion and cruelty one against another provoke
God to be angry with them all, and are an evidence
that he is so. Civil wars soon bring a kingdom to
desolation; such there were in Israel, when, for the
transgression of the land, many were the princes
thereof Prov. xxviii. 2. In these intestine broils,
men snatched on the right hand and yet were hun¬
gry still, and did eat the flesh of their own arm,
preyed upon themselves for hunger, or upon their
nearest relations that were as their own flesh, v. 20.
This bespeaks, (1.) Great famine and scarcity;
when men had pulled all they could to them, it was
so little, that they were still hungry, at least God
did not bless it to them; so that they eat and have
not enough, Haggai i. 6. (2.) Great rapine and
plunder; Jusque datum sceleri — Iniquity is estab¬
lished by law. The hedge of property, "which is a
hedge of protection to men’s estates, shall be pluck¬
ed up, and every man shall think all that his own
which he can lay his hands on; Vivitur etc rapto;
non hos/ies ab hospite tutus — They live on the spoil,
and the rites of hospitality are all violated. And
yet when men thus catch at that which is none of
their own, they are not satisfied. Covetous desires
are insatiable, and this curse is entailed on that
which is ill got, that it will never do well.
These intestine broils should be not only among
particular persons and private families, but among
tlie tribes; {v. 21.) Manasseh shall devour Ephraim,
and Ephraim, Manasseh, though they be combined
against Judah. They that could unite against Ju¬
dah, could not unite with one another; but that
sinful confederacy of theirs against their neighbour
that dwelt securely by them, was justly punished by
this separation of them one from another. Or, Ju¬
dah having sinned like Manasseh and Ephraim,
shall not only suffer with them, but suffer by them.
Note, Mutual enmity and animosity among the tribes
of God’s Israel, is a sin that ripens them for ruin,
and a sad symptom of ruin hastening on apace. If
Ephraim be against Manasseh, and Manasseh
against Ephraim, and both against Judah, they will
all soon become a very easy prey to the common
enerav.
6. That though they should be followed with all
those judgments, yet God would not let fall his con¬
troversy with them. It is the heavy burthen of
this song; (v. 12, 17, 21.) For all this, his anger is
not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still;
(1.) They do nothing to turn away his anger; they
do not repent and reform, they do not humble them¬
selves and pray; none stand in the gap, none answer
God’s calls, nor comply with the designs of his pro¬
vidences, but they are hardened and secure. (2. )
His anger therefore continues to burn against them,
and his hand is stretched out still. The reason why
the judgments of God are prolonged, is, because the
point is not gained, sinners are not brought to re¬
pentance by them; the people turn not to him that
“ mites them, and therefore he continues to smite
them; for when God judges, he will overcome; and
the proudest, stoutest sinner shall either bend or
break.
CHAP. X.
Thepi-ophet, in this chapter, is dealing, I. With the proud
oppressors of his people at home, that abused their pow¬
er, to pervert justice, whom he would reckon with for
their tyranny, v. 1..4. If. With a threatening invnder
of bis people from abroad, Sennacherib king of Assyria;
concerning whom, observe, 1. The commission given
him to invade Judah, v. 6, 6. 2. His pride and insolence
in the execution of that commission, v. 7.. 11, 13 14.
3. A rebuke given to his haughtiness, and a threatening
of his fall arid ruin, when he had served the purposes for
which God raised him up, v. 12, 15 . . 19. 4. A promise
of grace to the people of God, to enable them to bear up
under the affliction, and to get good bv it, v. 20 . . 23. 5.
Great encouragement given to them not to fear this
threatening storm, but to hope that, though for the pre¬
sent all the country was put into a great consternation
by it, it would end well, in the destruction of this formi¬
dable enemy, v. 24 . . 34. And this is intended to quiet
the minds of good people, in reference to all the threat¬
ening efforts of the wrath of the church’s enemies : if God
be for us, who can be against us? None to do us any
harm.
1. \ VX-* unto them that decree unright-
T T eous decrees, and that write gi iev-
ousness which they have prescribed: 2. To
turn aside the needy from judgment, and to
take away the right from the poor of my
people, that widows may be their prey, and
that they may rob the fatherless! 3. And
what will ye do in the day of visitation, and
in the desolation which shall come from far ?
to whom will ye flee for help ? and where
will ye leave your glory ? 4. Without me
they shall bow down under the prisoners,
and they shall fall under the slain. For all
this his anger is not turned away, but his
hand is stretched out still.
Whether they were the princes and judges of Is¬
rael, or Judah, or both, that this prophet denounced
this wo against, is not certain: if those of Israel,
these verses are to be joined with the close of tin-
foregoing chapter; which is probable enrugh, be¬
cause the burthen of that prophecy {For all this, his
anger is not. turned away) is repeated here, i>. 4*
If those of Judah, they then show what was the par¬
ticular sin for which God brought the Assyrian
army upon them — to punish their magistrates fi 1
mal-administration, which they could not legally be
called to account for. To them he speaks wots,
before he speaks comfort to God’s own people.
Here is, 1. The indictment drawn up against
these oppressors, v. 1, 2. They are charged, (1.)
With making wicked laws and edicts: they decree
unrighteous decrees, contrary to natural equity and
the law of God; and what mischiefs they prescribe,
those under them write it, enrol it, and put it into
the formality of a law. Wo to the superior powers
that devise and decree these decrees! They are not
too high to be under the divine check. And wo to
the inferior officers that draw them up, and enter
them upon record! They are not too mean to be
within the divine cognizance; the writers that write
the grievousness, principal and accessaries, shall
fall under the same wo. Note, It is bad to do hurt,
but it is worse to do it with design and deliberation,
to do wrong to many, and to involve many in the
guilt of doing wrong. (2.) With perverting justice
in the execution of the laws that were made: no
people had statutes and judgments so righteous as
they had; and yet corrupt judges found ways to turn
aside the needy from judgment, to hinder them from
coming at their right, and recovering what was
their due, because they were needy and poor, and
such as they could get nothing by, nor expect any
bribes from. (3.) With enriching themselves by
oppressing those that lav at their mercy, whom they
ought to have protected: they make widows’ houses
and estates their prev, and they rob the fatherless
of the little that is left them, because they have no
friend to appear for them. Not to relieve them if
63
ISAIAH, X.
thev had wanted, net to right them if they were
wronged, had been crime enough in men that had
wealth and power; but to rob them because on the
side of the oppressors there was power, and the op¬
pressed had no comforter, (Eccl. iv. 1.) is such a
piece of barbarity, as one would think, none could
ever be guilty of, that had either the nature of a
man, or tlie name of an Israelite.
2. A challenge given them with all their pride
and power to outface the judgments of God; (v. 3.)
“II hat wilt ye do l To whom will ye Jlee? You can
tr mpk upon the widows and fatherless; but what
•will ye do when God riseth up?” Job xxxi. 14.
Great men, who tyrannize over the poor, think they
sh .11 never be called to account for it, shall never
hear of it again, or fare the worse for it; but shall
not God visit for these things? Jer. v. 29. Will
there not come a desolation upon those that have
made others desolate? Perhaps it may come from
far, and therefore may be long in coming; but it will
come at last; reprieves are not pardons; and, com¬
ing from far, from a quarter whence it was least
expected, it will be the greater surprise, and the
more terrible. Now what will then become of these
unrighteous judges? Now they see their help in the
ate. Job xxxi. 21. But to whom will they then
ee for help? Note, ( 1. ) There is a day of visitation
coming, a day of inquiry and discovery, a searching
day, which will bring to light, to a true light, every
man, and every man’s work. (2.) The day of vi¬
sitation will be a day of desolation to all wicked peo¬
ple, when all their comforts and hopes will be lost
and gone, and buried in ruin, and themselves left
desolate. (3. ) Impenitent sinners will be utterly at
a loss, and will not know what to do in the day of
visitation and desolation. They cannot fly and hide
themselves, cannot fight it out and defend them¬
selves; they have no refuge in which either to shel¬
ter themselves from the present evil, (To whom
will ye Jlee for help?) or to secure to themselves
better times hereafter; “ Where will you leave your
glory, to find it again when the storm is over?” The
wealth they had got was their glory, and they had
no place of safety in which to deposit that, but they
should certainly see it flee away. If our souls be
our glory, as they ought to be, and we make them
our chief care, we know where to leave them, and
into whose hands to commit them, even those of a
faithful Creator. (4.) It concerns us all seriously
to consider what we shall do in the day of visitation,
in a day of affliction, in the day of death and judg¬
ment, and to provide that we may do well.
3. Sentence passed upon them, by which they are
doomed, some to imprisonment and captivity; They
shall bow down among the prisoners, or under them:
those that were most highly elevated in sin, shall
be most heavily loaded, and most deeply sunk in
trouble; others to death, they shall fall first, and so
shall fall under the rest of the slain; they that hod
trampled upon the widows and fatherless, sh ill
themselves be trodden down: (p>. 4.) “ This it will
come to,” says God, “ without me; because you
have deserted me, and driven me away from you.”
Nothing but utter nun can be expected by those
that live without God in the world; that cast him
behind their back, and so cast themselves out of his
protection.
And yet, for all this, his anger is not turned away;
which intimates not only that God will proceed in
his controversy with them, but that they shall be
in a continual dread of it; they shall, to their un¬
speakable terror, see his hand still stretched out
against them, and there shall remain nothing but a
fearful looking-for of judgment.
5. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and
(he staff in their hand is mine indignation.
'6. I will send him against a hypocritical
nation, and against the people of my vviatli
will -I give him a charge, to take the spoil,
and to take the prey, and to tread them
down like the mire of the streets. 7. How
beit he meaneth not so, neither doth his
heart think so; but it is in bis heart to de¬
stroy and cut off nations not a few. 8. For
he saith, Are not my princes altogethei
kings? 9. Is not Calno as Carchemish ? is
not Hamath as Arpad ? is not Samaria as
Damascus? 10. As my hand hath found
the kingdoms of the idols, ami whose graven
images did excel them of Jerusalem and ot
Samaria; 11. Shall I not, as 1 have done
unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusa¬
lem and her idols? 12. Wherefore it shall
come to pass, that, when the Lord hath
performed his whole work upon mount Zion
and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of
the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and
the glory of his high looks. 1 3. For he saith,
By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and
I have removed the bounds of the people,
and have robbed their treasures, and 1 have,
put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:
14. And my hand hath found, as a nest, t he
riches of the people: and as one gatheieth
eggs that are left, have I gathered all the
earth; and there was none that moved the
wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. 15.
Shall the axe boast itself against him that
heweth therewith ? or shall the saw magnify
itself against him that shaketh it ? as if the
rod should shake itself against them that
lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself
as if it were no wood. 16. Therefore shall
the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among
his fat ones leanness; and under his glory
he shall kindle a burning like tbe burning
of a fire. 17. And the light of Israel shall
be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flam; :
and it shall burn and devour his thorns and
his briers in one day; 18. And shall con¬
sume the glory of his forest, and of his fruit-
fid field, both soul and body : and they shall
be as when a standard-bearer fainteth. 1 9.
And the rest of the trees of his forest shall
be few, that a child may write them.
The destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shal¬
maneser, king of Assyria, was foretold in the fore¬
going chapter, and it had its accomplishment in
the sixth vear of Hezekiah, 2 Kings xviii. 10. It
was total 'and final, head and tail were all cut off.
Now the correction of the kingdom of Judah by
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, is foretold in this
i chapter; and this prediction was fulfilled in the
fourteenth year of Hezekiah, when that potent
prince, encouraged by the successes of his prede¬
cessor against the ten tribes, came up against -t//
the fenced cities of Judah , and took them , and
G-2 ISAIAH, X.
laid siege to Jerusalem, (2 King xviii. 13.) in con¬
sequence of which, we may well suppose Hezekiah
and his kingdom were greatly alarmed, though
there was a good work of reformation lately begun
among them: but it ended well, in the confusion of
the Assyrians, and the great encouragement of He¬
zekiah and his people in their return to God.
Now let us see here,
I. How God, in his sovereignty, deputed the king
of Assyria to be his servant, and made use of him
as a mere tool to serve his own purposes with; (x>. 5,
f>. ) “ O Assyrian, know this, that thou art the rod of
mine anger; and I will send thee to be a scourge to
the people of my •wrath.” Observe here, 1. How
bad the character of the Jews is, though they ap¬
peared very good; they are a hypocritical nation,
that made a profession of religion, and, at this time
particularly, of reformation, but were not truly re¬
ligious, not truly reformed, not so good as they pre¬
tended to be, now that Hezekiah had brought good¬
ness into fashion. When rulers are pious, and so re¬
ligion is in reputation, it is common for nations to be
hypocritical; they are a profane nation; so some read
it. Hezekiah had in a great measure cured them
of their idolatry, and now they run into prof ane-
ness; nay, hypocrisy is profaneness: none profane
the name of God so much as those who are called
by that name, and call upon it, and yet live in sin.
Being a profane hypocritical nation, they are the
people of God’s wrath; they lie under his wrath,
and are likely to be consumed by it. Note, Hypocri¬
tical nations are the people of God’s wrath: nothing
is more offensive to God than dissimulation in re¬
ligion. See what a change sin made: they that had
been God’s chosen and hallowed people, above all,
were now become the people of his wrath, See
Amos iii. 2. 2. How mean the character of the As¬
syrian is, though he appeared very great; he is but
the rod of God’s anger, an instrument God is pleas¬
ed to make use of for the chastening of his people,
that, being thus chastened of the Lord, they may
not be condemned with the world. Note, The ty¬
rants of the world are but tools of Providence. Men
are God’s hand, his sword sometimes, to kill and
slay, Ps. xvii. 13, 14. At other times, they are his
rod to correct. The staff in their hand, wherewith
thev smite his people, is his indignation; it is his
wrath that puts the staff into their hand, and ena¬
bles them to deal blows at pleasure among such as
thought themselves a match for them. Sometimes
God makes an idolatrous nation, that serves him not
at all, a scourge to an hypocritical nation, that serves
him not in sincerity and truth.
The Assyrian is" called the rod of God’s anger,
because he is employed by him. (1. ) From him his
power is derived; I will send him, I will give him
a charge. Note, All the power that wicked men
have, though they often use it against God, they al-
wavs receive from him. Pilate could have no pow¬
er against Christ, unless it were given him from
above, John xix. 11. (2.) By him the exercise of
that power is directed. The Assyrian is to take the
spoil, and to take the prey, not to shed any blood;
we read not of any slain, but he is to plunder the
country, rifle the houses, drive the cattle, and strip
them of all their wealth and ornaments, and tread
them down like the mire of the streets. When God’s
professing people wallow in the mire of sin, it is just
with God to suffer their enemies to tread upon them
like mire. But why must the Assyrian prevail thus
against them? Not that they might be ruined, but
'hat they might be thoroughly reformed.
II. See how the king of Assyria, in his pride,
magnified himself as his own master, and pretend¬
ed to be absolute, and above all control; to act pure¬
ly according to his own will, and for his own honour.
God ordained him for judgment, even the mighty
[ God established him for correction, (Hab. i. 12.) to
be an instrument of bringing his people to repent¬
ance; howbeit, he means not so, nor does his heart
think so, v. 7. He does not think that he is either
j God’s servant, or Israel’s friend; either that he can
do no more than God will let him, or that he shall
do no more than God will make to work for the
good of his people. God designs to correct his peo-
le for, and so to cure them of, their hypocrisy, and
ring them nearer to him ; but was that Sennache-
I rib’s design? No, it was the furthest thing from
his thoughts: he means not so. Note, 1. The wise
God often makes even the sinful passions and pro¬
jects of men subservient to his own great and holy
purposes. 2. When God makes use of men as in¬
struments in his hand to do his work, it is very
common for him to mean one thing, and them to
mean another; nav, for them to mean the quite con¬
trary to what he intends. What Joseph’s brethren
designed for hurt, God overruled for good, Gen. 1.
20. Sec Mic. iv. 11, 12. Men have their ends, and
God has his, but we are sure the cotinsel of the Lord
shall stand. But what is it the proud Assyrian aims
at? The heart of kings is unsearchable, but God
knew what was in his heart: he designs nothing but
to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few, and to
make himself master of them. (1.) He designs to
gratify his own cruelty; nothing will serve but to
destroy, and cut off. He hopes to regale himself
with blood and slaughter; that of particular persons
will not suffice, he must cut off nations. It is below
him to deal by retail, he traffics in murder by whole¬
sale; nations, and those not a few, must have but one
neck, which he will have the pleasure of cutting off.
(2.) He designs to gratify his own covetousness and
ambition, to set up for a universal monarch, and
to gather unto him all nations, Hab. ii. 5. An in¬
satiable desire of wealth and dominion, is that which
carries him on in this undertaking.
The prophet here brings him in vaunting and
hectoring; and by bis general’s letter to Hezekiah,
written in his name, vainglory and arrogance seem
to have entered very far into the spirit and genius
of the man. His haughtiness and presumption are
here described very largely, and his very language
copied out, partly to represent him as ridiculous,
and partly to assure the people of God that he
would be brought down; for that maxim gene¬
rally holds true that pride goes before destruc-
tion. It also intimates, that God takes notice, and
keeps an account, of all men’s proud and haughty
words, with which they set heaven and earth at de¬
fiance. They that speak great swelling words of
vanity, shall hear of them again.
[1.] He boasts what great things he has done to
other nations. First, He has made their kings his
courtiers; (u. 8.) “My princes are altogether kings;
those that are now my princes, are such as have
been kings.” Or, he means that he had raised his
throne to that degree, that his servants, and those
that were in command under him, were as great,
and lived in as much pomp, as the kings of other
countries. Or, those that were absolute princes in
their own dominions, held their crowns under him,
and did him homage. This was a vainglorious
boast; but how great is our God whom we serve,
who is indeed King of kings, and whose subjects are
made to him kings! Rev. i. 6. Secondly, He has
made himself master of their cities: he names se¬
veral, (v. 9.) that were all alike reduced by him;
Calno soon yielded as Carchemish did; Hanvth
could not hold out any more than Arpad; and Sa¬
maria is become his, as well as Damascus. To sup¬
port his boasts, he is obliged to bring the victories
of his predecessor into the account; for it was he
i that conquered Samaria, not Sennacherib. Thirdly ,
! He had beer, too hard for their idols, their tute’.ai
ISAIAH, X.
63
gods, and had found out the kingdoms ot their idols,
and found out ways to make them his own, v. 10.
Their kingdoms took denominations from the idols
they worshipped ; the Moabites are called the peo¬
ple of Chemosh, (Jer. xlviii. 46.) because they ima¬
gined their gods were their patrons and protectors;
and therefore Sennacherib vainly imagines that
every conquest of a kingdom was the conquest of a
god. Fourthly, He had enlarged his own domi¬
nions, and removed the bounds of the people, (xa
13.) enclosing many large territories within the li¬
mits of his own kingdom, and shifting a great way
further the ancient landmarks which his fathers
had set; he could not bear to be hemmed in so close,
but must have more room to thrive. By his re¬
moving the border of the people, Mr. White un¬
derstands his arbitrary transplanting of colonies
from pi ice to place, which was the constant prac¬
tice of tiie Assyrians in all their conquests; tins is a
probable interpretation. Fifthly, He had enriched
himself with their wealth, and brought it into his
own exchequer; I'have robbed their treasures. In
that, he said truly. Great conquerors are often no
better than great robbers. Lastly, He had master¬
ed all the opposition he met with; “I have put
down the inhabitants as a valiant man: those that
sat high, and thought they sat firm, I have hum¬
bled, and made to come down.”
He boasts, 1. That he had done all this by his
own policy and power; (y. 13.) By the strength of
my hand, for I am valiant; and by my wisdom, for
I am prudent: not by the permission of providence,
and the blessing of God: he knows not that it is God
that makes him what he is, and puts the staff into
his hand, but sacrifices to hit own net, Hab. i. 16.
It is all gotten by my might, and the power of my
hand, Deut. viii. 17. Downright atheism and pro¬
faneness, as well as pride and vanity, are at the bot¬
tom of men’s attributing their prosperity and suc¬
cess thus to themselves and their own conduct, and
raising their own character upon it. 2. That he
had done all this with a great deal of ease, and had
made but a sport and diversion of it, as if he had
been taking birds’ nests; (xj. 14.) My hand has
found as a nest the riches of the people; and when
lie had found them, there was no more difficulty in
taking them than in rifling a nest, nor anv more re¬
luctance or regret within his own breast, in destroy¬
ing families and cities, than in destroying crows’
nests: killing children was no more to him than
killing birds. “ As one gathers the eggs that are
left in the nest by the dam, so easily have I gather¬
ed all the earth ;” (like Alexander, he thought he
had conquered the world;) and whatever prey he
seized, there was none that moved the wing, or
opened the mouth, or peeped, as birds do when their
nests are rifled; they durst not make any opposition,
no, nor any complaint; such awe did they stand in
of this mighty conqueror; they were so weak, that
they knew it was to no purpose to resist; and he
was so arbitrary, that they knew it was to no pur¬
pose to complain. Strimge! that ever men, who
were made to do good, should take a pride and a
pleasure in doing wrong, and doing mischief to all
about them without control; and should reckon that
their glory which is their shame! But their day will
come to fall, who thus make themselves the terror
of the mighty, and much more of the feeble, in the
land o f the living.
[2.] He threatens what he will do to Jerusalem,
which he was now about to lay siege to, v. 10. 11.
He would master Jerusalem and her idols, as he had
Hibdued other places and their idols, particularly
Samaria. First, He blasphemously calls the God
•or Israel an idol, and sets him on a level with the
f lse cods of other nations, as if none were the true
God but Mithras, the sun, whom he worshipped.
See how ignorant he was, and then we shall the less
wonder that he was so proud. Secondly, He pre
fers the graven images of other countries before
those of Jerusalem and Samaria, when he might
have known that the worshippers of the God of Is
racl were expressly forbidden to make any graven
images, and if any did, it must be by stealth, and
therefore they could not be so rich and pompous as
those of other nations. If he mean the ark and the
mercy-seat, he speaks like himself, very foolishly,
and as one that judged by the sight of the eye, and
might therefore be easily deceived in matters of spi¬
ritual concern. Those who make external pomp
and splendour a mark of the true church, go by the
same rule. Thirdly, Because he had conquered
Samaria, he concludes Jerusalem would fall of
course; “shall not I do so to Jerusalem? Can I not
as easily, and may I not as justly?” But it did not
follow; for Jerusalem adhered to her God, whereas
Samaria had forsaken him.
III. See how God, in his Justice, rebukes his
pride, and reads his doom. We have heard what
the great king, the king of Assyria, says, and how
big he talks; let us now hear what the great God
has to say by his servant the prophet, and we shall
find that, wherein he deals proudly, God is above
him.
1. He shows the vanitv of his insolent and auda¬
cious boasts; (xi. 15.) Shall the are boast itself
against him that hews therewith? Or, Shall the saw
magnify itself against him that draws it? So absurd
are the boasts of this proud man. “ O what a dust
do I make!” said the fly upon the cart-wheel in the
fable. “What destruction do I make among the
trees!” says the axe. Two ways the axe may be
said to boast itself against him that hews with it;
( 1. ) By way of resistance and opposition. Senna¬
cherib blasphemed God, insulted him, threatened
to serve him as he had served the gods of the na¬
tions; now this was as if the axe should fly in the
face of him that hews with it. The tool striving
with the workman is no less absurd than the clay
striving with the potter: and as it is a thing not to
be justified, that men should fight against God with
the wit, and wealth, and power, which he gives
them, so it is a thing not to De suffered; but if men
will be thus proud and daring, and bid defiance to
all that is just and sacred, let them expect that God
will reckon with them; the more insolent they are,
the surer and sorer will their ruin be. (2.) By way
of rivalship and competition. Shall the axe take to
itself the praise of the work it is employed in? So
senseless, so absurd, was it for Sennacherib to say.
By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by
my wisdom, v. 13. It is as if the rod, when it is
shaken, should boast that it guides the hand which
shakes it; whereas when the staff is lifted up, is it
not wood still? So the last clause may be read. If
it be an ensign of authority, (as the nobles of the
people carried staves, Numb. xxi. 18.) if it be an
instrument of service, either to support a weak man,
or to correct a bad man, still it is wood, and can do
nothing but as it is directed by him that uses it.
The psalmist prays that God would make the na¬
tions know that they were 'but men, (Ps. ix. 20.) the
staff to know that if is but wood.
2. He foretells his fall and ruin.
(1.) That when God hath done his work by him,
he will then do his work upon him, x'. 12. For the
comfort of the people of God, in refer; nee to Sen¬
nacherib’s invasion, though it was a dismal time
with them, let them know, [1.] That God designed
to do good in 7.ion and Jerusalem by his providence;
there is a work to be done Upon them, which God
intends, and which he will perform. Note, When
God lets loose the enemies of his church and peo¬
ple, and suffers them for a time to prevail, it is in
ISAIAH, X.
fi4
order tn the performing of some great good work
upon them ; and when that is done, then, and not till
then, he will work deliverance for them. When
God brings his people into trouble, it is to try them,
(Dan. xi. 35.) to bring sin to their remembrance,
and humble them for it, and to awaken them to a
sense of their duty, to teach them to pray, and to
love and help one another; and this must be the
fruit, even the taking aiuay of sin, ch. xxvii. 9.
When these points are, in some measure, gained by
the affliction, it shall be removed in mercy, (Lev.
xxvi. 41, 42.) otherwise not; for as the word, so the
rod, shall accomplish that for which God sends it.
[2.] That when God had wrought this work of
grace for his people, he would work a work of
wrath and vengeance upon their invaders; I will
punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of
Assyria. His big words are here said to come from
his stout heart, and they are the fruit of it, for out
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; no¬
tice is taken too of the glory, of his high looks, for
a proud look is the indication of a proud spirit.
The enemies of the church are commonly very high
and haughty; but, sooner or later, God will reckon
for that. He glories in it as an incontestable proof
of his power and sovereignty, that he looks upon
proud men, and abases them, Job xl. 11, &c.
(2.) That how threatening soever this attempt
was upon Zion and Jerusalem, it should certainly be
baffled and broken, and come to nothing, and he
should not be able to bring to pass his enterprise, v.
16 — 19. Observe,
[1.] Who it is that undertakes his destruction,
and will be the Author of it; not Hezekiah, or his
princes, or the militia of Judah and Jerusalem;
(what can they do against such a potent force?) but
God himself will do it, as the Lord of hosts, and as
the I right of Israel. First, We are sure he can do
it, for he is the Lord of hosts, of all the hosts of
heaven and earth; all the creatures are at his com¬
mand, he makes what use he pleases of them, and
lays what restraints he pleases on them. He is the
Lord of the hosts both of Judah and of Assyria,
and can give the victory to which he pleases. Let
us not fear the hosts of any enemy, if we have the
Lord of hosts for us. Secondly, We have reason to
hope he will do it, for he is the Light of Israel, and
his Holy One. God is Light; in him are . perfect
brightness, purity, and happiness. He is Light, for
he is the Holy One; his holiness is his glory. He is
Israel’s Light, to direct and counsel his people, to
favour and countenance them, and so to rejoice and
comfort them in the worst of times. He is their
Holy One, for he is in covenant with them ; his ho¬
liness is engaged and employed for them. God’s
holiness is the saints’ comfort; they give thanks at
the remembrance of it, and with a great deal of plea¬
sure call him their Holy One, Hab. i. 12.
[2.1 How this destruction is represented. It shall
be. First, As a consumption of the body by a dis¬
ease; The Isjrd shall send leanness among his fat¬
nesses, or his fat ones. His numerous army, that was
like a body covered with fatness, shall be diminish¬
ed, and waste away, and become like .a skeleton.
Secondly, as a consumption of buildings, or trees
and bushes, bv fire; Under his glory, that very thing
which he glories in, he will kindle a burning, as the
burning of a ,/ire, which shall lay his army in ruins,
as suddenly as a raging fire lays a stately house
in ashes. Some make it an allusion to the fire kin¬
dled under the sacrifices, for proud sinners fall as
sacrifices to divine justice. Observe, 1. How this
fire shall be kindled, x>, 17. The same God that is
a rejoicing Light to them that serve him faithfully,
will be a consuming Fire to them that trifle with
him, or rebel against him; the Light of Israel shall
be a Fire to the Assyrians, as the same pillar ol
cloud was a light to the Israelites, and a terror to
the Egyptians, in the Red sea. What can oppose
what can extinguish, such a fire? 2. What deso¬
lation it shall make; It shall burn and devour its
thorns and briers, his officers and soldiers, which
are of little worth, and vexations to God’s Israel, as
thorns and briers, whose end is to be burned, and
which are easily and quickly consumed by a de¬
vouring fire; (ch. xxvii. 4.) Who would set the bri¬
ers and thorns against me in battle ? They will be
so far from stopping the fire, that they will inflame
it; I would go through them and bum them toge
ther; they shall be devoured in one day, all cut off
in an instant. When they cried not only Peace and
safety, but Victory and triumph, then sudden de¬
struction came; it came surprisingly, and was cc m-
pleted in a little time. Even the glory of his forest,
\v. 18.) the choice troops of his army, the veterans,
the troops of the household, the bravest regiments
he had, that he was most proud of, and depended
most upon, that he values, as men do their timber-
trees, the glory of their forest, or their fruit-trees,
the glory of their Carmel; those shall be put as bri¬
ers and thorns before the fire ; they shall be consum¬
ed both soul and body, entirely consumed, not only
a limb burned, but life taken away. Note, God
is able to destroy both soul and body, and there¬
fore we should fear him more than man, who can
but kill the body; great armies before him are but
as great woods, which he can fell or fire when he
pleases.
And what would be the effect of this great slaugh
ter? The prophet tells us, (1.) That the army
would hereby, be reduced to a very small number;
The rest of the trees of his forest shall be few! verv
few shall escape the sword of the destroying angel,
so few that there needs no artist, no muster-master,
or secretary of war, to take an account of them,
for even a child may soon reckon the numbers of
them, and write the names of them. (2.) That
those few who remained, should be quite dispirited;
They shall be as when a standard-bearer faints;
when he either falls or flees, and his colours are
taken by the enemy, this discourages the whole
armv, and puts them all into confusion. Upon the
whole matter we must say, Who is able to stand be¬
fore this great and holy Lord God ?
20. And it shall come to pass in that day,
that the remnant of Israel, and such as are
escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no
more again stay upon him that smote them ;
but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy
One of Israel, in truth. 21. The remnant
shall return, rrrn the remnant of Jacob, unto
the mighty God. 22. For though thy peo¬
ple Israel be as the sand of the sea, ijpA a
remnant of them shall return: the consump¬
tion decreed shall overflow with righteous¬
ness. 23. For the Lord God of hosts shall
make a consumption, even determined, in
the midst of all the land.
The prophet had said, (v. 12.) that the Lord
would perform his whole work upon Afount Zion
and upon 'Jerusalem, by Sennacherib’s invading of
the land; now here we are told what that work
should be. A two-fold work:
1. The conversion of some, tn whom this provi¬
dence should be sanctified, and yield the peaceable
fruit of righteousness, though for the present it was
not joyous, but grievous; these are but a remnant;
l| (i>. 22i) the remnant of Israel, (v. 20.) the remnant
11 of Jacob, (v. 21.) but a very few in comparison with
ISAIAH, X.
the vast numbers of the people of Israel, which
were as the sancl of the sea. Note, Converting-
work is wrought but on a remnant, who are distin¬
guished from the rest, and set apart for God. When
we see how populous Israel is, how numerous the
members of the visible church are, as the sand of
the sea, and yet consider that of those a remnant
only shall be saved, that of the many that are called
there are but few chosen, we shall surely strive to
enter in at the strait gate, and fear lest we seem to
come short. The remnant of Israel are said to be
such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, such as
escaped the corruptions of the house of Jacob, and
kept their integrity in times of common apostacy;
and that was a lair escape. And therefore they es¬
cape the desolations of that house, and shall be pre¬
served in safety, in times of common calamity; and
that also will be a fair and narrow escape. Their I
lives shall be given them for a prey; (Jer. xlv. 5.)
the righteous scarcely are saved.
Now, (1.) This remnant shall come off from all
confidence in an arm of flesh, this providence shall
cure them of that; they shall no more again stay
ufion him that smote them, shall never depend upon
the Assyrians, as they have done, for help against
their other enemies, finding that they are themselves
their worst enemies; Ictus piscator sap.it — Suffer¬
ings teach caution. They have now learned, by
dear-bought experience, the folly of leaning upon
that staff as a stay to them, which may perhaps
prove a staff to beat them ; it is a part of the co¬
venant of a returning people, (Hos. xiv. 3.) As¬
syria shall not save us. Note, By our afflictions
we may learn not to make creatures our confidence.
(2.) They shall come home to God, to the mighty
God, (one of the names given to the Messiah, c/i.
ix. 6.) to the Holy One of Israel. The remnant
shall return; (that was signified by the name of the
prophet’s son, Shear-jashub, ch. vii. 3.) even the
remnant of Jacob; they shall return after the rais¬
ing of the siege of Jerusalem, not only to the quiet
possession of their houses and lands, but to God and
to their duty; they shall repent and pray, and seek
his face, and reform their lives. The remnant that
escape, are a returning remnant; they shall return
to God, and shall stay upon him. Note, Those only
may with comfort stay upon God, that return to
him; then may we have a humble confidence in
God, when we make conscience of our duty to him.
They shall stay upon the Holy One of Israel, in
truth, and not in pretence and profession only. This
promise of the conversion and salvation of a rem¬
nant of Israel now, is applied by the apostle, (Rom.
ix. 27.) to the remnant of the Jews, which, at the
first preaching of the gospel, received and enter¬
tained it: and sufficiently proves, that it was no new
thing for God to abandon to ruin a great many of
the seed of Abraham, and yet preserve his pro¬
mise to Abraham in full force and virtue; for so it
was now. The number of the children of Israel was as
the sand of the sea, (according to the promise, Gen.
xxii. 17.) and yet only a remnant shall be saved.
2. The consumption of others; The Lord God of
hosts shall make a consumption; (v. 23.) this is not
meant (as that v. 18.) of the consumption of the As¬
syrian army, but of the consumption of the estates
and families of many of the Jews by the Assyrian
army. This is taken notice of, to magnify the pow¬
er and goodness of God in the escape of the distin¬
guished remnant, and to let us know what shall be¬
come of those that will not return to God; they shall
be wasted away by this consumption, this general
decay in the midst of the land. Observe, (1.) It is
a consumption of God’s own making; he is the au¬
thor of it; the Lord God of hosts, whom none can
resist, he shall make this consumption. (2.) It is
decreed, it is not the product of a sudden resolve, but
VOL. IV — 1
|j was before ordained; it is determined, not onlv tha*
i there shall be such a consumption, but it is cut out,
' (so the word is,) it is particularly appointed, how
tar it shall extend, and how long it shall continue,
who shall be consumed by it, and who not. (3.) It
is an overflowing consumption, that shall overspread
the land, and, like a mighty torrent or inundation,
bear down all before it. (4. ) Though it overflows,
it is not at random, but in righteousness, which sig¬
nifies both wisdom and equity. God will justlv
bring this consumption upon a provoking people,
but he will wisely and graciously set bounds to it;
Hitherto it shall come, and no further.
24. Therefore llius saith the Lord God
of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion,
be not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall smite
thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff
against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
25. For yet a very little while, and the in¬
dignation shall cease, and mine anger, in
their destruction. ' 26. And the Lord of
hosts shall stir up a scourge for him accord¬
ing to the slaughter of Midian at the rock
of Oreb : and as his rod was upon the sea.
so shall he lift it up after the manner of
Egypt. 27. And it shall come to pass in
that day, that his burden shall be taken
away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke
from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be
destroyed because of the anointing. 28.
He is come to Aiath, he is passed to JVJi-
gron; at Michmash he hath laid up his
carriages: 29. They are gone over the pas¬
sage: they have taken up their lodging at
Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is
fled. 30. Lift up thy voice, O daughter of
Gallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish,
O poor Anathoth. 31. Madmenah is re¬
moved; the inhabitants of Gebim rather
themselves to flee. 32. As yet shall he re¬
main at Nob that day: he shall shake his
hand against the mount of the daughter of
Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. 33. Behold, the
Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the
bough with terror: and the high ones of
stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty
shall be humbled. 34. And he shall cut
down the thickets of the forests with iron,
and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
The prophet, in his preaching, distinguishes be¬
tween the precious and the vile; for God, in his pro¬
vidence, even in the same providence, does so; he
speaks terror, in Sennacherib's invasion, to the hy¬
pocrites, who were the people of Gotl's ’wrath, v.
6. But here he speaks comfort to the sincere, who
were the people of God’s love. The judgment was
sent for the sake of the former, the deliverance was
wrought for the sake of the latter. Here we have.
I. An exhortation to God’s people, not to he
frightened at this threatening calamitv, n< r to be
put into any confusion or consternation by it; (v.
24.) Let the sinners in Zion be afraid, ch. xxxiii
14. 0 my people that dwellest in Zion, be no’ afraa.
of the Assyrian. Note, It is against the mind and
will of God, that his people, whatever happens
oe
ISAIAH,
sh ,uld give wav to that fear which lias t rment and |
amazement. They that dwell in Zion, where God
dwells, and where his people attend him, and are
employed in his service, that are under the protec¬
tion of the bulwarks that are round about Zion,
(Ps. xlviii. 13.) need not be afraid of any enemy.
Let their souls dwell at ease in God.
II. Considerations offered for the silencing of their
fear.
1. The Assyrian shall do nothing against them
but what God has appointed and determined; they
are here told beforehand what he should do, that it
may be no surprise to them, “He shall smite, thee
by the divine pel-mission, but it shall be only with a
rod to correct thee, not with a sword to wound and
kill; nay, he shall but lift up his staff against thee,
threaten thee, and frighten thee, and shake the rod
at thee, after the manner of Egypt, as the Egyp¬
tians shook their staff against your fathers at the
Red sea, when they said, IVe will pursue, -we will
overtake, (Exod. xv. 9.) but could not reach to do
them any hurt.” Note, We should not be fright¬
ened at those enemies that can do no more than
frighten us.
2. The storm will soon blow over; (x>. 25.) Yet a
very little while, a little, little while, (so the word
is ,)'and the indignation shall cease, even mine an¬
ger, which is the staff in their hand, (y. 5.) so that
when that ceases, they are disarmed, and disabled
to do any further mischief. Note, God’s anger
against his people is but for a moment; (Ps. xxx.
5l) and when that ceases, and is turned away from
us, we need not fear the fury of any man, for it is
impotent passion.
3. The enemy that threatens them, shall himself
be reckoned with ; God’s anger against his people
shall cease in the destruction of their enemies; when
he turns away his wrath from Israel, he shall turn
it against the Assyrian; and the rod with which he
corrected his people, shall not only be laid aside,
but thrown into the fire. He lift lift 'his staff against
Zion, but God shall stir ufi a scourge for him;
(d. 26.) he is a terror of God’s people, but God will
be a Terror to him; the destroying angel shall be
this scourge; which he can neither flee from, nor
contend with. The prophet, for the encouragement
of God’s people, quotes precedents, and puts them
in mind of what God had done formerly against the
enemies of his church, that were very strong and
formidable, but were brought to ruin. The des¬
truction of the Assyrian shall be, (1.) According to
the slaughter of Midian, which was effected by an
invisible power, but done suddenly, and it was a
total rout. And as at the rock of Oreb, one of the
princes of Midian, after the battle, was slain, so
shall Sennacherib be in the temple of his god Nis-
roch, after the defeat of his forces, when he thinks
the bitterness of death is past. Compare with this,
Ps. lxxxiii. 11. Make their nobles like Oreb, and
like Zeeb; and see how God’s promises and his peo¬
ple’s prayers agree. (2.) As his rod was upon the
sea, the Red sea, as Moses’s rod was upon that, to
divide it, first for the escape of Israel, and then to
close it again for the destruction of their pursuers,
so shall his rod now be lifted up, after the manner
of Egypt, for the deliverance of Jerusalem and the
destruction of the Assyrian. Note, It is good to
observe a resemblance between God’s latter and
former appearances for his people, and against his
and their enemies.
4. Thev shall be wholly delivered from the power
of the Assyrian, and from the fear of it; (v. 27.)
they shall not only be eased of the Assyrian army,
which now quartered upon them, and which was a
grievous yoke and burthen to them, but they shall
no more pay that tribute to the king of Assyria,
which, before this invasion, he had exacted from
them, (2 Kings xviii. 14.) shall be no longer at J. is
service, nor lie at his mercy, as they have done;
nor shall he ever again put the country under con¬
tribution. Some think it looks further, to the de¬
liverance of the Jews out of their captivity in Baby¬
lon; and further yet, to the redemption of believers
from the tyranny of sin and Satan. The yoke shall
not only be taken away, but it shall be destroyed;
the enemy shall no more recover his strength, to do
the mischief he has done. And this, because of the
anointing , for their sakes, who were partakers of
the anointing. (1.) For Hezelciah’s sake, who was
the anointed of the Lord, who had been an active
reformer, and was dear to God. (2.) For David’s
sake; that is particularly given them as the reason
why God would defend Jerusalem from Sennache¬
rib, ( ch . xxxvii. 35.) For my own sake, and for my
servant David’s sake. (3.) For his people Israel’s
sake, the good people among them that had received
the unction of divine grace. (4.) For the sake of
the Messiah, the Anointed of God, whom God had
an eye to in all the deliverances of the Old Testa¬
ment church, and hath still an eye to in all the fa¬
vours he shows to his people; it is for his sake that
the yoke is broken, and that we are made free
indeed.
III. A description both of the terror of the enemy,
and the terror with which many were struck by it,
and the folly of both exposed, v. 28, to the end.
Where observe,
1. How formidable the Assyrians were, and how
daring and threatening they affected to appear
Here is a particular description of his march, what
course he steered, what swift advances he made;
He is come to Aiath, 8cc. This and the other place
he has made himself master of, and has met with
no opposition; At Michmash he has laid up his
carriages, as if he had no further occasion for his
heavy artillery, so easily was every place he came
to reduced; or, the store-cities of Judah, which were
fortified for that purpose, were now become his
magazines. Some remarkable pass, and an impor¬
tant one, he had taken, they are gone over the
passage.
2. How cowardly the men of Judah were, the de¬
generate seed of that lion’s whelp; they are afraid,
they are fled upon the first alarm, and did not offer
to make any head against the enemy; their apostacy
from God had dispirited them, so that one chases a
thousand of them. Instead of a valiant shout, to
animate one another, nothing was heard but lamen¬
tation, to discourage and weaken one another. And
poor Anathoth, a priest’s city, that should have
been a pattern of courage, shrieks louder than any;
(r>. 30.) with respect to those that gathered them¬
selves together, it was not to fight, but to flee by
consent, v. 31. This is designed either, (1.) Tc
show how fast the news of the enemies progress
flew through the kingdom; He is come to Aiath, says
one; nay, says another, He is passed to Migron, &c.
And yet, perhaps, it was not altogether so bad as
common fame represented it. But we must watch
against the fear, not only of evil thitigs, but of evil
tidings, which often make things worse than really
they are, Ps. cxii. 7. Or, (2.) To show what im¬
minent danger Jerusalem was in, when its enemies
made so many bold advances towards it, and its
friends could not make one bold stand to defend it
Note, The more daring the church’s enemies are,
and the more dastardly those are that should appear
for her, the more will God be exalted in his own
strength, when, notwithstanding this, he works de
liverance for her.
3. How impotent his attempt upon Jerusalem
shall be; He shall remain at Arob, whence he may
see mount Zion, and there he shall shake his hand
against it; (u. 32. ) he shall threaten it. and that shall
67
ISAIAH, XI.
be all; it shall be safe, anti shall set him at defiance;
the daughter of Jerusalem, to be even with him,
shall shake her head at him, ch. xxxvii. 22.
4. How fatal it would prove, in the issue, to him¬
self; when he snakes his hand at Jerusalem, and is
about to lay hands on it, then is God’s time to ap¬
pear against him; for Zion is the place of which
God has said, This is my rest for ever; therefore'
those who threaten it, affront God himself. Then
the Lord shall loft the bough with terror, and cut
down the thickets of the forests, t>. 33, 34. ( 1. ) The
ride of the enemy shall be humbled, and the
oughs that are lifted up on high shall be lopped
off, the high and stately trees shall be hewn down,
the haughty shall be humbled; those that lift up
themselves in competition with God, or opposition
to him, shall be abased. (2.) The power of the
enemy shall be broken; the thickets of the forest he
shall cut down. When the Assyrian soldiers were
under their arms, and their spears erect, they looked
like a forest, like Lebanon: but when in one night
they all became as dead corpses, the pikes were
laid on the ground, and Lebanon was of a sudden
cut down by a mighty one, the destroying angel,
who in a little time slew so many thousands of them:
and if this shall be the exit of that proud invader,
let not God’s people be afraid of him. JVho art
thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall
die?
CHAP. XI.
It is a very good transition in prophecy, (whether it be so
in rhetoric or no,) and a very common one, to pass from
the prediction of the temporal deliverances of the church
to that of the great salvation, which in the fulness of
time shall be wrought out by Jesus Christ, of which the
other were types and figures to which all the prophets
bare witness; and so the ancient Jews understand them.
For what else was it that raised so great an expectation |
of the Messiah at the time he came. Upon occasion of
the prophecy of the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sen¬
nacherib, here comes in a prophecy concerning Messiah
the Prince: I. His rise out of the house of David, v. 1.
II. His qualifications for his great undertaking, v. 2, 3.
III. The justice and equity of his government, v. 3.. 5.
IV. The peaceableness of his kingdom, v. 6.. 9. V.
The accession of the Gentiles to it, (v. 10.) and with them
the remnant of the Jews, that should be united with them
in the Messiah’s kingdom, v. 11 . . 16. And of all this,
God would now shortly give them a type, and some
dark representation, in the excellent government of He-
zekiah, the great peace which the nation should enjoy un¬
der him, after the ruin of Sennacherib’s design, and the
return of many of the ten tribes out of their dispersion
to their brethren of the land of Judah, when they enjoyed
that great tranquillity.
1. A ND there shall come forth a rod out
-fV of the stern of Jesse, and a Branch
shall grow out of his roots: 2. And the Spi¬
rit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spi¬
rit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit
of counsel and might, the 'spirit of know¬
ledge, and of the fear of the Lord ; 3. And
shall make him of quick understanding in
the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge
after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove
alter the hearing of his ears. 4. But with
righteousness shall he judge the poor, and
reprove with equity for the meek of the earth :
and he shall smite the earth with the rod of
his mouth, and with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked. 5. And righteous¬
ness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faith-
Inlness the girdle of his reins. 6. The wolf
also shall dwell with the lamb, and tlie leo¬
pard shall lie down with the kid; and the
tali, and the young lion, and the fading to¬
gether; and a little child shall lead them.
7. And the cow and the bear shall feed;
their young ones shall lie down together:
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8.
And the sucking child shall play on the hole
ol the asp, and the weaned child shall put
his hand on the cockatrice’ den. 9. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy
mountain: for the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover
the sea.
The prophet had before, in this sermon, spoken
of a Child that should be born, a Son that should be
given, on whose shoulders the government should
be; intending this for the comfort of the people of
God in times of trouble, as dying Jacob, many ages
before, had intended the prospect of Shiloh for the
comfort of his seed in their affliction in Egypt. He
had said, {ch. x. 27.) that the yoke should be de¬
stroyed because of the anointing; now here he tells
us on whom that anointing should rest. He foretells,
I. That the Messiah should, in due time, arise
out of the house of David, as that Branch of the
Lord, which he had said {ch. iv. 2.) should be ex
cellent and glorious; the word is JVetzer, whic
some think is referred to, Matth. ii. 23. where it is
said to be spoken by the prophets of the Messiah,
that he should be called a Nazarene. Observe here,
1. Whence this Branch should arise: from Jesse.
He should be the Son of David, with whom the
covenant of royalty was made, and to whom it was
promised with an bath, that of the fruit of his loins
God would raise ufx Christ, Acts ii. 30. David is
often called the son of Jesse, and Christ is called so,
because he was to be not only the Son of David,
but David himself, Hos. iii. 5.
2. The meanness of his appearance. (1.) He is
called a Nod, and a Branch; both the words here
used signify a weak, small, tender product, a twig,
and a s/irig; so some render them; such as is easily
broken off. The enemies of God’s church were
just before compared to strong and stately boughs,
{ch. x. 33.) which will not, without great labour,
be hewn down; but Christ, to a tender branch; {ch.
liii. 2. ) yet he shall be victorious over them. (2.)
He is said to come out of Jesse, rather than David,
because Jesse lived and died in meanness and obscu¬
rity; his family was of small account, (1 Sam. xviii.
18.) and it was in a way of contempt and reproach
that David was sometimes called the son of Jesse,
ch. xxii. 7. (3.) He comes forth out of the stem, or
stump, of Jesse; when the royal family that had
beer- -s a cedar, was cut down, and only the stump
of it left, almost levelled with the ground, and lost
in the grass of the field, (Dan. iv. 15.) yet it shall
sprout again, Job xiv. 7. Nay, it shall grow out of
his roots, which are quite buried in the earth, and,
like the roots of flowers in the winter, have no stem
appearing above ground. The house of Dai id was
reduced and brought very low at the time of Christ’s
birth, witness the obscurity and poverty of Joseph
and Mary. The Messiah was thus to begin his
estate of humiliation, for submitting to which he
should be highly exalted, 'and would thus give earlv
notice that his kingdom was not of this world. The
Ch aldee Paraphrase reads this, There shall com
forth a king from the sons of Jesse, and the Mes¬
siah (or Christ) shall be anointed out of his sons’ sons
II. That he should be every way qualified fo.
that great work to which he was designed; that th's
63 ISAIAH, XI.
tender Branch should be so watered with the dews
of heaven, as to become a strong Rod for a sceptre
to rule, v. 2.
1. In general; the Spirit of the Lord shall rest
upon him. The Holy Spirit, in all his gifts and
graces, shall not only come, but rest and abide, upon
him; he shall have the Spirit not by measure, but
without measure, the fulness of the Godhead dwell¬
ing in him. Col. i. 19.— ii. 9. He began his preach¬
ing with this, (Luke iv. 18.) The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me.
2. In particular; the spirit of government, by
which he should be every way fitted for that judg¬
ment which the Father has committed to him, and
given him authority to execute, John v. 22, 27.
And not only so, but he should be made the Foun¬
tain and Treasury of all grace to believers, that
from his fulness they might all receive the Spirit of
grace, as all the members of the body derive animal
spirits from the head. (1. ) He shall have the spirit
of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and know¬
ledge; he shall thoroughly understand the business
he is to be employed in. JVo man knows the Fa¬
ther but the Son, Matth. xi. 27. What he is to
make known to the children of men concerning
God, and his mind and will, he shall be himself ac¬
quainted with and apprised of, John i. 18. He shall
know how to administer his spiritual kingdom in all
the branches of it, so as effectually to answer the
two great intentions of it, the glory of God, and the
welfare of the children of men. The terms of the
covenant shall be settled by him, and ordinances in¬
stituted, in wisdom: treasures of wisdom shall be
in him; he shall be our Counsellor, and shall be
made of God to us Wisdom. (2.) The spirit of
courage, or might, or fortitude; the undertaking
was very great, abundance of difficulty must be
broken through, and therefore it was necessary that
he should be so endowed that he might not fail, or
be discouraged, ch. xlii. 1. He was famed tor cou¬
rage in his teaching the way of God in truth, and
not caring for any man, Matth. xxii. 16. (3.) The
Spirit of religion, or the fear of the Lord; not only
he shall himself have a reverent affection for his Fa¬
ther, as his servant, {ch. xlii. 1.) and he was heard
in that he feared, (Heb. v. 7.) but he shall have a
zeal for religion, and shall design the advancement
of it in his whole undertaking. Our faith in Christ
was never designed to supersede and justle out, but
to increase and support, our fear of the Lord.
III. That he should be accurate and critical, and
very exact in the administration of his government,
and the exercise of the power committed to him;
(v. 3.) The Spirit wherewith he shall be clothed,
shall make him of quick understanding, in the fear
if the Lord ; of an acute smell or scent, so the word
is, for the apprehensions of the mind are often ex¬
pressed by the sensations of the body. Note, 1.
Those are most truly and valuably intelligent, that
are so in the fear of the Lord, in the business of re¬
ligion, for that is both the foundation and top-stone
of wisdom. 2. By this it will appear that we have
the Spirit of God, if we have spiritual senses exer¬
cised, and are of quick understanding, in the fear
of the Lord; those have divine illumination, that
know their duty, and know how to go about it. (3.)
Therefore, Jesus Christ had the Spirit without mea¬
sure, that he might perfectly understand his under¬
taking; and he did so, as appears not only in the ad¬
mirable answers he gave to all that questioned with
him, which proved him to be of quick understand¬
ing, in the fear of the Lord; but in the management
of his whofe undertaking. He has settled the great
affair of religion so unexceptionably well, (so as ef¬
fectually to secure both God’s honour and man’s
happiness,) that it must be owned, he tho:-c uglily
uiderstood it
IV. That he should be just and righteous in all
the acts of his government, and there should appear
in it as much equity as wisdom. He shall judge, as
he expresses it himself, and as he himself would be
judged of, John vii. 24.
1. Not according to outward appearance; (v. 3.)
He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, with
respect of persons, (Job xxxiv. 19.) and according
to outward shows and appearances, nor reprove af¬
ter the hearing of his ears, by common fame and re¬
port, and the representations of others, as men oft
do; nor does he judge of men by the fair words
they speak, calling him Lord, Lord, or their plau¬
sible actions before the eye of the world, which they
do to be seen of men; but he will judge by the hid¬
den man of the heart, and the inward principles
men are governed by, of which he is an infallible
Witness. Christ will judge the secrets of men;
(Rom. ii. 16. ) will determine concerning them, not
according to their own pretensk ns and appearan¬
ces, that were to judge after the sight of the eyes;
not according to the opinion others have of them,
that were to judge after the hearing of the ears; but
we are sure that his judgment is according to truth.
2. He will judge righteous judgment; (y. 5.) Righ¬
teousness shall be the girdle of his loins; he shall
be righteous in the administration of his govern¬
ment, and his righteousness shall be his girdle, it
shall constantly compass him and cleave to him, it
shall be his ornament and honour; he shall gird him¬
self for every action, shall gird on his sword for war
in righteousness; his righteousness shall be his
strength, and shall make him expeditious in his
undertakings, as a man with his loins girt. In con¬
formity to Christ, his followers must have the gir¬
dle of truth, (Eph. vi. 14.) and it will be the stability
of the times. Particularly,
(1.) He shall in righteousness plead for the peo¬
ple that are poor and oppressed; he will be their
Protector; (x>. 4.) with righteousness shall he judge
the poor, shall judge in favour and defence of these
that have right on their side, though they are poor in
the world, and because they are poor in spirit. It
is the duty of princes to defend and deliver the
poor, (Ps. 'lxxxii. 3, 4.) and the honour of Christ,
that he is the poor man’s King, Ps. lxxii. 2, 4. He
shall debate with evenness for the meek of the earth,
or of the land; those that bear the injuries done them,
with meekness and patience, are in a special man¬
ner entitled to the divine care and protection. I,
as a deaf man, heard not, for thou wilt hear, Ps.
xxxviii. 13, 14. Some read it, He shall reprove
or correct the meek of the earth with equity. If
his own people, the meek of the land, do amiss, he
will visit their transgression with the rod.
(2. ) He shall in righteousness plead against his
enemies that are proud and oppressors; (y. 4.) Rut
he shall smite the earth, the man of the earth, that
oppresses; (see Ps. x. 18.) the men of the world,
that mind earthly things only; (Ps. xvii. 14.) these
he shall smite with the rod of his mouth, the word
of his mouth, speaking terror and ruin to them ; his
threatenings shall take hold of them, and be exe¬
cuted upon them; with the breath of his lips, by the
operation of his Spirit, according to his word, and
working with and by it, he shall slay the wicked.
He wiil do it easily, with a word’s speaking, as he
laid those flat who came to seize him, by saying, I
am he, John xviii. 6. Killing terrors shall arrest
theii consciences, killing judgments shall ruin them,
their power, and all their interests; and in the other
world everlasting tribulation will be recompensed to
those that trouble his poor people. The apostle ap¬
plies this to the destruction of the man of sin, whom
he calls that wicked one, (2 Thes. ii. 8.) whom the
Lord will consume with the spirit of h.s month.
And the Chaldee litre reads it, lie shall slay that
IS MAH. XI.
69
wicked Romulus,* or Rome, as Mr. Hugh Brough¬
ton understands it.
V. That there should be great peace and tran¬
quillity under his government; this is an explica¬
tion of what was said, c/i. ix. 6. that he should
be the Prince of Peace. Peace signifies two things:
1. Unity and concord; these are intimated in
these figurative promises, that even the wolf shall
dwell peaceably with the lamb; men of the most
fierce and furious dispositions, who used to bite and
devour all about them, shall have their temper so
strangely altered by the efficacy of the gospel and
grace of Christ, that they shall live in love even
with the weakest, and such as formerly they would
have made an easy prey of. So far shall the sheep
be from hurting one another, as sometimes they
have done, (Ezek. xxxiv. 20, 21.) that even the
wolves shall agree with them. Christ, who is our
Peace, came to slay all enmities, and to settle
lasting friendships among his followers, particu¬
larly between Jews and Gentiles: when multitudes
of both, being converted to the faith of Christ,
united in one sheep-fold; then the wolf and the lamb
dwelt together; the wolf did not so much as threat¬
en the lamb, nor was the lamb afraid of the wolf.
The leopard shall not only not tear the kid, but shall
lie down with her: even their young ones shall lie
down together, and shall be trained up in a blessed
amity, in order to the perpetuating of it. The lion
shall cease to be ravenous, and shall eat straw like
the ox, as some think all the beasts of prey did be¬
fore the Fall. The asp and the cockatrice shall
cease to be venomous, so that parents will let their
children play with them, and put their hands among
them. A generation of vipers shall become a seed
of saints, and the old complaint of Homo homini
l u fius — Man is a wolf to man, shall be at an end.
They that inhabit the holy mountain, shall live as
amicably as the creatures did that were with Noah
in the ark, and it shall be a means of their preser¬
vation, for they shall not hurt or destroy one ano¬
ther as they have done. Now, (1.) This is fulfilled
in the wonderful effect of the gospel upon the minds
of those that sincerely embrace it; it changes the
nature and makes those that trampled on the meek
of tlie earth, not only meek like them, but kind to
them. When Paul, who had persecuted the saints,
joined himself to them, then the wolf dwelt with the
lamb. (2. ) Some are willing to hope it shall yet have
a further accomplishment in the latter days, when
swords shall be beaten into filoughshares.
2. Safety and security; Christ, the great Shep¬
herd, shall take such care of his flock, that those
who would hurt them, shall not; they shall not only
not destroy one another, but no enemy from with¬
out shall be permitted to give them any molesta¬
tion; the property of troubles, and of death itself,
shall be so altered, that they shall not do any real
hurt to, much less shall they be the destruction
of, any that have their conversation in the holy
mountain, 1 Pet. iii. 13. Who, or what, can harm
us, if we be followers of him that is good ?
G id's people shall be delivered not only from evil,
but from thi fear of it; even the sucking child shall
without any terror filay ufion the hole of the asfi;
blessed Paid does so when he says, Who shall sefia-
rate us from the love of Christ ? and O death!
where is thy sting?
Lastly, Observe what shall be the effect, and
what the cause, of this wonderful softening and
sweetening of men’s tempers by the grace of God.
1. The effect of it shall be, tractableness, and a
willingness to receive instruction; A little child shall
lead them who formerly scorned to be controlled
by the strongest man. Calvin understands it of
thei; willing submision to the ministers of Christ,
| who are to instruct with meekness, and not to use
I any coercive power, but to be as little children,
Matt, xviii. 3. See 2 Crr. v iii. 5.
2. The cause of it shall be, the knowledge of God.
The more there is of that, the more there is of a
disposition to peace. They shall thus live in lore,
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord, which shall extinguish men’s heats and ani¬
mosities. The better acquainted we are with the
God of love, the more we shall lie changed into the
same image, and the better affected shall we be to
all those that bear his image. The earth shall be
as full of this knowledge as the channels of the sea
are of water; so broad and extensive shall this
knowledge be, and so far shall it spread; so deep
and substantial shall this knowledge be, and so long
shall it last. There is much more of the know¬
ledge of God to be got by the gospel of Christ, than
could be got by the law of Moses; and whereas then
in Judah only was God known, now all shall know
him, Heb. viii. 11. But that is knowledge falsely
so called, which sows discord among men: the right
knowledge of God settles peace.
10. And in that day there shall he a root
of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of
the people ; to it shall the Gentiles seek :
and his rest shall he glorious. 11. And it
shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord
shall set his hand again the second time to
recoverthe remnant of his people, which shall
be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and
from Pathros, and from Cush, and from
Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath,
and from the islands of the sea. 12. And he
shall set up an ensign for the nations, and
shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and
gather together the dispersed of Judah from
the four corners of the earth. 13. The
envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the
adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah
shall not vex Ephraim. 14. But they shall
fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines
toward the west ; they shall spoil them of
the east together : they shall lay their liana
upon Edom and JVIoab ; and the children
of Ammon shall obey them. 15. And the
Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the
Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind
shall he shake his hand over the river
and shall smite it in the seven streams, and
make men go over dry-shod. 16. And there
shall be a highway for the remnant of his
people, which shall be left from Assyria,
iike as it was to Israel in the day that he
came up out of the land of Egypt.
We have here a further prophecy of the enlarge¬
ment and advancement of the kingdom of the Mes¬
siah, under the tvpe and figure of the flourishing
condition of the kingdom of Judah in the latter end
of Hezekiah’s reign, after the defeat of Senna
cherib.
1. This prediction was in part accomplished
when the great things God did for Hezekiah and
his people, proved as an ensign, inviting the neigh¬
bouring nations to them, to inquire of the wonders
* .ir nullum. — Ed.
70
ISAIAH, XI.
done in the land, cn which errand the king of Baby¬
lon’s ambassadors came. To them the Gentiles
sought; and Jerusalem, the rest or habitation of the
Jews, was then glorious, v. 10. Then many of the
Israelites who belonged to the kingdom of the ten
tribes, who, upon the destruction of that kingdom
by the king of Assyria, were forced to flee for shel¬
ter into all the countries about, and to some that lay
very remote, even to the islands of the sea, were
encouraged to return to their own country, and
put themselves under the protection and govern¬
ment of the king of Judah; the rather, because it
was ar Assyrian army by which their country had
been ruined, and that was now routed. This is
said to be a recovery of them the second time, (v.
1 1. ) such an instance of the power and goodness of
God, and such a reviving to them, as their first de¬
liverance out of Egypt was. Then the outcasts of
Israel should be gathered in, and brought home,
and those of Judah too, who, upon the approach of
the Assyi’ian army, shifted for their own safety.
Then the old feud between Ephraim and Judah
shall be forgotten, and they shall join against the
Philistines and their other CQmmon enemies, v. 13,
14. Note, Those who have been sharers with each
other in afflictions and mercies, dangers and deli¬
verances, in consideration thereof, ought to unite
for their joint and mutual safety and protection;
and then it is likely to be well with the church, when
Ephraim and Judah are one against the Philistines.
Then, whatever difficulties there may be in the
way of the return of the dispersed, the Lord shall
find out some way or other to remove them; as,
when he brought Israel out of Egypt, he dried up
the Red sea and Jordan, ( v . 15.) and led them to
Canaan through the invincible embarrassments of a
vast howling wilderness, v. 16. The like will he
do this second time, or that which shall be equiva¬
lent; when God’s time is come for the deliverance
of his people, mountains of opposition shall become
plain before him. Let us not despair, therefore,
when the interests of the church seem to be brought
very low; God can soon turn gloomy days into glo¬
rious ones.
II. It had a further reference to the days of the
Messiah, and the accession of the Gentiles to his
kingdom; for to that the apostle applies, v. 10. of
which the following verses are a continuation.
Rom. xv. 12. There shall be a root of Jesse; and
he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him
shall the Gentiles trust. That is a key to this pro¬
phecy, which speaks of Christ as the Root of
Jesse, a branch out of his roots, (x>. 1.) a root out
of a dry ground, ch. liii. 2. He is the Root of Da¬
vid, (Rev. v. 5.) the Root and Offspring of David,
Rev. xxii. 16.
1. He shall stand, or be setup, for an Ensign of
the people; when he was crucified, he was lifted up
from the earth; that, as an Ensign or Beacon,
lie might draw the eyes and hearts of all men
unto him, John xii. 32. He is set up as an Ensign
in the preaching of the everlasting gospel, in which
the ministers, as standard-bearers, display the
banner of his love, to allure us to him, (Cant. i. 4.)
the banner of his truth, under which we may enlist
ourselves to engage in a holy war against sin and
Satan. Christ is the ensign to whom the children
of God that were scattered abroad, are gathered to¬
gether, (John xi. 52.) and in whom they meet as
the Centre of their unity.
2. To him shall the Gentiles seek; we read of
( rreeks that did so; John xii. 21. IVe would see Jesus;
and upon that occasion Christ spake of his being
lifted up, to draw all men to him. The apostle,
from the LXX, (or perhaps the LXX from the
apostle, in the editions after Christ,) reads it,
(Rom. xv. 12.) In him shall the Gentiles trust;
they shall seek to him with a dependance on him.
3. His rest shall be glorious. Some understand
it of the death of Chris ; the triumphs of the cross
made even that glorious. Others of his ascensi. n;
when he sat down to rest at the right hand of God.
Or rather, it is meant of the gospel church, that
Mount Zion, of which Christ has said, This is my rest;
and in which he resides. This, though despised by
the world, having upon it the beauty of holiness, is
truly glorious; a glorious high throne, Jer. xvii. 12.
4. Both Jews and Gentiles shall be gathered to
him, v. 11. A remnant of both, a little remnant
in comparison, which shall be recovered, as it were,
with great difficulty and hazard. As formerly God
delivered his people, and gathered them out < f all
the countries whither they were scattered, (Ps. cvi.
47. Jer. xvi. 15, 16.) so he will a second time, in
another way, by the powerful working of the Spirit
of grace with the word. He shall set his hand to
do it; lie shall exert his power, the arm of the
Lord shall be revealed to do it. 1. There shall be
a remnant of the Jews gathered in. The outcasts
of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah, {v. 12.) many
of whom, at the time of the bringing of them in to
Christ, were Jews of the dispersion, the twelve
tribes that were scattered abroad, (James i. 1. 1
Pet. i. 1.) these shall fleck to Christ; and, proba¬
bly, more of those scattered Jews were brought into
the church, in proportion, than those which re¬
mained in their own land. (2.) Many of the na¬
tions, the Gentiles, shall be brought in by the lifting
up of the ensign. Jacob foretold concerning Shiloh,
that to him shall the gathering of the people be.
Those that were strangers and foreigners, shall be
made nigh. The Jews were jealous cf Christ’s
going to the dispersed among the Gentiles, and cf
his teaching the Gentiles, John vii. 35.
5. There shall be a happy accommodation between
Judah and Ephraim, and both shall be safe from
their adversaries, and have dominion over them, v.
13, 14. The coalescence between Judah and Israel
at that time, was a type and figure of the uniting
of Jews and Gentiles in thf gospel-church, who
had been so long at variance. The house of Judah
shall walk with the house of Israel, (Jer. iii. 18.)
and become one nation; (Ezek. xxxvii. 22.) so the
Jews and Gentiles are made of twain one new man,
Eph. ii. 16. And being at peace one with ano¬
ther, those that are adversaries to them both, shall
be cutoff; (or they shall fly upon the shoulders of
the Philistines, as an eagle strikes at her prey, shall
spoil them on the west side of them: and then
they shall extend their conquests eastward, ever
the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites; the gos¬
pel of Christ shall be successful in all parts, and
some of all nations shall become obedient to the
faith.
Lastly, Every thing that might hinder the pro¬
gress and success of the gospel, shall be taken rut
of the way. As when God brought Israel rut cf
Egypt, he’ dried up the Red sea and Jordan before
them, (ch. lxiii. 11, 12.) and as afterward when he
brought up the Jews cut of Babylon, he prepared
them their way; {ch. lxii. 10.) so when Jews and
Gentiles are to be brought together into the gospel-
church, all obstructions shall be removed, (v. 15,
16.) difficulties that seemed insuperable shall be
strangely got over; the blind shall be led by a way
that ihey knew not. See ch. xlii. 15, 16. — xliii. 19,
20. Converts shall be brought in chariots and in
litters, ch. lxvi. 20. Some think it is the further
accession of multitudes to the church, that is point¬
ed at in that obscure prophecy of the drying up of
the river Euphrates, that the way of the kings of
the east may be prepared, (Rev. xvi. 12.) which
seems to refer to this here. Note, When God’s
time is come for the bringing of nations, or par-
71
ISAIAH. Xli.
licular persons, home to himself, divine grace will
bo victorious over all opposition. At the presence
ot the Lord, the sea shall flee, and Jordan be driven
back: and those who set their faces heaven-ward
v ill find there are not such difficulties in the way as
they thought there were, for there is a highway
thither, ch. xxxv. 8.
CHAP. XII.
The salvation promised in the foregoing chapter was com¬
pared to that of Israel, in the day that he came up out of
the land of Egypt; so that chapter ends. Now as Moses
and the children of Israel sang a song of praise, to the
lory of God, ( Exod . xv. 1.) so shall the people of God
o in that day, when the Root of Jesse shall stand for an
Ensign of the people, and shall be the Desire and Joy of
all nations. In that day, 1. Every particular believer
shall sing a song of praise for his own interest in that
salvation; (v. 1. .3.) Thou slialt say , Lord, J will praise
‘thee: thanksgiving-work shall be closet-work. II. Many
in concert shall join in praising God for the common
benefit arising from this salvation; (v. 4.. 6.) Ye shall
say, praise ye the Lord: thanksgiving- work shall be con¬
gregation-work; and the praises oi God shall be pub¬
licly sung in the congregations of the upright.
1. 4 ND in that day thou shalt say, O
£ JL Lord, I will praise thee: though
thou wast angry with me, thine anger is
turned away, and thou comfortedst me. 2.
Behold, God is my salvation ; I will trust,
and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHO¬
VAH is my strength and my song; he also
is become my salvation. 3. Therefore with
joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of
salvation.
This is the former part of the hymn of praise
which is prepared for the use of the church; of the
Jewish church, when God would work great deli¬
verances for them, and of the Christian church-
when the kingdom of the Messiah should be set up
in the world, in despite of the opposition of the
powers of darkness; In that day thou shalt say, 0
Lord, I will /iraise thee. The scattered church,
being united into one body, shall, as one man, with
one mind and one mouth, thus praise God, who is
one, and his name one. In that day, when the
Lord shall do these great things for thee, thou shalt
sail, 0 Lord, I will praise thee. That is,
I. “ Thou shalt have cause to say so.” The pro¬
mise is sure, and the blessings contained in it are
very rich, and, when they are bestowed, will furnish
the church with abundant matter for rejoicing, and
therefore with abundant matter for thanksgiving.
The Old Testament prophecies of gospel-times are
often expressed by the joy and praise that shall then
be excited; for the inestimable benefits we enjoy by
Jesus Christ, require the most elevated and enlarg¬
ed thanksgivings.
II. “Thou shalt have a heart to say so.” All
God’s other gifts to his people shall be crowned
with this; he will give them grace to ascribe all
the glory of them to him, and to speak of them
upon all occasions, with thankfulness to his praise.
Thou shalt say, thou oughtest to say so. In that
day, when many are brought home to Jesus Christ,
and flock to him as doves to their windows, in¬
stead of envying the kind reception they find with
Christ, as the Jews grudged the favour shown
to the Gentiles, thou shalt say, O Lord, I will
praise thee. Note, We ought to rejoice in, and
give thanks for, the grace of God to others as well
as to ourselves.
1. Believers are here taught to give thanks to
God for the turning away of his displeasure from
them, and the return of his favour to them; (v. 1.)
0 Lord, 1 will praise thee, though thou wast anyry
with me. Note, Even God’s frowns must not put
us out of tune for praising him; though he be angry
with us, though he slay us, yet we must put our
trust in him, and give him thanks. God has often
just cause to be angry with us, but we have never
any reason to be angry with him, nor to speak
otherwise than well of him; even when he blames
us, we must praise him. Thou wast angry with
us, but thine anger is turned away. Note, (1.)
God is sometimes angry with his own people, and
the fruits of his anger do appear: they ought to
take notice of it, that they may humble themselves
under his mighty hand. (2.) Though. God may for
a time be angry with his people, vet his anger shall,
at length, be turned away; it endures but for a mo¬
ment, nor will he contend for ever. By Jesus Christ,
the Root of Jesse, God’s anger against mankind was
turned away, for he is our Peace. (3.) Those
whom God is reconciled to, he comforts: even the
turning away of his anger is a comfort to them; yet
that is not all, they that are at peace with God, may
rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, Rom. v. 1,
2. Nay, God sometimes brings his people into a
wilderness, that there he may speak comfortably to
them, Hosea ii. 14. (4.) The turning away cf
God’s anger, and the return of his comforts to
us, ought to be the matter of our joyful, thankful
praises.
2. They are taught to triumph in God, and their
interest in him ; (v. 2.) “Behold, and wonder; God
is my salvation; not only my Saviour, by whom I
am saved, but my Salvation, in whom I am safe.
I depend upon him as my Salvation, for I have
found him to be so. He shall have the glory of
all the salvations that have been wrought for me,
and from him only will I expect the salvation's
I further need, and not from hills and mountains:
and if God be my Salvation, if he undertake my
eternal salvation, I will trust in him to prepare
me for it, and preserve me to it. I will trust
him with my temporal concerns, not doubting but
he will mate all to work for my good. I will
be confident, I will be always easy in mv own
mind.” Note, Those that have God for their Sal¬
vation, may enjoy themselves with a holy security
and serenity of mind; let faith in God, as cur Sal¬
vation, be effectual. (1.) To silence our fears; we
must trust, and not be afraid; not be afraid that the
God we trust in will fail us; no, there is no danger
of that; not be afraid of any creature, though ever
so formidable and threatening. Note, Faith in God
is a sovereign remedy against disquieting, torment¬
ing fears. (2. ) To support our hopes. Is the Lord
Jehovah our Salvation? Then he will be our Strength
and Song. We have work to do and temptations to
resist, we may depend upon him to enable us for
both; to strengthen us with all might by his Spirit
in the inner man, for he is our strength ; his grace is
so, and that grace shall be sufficient for us. We
have many troubles to undergo, and must expect
griefs in a vale of tears; and we may depend upon
him to comfort us in all our tribulations, for he is
our Song, he giveth songs in the night. If we
make God our strength, and put our confidence in
him, he will be our strength; if we make him cur
Song, and place our comfort in him, he will be our
Song. Many good Christians have God for theii
Strength, who have him not for their Song; they
walk in darkness, but light is sown for them: and
they that have God for their Strength, ought to
make him their Song, that is, to give him the glory
of it, (see Ps. lxviii. 35.) and to take to themselves
the comfort of it, for he will become their Salva¬
tion. Observe the title here given to God, Jah, Je¬
hovah; Jah is the contraction of Jehovah, and both
signify his eternity and unchangeableness; which
ISAIAH, XH1.
•.re a great comfort to those that depend upon him
as their Strength and their Song. Some make Jah
to signify the Son of God made man; he is Jehovah,
and in him we may glory as o ur Strength, and Song,
and Salvation.
3. They are taught to derive comfort to them¬
selves from the love of God, and all the tokens of
that love; ( v . 3.) “ Therefore, because the Lord
Jehovah is- vour Strength and Song, and will be
vour Salvation, you shall draw water with joy.”
Note, The assurances God has given us of his love,
and the experiences we have had of the benefit
and comfort of his grace, should greatly encourage
our faith in him and our expectations from him;
“ Out of the wells of Salvation in God, who is the
Fountain of all good to his people, you shall draw
water with joy. God’s favour shall flow forth to
vou, and you shall have the comfort of it, and make
use of the blessed fruits of it.” Note, (1.) God’s
romises revealed, ratified, and given out to us, in
is ordinances, are wells of salvation; wells of the
Saviour, so some read it; for in them the Saviour
and salvation are made known to us, and made over
to us. (2.) It is our duty by faith to draw water
out of these wells, to take to ourselves the benefit
and comfort that are treasured up for us in them, as
those that acknowledge all our fresh springs to be
there, and all our fresh streams to be thence, Ps.
lxxxvii. 7. (3.) Water is to be drawn out of the
wells of salvation with a great deal of pleasure and
satisfaction. It is the will of God that we should
rejoice before him, and rejoice in him, (Dent. xxvi.
11.) be joyful in his house of prayer, (Isa. lvi. 7.)
and keep his feasts with gladness, Acts ii. 46.
4. And in that day shall ye say, Praise
the Lord, call upon his name, declare his
doings among the people, make mention
that his name is exalted. 5. Sing unto
the Lord; for he hath done excellent
things: this is known in all the earth. 6.
Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion:
for great is the Holy One of Israel in the
midst of thee.
This is the second part of this evangelical song,
and to the same purport with the former; there be¬
lievers stir up themselves to praise God; here they
invite and encourage one another to do it, and are
contriving to spread his praise, and draw in others
to join with them in it. Observe,
1. Who are here called upon to praise God; the
inhabitants of Zion and Jerusalem, whom God had
in a particular manner protected from Sennache¬
rib’s violence, v. 6. Those that have received dis¬
tinguishing favours from God, ought to be most for¬
ward and zealous in praising him. The gospel-
church is Zion, Christ is Zion’s King; those that
have a place and a name in that, should lay out
themselves to diffuse the knowledge of Christ, and
to bring many to him. Thou inhabitress of Zion;
tlie word is feminine; Let the weaker sex be strong
in the Lord, and out of their mouth shall praise be
perfected.
2. How they must praise the Lord: (1.) By
prayer we must call upon his name: as giving thank’s
f ii' former mercy is a decent way of begging fur¬
ther mercy, so begging further mercy is graciously
•> ocepted as a thankful acknowledgment of the mer¬
les we have received. In calling upon God’s name
’c give unto him some of the glory that is due to
Vs name as our powerful and bountiful Benefactor.
v2.) By preaching and writing we must not only
speak to God, but speak to others concerning him ;
not only call upon his name, but (as the margin
reads it) proclaim his name; let others knew some
thing more from us than they did before, concern
ing God, and those things whereby he lias mad?
himself known. Declare his doings, his counsel ■;
so some read it; the work of redempti n is accord¬
ing to the counsel of his will; and in that and other
wonderful yvorks that he has done, we must take
notice of his thoughts which are to us-ward, Ps. xl.
5. Declare these among the people, among the hea¬
then, that they may be brought into communion yvith
Israel and the God of Israel. When the apostles
preached the gospel to all nations, beginning at Jem
salem, then this scripture was fulfilled, that his do
ing should be declared among the people, and that
what he has done should be known in all the earth.
(3.) By a holy exultation and transport, of joy,
“ Cry out and shout, welcome the gospel to your¬
selves, and publish it to others with huzzas and
loud acclamations, as those that shout for victory,
(Exod. xxxii. 18.) or for the coronation of a king'”
Numb, xxiii. 21.
3. For what thev must praise the Lord; (1.) Be¬
cause he has glorified himself. Remember it your¬
selves, and make mention of it to others, that his
name is exalted, is become more illustrious and
more conspicuous; in this every good man rejoices.
(2.) Because he has magnified his people; he has
done excellent things for them, which make them
look great and considerable. (3.) Because he is,
and will be, great among them; great is the Holy
One, for he is glorious in holiness; therefore great
because holy; true goodness is true greatness; great
as the Holy One of Israel, and in the midst of them;
praised by them, (Ps. lxxvi. 1.) manifesting him¬
self among them, and appearing gloriously in their
behalf. It is the honour and happiness of Israel,
that the God yvho is in covenant yvith them, and in
the midst of them, is infinitely great.
CHAP. XIII.
Hitherto, the prophecies of this book related only to Ju¬
dah and Israel, and Jerusalem especially: but now the
prophet begins to look abroad, and to read the doom of
divers of the neighbouring slates and kingdoms; for he
that is King of saints, is also King of nations, and ruler
in the affairs of the children of men as well as in those
of his own children. But the nations to whom these
prophecies do relate, were all such as the people of God
were some way or other conversant and concerned
with; such as had been kind or unkind to Israel, and
accordingly God would deal with them, either in favour
or in wrath; for the Lord’s portion is his people, and to
them he has an eye in all the dispensations of his provi¬
dence concerning those about them, Deut. xxxii. 8, 9.
The threatenings we find here, against Babylon, Mnab,
Damascus, Egypt, Tyre, ^-c. were intended for comfort
to those in Israel that feared God, but were terrified and
oppressed by those potent neighbours, and for alarm to
those among them that were wicked. If God would
thus severely reckon with those for their sins that know
him not, and made not profession of his name, how se¬
vere would he be with those that were called by his name,
and yet live in rebellion against him! And perhaps the
directing of particular prophecies to the neighbouring
nations, might invite some of those nations to the read¬
ing of the Jew's’ Bible, and so they might be brought to
their religion. This chapter, and that which follows, con¬
tain what God had to say to Babylon and Babylon’s
king, who were at present little known to Israel, but
would in process of time become a greater enemy to
them than any other had been, for which God would at
last reckon with them. In this chapter, we have, I. A
general rendezvous of the forces that were to be em¬
ployed against Babylon, v. 1. .5. II. The dreadful bloody
work that those forces should make in Babylon, v. 6. .18.
III. The utter ruin and desolation of Babylon, which
this should end in, v. 19. .22.
1 . rpHE burden of Babylon, which Isaiah
JL the son of Amoz did see. 2. Lift
ye up a banner upon the high mountain,
73
ISAIAH, XITT.
exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand,
that they may go into the gates of the no¬
bles. 3. 1 have commanded my sanctified
ones, 1 have also called my mighty ones for
mine anger, even them that rejoice in my
highness. 4. The noise of a multitude in
the mountains, like as of a great people; a
tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of na¬
tions gathered together: the Loud of hosts
mustereth the host of the battle. 5. They
come from a far country, from the end of
heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of
his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
The general title of this book was, The visions
t f Isaiah the son of Amoz, ch. i. 1. This is that
which Isaiah did see, which was represented to his
mind as clearly and fully as if he had seen it with
his bodily eyes: but the particular inscription of
this serm n, is, the burthen of Babylon: 1. It is a
burthen, a lesson they were to learn; so some un¬
derstand it; but they would be loath to learn it, and
it would be a burthen to their memories, or a load
which should lie heavy upon them, and under which
they should sink. 'I' hose that will not make the
word of God their rest, (ch. xxviii. 12. Jer. vi.
.6. ) it shall be made a burthen to them. 2. It is
the burthen of Babylon or Babel, which at this time
was a dependent upon the Assyrian monarchy, (the
metropolis of which was Nineveh,) but soon after
revolted from it, and became a monarchy of itself,
and a very potent one, in Nebuchadnezzar. This
prophet afterward foretold the captivity of the
Jews in Babylon, ch. xxxix. 6. Here he foretells
the reprisals God would make upon Babylon for the
wrongs done to his people.
In these verses a summons is given to those pow¬
erful and warlike nations, whom God would make
use of as the instruments of his wrath for the de¬
struction of Babylon: he afterward names them ( v .
17.) the Medes,' who, in conjunction with the Per¬
sians under the command of Darius and Cyrus,
were the ruin of the Babylonian monarchy.
1. The place doomed to destruction is Babylon;
it is here called the gates of the nobles, (xn 2.) be¬
cause in the abundance of noblemen’s houses that
were in it; stately ones, and richly furnished, which
would invite the enemy to come, in hopes of a rich
booty. The gates of nobles were strong and well
guarded, and yet they would be no fence against
those who came with commission to execute God’s
judgments. Before his power and wrath, palaces
are no more than cottages; nor is it only the gates
of the nobles, but the whole land, that is doomed to
destruction; (v. 5.) for though the nobles were the
leaders in persecuting and oppressing God’s people,
yet the whole land concurred with them in it.
(2. ) The persons brought together to lay Babylon
waste, are here called, [1.] God’s sanctified ones,
(v. 3. ) designed for this service, and set apart to it
by the purpose and providence of God; disengaged
from other projects, that they might wholly apply
themselves to this; such as were qualified for that
to which they were called; for what work God em¬
ploys men in, he does in some measure fit them for.
it intimates likewise that in God’s intention, though
not in theirs, it was a holy war; they designed only
the enlargement of their own empire, but God de¬
signed the release of hispeople, and a type of the
destruction of the New Testament Babylon. Cyrus,
the person principally concerned, was justly called
a sanctified one, for he was God’s anointed, (ch.
xlv. 1.) and a figure of him that was to come. It is
a p:tv but all soldiers, especially those that fight the
Vol. iv. — K
Lord’s battles, should be, in the strictest sense,
sanctified ones; it is a wonder they dare be profane
ones, who carry their lives in their hands. [2.]
They are called God’s mighty ones, because thev
had their might from God, and were now to use it
f r him. It is said of Cyrus, that in this expedition
God held his right hand, ch. xlv. 1. God’s sancti¬
fied ones are his mighty ones; whom God calls, he
qualifies; and whom he makes holy, he makes
strong in spirit. [3.] They are said to rejoice in
his highness, to serve his glory and the purposes of
it with great alacrity. Though Cyrus did not know
God, nor actually design his honour in what he did,
yet God used him as his servant; (ch. xlv. 4. I hi. t e
surname d thee as my servant, though thou hast not
known me;) and he rejoiced in those successes b /
which God exalted his own name. [4.] They m<
very numerous, a multitude, a great people; kiny
doms of nations, (v. 4.) not rude and barbarous, 1/ >
modeled and regular troops, such as are furnish c’
out by well-ordered kingdoms: the great God ha
hosts at his command. [5.] They are far-fetched,
they come from the end of heaven: the vast country
of Assyria lay between Babylon and Persia. God
can make those a scourge and ruin to his enemies
that lie most remote from them, and therefore are
least dreaded.
(3.) The summons given them is effectual, their
obedience ready, and they make a very formidable
appearance; A banner is lifted up upon the high
mountain, v. 2. God’s standard is set up, a flag of
defiance hung out against Babylon. It is erected
on high, where all may see it; whoever will, may
erme, and enlist themselves under it, and they shall
be taken immediately into God’s pay. They that
beat for volunteers, must exalt the voice in making
proclamation, to encourage soldiers to come in; they
must shake the hand, to beckon those at a distance,
and to animate those that have enlisted themselves.
And they shall not do this in vain; God has com¬
manded and called those whom he designs to make
use of, (v. 5.) and power goes along with his calls
and commands, which cannot be resisted. He that
makes men able to serve him, can, when he pleases,
make them willing too: it is the Lord of hosts that
musters the host of the battle, v. 4. He raises them,
brings them together, puts them in order, reviews
them, has an exact account of them in his muster-
roll, sees that they be all in their respective posts,
and gives them their necessary orders. Note, All
the hosts of war arc under the command of the Lord
of hosts; and that which makes them truly formida¬
ble, is, that when they come against Babylon, the
Lord comes, and brings them with him as the wea¬
pons of his indignation, v. 5. Note, Great princes
and armies are but tools in God’s hands, weapons
that he is pleased to make use of in doing his work,
and it is his wrath that arms them, and gives them
success.
6. Howl ve; for the day of the Lord is
at haod; it shall come as a destruction from
the Almighty. 7. Therefore shall all hands
be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt :
8. And they shall be afraid: pangs and sor¬
rows shall take hold of them; they shall he
in pain as a woman that travaileth; they
shall be amazed one at another; their faces
shall hr as flames. 9. Behold, the day of
the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath
and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate,
and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out
of it. 10. For the stars of heaven, and the
74
ISAIAH, Xlll.
constellations thereof, shall not give their :
light: the sun shall be darkened in his going
forth, and the moon shall not cause her
light to shine. 11. And I will punish the
world for their evil, and the wicked for their
iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of
the proud to cease, and will lay low the
haughtiness of the terrible. 12. I will make
a man more precious than fine gold; even a
man tnan the golden wedge of Ophir. 13.
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the
earth shall remove out of her place, in the
wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day
of his fierce anger. 1 4 And it shall be as
the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man
taketh up: they shall every man turn to his
own people, and flee every one into his own
land. 1 5. Every one that is found shall be
thrust through; and every one that is joined
unto them shall fall by the sword. 16. Their
children also shall be dashed to pieces be¬
fore their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled,
and their wives ravished. 17. Behold, I
will stir up the Medes against them, which
shall not regard silver; and as for gold, \
they shall not delight in it. 18. Their bewc
also shall dash the young men to pieces ;
and they shall have no pity on the fruit of
the worn!) ; their eye shall not spare chil¬
dren.
We have here a very elegant and lively descrip¬
tion of the terrible confusion and desolation which
should be made in Babylon by the descent which
the Medes and Persians should make upon it. They
that were now secure and easy, are bid to howl, and
make sad lamentation. For,
1. God is about to appear in wrath against them,
and it is a feayful thing to fail into his hands; The
day of the Lord is at hand, (v. 6.) a little day of
judgment, when God will act as a just Avenger of
his own and his people’s injured cause. And there
are those who will have reason to tremble when
that day is at hand; the day of the Lord cometh, v.
9. Men have their day now, and they think to
carry the day; but God laughs at them, for he sees
that his day is coming, Fs. xxxvii. 13. Fury is not
with God, and yet his day of reckoning with the
Babylonians is said to be cruel with turath and fierce
anger. God will deal in severity with them for the
severities they exercised upon God’s people; with
the froward, with the cruel, he will show himself
froward, will show himself cruel, and give the
blood-thirsty blood to drink.
2. Their hearts shall fail them, and they shall
have neither courage nor comfort left; they shall
not be able either to resist the judgment coming, or
to bear up under it, either to oppose the enemy, or
to support themselves, v. 7, 8. They that in the
day of their peace were proud, and haughty, and
terrible, (t>. 11.) are, when trouble comes, quite
dispirited, and are at their wits’ end; all hands
shall be faint, and unable to hold a weapon, and
every man’s heart shall melt, so that they shall be
ready to die for fear. The pangs of their fear shall
be like those of a woman in hard labour, and they
shall be amazed one at another; in frightening them¬
selves, they shall frighten one another; they shall
wonder tu see those tremble, that used to be bold
and daring; or, they shall be amazed, looking one
at another as men at a loss, Gen. xlii. 1. Their
faces shall be as flames, pale as flames, through
fear; so some; or red as flames sometimes are,
blushing at their own cowardice; or their faces shall
be as faces scorched with the flames, or as theirs
that labour in the fire, their visage blacker than a
coal; 'or like a bottle in the smoke, Ps. cxix. 83.
3. All comfort and hope shall fail them; v. 10.
The stars of heaven shall not give their light, but
shall be clouded and overcast; the sun shall be dark¬
ened in his going forth, rising bright, but lost again,
a certain sign of foul weather. They shall be as
men in distress at sea, when neither sun nor star;
appear, Acts xxvii. 20. It shall be as dreadful a
time with them as it would be with the earth, if all
the heavenly luminaries were turned into darkness;
a resemblance of the day of judgment, when the sun
shall be turned into darkness. The heavens frown¬
ing thus, is an indication of the displeasure of the
God of heaven; when things look dark on earth,
yet it is well enough if all be clear upward; but it
we have no comfort thence, wherewith shall we be
comforted?
4. God will visit them for their iniquity; and ah
this is intended for the punishment of sin, and par¬
ticularly the sin of pride, v. 11. This puts worm¬
wood and gall into the affliction and misery, (1.)
That sin must now have its punishment; though
Babylon be a little world, yet, being a wicked world,
it shall not go unpunished. Sin brings desolation cn
the world of the ungodly; and when the kingdoms
of the earth are quarrelling with one another, it is
the fruit of God’s controversy with them all. (2.)
That pride must now have its fall. The haughti¬
ness of the terrible must now be laid low, particu¬
larly of Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar,
who had, in their pride, trampled upon, and made
themselves very terrible to, the people of God. A
man’s firide will bring him low.
5. There shall be so great a slaughter as will pro¬
duce a scarcity of men; (v. 12.) I will make a man
more precious than fine gold. You could not have
a man to be employed in any of the affairs of state,
! not a man to be enlisted in the army, not a man to
match a daughter to, for the building up of a family,
if you would give any money for one. The troops
of the neighbouring nations would not be hired into
the service of the king of Babylon, because they
saw every thing go against him. Populous coun¬
tries are soon depopulated by war. And God can
soon make a kingdom that has been courted and ad¬
mired, to be dreaded and shunned by all, as a house
that is falling, or a ship that is sinking.
6. There shall be a universal confusion and con¬
sternation; such a confusion of their affairs, that it
shall be like the shaking of the heavens, with dread¬
ful thunders, and the removing of the earth, by no
less dreadful earthquakes. All shall go to wreck
and ruin in the day of the wrath of the Lord of
hosts; v. 13. And such a consternation shall seize
their spirits, that Babylon, which used to be like a
roaring lion, and a ranging bear, to all about her,
shall become as a chased roe, and as a sheep that no
man takes up, v. 14. The army they shall bring
into the field, consisting of troop's of divers nations,
(as great armies usually do,) shall be so dispersed
by their enemies’ sword, that they shall turn cz'ery
man to his own people, each man shall shift for his
own safety; the men of inight shall not find their
hands, (Ps. lxxvi. 5.) but take to their heels.
8. There shall be a general scene of blood and
horror, as is usuA where the sword devrurs. -Vo
wonder that everv one makes the best of his way
since the conqueror gives no quarter, but puts all
to the sword, and not those oniv that are found in
arms, as is usual with us even in the most cruel
75
ISAIAH, XIII.
slaughters: (v. 15.) Every one that is found alive,
shall he run through, as soon ;:s ever it appears that
he is a Babylonian. Nay, because the sword de¬
vours one as well as another, every one that is joined
to them, shall fall by the sword; those of other na¬
tions that come in to their assistance, shall be Cut off
with them. It is dangerous being in bad company,
and helping those whom God is about to destroy :
those particularly that join themselves to Babylon,
must expect to share in her plagues, Rev. xviii. 4.
And since the most sacred laws of nature, and hu¬
manity itself, are silenced by the fury of war, (though
they cannot be cancelled ,) the conquerors shall, in
the most barbarous brutish manner, dash the chil¬
dren to pieces, and ravish the wives. Jusque datum
sce/eri — JVickedness shall have free course, v. 16.
They had thus dealt with God’s people, (Lam. v.
11.) and now they shall be paid in their own coin,
Rev. iii. 10. It was particularly foretold, (Ps.
cxxxvii. 9. ) that the little ones of 'Baby Ion should
be dashed against the stones. How cruel. soever,
and unjust, they were that did it, God was righteous
who suffered it to be done, and to be done before
their eyes, to their great terror and vexation. It
was just also that the houses which they had filled
with the spoil of Israel, should be spoiled and plun¬
dered. What is got by rapine, is often lost in the
same manner.
8. The enemy that God would send against them,
sh uld be inexorable, probably being by some pro¬
vocation or other more than ordinarily exasperated
against them; or, however, God himself will stir up
the Medes to use this severity with the Babylonians.
He will not only serve his own purposes by their
dispositions and designs, but will put it into their
hearts to make this attempt upon Babylon, and
suffer them to prosecute it with all this fury. God
is not the author of sin, but he would not permit it
if he did not know how to bring glory to himself out
of it. These Medes, in conjunction with the Per¬
sians, shall make thorough work of it. F or,
( 1. ) They shall take no bribes, v. 17. All that
men have they would give for their lives, but the
PEdes shall not regard silver; it is blood they thirst
for, not gold; no man’s riches shall with them be the
ransom of his life.
(2.) They shall show no pity, (v. 18.) not to the
young men that are in the prime of their time, they
shall shoot them through with their bows, and then
dash them to pieces; not to the age of innocency,
they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb, nor
spare little children, whose cries and frights one
would think should make even marble eyes to weep,
and hearts of adamant to relent. Pause a little here,
and wonder, [1.] That men should be thus cruel
and inhuman, and so utterly divested of all compas¬
sion; and in it see how corrupt and degenerate the
nature of man is become. [2.] That the God of
infinite mercy should suffer it, nay, and should make
it to be the execution of his justice; which shows
that though he is gracious, yet he is the God to
whom vengeance belongs. [3.] That little infants,
who have never been guilty of any actual sin, should
be thus abused; which shows that there is an origi¬
nal guilt, by which life is forfeited as soon as it is had.
19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency,
shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah. 20. It shall never be inhabited,
neither shall it be dwelt in from generation
fo generation; neither shall the Arabian
pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds
make their fold there: 21. But wild beasts
of the desert shall lie there; and their houses
shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls
shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance
there. 22. And the wild beasts of the islands
shall cry in their desolate houses, and dra¬
gons in their pleasant palaces; and her time
is near to come, and her days shall not be
prolonged.
The great havoc and destruction which it was
foretold should be made by the Medes and Persians
in Babylon, here end in the final destruction of it.
1. It is allowed that Babylon was a noble city; it
was the glory of kingdoms, and the beauty of the
Chaldees’ excellency; it was that head of gold;
(Dan. ii. 37, 38.) it was called the lady of king¬
doms, ( ch . xlvii. 5.) the praise of the whole earth,
(Jer. li. 41.) like a pleasant roe; (so the word signi¬
fies;) but it shall be as a chased roe; (y. 14.) the
Chaldeans gloried in the beauty and wealth of this
their metropolis.
2. It is foretold that it should be wholly destroy¬
ed, like Sodom and Gomorrah; not so miraculously,
nor so suddenly, but as effectually, though gradual¬
ly; and the destruction should come upon them as
that upon Sodom, when they were secure, eating
and drinking, Luke xvii. 28. Babylon was taken
when Belshazzar was in his revel; and though Cy¬
rus and Darius did not demolish it, yet by degrees
it wasted away, and in process of time it went all
to ruin. It is foretold here, (v. 20.) that it shall
never be inhabited; in Adrian’s time, nothing re¬
mained but the wall. And whereas it is prophesied
concerning Nineveh, that great city, that when it
should be deserted and left desolate, yet flocks
should lie down in the midst of it; it is here said
concerning Babylon, that the Arabians, who were
shepherds, should not make their folds there; the
country about should be so barren, that there would
be no grazing there; no, not for sheep; nay, it shall
be the receptacle of wild beasts, that affect solitude;
the houses of Babylon, where the sons and daughters
of pleasure used to rendezvous, shall be full of dole¬
ful creatures, owls and satyrs, that are themselves
frightened thither, as to a place proper for them,
and by whom all others are frightened thence. His¬
torians say that this was fulfilled to the letter. Ben¬
jamin Bar-Jona, in his Itinerary, speaking of Babel,
has these words; “ This is that Babel which was,
of old, thirty miles in breadth; it is now laid waste;
there are yet to be seen the ruins of a palace of Ne¬
buchadnezzar, but the sons of men dare not enter in,
for fear of serpents and scorpions, which possess the
place. ” Let none be proud of their pompous pa¬
laces, for they know not but they may become worse
than cottages; nor let any think that their houses
shall endure for ever, (Ps. xlix. 11.) when perhaps
nothing may remain but the ruins and reproaches
of them.
3. It is intimated that this destniction should
come shortly; {v. 22.) Her time is near to come.
This prophecy of the destruction of Babylon was
intended for the support and comfort of the people
of God when they were captives there, and griev¬
ously oppressed; and the accomplishment of the
prophecy was near 200 years after the time when it
was delivered; yet it followed soon after the time
for which it was calculated. When the people of
Israel were groaning under the heavy yoke of Baby
lonish tyranny, sitting down in tears by the rivers
of Babylon, and upbraided with the songs of Zion,
when their insolent oppressors were most haughty
and arrogant, (v. 11.) then let them know, for their
comfort, that Babylon’s time, her day to fall, was
near to come, and the days of her prosperity shall
not be prolonged, as they have been; when God
begins with her, he will make an end. Thus it is
r6 ISAIAH, XIV,
said of the destruction of the New Testament Baby¬
lon, whereof the former was a type; In one hour
is her judgment come.
CHAP. XIV.
In this chapter, I. More weight is added to the burthen of
Babylon, enough to sink it like a mill-stone; I. It is Is¬
rael’s cause that is to be pleaded in this quarrel with
Babylon, v. 1 . . 3. 2. The king of Babylon, for the time
being, shall be remarkably brought down and triumphed
over, v. 4. . 20. 3. The whole race of the Babylonians
shall be cut off and extirpated, v. 21 . . 23. II. A con¬
firmation of the prophecy of the destruction of Babylon,
which was a thing at a distance, is here given in the pro¬
phecy of the destruction of the Assyrian army that in¬
vaded the land, which happened not long after, v. 24 . . 27.
III. The success of Hezekiah against the Philistines is
here foretold, and the advantages which his people
would gain thereby, v. 28 . . 32.
1. I A OR the Lord will have mercy on Ja-
X. cob, and will yet choose Israel, and
set them in their own land : and the stran¬
gers shall be joined with them, and they
shall cleave to the house of Jacob. 2. And
the people shall take them, and bring them
to their place; and the house of Israel shall
possess them in the land of the Lord for
servants and handmaids: and they shall
take them captives, whose captives they
were; and they shall rule over their op¬
pressors. 3. And it shall come to pass, in
the day that the Lord shall give thee rest
from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and
from the hard bondage wherein thou wast
made to serve.
This comes in here as the reason why Babylon
must be overthrown and ruined; because God has
mercy in store for his people, and therefore, 1. The
injuries done to them must be reckoned for, and re¬
venged upon their persecutors. Mercy to Jacob
will be wrath and ruin to Jacob’s impenitent, im¬
placable adversaries, such as Babylon was. 2. The
yoke of oppression which Babylon had long laid on
their necks, must be broken off, and they must be
set at liberty; in order to this, the destruction of
Babylon is as necessary as the destmction of Egypt
and Pharaoh was to their deliverance out of that
house of bondage. The same prediction is a pro¬
mise to God’s people, and a threatening to their
enemies, as the same providence has a bright side
towards Israel, and a black and thick side toward
the Egyptians. Observe,
I. The ground of these favours to Jacob and Is¬
rael — the kindness God had for them, and the
choice he had made of them; (t>. 1.) The Lord
will have mercy on Jacob, the seed of Jacob now
captives in Babylon; he will make it to appear that
ne has compassion on them, and has mercy in store
for them, and that he will not contend for ever with'
them, but will yet choose them, will yet again re¬
turn to them, though he had seemed for a time to
refuse and reject them; he will show that they are
his chosen people, and that the election stands sure.
However it may seem to us, God’s mercy is not
gone, nor does his promise fail, Ps. lxxvii. 8.
II. The particular favours he designed them.
1. He would bring them back to their native soil
and air again; The Lord will set them in their own
land, out of which they were driven. A settlement
in the Holy Land, the Land of Promise, is a fruit of
God’s mercy, distinguishing mercy.
2. Many should be proselyted to their holy reli¬
gion, and should return with them, induced to do so
by the manifest tokens of God’s favourable presence
with them, the operations of God’s grace in them,
and his providence for them; Strangers shall bt
joined with them, saying, We will go with you, for
we have heard that God is with you, Zech. viii. 23.
It adds much to the honour and strength of Israel,
when strangers are joined with them, and there are
added to the church many from without, Acts ii.
47. Let not the church’s children be shy of stran¬
gers, but receive those whom God receives, and
own those who cleave to the house of Jacob.
3. These proselytes should not only be a credit to
their cause, but very helpful and serviceable to
them in their return home; the people among whom
they live shall take them, take care of them, take
pity on them, and shall bring them to their place,
as friends, loath to part with such good company,
as servants, willing to do them all the good offices
they could. God’s people, wherever their lot is
cast, should endeavour thus, by all the instances of
an exemplary and winning conversation, to gain an
interest in the affections of those about them, and
recommend religion to their good opinion. This
was fulfilled in the return of the captives from
Babylon, when all that were about them, pursuant
to Cyrus’s proclamation, contributed to their re¬
move, (Ezra i. 4, 6.) not, as the Egyptians, be¬
cause they were sick of them, but because they
loved them.
4. They should have the benefit of their service
when they were returned home, for many would of
choice go with them in the meanest post, rather
than not go with them; They shall possess them in
the land of the Lord, for servants and handmaids;
and as the laws of that land saved it from being the
purgatory of servants, providing that they should
not be oppressed, so the advantages of that land
made it the paradise of those servants that had been
strangers to the covenants of promise, for there was
one law to the stranger, and to them that were born
in the land. They whose lot is cast in the land of
the Lord, a land of light, should take care that then
servants and handmaids may share in the benefit of
it; who will then find it better to be possessed in
the Lord’s land, than possessors in any other.
5. They should triumph over their enemies; and
they that would not be reconciled to them, should
be reduced and humbled by them; They shall takt
them cafitives, whose captives they were, and shall
rule over their oppressors, righteously, but not re¬
vengefully. The Jews perhaps bought Babylonian
prisoners out of the hands of the Medes and Per¬
sians, and made slaves of them: or this might have
its accomplishment in the victories over their ene¬
mies in the times of the Maccabees. It is applica¬
ble to the success of the gospel, when those were
brought into obedience to it, who had made the
greatest opposition to it, as Paul; it is applicable
also to the interest believers have in Christ’s victo¬
ries over our spiritual enemies, when he led cap¬
tivity captive, to the power they gain over their
own corruptions, and to the dominion the upright
shall have in the morning, Ps. xlix. 14.
6. They should see a happy period of all their
grievances; (u. 3.) The Lord shall give thee rest
from thy sorrow, and thy fear, and from the hard
bondage. God himself undertakes to work a bless¬
ed change; (1.) In their state; they shall have rest
from their bondage; the days of their affliction,
though many, shall have an end; and the rod of the
wicked, though it lie long, shall not always lie, c r
their lot. (2.) In their spirit; they shall have rest
from their sorrow and fear, sense of their present
burthens, and dread of worse. Sometimes fear puts
the soul into a ferment as much as sorrow does, and
those must needs feel themselves very easy, to whom
God has given rest from both. They who are freed
'7
ISAIAH, XIV.
fr m the bondage of sin, have a foundation laid for .
true rest from sorrow and fear.
4. That thou slialt take up this proverb
against the king of Babylon, and say, How
hath die oppressor ceased! the golden city
ceased! 5. The Lord hath broken the staff
of die wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
G. 1 le who smote the people in wrath with
a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations
in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
7. Tne whole earth is at rest, and is quiet :
they break forth into singing. 8. Yea, the
rir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of
Lebanon, saying , Since thou art laid down,
no feller is come up against us. 9. Hell
from beneath is moved lor thee to meet thee
at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for
thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it
hath raised up from their thrones all the
kings of the nations. 10. All they shall
speak, and say unto thee, Art thou also be¬
come weak as we ? art thou become like
unto us 1 11. Thy pomp is brought down
to the grave, and the noise of thy viols : the
worm is spread under thee, and the worms
cover thee. 12. How art thou fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how
art thou cut down to the ground, which
didst weaken the nations! 13. For thou
hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into
heaven, I will exalt my throne above the
stars of God ; I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation, in the sides of the north :
3 4. I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds; I will be like the Most High. 15. Yet
thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the
sides of the pit. 1 6. They that see thee shall
narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee,
saying. Is this the man that made the earth
to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 17.
Thai made the world as a wilderness, and
destroyed the cities thereof ; that opened not
the house of his prisoners ? 1 8. All the kings
of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory,
every one in his own house : 19. But thou
art cast out of thy grave like an abominable
branch, and as the raiment of those that are
slain, thrust through with a sword, that go
down to the stones of the pit ; as a carcase
trodden under feet. 20. Thou shalt not be
joined with them in burial, because thou
hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy peo¬
ple : the seed of evil-doers shall never be
renowned. 21. Prepare slaughter for his
children, for the iniquity of their fathers; that
they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor
fill the face of the world with cities. 22.
For I will rise up against them, saith the
Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the
name, and remnant, and son, and nephew,
saith the Lord. 23. I will also make it a
possession for the bittern, and pools of wa¬
ter : and I will sweep it with the besom ol
destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.
The kings of Babylon, successively, were the
great enemies and oppressors of God’s people, and
therefore the destruction of Babylon, the fall of the
king, and the ruin of his family, arc here particu¬
larly taken notice of and triumphed in; in the day
that God has given Israel rest, they shall take up
this proverb against the king of Babylon. We
must not rejoice when our enemy falls, as ours; but
when Babylon, the common enemy of God and his
Israel, sinks, then rejoice over her , thou heaven ,
and ye holy apostles and prophets, Rev. xviii. 20.
The Babylonian monarchy bade fair to be an abso¬
lute, universal, and perpetual one, and, in these
pretensions, t ied with the Almighty; it is therefore
very justly, not only brought down, but insulted
over when it is down; and it is not only the last mo¬
narch, Belshazzar, who was slain on that night that
Babylon was taken, (Dan. v. 30.) who is here tri¬
umphed over, but the whole monarchy, which sunk
in him; not without special reference to Nebu¬
chadnezzar, in whom that monarchy was at its
height. Now here,
I. The fall of the king of Babylon is rejoiced in;
and a most curious, elegant composition is li re
prepared, not to adorn his hearse or monument, but
to expose his memory, and fix a lasting brand of in¬
famy upon it. It gives us an account of the life and
death of this mighty monarch, how he 7 vent down
slain to the pit, though he had been the terror of the
mighty in the land of the living, Ezek. xxxii. 27.
In this parable we may observe,
1. The prodigious height of wealth and prwer at
which this monarch and monarchy arrived. Baby¬
lon was a golden city, (v. 4.) It is a Chaldee word
in the original, which intimates that she used to call
herself so; she abounded in riches, and excelh d all
other cities, as gold does all other metals. She is
gold-thirsty, or an exactress of gold; so some re; d
it; for how do men get wealth to themselves, but In-
squeezing it out of others? The New Jems; km is
the only truly golden city. Rev. xxi. 18, 21. The
king of Babylon, having so much wealth in his do¬
minions, and the absolute command of it, by the
help of that ruled the nations, (y. 6.) gave them
law, read them their doom, and, at his pleasun .
weakened the nations, (i>. 12.) that they might it t
be able to make head against him. Such vast vic¬
torious armies did he bring into the field, th; t,
which way soever he looked, he made the earth to
tremble, and shook kingdoms; (v. 16.) all his neigh¬
bours were afraid of him, and were forced to sub¬
mit to him. No one man could do this by his < wn
ersonal strength, but by the numbers he has at his
eck. Great tyrants, by making seme do what
they will, make others suffer what they will. How
piteous is the case of mankind, which thus seems to
be in a combination against itself, and its own rights
and liberties, which could not be mined but by its
own strength.
2. The wretched abuse of all this wealth and
power, which the king of Babylrn was guilty of, in
two' instances:
(1.) Great oppression and cmelty; he is known
by the name of the oppressor, (n. 4.) he has the
sceptre of the rulers, (v. 5.) has the command of all
the princes about him ; but it is the staff of the wick¬
ed, a staff with which he supports himself in his
wickedness, and wickedly strikes all about him;
He smote the people, not in justice, for their coi
rection and reformation, but in wrath, (v. 6.) to
gratify his own peevish resentments, and that with
a continual stroke, pursued them with his forces,
”8
ISAIAH, XIV.
and gave them no respite, no breathing time, no
cessation of arms. He ruled the nations, but he
ruled them in anger, every thing he said and did
was in passi. n; so that he who had the government
of all about him, had no government of himself; he
made the world as a wilderness, as if he had taken
a pride in being the plague of his generation, and
a curse to mankind, (x>. 17.) Great princes used to
glory in building cities, but he gloried in destroying
them; see Ps. ix. 6.
Two particular instances are here given of his ty¬
ranny, worse than all the rest : [1.] That he was
severe to his captives; (v. 17.) He opened not the
house of his prisoners; he did not let them loose
homeward; so the margin reads it; he kept them in
close confinement, and never would suffer any to re¬
turn to their own land. This refers especially to
the people of the Jews, and it is that which fills up
the measure of the king of Babylon’s iniquity, that
he had detained the people of God in captiv ity, and
would by no means release them; nay, and by pro¬
faning the vessels of God’s temple at Jerusalem, did,
in effect, say that they should never return to their
former use, Dan. v. 2, 3. For this he was quickly
and justly turned out by one, whose first act was to
open the house of God’s prisoners, and send home
the temple-vessels. [2.] That he was oppressive
to his own subjects; (v. 20. ) Thou hast destroyed
thy land, and slain thy people; and what did he get
by that, when the wealth of the land, and the mul¬
titude of the people are the strength and honour of
the prince, who never rules so safely, so gloriously,
as in the hearts and affections of the people? Butty-
rants sacrifice their interests to their lusts and pas¬
sions; and God will reckon with them for their bar¬
barous usage of those who are under their power,
whom they think they may use as they please.
(2.) Great pride and haughtiness; notice is here
taken of his pomp, the extravagancy of his retinue;
(n.Tl.) he affected to appear in the utmost magni¬
ficence; but that was not the worst, it was the tem¬
per of his mind, and the elevation of that, that
ripened him for ruin; (k. 13, 14.) Thou hast said
in thy heart, like Lucifer, I will ascend into heaven.
Here is the language of his vainglory, borrowed
perhaps from that of the angels who fell, who, not
content with their first estate, the post assigned
them, would vie with God, and become not only in¬
dependent on him, but equal with him : or perhaps
it refers to the story of Nebuchadnezzar, who, when
he would be more than a man, was justly turned
into a brute, Dan. iv. 30. The king of Babylon
here promises himself, [1.] That in pomp and pow¬
er he shall exceed all his neighbours, and shall ar¬
rive at the very height of earthly glory and felicity;
that he shall be as great and happy as this world
can make him; that is the heaven ot a carnal heart,
and to that he hopes to ascend, and to be as far
above those about him, as the heaven is above the
earth. Princes are the stars of God, which give
some light to this dark world; (Matth. xxiv. 29.)
but he will exalt his throne above them all. [2.]
That he shall particularly insult over God’s mount
Zion, which Belshazzar, in his last drunken frolic,
seemed to have had a particular spite against, when
he called for the vessels of the temple at Jerusalem,
to profane them; see Dan. v. 2. In the same hu¬
mour, he here said, I will sit upoti the mount of the
congregation, (it is the same word that is used for
the holy convocations,) in the sides of the north; so
Mount Zion is said to be situated,' Ps. xlviii. 2.
Perhaps Belshazzar was projecting an expedition to
Jerusalem to triumph in the ruins of it, then when
God cut him off. [3.] That he will vie with the
God of Israel, of whom he had indeed heard glo¬
rious things, that he had his residence above the
height of the clouds; “ But thither,” says he, “will
I ascend, and be as great as he; 1 will be like him
whom they call the Most High." It is a gracious
ambition to covet to be like the Most Holy, for he
has said, Be ye holy, for l am holy; but it is a sin¬
ful ambition to aim to be like the Most High, for he
has said, He who exalts himself shall be abased;
and the devil drew our first parents in to eat forbid-
den fruit, by premising them that they slu uld be
as gods. [4.] That he shall himself be deified af¬
ter his death, as some of the first founders of the
Assyrian monarchy were, and stars had even their
names from them, “ But,” (says he) “ I will exalt
my throne above them all.” Such as this was his
pride, which was the undoubted omen of his de¬
struction.
3. The utter ruin that should be brought upon
him:
(1.) It is foretold that his wealth and power
should be broken, and a final period put to his pomp
and pleasure; he has been long an oppressor, but he
shall cease to be so, v. 4. Had he ceased to be so
by true repentance and reformation, according to
the advice Daniel gave to Nebuchadnezzar, it might
have been a lengthening of his life and tranquillity.
But those that will not cease to sin, God will make
to cease. The golden city, which, one would have
thought, might have continued for ever, is ceased;
there is an end of that Babylon. The Lord, the
righteous God, has broken the staff of that wicked
prince, broken it over his head, in token of the di¬
vesting him of his office. God has taken his power
from him, and disabled him to do any more mis¬
chief: he has broken the sceptres; for even those
are brittle things, soon broken, and often justly.
(2.) That he himself should be seized; He is per¬
secuted; (y. 6.) violent hands are laid upon him, and
none hinders. It is the common fate of tyrants,
when they fall into the power of their enemies, to
be deserted by their flatterers, whom they took for
their friends. We read of another enemy like this
here, of whom it is foretold that he shall come to his
end, and none shall help him, Dan. xi. 45. Tiberius
and Nero thus saw themselves abandoned.
(3.) That he should be slain, undg’o down to the
congregation of the dead, to be free among them, as
the slain that arena more remembered, Ps. lxxxviii.
5. He shall be weak as the dead are, and like unto
them, v. 10. His pomp is brought down to the grave,
it perishes with him ; the pomp of his life shall not,
as usual, end in a funeral pomp. True glory, that
is, true grace, will go up with the soul to heaven,
but vain pomp will go down with the body to the
grave, there is an end of it. The noise of his viols
is now heard no more; death is a farewell to the
pleasures, as well as to the pomps of this world.
This mighty prince, that used to lie on a bed of
down, and tread upon rich carpets, and to have co¬
verings and canopies exquisitely fine, now shall have
the worms spread under him, and the worms cover¬
ing him, (v. 11.) worms bred out of his own putre¬
fied body, which, though he fancied himself a god,
proved him to be made of the same mould with
other men. When we are pampering and decking
our bodies, it is good to remember they will be
worms’ meat shortly.
(4. ) That he should not have the honour of a bu¬
rial, much less of a decent one, and in the sepulchres
of his ancestors; The kings of the nations lie in glo¬
ry; {v. 18.) either the dead bodies themselves, so
embalmed as to be preserved from putrefaction, as
of old among the Egyptians; or their effigies (as
with us) erected over their graves. Thus, as if they
would defy the ignominy cf death, they lay in a
poor, faint sort of glory, every one in his own house,
his own burving-place; for the grave is the house
appointed for all living, a sleeping-house, where the
busy and troublesome will lie quiet, and the treu
73
ISAIAH, XIV.
Died and weary lie at rest. Bat this king of Baby¬
lon is east out, and has no grave; (n. 19.) his dead
body is thrown, like that of a beast, into the next
ditch, or upon the next dunghill, like an abomina¬
ble branch of some noxious, poisonous plant, which
nobody will touch; or as the clothes of malefactors
put to death, and by the hand of justice thrust
through with a sword, on whose dead bodies heaps
of stones are raised, or they are thrown into some
deep quarry, among the stones of the pit. Nay, the
king ot Babylon’s dead body shall be as the carcases
of those who are slain in a battle, who are trodden
under feet by the horses and soldiers, and crushed
to pieces: thus he shall not be joined with his ances-
ters in burial, v. 20. To be denied decent burial
is a disgrace, which, if it be inflicted for righteous¬
ness-sake (asPs. lxix. 2.) may, as other similar re¬
proaches, be rejoiced in; (Matth. v. 12.) it is the lot
of the two witnesses, Rev. xi. 9. But if, as here, it
be the just punishment of iniquity, it is an intima¬
tion that evil pursues impenitent sinners beyond
death, greater evil than that, and that they shall
vise to everlasting shame and contemfit.
4. The many triumphs that should be in his fall.
(1.) Those whom he had been a great tyrant
and terror to, will be glad that they are rid of him;
( v . 7, 8.) Now that he is gone, the whole earth is
at rest, and is quiet, for he was the great disturber
of the peace; now they all break forth into singing,
i ir when the wicked perish, there is shouting; (rrov.
xi. 10.) the fir-trees and cedars of Lebanon now
think themselves safe, there is no danger now of
their being cut down, to make way for his vast ar¬
mies, or to furnish him with timber. The neigh¬
bouring princes, and great men, who are compared
to fir-trees and cedars, (Zech. xi. 2.) may now be
easy, and out of fear of being dispossessed of their
rights, for the hammer of the whole earth is cut
asunder and broken, (Jer. 1. 23.) the axe that boast¬
ed itself against him that hewed with it, ch. x. 15.
(2.) The congregation of the dead will bid him
welcome to them, especially those whom he had
barbarously hastened thither; (v. 9, 10.) “ Hell
from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy
coming, and to compliment thee upon thy arrival at
their dark and dreadful regions. ” The chief ones
of the earth, who, when they were alive, were kept
in awe by him, and durst not come near him, but
rose from their thrones, to resign them to him, these
shall upbraid him with it; when he comes into the
state of the dead, they shall go forth to meet him,
as they used to do when he made his public entry
into cities he was become master of; with such a
parade shall he be introduced into those regions of
horror, to make his disgrace and torment the more
grievous to him. They shall scoffingly rise from
their thrones and seats there, and ask him if he will
please to sit down in them, as he used to do in their
thrones on earth? The confusion that will then cover
him they shall make a jest of; “ Art thou also be¬
come weak as we? Who would have thought it? It
is what thou thyself didst not expect it would ever
come to, when thou wast in every thing too hard for
us. Thou that didst rank thyself among the im¬
mortal gods, art thou come to take thy fate among
us poor mortal men? Where is thy pomp now, and
where thy mirth? How art thou fallen from heaven,
Q Lucifer, son of the morning," v. 11, 12. The
king of B ibylon has shone as bright as the morning-
star, and fancied that, wherever he came, he
Drought day along with him; and is such an illus¬
trious prince as this fallen, such a star become a clod
of clay? Did ever any man fall from such a height
of honour and power into such an abyss of shame
and misery? This has been commonly alluded to,
(and it is a mere allusion,) to illustrate the fall of
the angels, who were as morning-stars, Job xxxviii.
7. But hot u arc they fallen! How art thou cut
down to the ground, and levelled with it, that didst
weaken the nations! God will reckon with these
that invade the rights, and disturb the peace, of
mankind, for he is King of nations as well as saints.
Now this reception of the- king of Babylon into
the regions of the dead, which is here described,
surely is something more than, a flight of fancy, and
is designed to speak these solid truths: [1.] That
there is an invisible world, a world of spirits, to
which the souls of men remove at death, and in
which they exist and act in a state of separation
from the body. [2.] That separate souls have ac¬
quaintance and converse with each other, though
we have none with them; the parable of the rich
man and Lazarus intimates this. [3.] That death
and hell will be death and hell indeed to those that
fall unsanctified from the height of this world’s
pomps, and the fulness of its pleasures: Hon, re¬
member, Luke xvi. 25.
(3.) Spectators will stand amazed at his, fall.
When he shall be brought down to hi U, to the sides
of the pit, and to be lodged there, (n. 15.) they that
see him shall narrowly look upon hint, and consider
him, they shall scarcely believe their own eyes;
never was death so great a change to any man as it
is to him. Is it possible that a man who a few
hours ago looked so great, so pleasant, and was so
splendidly adorned and attended, should now look
so ghastly, so despicable, and lie thus naked and
neglected? Is this the man that made the earth to
tremble, and shook kingdoms? Who would have
thought he should ever have come to this? Psalm
lxxxii. 7.
Lastly, Here is an inference drawn from all
this; (d. 20.) The seed of evil-doers shall never
be renowned. The princes of the Babylonian mo¬
narch were all a seed of evil-doers, oppressors of
the people of God, and therefore they had this in¬
famy entailed upon them. They shall not be re¬
nowned forever; so some read it; they may look
big for a time, but all their pomp will only render
their disgrace at last the more shameful ; there is no
credit in a sinful way.
II. The utter ruin of the royal family is here fore¬
told, together with the desolation of the royal city.
1. The royal family is to be wholly extirpated.
The Medes and Persians that are to be employed
in this destroying work, are ordered, when they
have slain Belshazzar, to prepare slaughter for his
children, (y. 21.) and not to spare them; the little
ones of Babylon must be dashed against the stones,
Ps. cxxxvii. 9. These orders sound very harsh;
but, (1.) They must suffer for the iniquity of their
fathers, which is often visited upon the children, to
show how much God hates sin, and is displeased at
it, and to deter sinners from it, which is the end of
punishment. Nebuchadnezzar had slain Zedekiah’s
sons, (Jer. lii. 10.) and for that iniquity of his, his
seed are paid in the same coin. (2.) They must
be cut off now, that they may not rise up to possess
the land, and do as much mischief in their day
as their fathers had done in theirs; that they may
not be as vexatious to the world by building cities
for the support of their tyranny, (which was Nim¬
rod’s policy, Gen. x. 11.) as their ancestors had
been by destroying cities. Pharaoh oppressed Israel
in Egypt by 'setting them to build cities, Exod. i. 11.
The providence of God consults the welfare of na¬
tions more th in we are aware of, by cutting iff
some who, if they had lived, would have done mis¬
chief. Justly may the enemies cut < ff the children;
Tor I will rise up against them, saith the I.ord of
hosts, v. 22. And if God reveal it as his mind that
he will have it done, as none can hinder it. so none
need scruple to further it. Babvlon perhaps was
proud of the numbers of her royal family, but God
80
ISAIAH, XIV.
had determined to cut off the name ana remnant of
it, so that none should be left, to have both the sons
and grandsons of the king slain; and yet we are sure
he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any
of his creatures.
2. The royal city is to be demolished and desert¬
ed, v. 23. It shall be a possession for solitary fright¬
ful birds, particularly the bittern, joined with the
cormorant and the owl, ch. xxxiv. 11. And thus
the utter destruction of the New Testament Baby¬
lon is illustrated, (Rev. xviii. 2.) it is become a cage
of every unclean and hateful bird. Babylon lay
low, so that when it was deserted, and no care taken
to drain the land, it soon became pools of water,
standing puddles, as unhealthful as unpleasant: and
thus God will sweep it with the besom of destruction.
When a people have nothing among them but dirt
and filth, and will not be made clean with the besom
of reformation, what can they expect but to be
swept off the face of the earth with the besom of
destruction?
24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn, say¬
ing, Surely as I have thought, so shall it
come to pass; and as I have purposed, so
shall it stand; 25. That I will break the
Assyrian in my land, and upon my moun¬
tains tread him under loot: then shall his
yoke depart from off them, and his burden
depart from off their shoulders. 26. This is
the purpose that is purposed upon the whole
earth; and this is the hand that is stretched
out upon all the nations. 27. For the Lord
of hosts hath purposed, and who shall dis¬
annul it? and his hand is stretched out, and
who shall turn it back 1 28. In the year that
king Ahaz died, was this burden. 29. Re-
ioice not thou, whole Palestina, because the
rod of trim that smote thee is broken : for out
of the serpent’s root shall come forth a
cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery fly¬
ing serpent. 30. And the first-bom of the
poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down
in safety : and I will kill thy root with famine,
and he shall slay thy remnant. 31. Howl,
O gate; cry, O city: thou, whole Palestina,
art dissolved : for there shall come from the
north a smoke, and none shall be alone in
his appointed times. 32. What shall one
then answer the messengers of the nation ?
That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the
poor of his people shall trust in it.
The destruction of Babylon and the Chaldean
empire was a thing at a gn at distance; the empire
was not risen to any considerable height when its
fall was here foretold: it was almost 200 years from
this prediction of Babylon’s fall to the accomplish¬
ment of it. Now the people to whom Isaiah pro¬
phesied, might ask, “ What is this to us, or what
shall we be the better for it, and what assurance
shall we huv< of it?” To both which questions he
answers in these verses, by a prediction of the ruin
both of the Assyrians and of the Philistines, the pre¬
sent enemies that infested them, which they should
shortly be eye-witnesses of, and have benefit by.
These would be a present comfort to them, and a
pledge of future deliverance, for the confirming of
the faith of their posterity. God is to his people
the same to-day that he was yesterday, and will oe
hereafter; and he will for ever be the same that he
has been, and is. Here is,
1. Assurance given of tfie destruction of the As¬
syrians; (x>. 25.) I will break the Assyrian in my
land. Sennacherib brought a very formidable army
into the land of Judah, but there God broke it,
broke all his regiments by the sword cf a destroying
angel. Note, Those who wrongfully invade God’s
land, shall find it is at their peril, and those who with
unhallowed feet trample upon his holy mountains,
shall themselves there be trodden under foot. God
undertakes to do it himself, his people having no
might against the great company that came against
them; “ 1 will break the Assyrian; let me alone to
doit, who have angels, hosts ot angels at command.”
Now the breaking of the power of the Assyrian
would be the breaking of the yoke from off the neck
of God’s people. His burthen shall depart from off
their shoulders, the burthen of quartering that vast
army, and paying contribution; therefore the Assy¬
rian must be broken, that Judah and Jerusalem
may be eased. Let those that make themselves a
yoke and a burthen to God’s people, see what they
are to expect.
Now, 1. This prophecy is here ratified and con¬
firmed by an oath; (x>. 24.) The Lord of hosts has
sworn, that he might show the immutability cf his
Counsel, and that his people may have strong con¬
solation, Heb. vi. 17, 18. What is here said of this
particular intention, is true of all Gcd’s purposes;
As I hav » thought, so shall it come to / lass ; for he
is one in mind, and who can turn him? Nor is he
ever put upon new counsels, or obliged to take new
measures, as men often are, when things occur
which they did not foresee. Let those who are the
called according to God’s fiur/iose, comfort them¬
selves with this, that as God has ftur/tosed, so shall
it stand, and on that their stability does depend.
2. The breaking of the Assyrian power is made
a specimen of what God would do with all the pow¬
ers of the nations that were engaged against him and
his church; (t. 26.) This is the purpose that is pur¬
posed upon the whole earth, the whole world, so the
LXX; all the inhabitants of the earth, so the Chal¬
dee; not only upon the Assyrian empire, (which
was then reckoned to be in a manner all the world,
as afterward the Roman empire was, (Luke ii. 1.)
and with it many nations fell, that had dependence
upon it,) but upon all those states and potentates
that should at any time attack his land, his moun-
t uns; the fate of the Assyrian shall be theirs, they
shall soon find that they meddle to their own hurt.
Jerusalem, as it was to the Assyrians, will be to all
people a burthensome stone; all that burthen them¬
selves with it, shall infallibly be cut to pieces by. it,
Zech. xii. 3, 6. The same hand of power and jus¬
tice that is now to be stretched out against the As¬
syrian for invading the people of God, shall be
stretched out upon all the nations that do likewise.
It is still true, and will be ever so, Cursed is he that
curses God’s Israel, Num. xxiv. 9. God will be an
Enemy to his people’s enemies, Exod. xxiii. 22.
3. All the powers on earth are defied to change
God’s counsel; (x). 27.) “ The Lord of hosts has
purposed to break the Assyrian's yoke, and every
rod of the wicked laid upon the lot of the righteous;
and who shall disannul this purpose? Who can per¬
suade him to recall it, or find a plea to evade it?
His hand is stretched out to execute this purpose;
and who has power enough to turn it back, or to
stay the course of his judgments?”
II. Assurance is likewise given of the destruction
of the Philistines and their power. This burthen,
this prophecy, that lay as a load upon them, to sink
their state, came in the year that king Ahaz died;
which was the first year of Hezekiali’s reign;
81
ISAIAH, XV.
t-v 28. ) when a good king came in the room of a bad
one, then this acceptable message was sent among
them. When we reform, then, and not till then,
we may look for good news from heaven. Now here
we have,
1. A rebuke *to the Philistines for triumphing in
the death of king Uzziah. He had been as a serpent
to them, had bitten them, had smitten them, had
brought them very low; (2 Chron. xxvi. 6.) he
warred against the Philistines , broke down their
walls, and built cities among them; but when Uz¬
ziah died, or rather abdicated, it was told with jov
in Gath, and f lublished in the streets of Askelon. It
is inhuman thus to rejoice in our neighbour’s fall;
but let them not be secure, for though, when Uzzi¬
ah was dead, they made reprisals upon Ahaz, and
took many of the cities of Judah, (2 Chron. xxviii.
18.) yet out of the root of Uzziah should come a
cockatrice, a more formidable enemy than Uzziah
was, even Hezekiali, the fruit of whose government
should be to them a fiery flying serpent, for he
should fall upon them with incredible swiftness and
fury: we find he did so; (2 Kings xviii. 8.) He
smote the Philistines even to Gaza. Note, If God
remove one useful instrument in the midst of his
usefulness, he can, and will, raise up others to carry-
on and complete the same work that they were em¬
ployed in, and left unfinished.
2. A prophecy of the destruction of the Philis¬
tines by famine and war. (1.) By famine; (u. 30.)
when the people of God, whom the Philistines had
wasted, and distressed, and impoverished, shall en-
jov plenty again, and the first-born of their floor
slum' feed, (the poorest among them shall have food
convenient,) then, as for the Philistines, God will
kill their root with famine; that which was their
strength, and with which they thought themselves
established as the tree is by the root, shall be starved
and dried up by degrees, as those die, that die by
famine; and thus he shall slay the remnant: those
that escape from one destruction, are but reserved
for another; and when there are but a few left, those
few shall at length be cut off, for God will make a full
end. (2.) By war; when the needy of God’s people
shall lie down in safety, {v. 30. ) not terrified with the
alarms of war, but delighting in the songs of peace,
then every gate and every city of the Philistines
shall be howling and crying, (v. 31.) and there shall
be a total dissolution of their state; for from Judea,
which lay north of the Philistines, there shall come
a smoke, a vast army raising a great dust, a smoke
that shall b<- the indication of a devouring fire at
hand: and none of all that army shall be alone in his
appointed times; none shall straggle or be missing
when they are to engage; but they shall be vigor¬
ous and unanimous in attacking the common ene¬
my, when the time appointed for the doing of it
comes. None of them shall decline the public ser¬
vice, as, in Deborah’s time, Reuben abode among
the sheepfolds, and Asher on the sea-shore, Judg.
v. 16, 17. When God has work to do, he will won¬
derfully endow and dispose men for it.
III. The good use that should be made of all
these events for the encouragement of the people of
God; (v. 32.) What shall one then answer the mes¬
sengers of the nations? This implies, 1. That the
great things God does for his people, are, and can¬
not but be, taken notice of by their neighbours;
they among the heathen make remarks upon them,
Ps. cxxvi. 2. 2. That messengers will be sent to
inquire concerning them. Jacob and Israel had long
been a people distinguished from all others, and
dignified with uncommon favours; and therefore
some, for good-will, others, for ill-will, and all, for
curiosity, are inquisitive concerning them. 3. That
it concerns us always to be ready to give a reason
of the hope that we have in the providence of God,
Vol. iv. — L
as well as in his grace, in answer to every one tho
asks it, with meekness and fear, 1 Pet. iii. 15. And
we need go no further than the sacred tinths of
God’s word, fora reason; for God, in all he does,
is fulfilling the scripture. 4. The issue of God’s
dealings with his people shall be so clearly and ma
nifestly glorious, that any one, every one, shall be
able to give an account of them to those that inquire
concerning them. Now the answer which is to be
given to the messengers of the nations, is, (1.) That
God is, and will be, a faithful Friend to his church
and people, and will secure and advance their in¬
terests. Tell them that the Lord has founded Zion.
This gives an account both of the work itself that
is done, and of the reason of it. What is Gcd
doing in the world, and what is he designing in all
the revolutions of states and kingdoms, in the ruin
of some nations, and the rise of others? He is, in all
this, founding Zion; he is aiming at the advance¬
ment of his church’s interests; and what he aims at
he will accomplish. The messengers of the nations,
when they sent to inquire concerning Hezekiah’s
successes against the Philistines, expected to learn
by what politics, counsels, and arts of war, he carried
his point; they are told that they were not owing to
any thing of that nature, but to the care God took of
his church, and the interest he had in it. The Lord
has founded Zion, and therefore the Philistines must
fall. (2.) That his church has, and will have, a de¬
pendence upon him; The poor of his people shall
trust in it, his poor pet pie who have been brought
very low, even the poorest of them; they more than
others, for they have nothing else to trust to; (Zcpli.
iii. 12, 13.) the poor receive the gospel, Matth. x\
5. They shall trust to this, to this great truth,
that the Lord has founded Zion; on this they shall
build their hopes, and not on an arm of flesh. This
ought to give us abundant satisfaction as to public af¬
fairs, that, however it goes with particular persons,
parties, and interests, the church, having God him¬
self for its founder, and Christ the Rock for its
Foundation, cannot but stand firm; The poor of his
people shall betake themselves to it; so some read
it; shall join themselves to his church, and embark
in its interests; they shall concur with God in his
designs to establish his people, and shall wind up
all on the same plan, and make all their little con¬
cerns and projects bend to that. They that take
God’s people for their people, must be willing to
take their lot with them, and cast in their lot among
them. Let the messengers of the nations know that
the poor Israelites, who trust in God, having, like
Zion, their foundation in the holy mountains, (Ps.
lxxxvii. 1.) are like Zion, which cannot be removed,
but abides for ever, (Ps. exxv. 1.) and therefore
they will not fear what man can do unto them.
CHAP. XV.
This chapter, and that which follows it, are the burthen of
Moab; a prophecy of some great desolation that was
coming upon that country, which bordered upon this
land of Israel, and had ollen been injurious and vexa¬
tious to it, though the Moabites were descended from
Lot, Abraham’s kinsman and companion, and though
the Israelites, by the appointment of God, had spared
them, when they might both easily and justly have cut
them off with their neighbours. In this chapter, we have,
I. Great lamentations made by the Moabites, and by the
prophet himself for them, v. 1 . .5. II. The great ca¬
lamities which should occasion that lamentation, and
justify it, v. 6 . . 9.
1. rpHE burden of Moab. Because in
JL the night Ar of Moab is laid waste,
and brought to silence; because in the night
Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to
silence: 2. He is gone up to Bajith, and
32
ISAIAH, XV.
to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab ji
shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba;
on all their heads shall, be. baldness, and
every beard cut off. 3. In their streets they
shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the
tops of their houses, and in their streets
every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.
4. And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their
voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz: there¬
fore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry
out; his life shall be grievous unto him. 5.
My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugi¬
tives shall flee unto Zoar, a heifer of three
years old : for by the mounting up of Luhith
with weeping shall they go it up; for in the
way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry
of destruction.
The country of Moab was of small extent, but
very fruitful; it bordered upon the lot of Reuben on
the other side Jordan, and upon the Dead sea. Na¬
omi went to sojourn there, when there was a famine
in Canaan. This is the country which (it is here
foretold) should be wasted and grievously harass¬
ed; not quite ruined, for we find another prophecy
of its ruin, (Jer. 48. ) which was accomplished by
Nebuchadnezzar. This prophecy here was to be
fulfilled within three years, ( ch . xvi. 14.) and there¬
fore was fulfilled in the devastations made of that
country by the army of the Assyrians, which for
many years ravaged those parts, enriching them¬
selves with spoil and plunder. It was done either
by the army of Shalmaneser, about the time of the
taking of Samaria in the fourth year of Hezekiah,
(as is most probable,) or by the army of Sennache¬
rib, which, ten years after, invaded Judah.
We cannot suppose that the prophet went among
the Moabites to preach them this sermon; but he
delivered it to his own people, (1.) To show them,
that though judgment begins at'the house of God,
it shall not end there; that there is a Providence
which governs the world and all the nations of it;
and that to the God of Israel the worshippers of
false gods were accountable, and liable to his judg¬
ments. (2.) To give them a proof of God’s care of
them and jealousy for them ; and to convince them
that God was an Enemy to their enemies, for such
the Moabites had often been. (3. ) That the accom¬
plishment of this prophecy, now shortly, ( within
three years,) might be a confirmation of the pro¬
phet’s mission, and of the truth of all his other pro¬
phecies, and might encourage the faithful to depend
upon them.
Now concerning Moab, it here foretold,
1. That their chief cities should be surprised and
taken in a night by their enemy, probabiv because
the inhabitants, as the men of Laish, indulged them¬
selves in ease and luxury, and dwelt securely;
(v. 1.) Therefore there shall be great grief, be¬
cause in the night ytr of Moab is laid waste, and
Kir of Moab; the two principal cities of that king¬
dom. In the night that they were taken, or sack¬
ed, Moab was cut off. The seizing of them laid
the whole country open, and made all the wealth
of it an easy prey to the victorious army. Note, (1.)
Great changes and very dismal ones may be made
in a very little time. Here are two cities lost in a
night, though that is the time of quietness: let us
therefore lie down as those that know not what a
night may bring forth. (2. ) As the country feeds
the cities, so the cities protect the country, and
neither can say to the other, I have no need of thee.
i 2. That the Moabites, being hereDy put into th<
utmost consternation imaginable, should have re
course to their idols for relief, and pour out theit
tears before them; Cv. 2.) He, that is, Moab, es
pecially the king of Moab, is gone u/i to Bajitt., or
rather, to the house or temple bf Chemosh ; and
Dibon, the inhabitants of Dibon, are gone up to the
high places, where they worshipped their idols,
there to make their complaints. Note, It becomes
a people in distress to seek their God; and shall not
we then thus walk in the name of the Lord our God,
and call upon him in the time of trouble, before
whom we shall not shed such useless profitless tears
as they did before their gods?
3. That there should be the voice of universal
griT, all the country over. It is described here
elegantly and very a'ffectingly. Moab shall be a
vale of tears; a little map of this world, v. 2.
The Moabites shall lament the loss of Nebo and
Medeba, two considerable cities, which, it is likelv,
were plundered and burnt. They shall tear their
hair for grief, to that degree, that 'on all their heads
shall be baldness, and they shall cut off their beards,
according to the customary expressions of mourning
in those times and countries. When they go abroad,
they shall be so far from coveting to appear hand¬
some, that in the streets they shall gird themselves
with sackcloth; and perhaps being forced to use
that poor clothing, the enemies having stripped
them, and rifled their houses, and left them no other
clothing. When they come home, instead of ap¬
plying themselves to their business, they shall go up
to the tops of their houses, which were flat-roofed,
and there they shall weep abundantly, nay, they
shall howl, in crying to their gods': those that
cry not to God with their hearts, do but howl
vfion their beds, Hos. vii. 14. Amos viii. 3. They
shall come down with weefling; so the margin
reads it; they shall come down from their high
places and the tops of their houses, weeping as
much as they did when they went up. Prayer to
the true God is heart’s-ease, (1 Sam. i. 18.') but
prayers to false gods are not. Divers places are
here named, that should be full of lamentation, (v.
4. ) and it is but a poor relief to have so many fel¬
low-sufferers, fellow-mourners; to a public spirit it
is rather an aggravation, socios habuisse doloris —
to have associates in wo.
4. That the courage of their militia should fail
them; though they were bred soldiers, and were
well armed, yet they shall cry out, and shriek, for
fear, and every one of them shall have his life
become grier’ous to him; though it is a military' life,
which delights in danger, v. 4. See how easily
God can dispirit the stoutest of men, and deprive a
nation of benefit, by those whom it most depended
upon for strength and defence. The Moabites shall
generally be so overwhelmed with grief, that life
itself shall be a burthen to them. God can easily
make weary of life those that are fondest of it.
5. That the outcry for these calamities should
propagate grief to all the adjacent parts, v. 5. (1.)
The prophet himself has very sensible impressions
made upon Iris spirit by the prediction of it; “ My
heart shall cry out for Moab; though they are ene¬
mies to Israel, they are our fellow-creatures, rf the
same rank with us, and therefore it should grieve us
to see them in such distress, the rather because we
know not how soon it may be our own turn to drink
of the same cup of trembling.” Note, It becomes
God’s ministers to be of a tender spirit, not to de¬
sire the woful day, but to be like their Master, who
wept over Jerusalem, even then when he gave her
up to ruin; like their God, who desires not the
death of sinners. (2.) All the neighbouring cities
shall echo to the lamentations of Moab. The fu
gitives, who are making the best of their way t«
8.3
ISAIAH, XVI.
shift for their own safety, shall carry the cry to
Zoar, the city to which their ancestor Lot fled for
shelter from Sodom’s flames, which was spared for
his sake. They shall make as great a noise with their
cry, as a heifer of three years old does, when she
goes hiving for her calf, as 1 Sam. vi. 12. They
shall go up the hill of Luhith, as David went up the
ascent of mount Olivet, many a weary step, and all
in tears, 2 Sam. xv. 30. And in the way of Horo-
niam, (a dual termination,) the way that leads to
the two Beth-horons, the upper and the nether,
which we read of, Josh. xvi. 3, 5. Thither the cry
shall be carried, there it should be raised; even at
that great distance, a cry of destruction, that shall
be the cry; like, “Fire, fire, we are all undone.”
Grief is catching, so is fear, and justly, for trouble
is spreading, and when it begins, who knows where
it will end?
6. For the waters of Nimrim shall be de¬
solate: for the hay is withered away, the
grass faileth, there is no green thing. 7.
Therefore the abundance they have gotten,
and that which they have laid up, shall
they carry away to the brook of the wil¬
lows. 8. For the cry is gone round about
the borders of Moab ; the howling thereof
unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto
Beer-elim. 9. For the waters of Dimon
shall be full of blood : for I will bring more
upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth
of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.
Here the prophet further describes the woful and
piteous lamentations that should be heard through¬
out all the country of Moab, when it should become
a prey to the Assyrian army. By this time the cry
is gone round about all the borders of Moab, v. 8.
Every corner of the country has received the alarm,
and is in the utmost confusion upon it. It is got to
Eglaim, a city at one end of the country; and to
Beer-elim, a city as far the other way. Where sin
has been general, and all flesh have corrupted their
wav, what can be expected but a general desolation?
T wo things are here spoken of, as causes of this
lamentation.
1. The waters of .Yimrim are desolate, (y. 6.)
The country is plundered and impoverished, and
all the wealth and substance of it swept away by
the victorious army. Famine is usually the sail
effect of war. Look into the fields that were
well watered, the fruitful meadows that yielded
delightful prospects, and more delightful pro¬
ducts, and there all is eaten up, or carried off' by
the enemy’s foragers, and the remainder trodden to
dirt by their horses. If an army encamp upon
green fields, their greenness is soon gone. Look
into the houses, and they are stripped too; (x>. 7. )
The abundance of wealth that they had gotten with
a great deal of art and industry, and that which they
have laid ufi with a great deal of care and confi¬
dence, shall they carry away to the brook of the
willows. Either the owners shall carry it thither
to hide it, or the enemies shall carry it thither to
pack it up, and send it home, by water perhaps, to
their own country. Note, (1.) Those that are
eager to get abundance of this world, and solicitous
to lay up what they have gotten, little consider
wh it may become of it, and in how little a time it
may be all taken from them. Great abundance,
by tempting the robbers, exposes the owners; and
they who depend upon it to protect them, often find
' it does but betray them. (2.) In times of distress,
great riches are often great burthens, and do but
increase the owner’s care or the enemies’ strength.
Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator — The penny-
less traveller will exult, when accosted by a robber,
in having nothing about him.
2. The waters of Dimon are turned into blood,
(f • 9. ) 'Fhe inhabitants of the country are slain in
great numbers, so that the waters adjoining to the
cities, whether rivers or pools, are discoloured with
human gore, inhumanly shed like water. Dimon
signifies bloody; the place shall answer to its name.
Perhaps it was that place in the country of Moab,
where the water seemed to the Moabites as blood,
(2 Kings iii. 22, 23.) which occasioned their over¬
throw. But now, says God, I will bring more
upon Dimon, more blood than was shed, or thought
to be seen, at that time. I will bring additions upon
Dimon, (so the word is,) additional plagues; I have
yet more judgments in reserve for them; for all
this, God’s anger is not turned away. When he
judges, lie will overcome; and to the roll of curses
be added many like words, Jer. xxxvi. 32. See
here what is the yet more evil to be brought upon
Dimon, upon Moab, which is now to be made a
land of blood. Some flee, 'and make their escape,
others sit still, and are overlooked, and are as a rem¬
nant of the land; but upon both God will bring
lions, beasts of prey; (which are reckoned one of
God’s four judgments, Ezek. xiv. 21.) and these
shall glean up those that have escaped the sword of
the enemy. Those that continue impenitent in sin,
when they are preserved from one judgment, are
but reserved for another.
CHAP. XVI.
This chapter continues and concludes the burthen ol
Moab. In it, I. The prophet gives good counsel to the
Moabites, to reform what was amiss among them, and
particularly to be kind to God’s people, as the likeliest
way to prevent the judgments before threatened, v.
1 . . 5. II. Fearing they would not take this counsel,
(they were so proud,) he goes on to foretell the lament¬
able devastation of their country, and the confusion they
should be brought to, and this within three years, v.
6 . . 14.
1. OEND ye the lamb to the ruler of the
•O land from Sela to the wilderness,
unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2. For it shall be, that as a wandering bird
cast out of the nest, so the daughters of
Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. 3.
Take counsel, execute judgment, make thy
shadow as the night in the midst of the
noon-day ; hide the outcasts, bewray not
him that wandereth. 4. Let mine outcasts
dwell with thee, Moab : be thou a covert
to them from the face of the spoiler: for the
extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth.
the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5. And in mercy shall the throne be establish¬
ed , and lie shall sit upon it in truth in
the tabernacle of David, judging and seek¬
ing judgment, and hasting righteousness.
God has made it to appear that he delights not in
the ruin of sinners, by telling them what they mav
do to prevent the ruin; so he does here to Moab.
I. He advises them to be just to the house of Da¬
vid, and to pay the tribute they had formerlv cove¬
nanted to pay to the kings of his line; (v. 1. ) Send
ye the lamb to the ruler of the land. David made
the Moabites tributaries to him; (2 Sam. viii. 2.)
they became his servants, and brought gifts. After
wards they paid their tribute to the kings of Israel.
ISAIAH, XVI.
2 Kings iii. 4.) and paid it in lambs. Now the pro¬
phet requires them to pay it to Hezekiah. Let it
be raised and levied from all parts of the country,
from Sela, a frontier city of Moab on the one side,
to the wilderness, a boundary of the kingdom on
the other side: and let it be sent, where it should
be sent, to the mount of the daughter of Zion, the
city of David. Some take it as an advice to send a
lamb for a sacrifice to God the Ruler of the earth,
(so it may be read,) the Lord of the whole earth.
Ruler of' all lands; the land of Moab, as well as
the land of Israel; “Send it to the temple built on
mount Zion.” And some think it is in this sense
spoken ironically, upbraiding the Moabites with
their folly in delaying to repent, and make their
peace with God; “Now you would be glad to send
a lamb to mount Zion, to make the God of Israel
vour Friend; but it is too late, the decree has
brought forth, the consumption is determined, and
the daughters of Moab shall be cast out as a wan¬
dering bird,” v. 2. I rather take it as good advice
seriously given, like that of Daniel to Nebuchad¬
nezzar then when he. was reading him his doom;
(Dan. iv. 27.) Break off thy sins by righteousness,
if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity. And
as it is applicable to the great gospel-duty of sub¬
mission to Christ, as the Ruler of the land, and our
Ruler, “ Send him the lamb, the best you have,
vourselves a living sacrifice. When you come to
God the great Ruler, come in the name of the
Lamb, the Lamb of God. For else it shall be,”
so we may read it, f. 2.) “ that as a wandering,
ird cast out of the nest, so shall the daughters of
Moab be. If you will not pay your quit-rent, your
ist tribute to the king of Judah, you shall be turned
tut of your houses: the daughters of Moab (the
country-villages, or the women of your country)
shall nutter about the fords of Arnon, attempting
that way to make their escape to some other land,
like a wandering bird thrown out of the nest half-
fledged. ” Those that will not submit to Christ,
nor be gathered under the shadow of his wings,
shall be as a bird that wanders from her nest, that
shall either be snatched up by the next bird of
prey, or shall wander endlessly in continual frights.
Those that will not yield to the fear of God, shall
be made to yield to the fear of every thing else.
II. He advises them to be kind to the seed of Is¬
rael; (y. 3.) “Take counsel, call a convention,
and consult among yourselves what is fit to be done
in the present critical juncture; and you will find
it your best way to execute judgment, to reverse
all the unrighteous decrees you have made, by
which you have put hardships upon the people of
God; and, in token of your repentance for them,
study now how to oblige them, and this shall be ac¬
cepted of God more than all burnt-offering and sa¬
crifice.”
1. The prophet foresaw some storm coming upon
the people of God, perhaps the good people of the
ten tribes, or of the two and a half on the other
side Jordan, whose country joined to that of Moab,
and who, by the merciful providence of God, es¬
caped the mry of the Assyrian army, had their
lives given them for a prey, and were reserved for
better times, but were put to the utmost extremity
to shift for their own safety. The danger and trou¬
ble they were in, were like the scorching heat at
noon; the face of the spoiler was very fierce upon
them, and the oppressor and extortioner were ready
to swallow them up.
2. He bespeaks a shelter for them in the land of
Moab, when their own land was made disagreeable
i i them. This judgment they must execute; thus
wisely must they do for themselves, and thus kindly
must they deal with the people of God. If they
would themselves continue in their habitations, let
them now open their doors to the distressed dis¬
persed members of God’s church, and be to them
like a cool shade to those that bear the burthen and
heat of the day. Let them not discover those that
absconded among them, nor deliver them up to the
pursuers that made search for them; “Bewray not
him that wandereth, nor deliver him up,” (as the
Edomites did, Obad. xiii. 14.) “but hide the out¬
casts.” This was that good work by which Ra-
hab’s faith was justified, and proved to be sincere;
(Heb. xi. 31.) “ Nay, do not only hide them for a
time, but, if there be occasion, let them be natu¬
ralized; let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab;
find a lodging for them, and be thou a covert to
them. Let them be taken under the protection of
the government, though they are but poor, and
likely to be achargeto thee.” Note, (1.) It is often
the lot even of those who are Israelites indeed, to
be outcasts, driven out of house and harbour, by
persecution or war, Heb. xi. 37. (2.) God owns
them, when men reject and disown them. They
are outcasts, but they are mine outcasts. The
Lord knows them that are his, wherever he finds
them, even there where no one else knows them.
(3.) God will find a restand shelter for his outcasts;
for though they are persecuted, they are not for¬
saken. He will himself be their Dwelling-Place,
if they have no other, and in him they shall be at
home. (4.) God can, when he pleases, raise up
friends for his people, even among Moabites, when
they can find none in all the land of Israel, that
can and dare shelter them. The earth often helps
the woman. Rev. xii. 16. (5. ) Those that expect
to find favour when they are in trouble themselves,
must show favour to those that are in trouble; and
what service is done to God’s outcasts, shall, no
doubt, be recompensed one way or other.
3. He assures them of the mercy God had in
store for his people. (1.) That they should not
long need their kindness, or be troublesome to them,
for the extortioner is almost at an end already, and
the spoiler ceases. God’s people shall not be long
outcasts, they shall have tribulation ten days, (Re-.',
ii. 10.) and that is all. The spoiler would never
cease spoiling, if he might have his will; but God
has him in a chain. Hitherto he shall go, but no
further. (2.) That they should, ere long, be in a
capacity to return their kindness; (x>. 5.) “Though
the throne of the ten tribes be sunk and overturn¬
ed, yet the throne of David shall be established in
mercy, by the mercy they received from God, and
the mercy they show to others; and by the same
methods may your throne be established if you
please.” It would engage great men to be kind to
the people of God, if they would but observe, as
they easily might, how often that brings the bless¬
ing of God upon kingdoms and families. “Make
Hezekiah your friend, for you will find it your inte¬
rest to do so, upon the account both of the grace of
God in him, and the presence of God with him.
He shall sit upon the throne in truth, and then he
does indeed sit in honour, and sit fast. Then he
shall sit judging, and will then be a protector to
those that have been a shelter to the people of
God.” And see in him the character of a good
magistrate. [1.] He shall seek judgment; he shall
seek occasions of doing right to those that are wr< ag¬
ed, and shall punish the injurious even before they
are complained of: or, he shall diligently search
into every cause brought before him, that he may
find where the right lies. [2.] He shall hasten
righteousness, and not delay to do justice, nor keep
those long waiting, that make application to himfot
the redress of their grievances. Though he seeks
judgment, and deliberates upon it, yet he does not,
under pretence of that, stay the progress of the
streams of justice. Let the Moabites take exam
35
ISAIAH, XVI.
pit by this, and then assure themselves that their
state shall be established.
6. We have heard of the pride of JVloab;
he is very proud: even of his haughtiness,
and his pride, and his wrath : but his lies
shall not be so. 7. Therefore shall Moab
howl for Moab, every one shall howl : for
the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye
mourn; surely they are stricken. 8. For
the fields of Heshbon languish, and the
vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen
have broken down the principal plants
thereof, they are come even unto Jazer,
they wandered through the wilderness; her
branches are stretched out, they are gone
over the sea : 9. Therefore I will bewail
with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sib¬
mah : I will water thee with my tears, O
Heshbon, and Elealeh ; for the shouting for
thy summer-fruits, and for thy harvest, is
fallen. 10. And gladness is taken away,
and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the
vineyards there shall be no singing, neither
shall there be shouting: the treaders shall
tread out no wine in their presses ; I have
made their rm/r/ge-shouting to cease. 11.
Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a
harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for
Kir-haresh. 12. And it shall come to pass,
when it is seen that Moab is weary on the
high place, that he shall come to his sanc¬
tuary to pray; but he shall not prevail. 13.
This is the word that the Lord hath spoken
concerning Moab since that time. 1 4. But
now the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within
three years, as the years of a hireling, and
the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with
all that great multitude ; and the remnant
shall be very small and feeble.
Here we have,
1. The sins with which Moab is charged, v. 6.
The prophet seems to check himself for going about
to give good counsel to the Moabites, concluding
they would not take the advice he gave them. He
told them their duty, (whether they would hear, or
whether they would forbear,) but despairs of work¬
ing any good upon them; he would have healed
them, but they would not be healed. They that
will not be counselled, cannot be helped. Their sins
were, 1. Pride; this is most insisted upon; for per¬
haps there are more precious souls ruined by pride
than by any one lust whatsoever. The Moabites
were notorious for this; IVe have heard of the firide
of Moab ; it is what all their neighbours cry out
sname upon them for; he is very proud; the body
of the nation is so, forgetting the baseness of their
original, and the brand of infamy fastened upon them
by that Law of God, which forbade a Moabite to
enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever.
Dent xxiii. 3. We have heard of his haughtiness
and his firide; it is not the rash and rigid censure
of one or two concerning them, but it is the charac¬
ter which all that know them will give of them ;
they are a proud people: and therefore they will
not take good counsel when it is given them, they
think themselves too wise to be advised; therefore
they will not take example by Hezekiah to do justly
and love mercy; they scorn to make him their pat¬
tern, for they think themselves able to teach him.
They are proud, and therefore will not be subject
to God himself, nor regard the warnings he gives
them. The wicked, in the firide of his countenance,
will not seek after God: they are proud, and there
fore will not entertain and protect God’s outcasts,
they scorn to have any thing to do with them: but
this is not all, 2. We have heard of his wrath too,
(for those that are very proud, are commonly '
passionate,) particularly his wrath against the peo¬
ple of God, whom therefore he will rather per.m
cute than protect. 3. It is with his lies that he gab, ,
the gratifications of his pride and his passion; bu*
his lies shall not be so, he shall not compass his
proud and angry projects, as he hoped he should.
Some read it, His haughtiness, his firide, and hit
wrath, are greater than his strength. We know
that if we lay at his mercy, we should find no merev
with him, but he has not power equal to his malice,
his pride draws down ruin upon him, for it is tbi
preface to destruction, and he has not strength to
ward it off.
II. The sorrows with which Moab is threatened;
(i>. 7.) Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab; ali
the inhabitants shall bitterly lament the ruin of
their country, they shall complain one to another,
every one shall howl in despair, and not one shall
either see any cause, or have any heart, to encou¬
rage his friend. Observe,
1. The causes of this sorrow. (1.) The destruc¬
tion of their cities; For the foundations of Kir-ha¬
reseth shall ye mourn; that great and strong city,
which had held out against a mighty force, (2 Kings
iii. 15.) should now be levelled with the ground,
either burnt or broken down, and its foundations
stricken, bruised and broken; so the word signifies;
they shall howl when they see their splendid cities
turned into ruinous heaps. (2.) The desolation of
their country. Moab was famous for its fields and
vineyards; but those shall all be laid waste by the
invading army, (v. 8, 10.) See, [1.] What a fruit¬
ful, pleasant country they had, as the garden of the
Lord, Gen. xiii. 10. It was planted with choic;
and noble vines, with principal plants, which read,
even to Jazer, a city in the tribe of Gad; the luxu¬
riant branches of their vines wandered, and wound
themselves along the ranges on which they were
spread, even through the wilderness of Moab, there
were vineyards there; nay, they were stretched out,
and went even to the sea, the Dead sea; the best
grapes grew in their hedge-rows. [2.] How merry
and pleasant they had been in it; many a time they
had shouted for their summer-fruits, and for their
harvest, as the country people sometimes do with
us, when they have cut down all their com. They
had had joy and gladness in their fields and vine¬
yards, singing and shouting at the treading of their
grapes; nothing is said of theirpraising God for their
abundance, and giving him the glory of it. If they
had made it the matter of their thanksgiving, they
might still have had it the matter of their rejoicing,
but they made it the food and fuel of their lusts;
see therefore, [3.] How they should be stripped of
all; the fields shall languish, all the fruits of them
being carried away, or trodden down; they cannot
now enrich their owners as they have done, and
therefore they languish. The soldiers, called here
the lords of the heathen, shall break down all the
plants, though they were principal plants, the
choicest that could be got Now the shouting for
the enjoyment of the summer-fruits is fallen, and L
turned into howling for the loss of them; the joy of
harvest is ceased, there is no more singing, no more
shouting, for the treadiqg out of wine: they have
ISAIAH, XVII.
not what they have had to rejoice in, nor have they j|
a disposition to rejoice, the ruin of their country has |
marred their mirth. Note, First, God can easily :
change the note of those that are most addicted to [
mirth and pleasure, can soon turn their laughter |
into mourning, and their joy into heaviness. Sc- j
condly, Joy in God is, upon this account, far better !
than the iov of harvest, that it is what we cannot be !
robbed of, Ps. iv. 6, 7. Destroy the vines and the fig- !j
trees, and you make all the mirth of a carnal heart jl
to cease, Hos. ii. 11, 12. But a gracious soul can jj
rejoice in the Lord as the God of its salvation, even |j
then when the fig-tree does not blossom, and there i
is no fruit in the vine, Hab. iii. 17, 18. In God jj
therefore let us always rejoice with a holy triumph, jl
and in other things let us always rejoice with a holy j
trembling, rejoice as though we rejoiced not
2. The concurrence of the prophet with them in j
this sorrow; “/ mill with wee flint; bewail Jazer, and
the vine of Sibmah, and look with a compassionate
concern upon the desolations of such a pleasant
country; I will water thee with my tears, O Hesh-
bon, and mingle them with thy tears;” nay, (v. 11.)
it appears to be an inward grief; My bowels shall
sound like a harp for Moab; it should make such
an impression upon him, that he should feel an in¬
ward trembling, like that of the strings of a harp
when it is played upon. It well becomes God’s pro¬
phets to acquaint themselves with grief; the great
Prophet did so. The afflictions of the world, as well
as those of the church, should be afflictions to us.
See ch. xv. 5.
In the close of this chapter, we have,
*1.) The insufficiency of the gods of Moab, the
false gods, to help them, v. 12. Moab shall be soon
weary of the high-place, he shall spend his spirits
and strength in vain in praying to his idols; they
cannot help him, and he shall be convinced that
they cannot. It is seen that it is to no purpose to
expect any relief from the high-places on earth, it
must come from above the hills. Men are gener¬
ally so stupid, that they will not believe, till they
are made to see, the vanity of idols and of all crea¬
ture-confidences, nor will come off from them, till
they are made weary of them. But when he is
weary of his high-places, he will not go, as he
should, to God’s sanctuary, but to his sanctuary, to
the temple of Chemosh, the principal idol of Moab;
so it is generally understood; and he shall pray there
to as little purpose, and as little to his own ease and
satisfaction, as he did in his high-places; for, what¬
ever honours idolaters do their idols, they do not
thereby make them at all the better able to help
them; whether they are the Dii majorum Gentium
— Gods of the higher order, or minorum — of the
lower order, they are alike the creatures of men’s ]
fancy, and the work of men’s hands. Perhaps it
may be meant of their coming to God’s sanctuary:
when they found they could have no succours from
their high-places, some of them would come to the
temple of God at Jerusalem, to pray there, but in
vain; he will justly send them back to the gods
whom they have served, Judg. X. 14.
(2.) The sufficiency of the God of Israel, the only
true God, to make good what he had spoken against
them. _ _ 1 !
[1.] The thing itself was long since determined;
(v. 13.) This is the word, this is the thing, that the i
Lord has spoken concerning Moab, since the time :
that he began to be so proud and insolent, and allu¬
sive to God’s people. The country was long ago
doomed to ruin; this was enough to give an assur¬
ance of it, that it is the word which the Lord has
spoken; and as he will never unsay what he has
spoken, so all the power of hell and earth cannot
gainsay it, or obstruct the execution of it.
[2.] Now it was made known when it should be
done; the time was before fixed in the couns-1 of
God, but now it was revealed, The Lord has spoken
that it shall be within three years, v. 14. It is not
for us to know, or covet to know, the times and the
seasons, any further than God has thought fit to
make them known; and so far we may and must
take notice of them. See how God makes known
his mind by degrees; the light of divine revelation
shone more and more, and so does the light of divine
grace in the heart.
Observe, First, The sentence passed upon Moab;
The glory of Moab shall be contemned; it shall be
contemptible, when all those things they have glo¬
ried in, shall come to nothing. Such is the glory o»
this world, so fading and uncertain, admired awhik,
but soon slighted. Let that therefore which wiii
soon be contemptible in the eyes of others, be al¬
ways contemptible in our eyes, in comparison with
the far more exceeding weight of glory. It was
the glory of Moab that their country was very po¬
pulous, and their forces courageous, but where is
her glory, when all that great multitude is in a n. mi¬
ner swept away, some by one judgment, and seme
by another, and the little remnant that is left shall
be very small and feeble, not able to bear up un¬
der their own griefs, much less to make head
against their enemies’ insults? Let not therefore
the strong glory in their strength, nor the many in
their numbers.
Secondly, The time fixed for the execution of this
sentence; Within three years, as the years of a hire¬
ling, at the three years’ end exactly; for a servant
that is hired for a certain term keeps count to a day.
Let Moab know that her ruin is very near, and pre¬
pare accordingly. Fair warning is given, and with
it space to repent, which if they had improved as
Nineveh did, we have reason to think, the judg¬
ments threatened had been prevented.
CHAP. XVII..
Syria and Ephraim were confederate apr^inst -Judah, (ch.
vii. 1, 2.) and thev bein^ so closely linked together in
their counsels, this chapter, though it be entitled the
burthen of Damascus , (which was the head city of Sy¬
ria,) reads the doom of Israel too. I. The destruction
of the strong cities both of Syria and Israel is here fore¬
told, (v. 1 . .5.) and a^ain, v. 9. .1 1. II. In the midst of
judgment mercy is remembered to Israel, and a gracious
promise made that a remnant should be preserved from
the calamities, and should get good by them, v. 6 . . 8.
III. The overthrow of the Assyrian army before Jerusa¬
lem is pointed at, v. 12.. 14. in order of time, this chap¬
ter should be placed next after ch. ix. frr the destruc¬
tion of Damascus here foretold, happened in the reijrn
of Ahaz, 2 Kings xvi. 9.
1. f I MIL burden of Damascus. Behold
H Damascus is taken away from being
a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. 2.
The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they shall
be for flocks which shall lie down, and none
shall make them afiaid. 3. The fortress
shall also cease from Ephraim, and the king¬
dom from Damascus, and the remnant of
Syria : they shall lie as the glory of the chil¬
dren of Israel, saith the Loud of hosts. 4.
And in that day it shall come to pass, thal.
the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and
the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. .5.
And it shall be as when the harvest-man
gathereth the corn, and '-eapeth the ears
with his arm ; and it shf Jl be as he that
gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
We have here the burthen cf Damascus; the
87
ISAiAH
Chaldee Paraphrase reads it, The burthen of the
cufi of the curse to drink to Damascus in; and the
ten tribes being in alliance, they must expect to
pledge Damascus in this cup of trembling that is to
go round.
1. Damascus itself, the head city of Syria, must
be destroyed; the houses, it is likely', will be burnt,
at least the walls and gates and fortifications demo¬
lished, and the inhabitants carried away captive, so
that for the present it is taken away from being a
city, and is reduced, not only to a village, but to a
ruinous heap, v. 1. Such desolating work as this
does sin make with cities.
2. The country towns are abandoned by their in¬
habitants, frightened or forced away by their inva¬
ders; The cities of Aroer (a province of Syria so
called) are forsaken, (v. 2.) the conquered dare not
dwell in them, and the conquerors have no occasion
for them, nor did they seize them for want, but
wantonness; so that the places which should be for
men to live in, are for Jlocks to lie down in, which
they may do, and none will disturb or dislodge them.
Stately houses are converted into sheep-cotes. It is
strange that great conquerors should pride them¬
selves in being common enemies to mankind. But,
how unrighteous soever they are, God is righteous
in causing these cities to spue out their inhabitants,
who by their wickedness had made themseh’es vile;
it is better that flocks should lie down there, than
that they should harbour such as are in open rebel¬
lion against God and virtue.
3. The strong-holds of Israel, the kingdom of the
ten tribes, will be brought to ruin; the fortress shall
cease from Eflhraim, (i\ 3.) that in Samaria, and
all the rest. They had joined with Syria in invad¬
ing Judah very unnaturally; and now they that had
been partakers in sin, should be made partakers in
ruin, and justly. When the fortress shall cease
from Eflhraim, by which Israel shall be weakened,
the kingdom will cease from Damascus, by which
Syria will be ruined. The Syrians were the ring¬
leaders in that confederacy against Judah, and there¬
fore they are punished first and sorest; and because
they boasted of their alliance with Israel, now that
Israel is weakened, they are upbraided with those
boasts; The remnant of Syria shall be as the glory
of the children of Israel; those few that remain of
the Syrians, shall be in as mean and despicable a
condition as the children of Israel are, and the
glory of Israel shall be no relief or reputation to
them. Sinful confederacies will be no strength, no
stay, to the confederates, when God’s judgments
come upon them.
See here what the glory of Jacob is, when God
contends with him, and what little reason Syria will
have to be proud of resembling the glory of Jacob.
(1.) It is wasted like a man in a consumption, v.
4. The glory of Jacob was their numbers, that they
were as the sand of the sea for multitude; but this
glory shall be made thin, when many are cut off,
and few left. Then the fatness of their flesh, which
was their pride and security, shall wax lean, and
the body of the people shall become a perfect skel¬
eton, nothing but skin and bones. Israel died of a
lingering disease, the kingdom of the ten tribes
wasted gradually. God was to them as a moth,
Hos. v. 12. Such is all the glory of this world, it
soon withers, and is made thin; but there is a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory design¬
ed for the spiritual seed of Jacob, which is not sub¬
ject to any such decay; fatness of God’s house,
which will not wax lean.
(2.) It is all gathered and carried away by the
Assyrian army, as the corn is carried out of the
field by the husbandman, v. 5. The corn is the
glory of the fields; (Ps. lxv. 13.) but when it is
reaped and gone, where is the glory? The people
I, XVII.
I had by their sins made themselves ripe for ruin, arid
I their glory was as quickly, as easily, as justly, and
as irresistibly, cut down and taken away, as the
corn is out of the field by the husbandman. God’s
judgments are compared to the thrusting in of the
sickle, when the harvest is rifle, Rev. xiv. 15. And
the victorious army, like the careful husbandmen
in the valley of Rephaim, where the corn was ex¬
traordinary, would nit, if they could help it, leave
an ear behind, would lose nothing that they could
lay their hands on.
6. Yet gleaning-grapes shall be left in it,
as the shaking of an olive-tree, two or three
berries in the top of the uppermost bough,
four or five in the outmost fruitful branches
thereof, saith the Loud God of Israel. 7.
At that day shall a man look to his Maker,
and his eyes shall have respei t to the Holy
One of Israel. 8. And he shall not look to
the altars, the work of his hands, neither
shall respect that which his fingers have
made, either the groves or the images.
Mercy is here reserved in a parenthesis, in the
midst of judgment, for a remnant that should escape
the common ruin of the kingdom of the ten tribes.
Though the Assyrians took all the care they crukl
that none should slip out of their net, yet the meek
of the earth were hid in the day cf the Lord’s an¬
ger, and had their lives given them for a prey, and
made comfortable to them by their retirement to
the land of Judah, where they had the liberty of
God’s courts.
1. They shall be but a small remnant, a very few
which shall be marked for preservation; (v. 6.)
Gleaning-grafles shall be left in it; the body of the
people were carried into captivity, but here and
there one was left behind, perhaps one of two in a
bed, when the other was taken, Luke xvii. 34. The
most desolating judgments in this world are short of
the last judgment, which shall be universal, and
which none shall escape. In times of the greatest
calamity, some are kept safe, as in times of the
greatest degeneracy some are kept pure. But the
fewness of those that escape, supposes the captivity
of the far greatest part; those that are left, are but
like the poor remains of an olive-tree, when it has
been carefully shaken by the owner; if there be two
or three berries in the tofl of the uflflermost bough,
(out of the reach of them that shook it,) that is all.
Such is the remnant according to the election of
grace, very few in comparison with the multitudes
that walk on in the broad way.
2. They shall be a sanctified remnant; (v. 7, 8.)
these few that are preserved, are such as, in the
prospect of the judgment approaching, had repent¬
ed of their sins, and reformed their lives, and there¬
fore were snatched thus as brands r ut of the burn¬
ing; or, such as, being escaped, and becoming refu¬
gees in strange countries, were awakened, partly by
a sense of the distinguishing mercy of their deliver¬
ance, and partly by the distresses they were still in,
to return to God. (1.) They shall look up to their
Creator, shall inquire, Where is God my Maker ,
who giveth songs in the night, in such a night rf
affliction as this? Job xxxv. 10, 11. They shall
acknowledge his hand in all the events concerning
them, merciful and afflictive, and shall submit to
his hand; they shall give him the glory due to his
name, and be suitable affected with his providences;
they shall expect relief and succour from him, and
depend upon him to help them; their eyes shall have
respect to him, as the eyes of a servant to tne henc
of his master, Vs. cxxiii. 2.' Observe, It is our dur
88
ISAIAH
at all times to have respect to God, to have our eyes [
ever toward him, both as our Maker, the Author
of our being, and the God of nature, and as the Holy
One of Israel, a God in covenant with us, and the
God of grace; particularly, when we are in afflic¬
tion, our eyes must be toward the Lord, to pluck
our feet out of the net; (Ps. xxv. 15.) to bring us to
this is the design of his providence, as he is our
Maker, and the work of his grace, as he is the Holy
One of Israel. (2.) They shall look off from their
idols, the creatures of their own fancy, shall no lon¬
ger worship them, and seek to them, and expect
relief from them. For God will be alone regarded,
or he does not look upon himself as at all regarded.
He that looks to his Maker, must not look to the
altars, the work of his hands, but disown them and
cast them off; must not retain the least respect for
that which his fingers have made, but break it to
pieces, though it were . his own workmanship, the
groves and the images; the word signifies images
made in honour of the sun, and by which he was
worshipped, the most ancient and most plausible
idolatry, Deut. iv. 19. Job xxxi. 26. We have
reason to account those happy afflictions, which part
between us and our sins, and, by sensible convic¬
tions of the vanity of the world, that great idol, cool
our affections to it, and lower our expectations
from it,
9. Iii that day shall his strong cities be as
a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch,
which they left, because of the children of
Israel: and there shall be desolation. 10.
Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy
salvation, and hast not been mindful of the
Rock of thy strength; therefore shait thou
plant pleasant plants, and shait set it with
strange slips: 11. In that day shait thou
make thy plant to grow, and in the morning
shait thou make thy seed to flourish ; but the
harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief
and of desperate sorrow.
Here the prophet returns to foretell the woful
desolations that should be made in the land of Israel
by the army of the Assyrians.
1. That the cities should be deserted; even the
strong cities, which should have protected the
country, shall not be able to protect themselves;
they shall be as a forsaken bough, and an upper¬
most branch, of an old tree, which is gone to decay,
forsaken of its leaves, and appears on the top of the
tree, bare, and dry, and dead; so shall their strong
cities look, when the inhabitants have deserted
them, and the victorious army of the enemy pillaged
and defaced them ; (n. 9. ) they shall be as the ci¬
ties (so it may be supplied) which the Canaanites
left, the old inhabitants of the land, because of the
children of Israel, when God brought them in with
a high hand, to take possession of that good land,
cities which they budded not As the Canaanites
then fled before Israel, so Israel should now fly be¬
fore the Assyrians. And herein the word of God
was fulfilled, that if they committed the same
abominations, the land should spue them out, as it
spued out the nations that were before them, (Lev.
xviii. 28.) and that as, while they had God on their
side, one of them chased a thousand, so, when they
had made him their Enemy, a thousand of them
should flee at the rebuke of one; so that in the cities
should be desolation, according to the threatenings
in the law, Lev. xxvi. 31. Deut. xxviii. 52.
2. That the country should be laid waste, v. 10,
11. Observe here, (1.) The sin that had provoked
God to bring so great a destruction upon that plea-
, XVII
sant land; it was for the iniquity of them that dice.,
therein; “ It is because thou hast forgotten the Goa
of thy salvation, and all the great salvations he has
wrought for thee, hast forgotten thy dependence
upon him and obligations to him, and hast not been
mindfui of the Hock of thy strength, not i nly who
is himself a strong Rock, but has been thy Strength
many a time, or thou hadst been sunk and broken
long since.” Note, The God of our salvation is the
Rock of our strength; and our forgetfulness and un¬
mindfulness of him are at the bottom of all sin;
therefore we have perverted our way, because we
have forgotten the Lord our God, and so we undo
ourselves. (2.) The destruction itself, aggravated
by the great care they took to improve their land,
and to make it vet more pleasant. [1.] Look upon
it at the time of the seedness, and it was all like a
garden and a vineyard; that pleasant land was re¬
plenished with pleasant plants, the choicest of its
own growth; nay, so nice and curious were the in¬
habitants, that, not content with them, they sent to
all the neighbouring countries for strange slips, the
more valuable for being strange, uncommon, far¬
fetched, and dear-bought, though perhaps they had
of their own not inferior to them. This was an in¬
stance of their pride and vanity, and (that ruining
error) their affectation to be like the nations. Wheat,
and honey, and oil, were their staple commodities;
(Ezek. xxvii. 17.) but not content with these, they
must have flowers and greens with strange names
imported from other nations, and a great deal c f
care and pains must be taken by hot-beds to make
these plants to grow, the soil must be forced, and
they must be covered with glasses to shelter them,
and early in the morning the gardeners must be up
to make the seed to flourish, that it may excel those
of their neighbours. The ornaments of nature are
not to be altogether slighted, but it is a folly to be
over-fond of them, and to bestow more time, and
cost, and pains, about them than they deserve, as
many do. But here this instance seems to be put in
general for their great industry in cultivating their
ground, and their expectations from it accordingly;
they doubt not but their plants will grow and flour¬
ish. But, [2.] Look upon the same ground at the
time of harvest, and it is all like a wilderness, a dis¬
mal melancholy place, even to the spectators, much
more to the owners; for the harvest shall be a heap,
all in confusion, in the day of grief and of desperate
sorrow. The harvest used to be a time of joy, of
singing and shouting; (ch. xvi. 10.) but this harvest
the hungry eat up, (Job v. 5.) which makes it a
day of grief, and the more, because the plants were
pleasant and costly, (v. 10.) and their expectations
proportionably raised. The harvest had some¬
times been a day of grief, if the crop were thin, and
the weather unseasonable; and yet in that case
there was hope that the next would be better: but
this shall be desperate sorrow, for they shall see
not only this year’s products carried off, but the
property of the ground altered, and their conquer¬
ors lords of it. The margin reads it, The harvest
shall be removed, (into the enemy’s country or camp,
Deut. xxviii. 33. ) in the day of inheritance, (when
thou thoughtest to inherit it,) and there shall be
deadly sorrow. This is a good reason why we
should not lay up our treasure in these things which
we may so quickly be despoiled of, but in that good
part which shall never be taken away from us.
12. Wo to the multitude of many people,
which make a noise like the noise of the
seas ; and to the rushing of nations, that
make a rushing like the rushing of mighty
waters! 13. The nations shall rush like the
rushing of many waters: but God. shall re-
ISAIAH, XVIII.
l»uke them, and they shall flee far off, and
shall be chased as the chaff of the moun¬
tains before the wind, and like a rolling
tiling before the whirlwind. 14. And, be¬
hold, at evening-tide trouble ; and before the
morning he is not. This is the portion of
them that spoil us, and the lot of them that
rob us.
These verses read the doom of those that spoil
and rob the people of God; if the Assyrians and Is¬
raelites invade and plunder Judah — if the Assyrian
army take God’s people captive, and lay their
country waste, let them know that ruin will be their
lot and portion.
They are here brought in,
1. Triumphing over the people of God. They
rely upon their numbers; the Assyrian army was
made up out of divers nations, it is the multitude of
many people, (v. 12.) by which weight they hope
to carry the cause; they are very noisy, like the
roaring of the seas; they talk big, hector and
threaten, to frighten God’s people from resisting
them, and all their allies from sending in to their
aid. Sennacherib and Rabshakeh, in their speeches
and letters, made a mighty noise, to strike a terror
upon Hezekiah and his people; the nations that fol¬
lowed them, made a rushing like the rushing of
many waters, and those mighty ones, that threaten
to bear down all before them, and carry away every
thing that stands in their way: the floods have lifted
u/i their voice, have lifted up. their waves ; such is
the tumult of the people, and the heathen, when
they rage, Ps. ii. 1. — xciii. 3.
2". Triumphed over by the judgments of God.
They think to carry their point by dint of noise; but
wo to them, (u. 12.) for he shall rebuke them;
God shall, one whom they little think of, have no
regard to, stand in no awe of; he shall give them a
check with an invisible hand, and then they shall
flee afar off. Sennacherib and Rabshakeh, and the
remains of their forces, shall run away in a fright,
and shall be chased by their own terrors, as the
chaff of the mountains which stand bleak before the
wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind,
like thistle-down; so the margin; they make them¬
selves as chaff before the wind, (Ps. xxxv. 5.) and
then the angel of the Lord, (as it follows there,) the
same angel that slew many of them, shall chase the
rest God will make them like a wheel, or rolling
thing, and then persecute them with his tempest, and
make them afraid with his storm, Ps. lxxxiii. 13,
IS. Note, God can dispirit the enemies of his
church when they are most courageous and confi¬
dent, and dissipate them when they seem most
closely consolidated. This shall be done suddenly;
(?>. 14.) At evening-tide they are veiy troublesome,
and threaten trouble to the people of God; but be¬
fore the morning he is not, at sleeping time they are
c ist into a deep sleep, Ps. lxxvi. 5, 6. It was in
the night that the angel routed the Assyrian army.
God can in a moment break the power of his
church’s enemies, then when it appears most for¬
midable; and this is written for the encouragement
of the people of God in all ages, when they find
th mselves an unequal match for their enemies; for
th s is the portion of them that spoil us, they shall
th mselves be spoiled. God will plead his church’s
cause; and they that meddle, do it to their own hurt.
CHAP. XVIII.
Whatever country it is that is meant here by the land sha¬
dowing with wings} here is a wo denounced against it,
for God has, upon his people’s account, a quarrel with it.
I. They threaten God’s people, v. 1, 2. II. All the
neighbours are hereupon called to take notice what will
be the issue, v. 3. III. Though God seem unconcerned
Vol. iv.— M
8D
in the distress of his people for a time, he will at .ength
appear against their enemies, and will remarkably cut
them off, v. 4. .6. IV. This shall redound very much to
the glory of God, v. 7.
1. V%rO to the land shadowing with
▼ t wings, which is beyond the riv ers
of Ethiopia : 2. That sendeth ambassadors
by tiie sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon
the waters, saying , Go, ye swift messengers,
to a nation scattered and peeled, to a peo¬
ple terrible from their beginning hitherto; a
nation meted out and trodden down, whose
land the rivers have spoiled! 3. All ye in¬
habitants of the world, and dwellers on the
earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign
on the mountains; and when he bloweth a
trumpet, hear ye. 4. For so the Lord said
unto me, I will take my rest, and I will con¬
sider in my dwelling-place like a clear heat
upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the
heat of harvest. 5. For afore the harvest,
when the hud is perfect, and the sour grape
is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut
off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and take
away and cut down the branches. 6. They
shall he left together unto the fow ls of the
mountains, and to the beasts of the earth:
and the fowls shall summer upon them, and
all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon
them. 7. In that time shall the present he
brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people
scattered and peeled, and from a people ter¬
rible from their beginning hitherto ; a nation
meted out and trodden under foot, whose
land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of
the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount
Zion.
Interpreters are very much at a loss where to find
this land that lies beyond the rivers of Cush: some
take it to be Egypt, a maritime country, and full of
rivers, and which courted Israel to depend upon
them, but proved broken reeds; but against this it
is strongly objected, that the next chapter is distin¬
guished from this by the title of the burthen of
Egypt. Others take it to be Ethiopia, and read it,
which lies near, or about, the rivers of Ethiopia, not
that in Africa, which lay in the south of Egypt, but
that which we call Arabia, which lav east of Ca¬
naan, which Tirhakah was now king of. He thought
to protect the Jews, as it were, under the shadow of
his wings, by giving a powerful diversion to the king
of Assyria, when he made a descent upon his coun¬
try, at the time that he was attacking Jerusalem, 2
Kings xix. 9. But, though by his ambassadors he
bid defiance to the king of Assyria, and encouraged
the Jews to depend upon him, God, by the prophet,
slights him, and will not go forth with him; he may
take his own course, but God will take another
course to protect Jerusalem, while he suffers the
attempt of Tirhakah to miscarry, and his Arabian
army to be ruined; for the Assyrian shall become a
present or sacrifice to the Lord of hosts, and to the
place of his name, by the hand of an angel, not by
the hand of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, v. 7 This
1 is a very probable exposition of this chapter.
But from a hint of Dr. Lightfort’s in his Harmo-
i; ny of the Old Testament, I incline to understand this
90
ISAIAH, XVIII.
chapter as a prophecy against Assyria ; and so a
r.nntinu ition ot the prophecy in the three last verses
of tire foregoing chapter, with which therefore this
should be joined. That was against the army of
the Assyrians, which rushed in upon Judah, this
against the land of Assyria itself, which lay beyond
the rivers of Arabia, the rivers of Euphrates and
Tigris, which bordered on Arabia Deserta. And
in calling it the land shadowing with wings, he
seems to refer to what he himself had said of it, ( ch .
viii. 8.) that the stretching out of his wings shall Jill
thy land, O Immanuel. The prophet might per¬
haps describe the Assyrians by such dark expres¬
sions, not naming them, for the same reason that
St. Paul, in his prophecy, speaks of the Roman em¬
pire by a periphrasis, fie who now lelteth, 2 Thess.
li. 7. Here is,
I. l'he attempt made by this land (whatever it is)
upon a nation scattered and fieeled, v. 2. Swift
messengers are sent by water to proclaim war
against them, as a nation marked by Providence,
and meted out, to be trodden under foot. Whether
this be the Ethiopians waging war with the Assy¬
rians, or the Assyrians with Judah, it teaches us, 1.
That a people which have been terrible from their
beginning, have made a figure, and borne a mighty
sway, may yet become scattered and peeled, and
mav be spoiled even by their own rivers that should
enrich both the husbandman and the merchant.
Nations which have been formidable, and have
kept all in awe about them, may, by a concurrence
of accidents, become despicable, and an easy prey
to their insulting neighbours. 2. Princes and states
that are ambitious of enlarging their territories, will
still have some pretence or other to quarrel with
those whose countries they have a mind to; “ It is
a nation that has been terrible, and therefore we
must be revenged on it; it is now a nation scattered
and peeled, meted out and trodden down, and there¬
fore it will be an easy prey for us.” Perhaps it is
not brought so low as they represent it. God’s»peo-
ple are trampled on as a nation scattered and peel¬
ed, but whoever think to swallow them up, find
them still as terrible as they have been from their
beginning; they are cast down, but not deserted,
not destroyed.
II. The alarm sounded to the nations about, by
which they are summoned to take notice of what
God is about to do, i’. 3. The Ethiopians and As¬
syrians have their counsels and designs, which they
have laid deep, and promise themselves much from,
and, in prosecution of them, send their ambassadors
and messengers from place to place; but let us now
inquire what the great God says to all this: 1. He
lifts ufi an ensign upon the mountains, and blows a
trumpet, by which he proclaims war against the
enemies of his church, and calls in all her friends
and well-wishers into her service. He gives notice
that he is about to do some great work, as Lord of
hosts. 2. All the world is bid to take notice of it;
all the dwellers on earth must see the ensign, and
hear the trumpet, must observe the motions of the
Divine Providence, and attend the directions of the
divine will. Let all enlist under God’s banner,
and be on his side, and hearken to the trumpet of
his word, which gives not an uncertain sound.
III. The assurance God gives to his prophet, by him
to bi given to his people; though he might seem for
a time to sit by as an unconcerned spectator, yet he
would certainly and seasonably appear for the com¬
fort of his people, and the confusion of his and their
enemies; (v. 4.) So the Lord said unto me. Men will
nave their saying, but God also will have his; and
as we may be sure his word shall stand, so he often
whispers it in the ears of his servants the prophets.
When he says, “I will take my rest,” it is not as
f he were weary of governing the world, or as if
he either needed or desired to retire from it. and
repose himself; but t intimates 1. That the great
God has a perfect, u odisturbed, enjoyment of him¬
self, in the midst of all the tosses and changes <1
this world; the Lord sits even upon the floods un¬
shaken; the Eternal Mind is always easy. 2. That
sometimes he may seem to his people as if he tor k
not wonted notice of what is done in this lower world ;
they are tempted to think he is as one asleep, or as
one astonished; (Ps. xliv. 23. Jer. xiv. 9.) but evtn
then he knows very well what men do, and what he
himself will do.
(1.) He will take care of his people, and be a Shel¬
ter to them; he will regard his dwelling-place, his eye
and his heart are, and shall be, upon it for gor d conti¬
nually. Zion is his rest forever, where he will dwed;
and he will look after it; so some read it; he will lift
up the light of his countenance upon it, will consi¬
der over it what is to be done, and will be sure to do
all for the best; he will adapt the comforts and re¬
freshments he provides for them, to the exigencies
of their case; and they will therefore be acceptable,
because seasonable. [1.] Like a clear heat after
rain, (so the margin,) which is very reviving and
pleasant, and makes the herbs to flourish. [2.]
Like a dew and a cloud in the heat of harvest, which
are very welcome, the dew to the ground, and the
cloud to the labourers. Note, There is that in
God, which is a shelter and refreshment to his
people in all weathers, and arms them against the
inconveniencies of every change. Is the weathci
cooli1 There is that in his favour, which will warm
them. Is it hot? There is that in his faveur, which
will cool them. Great men have their winter-house
and their summer-house; (Amos iii. 15.) but they
that are at home with God, have both in him.
(2.) He will reckon with his and their enemies,
v. 5, 6. When the Assyrian army promises itself
a plentiful harvest in the taking of Jerusali m, and
the plundering of that rich city, when the bud of
that project is perfect, before the harvest is gather¬
ed in, while the sour grape of their enmity to He-
zekiah and his people is ripening in the flower, and
the design is just ready to put in execution, God
shall destroy that army as easily as the husbandman
cuts off the sprigs of the vine with pruning-hooks,
or, because the grape is sour, and good for nothing,
and will not be cured, takes away, and cuts down,
the branches. This seems to point at the overthrow
of the Assyrian army by a destroying angel; when
the dead bodies of the soldiers were scattered like
the branches and sprigs of a wild vine, which the
husbandman has cut to pieces. And they shall be
left to the fowls of the mountains, and 'the beasts of
the earth, to prey upon, both winter and summer;
for as God’s people are protected all seasons of the
year, both in cold and heat, (i>. 4.) so their ene mies
are at all seasons exposed; birds and beasts of prey
shall both summer and winter upon them, till they
are quite ruined.
IV. The tribute of praise which should be brought
to God from all this, v. 7. In that time, when this
shall be accomplished, shall the present be brought
unto the Lord of hosts. 1. Some understand this cf
the conversion of the Ethiopians to the faith rf
Christ in the latter days; of which we have the spe¬
cimen and beginning in Philip’s baptizing the Ethi¬
opian eunuch, Acts viii. 27. They that were a peo¬
ple scattered and peeled, meted out, and trodden
down, (v. 2.) shall be a present to the Lord; and
though they seem useless and worthless, they shall
be an acceptable present to him who judges of men
by the sincerity of their faith and love, net bv the
pomp and presperity of their outward condition.
Therefore the gospel was ministered to the Gen
tiles, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be
acceptable, Rom. xv. 16. It is prophesied (P*
91
TSAIAH, XIX.
Ixviii. 31 . j that Ethiopia should soon stretch out her
hands unto God. 2. Others understand it of the
spoil of Sennacherib’s army, out of which, as usual,
presents were brought to the Lord of hosts. Numb,
xxxi. 59. It was the present of a people scattered
and peeled. (1.) It was won from the Assyrians,
who were now themselves reduced to such a condi¬
tion as they scornfully described Judah to be in, v.
1. They that unjustly trample upon others, shall
themselves be justly trampled upon. (2.) It was of¬
fered by the people of God, who were, m disdain,
called a people scattered and peeled. God will put
honour upon his people, though men put contempt
upon them. Lastly, Observe, the present that is
brought to the Lord of hosts, must be brought to the
place of the name of the Lord of hosts; what is offer¬
ed to God, must be offered in the way that he has ap¬
pointed; we must be sure to attend him, and expect
him to meet us, there where he records his name.
CHAP. XIX.
As Assyria was a breaking rod to Judah, with which it was
smitten, so Egypt was a broken reed, with which it was
cheated; and therefore God had a quarrel with them
both. We have before read the doom of the Assyrians,
now here we have the burthen of Egypt, a prophecy con¬
cerning that nation; 1. That it should be greatly weak¬
ened and brought low, and should be as contemptible
among the nations as now it was considerable, rendered
so by a complication of judgments which God would
bring upon them, v. 1 . . 17. II. That at length God’s
'ioly religion should be brought into Egypt, and set up
there, in part by the Jews that should fly thither for re¬
fuge, but more" fully by the preachers of the gospel of
Christ, through whose ministry churches should be plant¬
ed in Egypt in the days of the Messiah, (v. 18.. 25.)
which would abundantly balance all the calamities here
threatened.
1. f' lnHE burden of Egypt. Behold, the
JL Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and
shall come into Egypt; and the idols of
Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and
the heart of Egypt shall ‘melt in the midst
of it. 2. And I will set the Egyptians against
the Egyptians : and they shall fight every
one against his brother, and every one
against his neighbour; city against city,
and kingdom against kingdom. 3. And the
spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst there¬
of; and I will destroy the counsel thereof :
and they shall seek to the idols, and to the
charmers, and to them that have familiar
spirits, and to the wizards. 4. And the
Egyptians will I give over into the hand of
a cruel lord ; and a fierce ’king shall rule
over them,saith the Lord, the LoRDof hosts.
5. And the waters shall fail from the sea,
and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
6. And they shall turn the rivers far away,
and the brooks of defence shall be emptied
and dried up : the reeds and flags shall wi¬
ther. 7. The paper-reeds by the brooks, by
the mouth of the brooks, and every thing
sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven
away, and be no more. 8. The fishers also
shall mourn, and all they that cast angle
into the brooks, shall lament, and they that
spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
9. Moreover, they that work in fine flax,
and weave net-works, shall be confounded.
10. And they shall be broken in the purposes
thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for
fish. 1 1 . Surely the princesof Zoan are fools,
the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pha¬
raoh is become brutish : how say ye unto
Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son
of ancient kings? 12. Where«re they? where
are thy wise men? and let them tell thee
now, and let them know what the Lord of
hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. 13. The
princes of Zoan are become fools, the prin¬
ces of Noph are deceived; they have also
seduced Egypt, even they that are the staj
of the tribes thereof. 14. The Lord hath
mingled a perverse spirit in the midst there¬
of : and they have caused Egypt to err in
every work thereof, as a drunken man stag-
gereth in his vomit. 1 5. Neither'shall there
be any work for Egypt, which the head or
tail, branch or rush, may do. 16. In that
day shall Egypt be like unto women ; and
it shall be afraid and fear, because of the
shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts,
which he shaketh over it. 1 7. And the land
of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt : every
one that maketh mention thereof shall be
afraid in himself, because of the counsel of
the Lord of hosts, which he hath deter¬
mined against it.
Though the land of Egypt had of old been a house
of bondage to the people of God, where they had
been ruled with rigour, yet among the unbelieving
Jews there still remained much of the humour of
their fathers, who said, Let us make a captain, and
return into Egypt. Upon all occasions they trusted
to Egypt for help, ( cti . xxx. 2.) and thither they
fled, in disobedience to God’s express command,
when things were brought to the last extremity in
their own country, Jer. xliii. 7. Rabshakeh up¬
braided Hezekiah with this, ch. xxxvi. 6. While
they kept up an alliance with Egypt, and it was a
powerful ally, they stood not in awe of the judg¬
ments of God ; for against them they depended upon
Egypt to protect them. Nor did they depend upon
the power of God, when at any time they were in
distress; but Egypt was their confidence. To pre¬
vent all this mischief, Egypt must be mortified,
and many ways God here tells them he will take to
do it.
I. The gods of Egypt shall appear to them to be
what they always really were, utterly unable to help
them; (v. 1.) The Lord rides upon a cloud, a swift
cloud, and shall come into Egypt! as a judge goes
in state to the bench to try and condemn the male¬
factors, or as a general takes the field with his troops
to crush the rebels, so shall God come into Egypt
with his judgments; and when he comes, he will
certainly overcome. In all this burthen of Egypt
here is ne mention of any foreign enemy invading
them; but God himself will come against them, and
raise up the causes of their destruction from among
themselves. He comes upon a cloud, above the
reach of opposition or resistance. He comes apace,
upon a swift cloud; for tin ir judgment lingers not,
when the time is come. He rides upon the wings
of the wind, and far excelling the greatest pomp
and splendour of earthly princes; he makes the clouds
99
ISAIAH, XIX.
his chariots, Ps. xvm. 9. — civ. 3. When he comes, j
l he idols of Egypt shall be moved, sh:dl be removed,
.n his presence, and perhaps be made to fall, as
D.igon did before the ark. Isis, Osiris, and Apis,
those celebrated idols of Egypt, being found unable
to relieve their worshippers, shall be disowned and
rejected by them. Idolatry had got deeper rooting
in Egypt than in any land besides, even the most
absurd idolatries; and yet now the idols shall be
moved, and they shall be ashamed of them. When
the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, he executed
judgments upon the gods of the Egyptians; (Numb,
xxxiii. 4.) no marvel then if, when he comes, they
begin to tremble. The Egyptians shall seek to the
idols, when they are at their wits’ end, and consult
the charmers and wizards; (x>. 3.) but all in vain;
they see their ruin hastening on them notwith¬
standing.
II. The militia of Egypt, that had been famed
for their valour, shall be quite dispirited and dis¬
heartened. No kingdom in the world was ever in
a better method of keeping up a standing army than
the Egyptians were; but now their heroes, that used
to be celebrated for courage, shall be posted for
cowards; the 'heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst
of it, like wax before the tire; ( v . 1.) the spirit of
Egypt shall fail, (y. 3.) They shall have no inclina¬
tion, no resolution, to stand up in defence of their
country, their liberty, their property; but shall j
tamely and ingloriouslv yield all to the invader and
oppressor; The Egyptians shall be like women;
(y. 16.) they shall be frightened, and put into con¬
tusion, by the least alarm; even those that dwelt in
the heart of the country, in the midst of it, and
therefore furthest from danger, will be as full of
frights as those that are situate on the frontier. Let
not the bold and brave be proud or secure, for
God can easily cut off the spirit of princes, (Ps.
lxxvi. 12.) and take away their hearts, lob xii. 24.
III. The Egyptians shall be embroiled in endless
dissensions and quarrels among themselves. There
shall be no occasion to bring a foreign force upon
them to destny them, they shall destroy one ano¬
ther; {y. 2.) / will set the Egyptians against the
Egyptians. As these divisions and animosities are
their sin, God is not the Author of them, they come
from men’s lusts; but God, as a Judge, permits
them for their punishment, and by their destroying
differences corrects them for their sinful agree¬
ments. Instead of helping one another, and acting
each in his place for the common good, they shall
fight every one against his brother and neighbour,
whom he ought to love as himself; city against city,
and kingdom against kingdom. Egypt was then
divided into twelve provinces, or dynasties; but
Psammetichus, the governor of one of them, by set¬
ting them it variance with one another, at length
made himself master of them all. A kingdom, thus
divided against itself, would soon be brought to deso¬
lation. En quo discordia civis perduxit miseros!
— 0 the wretchedness brought upon a people by their
disagreements among themselves! It is brought to
this by a perverse spirit, a spirit of contradiction,
which the Lord would mingle as an intoxicating
draught made up of several ingredients, for the
Egyptians, x». 14. One party shall be for a thing,
for no other reason than because the other is against
it; that is a perverse spirit, which, if it mingle with
the public counsels, tends directly to the ruin of the
public interests.
IV. Their politics shall be all blasted, and turned
into foolishness; when God will destroy the nation,
lie will destroy the counsel thereof, ( v . 3.) by taking
away wisdom from the statesmen, (Job xii. 20.) or
setting them one against another, as Hushai and
Ahithophel, or, by his providence, breaking their
measures even then when they seemed well laid; so
that the princes of Zoan are fools, they make fools
of one another, every one betrays his own folly, and
Divine Providence makes fools of them all, x'. 11.
Pharaoh had his wise counsellors, Egypt was fa
mous for such; but their counsel is all become bru¬
tish, they have lost all their forecast, one would
think they were become idiots, and were bereavt d
of common sense. Let no man glory then in his
own wisdom, nor depend upon that, cr upon the
wisdom of those about him; for he that gives under¬
standing, can, when he pleases, take it away. And
from them it is most likely to be taken away, that
boast of their policy, as Pharaoh’s c< unsellors heie
did, and, to recommend themselves to places < i
public trust, boast of their great unde rstanding. “ 1
am the son of the wise, of the God of wisdom, of
wisdom itself,” says one; “My father was an emi¬
nent privy-counsellor of note, in his day, for wis¬
dom: ’ or of the antiquity and dignity cf their fami¬
lies; “I am” (says another) “the son of ancient
kings.” The nohlesof Egypt boasted much of their
antiquity, producing fabulous records of their suc¬
cession for above 10,000 years. This humour pre¬
vailed much among them about this time, as ap¬
pears by Herodotus; their common boast being, that
Egypt was some thousands of years more ancient
than any other nation. “ But where are thy wist
men? (x). 12.) Let them now show their wisdom
by foreseeing what ruin is coming upon their nation,
and preventing it, if they can. Let them with all
their skill know what the Lord of hosts has purposea
upon Egypt, and arm themselves accordingly.
Nay, so far are they from doing this, that they
themselves are, in effect, contriving the ruin of
Egypt, and hastening it on, v. 13. The princes of
Noph are not only deceived themselves, but they
have seduced Egypt, by putting their kings upon
arbitrary proceedings:” (by which both themselves
and their people were soon undone;) “ the governors
of Egypt, that are the stay and corner-stones of the
tribes thereof, are themselves undermining it.” It
is sad with a people when those that undertake for
their safety are helping forward their destruction,
and the physicians of the state are her worst dis¬
ease; when the things that belong to the public
peace, are so far hid from the eyes of those that are
entrusted with the public counsels, that in every
thing they blunder, and take wrong measures; so
here, (x\ 14.) They have caused Egypt to err in
every work thereof; every step they took, was a
false step ; they always mistook either the end or the
means, and their counsels were all unsteady and un¬
certain, like the staggerings and stammerings of a
drunken man in his vomit, who knows not what he
says, nor where he goes. Sec what reason we have
to pray for our privy-counsellors and ministers of
state, who are the great supports and blessings of the
state, if God give them a spirit of wisdom, but quite
contrary, if he hide their heart from understanding.
V. The rod of government shall be turned info
the serpent of tyranny and oppression; [v. A.) '• The
Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel
lord; not a foreigner, but one of their ow’n, one that
shall rule over them by an hereditary right, but
shall be a fierce king, and rule them with rigour:”
either the twelve tyrants that succeeded Sethon, or
rather Psammetichus that recovered the monarchy
again; for he speaks of one cruel lord. Now the
barbarous usage which the Egyptian taskmaster:-
gave to God’s Israel long ago, was remembered
against them, and they were paid in their own coil:
by another Pharaoh. It is sad with a people when
the powers that should be for edification are foi
destruction, and they are ruined by those by whom
they should be ruled, when such as this is the man¬
ner of the king; as it is described, in terrorem — in
order to impress alarm. 1 Sam. viii 11.
93
ISAIAH
VI. Egypt was famous for its river Nile, which
was its wealth, an 1 strength, and beauty, and was
id ilized by them. Now it is here threatened, that
the ■waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall
be wasted and dried up, v. 5. Nature shall not
herein favour them as she has done. Egypt was
never watered with the rain of heaven, (Zech. xiv.
18. ) and therefore the fruitfulness of their country
depended wholly upon the overflowing of their river;
it rh.it therefore be dried up, their fruitful land will
so in be turned into barrenness, and their harvests
cease; Every thing sown by the brooks will wither
of course, will be driven away, and be. no more, v.
7. If the paper-reeds by the brooks, at the very
mouth of them, wither, much more the corn, which
lies at a greater distanc , but derives its moisture
from them. Yet this is not all; the drying up of
their rivers is the destruction, 1. Of their fortifica¬
tions, for they are brooks of defence, (t. 6. ) making
the country difficult of access to an enemy; deep
rivers are the strongest lines, and most hardly
forced. Pharaoh is said to be a great dragon lying
in the midst of his rivers, and guarded by them,
bidding defiance to all about him, Ezek. xxix. 3.
But these shall be emptied and dried up, not by an
enemy, as Sennacherib with the sole of his foot
dried up mighty rivers, (c/i. xxxvii. 25.) and as Cy¬
rus, who took Babylon by drawing Euphrates into
many streams, but by the providence of God, which
sometimes turns water-springs into dry ground,
Ps. evii. 33. 2. It is the destruction of their fish,
which in Egypt was much of their food, witness that
base reflection which the children of Israel made,
(Numb. xi. 5.) We remember the fish which we did
eat in Egypt freely. The drying up of the rivers
will kill the fish, (Ps. cv. 29.) and that will ruin
those who make it their business, (1.) to catch fish,
whether by angling or nets; (v. 8.) they shall la¬
ment and languish, for their trade is at an end.
There is nothing which the children of this world
do more heartily lament, than the loss of that which
they used to get money by: Ploratur lacrymis am-
issa pecunia veris — Those are genuine tears, which
are shed over lost money. (2.) To keep fish, that
it may be ready when it is called for. There were
those that made sluices and ponds for fsh, (v. 10.)
but they shall be broken in the purposes thereof;
their business will fail, either for want of water to
fill their ponds, or for want of fish to replenish their
water's. God can find ways to deprive a country
even of that which is its staple commodity. The
Egyptians may' themselves remember the fish they
have formerly eaten freely, but now cannot have
for money. And that which aggravates the loss of
these advantages by the river, is, that it is their own
doings; (r. 6.) They shall turn the rivers far away.
Their kings and great men, to gratify their own
fancy, will drain water from the main river to their
own houses and grounds at a distance, preferring
their private conveniencies before the public, and
so by degrees the force of the river is sensibly weak¬
ened. Thus many do themselves a greater preju¬
dice at last than they think of; [1. ] Who pretend to
be wiser than nature, and to do better for them¬
selves than nature has done. [2.] Who consult their
own particular interest more than the common
good. Such may gratify themselves, but surely
they can never satisfy themselves, who, to serve a
turn, contribute to a public calamity, which they
themselves, at long run, cannot avoid sharing in.
Herodotus tells us that Pharaoh-Necho, (who reign¬
ed not long after this,) projecting to cut a free pas¬
sage by water from Nilus into the Red sea, em¬
ployed a vast number of men to make a ditch or
channel for that purpose; in which attempt he im¬
paired the river, lost a hundred and twenty thousand
of his people, and yet left the work unaccomplished.
XIX.
VII. Egypt was famous for the linen manufac
ture; but that trade shall be ruined. Solomon’?
merchants traded with Egypt for linen yam, ;
Kings x. 28. Their country produced the best flax,
and the best hands to work it; but they that work
in fine flax, shall be confounded, ( v . 9. ) either fi r
want of flax to work on, or for want of a demand
for that which they have worked, or of opportunity
to export it. The decay of trade weakens and
wastes a nation, and by degrees brings it to ru:n.
The trade of Egypt must needs sink, for (n. 15. J
There shall not be any work for Egypt to be em¬
ployed in; and when there is nothing to be done,
there is nothing to be got. There shall be an uni¬
versal stop put to business, no work which cither
head or tail, branch or rush, may do; nothing ti r
high or low, weak or strong, to do, no hire, Zech.
viii. 10. Note, The flourishing of a kingdom de¬
pends much upon the industry of the people; and
then things are likely to do well, when all hands are
at work; when the head and top branch do not dis¬
dain to labour, and the labour of the tail and rush is
not disdained. But when the learned professions are
unemployed, the principal merchants have no stocks,
and the handicraft tradesman nothing to do, poverty
comes upon a people as one that travelleth, and us
an armed man.
VIII. A general consternation shall seize the
Egyptians; they shall be afraid, and fear, (v. 16.)
which will be both an evidc nee of a universal dc c:.\ ,
and a means and presage of utter ruin. Two things
will put them into this fright; 1. What they hear
from the land of Judah; that shall be a terror
to Egvpt, v. 17. When they hear of the desola¬
tions made in Judah by the army of Sennacherib,
considering both the near neighbourhood, and the
strict alliance that was between them and Judah,
they will conclude it must be their turn next to be¬
come a prey to that victorious army. When their
neighbour’s house was on fire, they could not but
see their own danger; and therefore ever)- one cf the
Egyptians, that makes mention of Judah, shall be
afraid in himself, expecting the bitter cup shortly
to be put into his hands. 2. What they see in their
own land. They shall fear, (v. 16.) because of the
shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, and (to 7. )
because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts; which,
from the shaking of his hand, they shall conclude he
has determined against Egypt as well as Judah. F< i
if judgment begin at the house cf God, where will it
end? If this be done in the green tree, what shall be
done in the dry? See here, (1.) How easily God c: n
make those a terror to themselves, that have been n< t
only secure, but a terror to all about them. It is but
shaking his hand over them, or laying it upon seme
of their neighbours, and the stoutest hearts tremble
immediately. (2.) How well it becomes us to fear
before God, when he does but shake his hand ever
us, and to humble ourselves under his mighty hand,
when it does but threaten us, especially when we
see his counsel determined against us; for who c n
change his counsel?
18. In that day shall five cities in the lan 1
of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and
swear to the Lord of hosts: one shall he
called, The city of destruction. 19. In that
day there shall be an altar to the Lord in
the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar
at the border thereof to the Lord. 20. And
it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto
the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for
they shall cry unto the Lord because of the
oppressors, and he shall send them a sa-
94
ISAIAH, XIX.
viour, and a great one, and he shall deliver
them. 21. And the Lord shall be known
to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the
Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and
oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto
the Lord, and perform it. 22. And the
Lord shall smite Egypt; he shall smite and
heal it: and they shall return even to the
Lord, and he shall be entreated of them,
and shall heal them. 23. In that day shall
there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria ;
and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt,
and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the
Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
24. In that day shall Israel be the third with
Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in
the midst of the land; 25. Whom the Lord
of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt
my people, and Assyria the work of my
hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
Out of the thick and threatening clouds of the
foregoing prophecy, here the sun of comfort breaks
forth, and it is the sun of righteousness. Still God
has mercy in store for Egypt, and he will show it,
not so much by reviving their trade, and replenish¬
ing their river again, as by bringing the true religion
among them, calling them to, and accepting them
in, the worship of the one only living and true God;
and these blessings of grace were much more valua¬
ble than all the blessings of nature, wherewith Egypt
was enriched. We know not of any event in which
this prophecy can be thought to have its full accom¬
plishment, short of the conversion of Egypt to the
faith of Christ, by the preaching (as is supposed) of
Mark the Evangelist, and the founding of many
Christian churches there, which flourished for many
ages. Many prophecies of this book point to the
days of the Messiah; and why not this? It is no
unusual thing to speak of gospel-graces and ordi¬
nances in the language of the Old Testament insti¬
tutions. And in these prophecies, those words, in
that day, perhaps, have not always a reference to
what goes immediately before, but have a peculiar
significancy pointing at that day which had been so
long fixed, and so often spoken of, when the day¬
spring from on high should visit this dark world.
Yet it is not improbable, which some conjecture,
that this prophecy was in part fulfilled when those
Jews who fled from their own country to take shel¬
ter in Egypt, when Sennacherib invaded their land,
brought their religion along with them, and, being
awakened to great seriousness by the troubles they
were in, made an open and zealous profession of it
..here, and were instrumental to bring many of the
Egyptians to embrace it; which was an earnest and
specimen of the more plentiful harvest of souls that
should be gathered in to God by the preaching of
the gospel of Christ. Josephus indeed tells us, that
Onias, the son of Onias the High Priest, living an
outlaw at Alexandria in Egypt, obtained leave of
Ptolemy Philometer, then king, and Cleopatra, his
queen, to build a temple to the God of Israel, like
that at Jerusalem, at Bubastis in Egypt, and pre-
1 ended a warrant for doing it from this prophecy
in Isaiah, that there shall be an altar to the Lord in
the land of Egypt; the service of God, Josephus af¬
firms, continued in it about 333 years, when it was
shut up by Paulinus, soon after the destruction of
Jerusalem bv the Romans: see Joseph. Jntia. 1. 13.
e. 6. and dc Bell. Judaic. 1. 7. c. 30. But that tem¬
ple was all along looked upon by 'he Dions 1-ws
as so great an irregularity, and an affront to the
temple at Jerusalem, that we cannot suppose this
prophecy to be fulfilled in it.
Observe how the conversion of Egypt is here de¬
scribed.
I. They shall speak the language of Canaan, the
holy language, the scripture-language; they shall
not only understand it, but use it; (v. 18.) they shall
introduce that language among them, and converse
freely with the people of God, and not, us they used
to do, by an interpreter, Gen. xlii. 23. Note, Con¬
verting grace, by changing the heart, changes the
language; for out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaks. Five cities in Egypt shall speak this
language; so many Jews shall come to reside in
Egypt, and they shall so multiply there, that they
shall soon replenish five cities; one of which shall
be the city of Heres, or of the sun, Heliopolis,
where the sun was worshipped, the most infamous
of all the cities of Egypt tor idolatry; even there
shall be a wonderful reformation — they shall speak
the language of Canaan. Or it may be taken thus,
as we render it, That for every five cities that shall
embrace religion, there shall be one (a sixth part
of the cities of Egypt) that shall reject it, and that
shall be called a city of destruction, because it re¬
fuses the method of salvation.
II. They shall swear to the Lord of hosts; not
only swear by him, giving him the honour of ap¬
pealing to him, as all nations did to the gods they
worshipped; but they shall by a solemn oath and
vow devote themselves to his honour, and bind
themselves to his service. They shall swear tt
cleave to him with purpose of heart, and shall wor¬
ship him not occasionally, but constantly. They
shall swear allegiance to him as their King, to
Christ, to whom all judgment is committed.
III. They shall set up the public worship of God
in their land; (v. 19.) There shall be an altar to
the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, an altar
on which they shall do sacrifice and oblation; (v.
21.) therefore it must be understood spiritually.
Christ, the great Altar, who sanctifies every gift,
shall be owned there, and the gospel-sacrifices of
prayer and praise shall be offered up; for by the
law of Moses there was to be no altar for sacrifice
but that at Jerusalem. In Christ Jesus all distinc¬
tion of nations is taken away; and a spiritual altar,
a gospel-church, in the midst of the land of Egypt,
is as acceptable to God as one in the midst of the
land of Israel; and spiritual sacrifices of faith and
love, and a contrite heart, please the Lord better
than an ox or bullock.
IV. There shall be a face of religion upon the na¬
tion, and an open profession made of it, discernible
to all who come among them; not only in the heart
of the country, but even in the borders of it, there
shall be a pillar, or pillars, inscribed, to Jehovah,
to his honour, as before there had been such pillars
set up in honour of false gods. As soon as a stranger
entered upon the borders of Egypt, he might soon
perceive what God they worshipped. Those that
serve God must not be ashamed to own him, but be
forward to do any thing that may be for a sign and
for a witness to the Lord of hosts, that even in the
land of Egypt he had some faithful worshippers,
who boasted of their relation to him, and made his
name their strong tower, or bulwark, cn their bor¬
ders, with which their coasts were fortified against
all assailants.
V. Being in distress, they shall seek to God, and
he shall be found of them; and this shall be a sign
and a witness for the Lord of hosts, that he is a God
hearing prayer to all flesh that come to him, v. 20.
See Ps. lxv. 2. When they cry to God by reason
of their oppressors, the cruel lords that shall rule
over them, (v 4.) he. shall be entreated of them;
95
ISAIAH, XX.
(e. 22.) whereas he had told his people Israel, who
had made it their own choice to have such a king,
that they should cry to him by reason of their king,
and he would not hear them, 1 Sam. viii. 18.
VI. They shall have an interest in the great Re¬
deemer. When they were under the oppression of
cruel birds, perhaps God sometimes raised them up
mighty deliverers, as he did for Israel in the days
of the judges; and by them, though he had smitten
the land, he healed it again; and, upon their return
to God in a way of duty, he returned to them in a
vay of mercy, and repaired the breaches of their
ottering state; for repenting Egyptians shall find
the same favour with God that repenting Ninevites
lid. But all these deliverances wrought for them,
is those for Israel, were but figures of gospel-salva-
"ion. Doubtless, Jesus Christ is the baviour, and
.lie Great One, here spoken of, whom God will
send the glad tidings of to the Egyptians, and by
whom he will deliver them out of the hands of their
enemies, that they may serve him without fear,
Luke i. 74, 75. Jesus Christ delivered the Gentile
nations from the service of dumb idols, and did
himself both purchase and preach liberty to the
captives.
VII. The knowledge of God shall prevail among
them, i'. 21. 1. They shall have the means of
knowledge; for many ages, in Judah only was God
known, for there only were the lively oracles found;
but now the Lord, and his name and will, shall be
known to Egyfit. Perhaps this may in part refer
to the translation of the Old T estament out of He¬
brew into Greek by the LXX., which was done at
Alexandria in Egypt, by the command of Ptolemy
king of Egypt; and it was the first time that the
scriptures were translated into any other language:
by the help of this, (the Grecian monarchy having
introduced their language into that country,) the
Lord was known to Egyfit, and a happy omen and
means it was of his being further known, v. 1. 2.
They shall have grace to improve those means; it
is promised not only that the Lord shall be known
to Egypt, but that the Egyptians shall know the
Lord; they shall receive and entertain the light
granted to them, and shall submit themselves to the
power of it. The Lord is known to our nation, and
yet I fear there are many of our nation that do not
know the Lord. But the promise of the new cove¬
nant is, that all shall know the Lord from the least
even to the greatest; which promise is sure to all
the seed. The effect of this knowledge of God is,
that they shall vow a vow to the Lord, and perform
it. For those do not know God aright, who either
are not willing to bind themselves to the Lord, or
do not make good these obligations.
VIII. They shall come into the communion of
saints; being joined to the Lord, they shall be added
to the church, and be incorporated with all the
saints.
1. All enmities shall be slain. Mortal feuds there
had been between Egypt and Assyria, they often
made war upon one another; but now there shall be
a highway between Egypt and jlssyria, ( v . 23.) a
happy correspondence settled between the two na¬
tions; they shall trade with one another, and every
tiling that passes between them shall be friendly.
The Egyptians shall serve, shall worship, the true
God with the Assyrians; and therefore the Assy¬
rians shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptians into
Assyria. Note, It becomes those who have com¬
munion with the same God, through the same Me¬
diator, to keep up an amicable correspondence with
one another. The consideration of our meeting at
the same throne of grace, and our serving with each
other in the same business of religion, should put
an end to all heats and animosities, and knit our
hearts to each other in holy love.
1 2. The Gentile nations shall not only unite with
each other in the gospel-fold under Christ the great
! Shepherd, but they shall all be united with the
| Jews. When Egypt and Assyria become partners
in serving God, Israel shall make a third with them,
j ( v . 24.) they shall become a threefold cord, not
J easily broken; the ceremonial law, which had long
been the partition- wall between Jews and Gentiles,
shall be taken down, and then they shall become
j one sheep-fold, under one shepherd. Thus united,
' they shall lie a blessing in the midst of the land,
j whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, v. 24, 25. (1.)
I Israel shall be a blessing to them all, because of
them, as concerning the flesh, Christ came; and they
were the natural branches of the good olive, to whom
did originally pertain its root and fatness, and the
Gentiles were but grafted in among them, Rem.
xi. 17. Israel lay between Egypt and Assyria, and
was a blessing to them, both by bringing them to
meet in that word of the Lord, which went forth
from Jerusalem, and that church which was first
set up in the land of Israel: Qui conveniunt in ali-
quo tertio, inter se conveniunt — They who meet in
a third, meet in each other. Israel is that third in
whom Egypt and Assyria agree, and is therefore a
blessing; for those are real and great blessings to
their generation, who are instrumental to unite those
that have been at variance. (2.) They shall all be
a blessing to the world; so the Christian church is,
made up of Jews and Gentiles; it is the beauty,
riches, and support, of the world. (3.) They shall
all be blessed of the Lord: [1.] They shall all be
owned by him as his. Though Egypt was formerly
a house of bondage to the people of God, and As¬
syria an unjust invader of them, all this shall now
be forgiven and forgotten, and they shall be as wel¬
come to God as Israel. They are all alike his peo¬
ple, whom he takes under his protection: they are
formed by him, for they are the work of his hands;
not only as a people, but as his people. They are
formed for him, for they are his inheritance, pre¬
cious in his eyes, and dear to him, and from whom
he has his rent of honour out of this lower world.
[2. ] They shall be owned together by him as jointly
his; his in concert; they shall all share in one and
the same blessing. Note, Those that are united in
the love and blessing of God, ought, for that reason,
to be united to each other in charity.
CHAP. XX.
^his chapter is a prediction of the carrying away of multi¬
tudes both of the Egyptians and the Ethiopians into cap¬
tivity by the king of Assyria. Here is, I. The sign by
which this was foretold, which was, the prophet’s going,
for some time, barefoot and almost naked, like a poor
captive, v. 1, 2. II. The explication of that sign, with
application to Egypt and Ethiopia, v. 3 . . 5. III. The
good use which the people of God should make of this,
which is, never to trust in an arm of flesh, because thus
it will deceive them, v. 6.
1 . TN the year that Tartan came unto
X Ashdod, (when Sargon the king of
Assyria sent him,) and fought against Ash¬
dod, and took it ; 2. At the same time spake
the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amoz,
saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off
thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot.
And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
3. And the Lord said, Like as my servant
Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot
three years for a sign and wonder upon
Egypt and upon Ethiopia; 4. So shall the
king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians
prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives,
96
ISAIAH, XX.
young and old, naked and barefoot, even
with their buttocks uncovered, to tire shame
of Egypt. 5. And they shall be afraid and
ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation, and
of Egypt their glory. 6. And the inhabitant
of this isle shall say in that day, Behold,
such is our expectation, whither we flee
for help to be delivered from the king of As¬
syria : and how shall we escape ?
God here, as King of nations, brings a sore calam¬
ity upon Egypt and Ethiopia, but, as King of saints,
brings good to his people out of it. Observe,
I. The date of this prophecy; it was in the year
that Ashdod, a strong city of the Philistines, (but
which some think was lately recovered from them
by Hezekiah, when he smote the Philistines even
unto Gaza, 2 Kings xviii. 8.) was besieged and
taken by an' army of the Assyrians; it is uncertain
what year of Hezekiah that was, but the event was
so remarkable, that they who lived then, could by
that token fix the time to a year. He that was now
king of Assyria, is called Sargon, which some take
to be the same with Sennacherib; others think he
was his immediate predecessor, and succeeded Shal¬
maneser. Tartan, who was general, or commander-
in-chief, in this expedition, was one of Sennacherib’s
officers, sent by him to bid defiance to Hezekiah,
in concurrence with Rabshakeh, 2 Kings xviii. 17.
II. The making of Isaiah a sign, by his unusual
dress, when lie walked abroad. He had been a sign
to his own people of the melancholy times that were
come, and coming, upon them, by the sackcloth
which for some time he had worn, of which he had
a gown made, which he girt about him. Some
think he put himself into that habit of a mourner,
upon occasion of the captivity of the ten tribes;
others think sackcloth was what he commonly wore
as a prophet, to show himself mortified to the world,
and that he might learn to endure hardness; soft
clothing better becomes those that attend in king’s
palaces, (Matth. xi. 8.) than those that go on God’s
errands. Elijah wore hair-cloth, (2 Kings i. 8.) and
John Baptist, (Matth. iii. 4.) and those that pre¬
tended to be prophets, supported their pretensions
by wearing rough garments; (Zec'h. xiii. 4.) but
Isaiah has orders given him to loose his sackcloth
from his loins, not to exchange it for better clothing,
but for none at all, no upper garment, no mantle,
cloak or coat, but only that which was next to him ;
his shirt, we may suppose, waistcoat, and drawers;
and he must put off his shoes, and go barefoot; so
that, compared with the dress of others, and what
he himself usually wore, he might be said to go
naked. This was a great hardship upon the pro¬
phet, it was a blemish to his reputation, and would
expose him to contempt and ridicule; the boys in
the streets would hoot at him ; and they who sought
occasion against him, would say, The prophet is in¬
deed a fool, and the spiritual man is mad, Hos. ix.
7. It might likewise be a prejudice to his health,
he was in danger of catching a cold, which might
throw him into a fever, and cost him his life; but
God bade him do it, that he might give a proof of
his obedience to God in a most difficult command,
and so shame the disobedience of his people to the
most easy and reasonable precepts. When we are
in the way of our duty, we may trust God both with
our credit and with our safety. The hearts of that
people were strangely stupid, and would not be af¬
fected with what they heard only, but must be
taught by signs, and therefore Isaiah must do this
for their edification: if the dress was scandalous, yet
the design was glorious, and what a prophet of the
Lord needed not to be ashamed of.
III. The exposition of this sign, v. 3, 4. Tt was
intended to signify that the Egyptians and the Ethi¬
opians should be led away captives by the king of
Assyria, thus stripped, rr in rags and very shabby
clothing, as Isaiah was. Grd calls him his servant
Isaiah, because in this matter particularly he had
approved himself God’s willing, faithful, obedient
servant; and for this very thing, which perhaps
others laughed at him for, Grd gloried in him. To
obey is better than sacrifice; it pleases Gcd, and
praises him more, and shall be more praised by him.
Isaiah is said to have wa’ked naked and barefoot
three years, whenever in that time he appeared as
a prophet: but seme refer the three years, net to
the sign, but to the thing signified; he has walked
naked and barefoot; there is a step to the original:
provided he did so once, there was enough to give
occasion to all about him to inquire what was the
meaning of his doing so; or, as some think, he did it
three days, a day for a year; and this ft r a three
years’ sign and wonder, for a sign of that which
shall be done three years hence, or which shall be
three years in the doing. Three campaigns suc¬
cessively shall the Assyrian armv make, in spoiling
the Egyptians and Ethiopians, and carrying them
away captive in this barbarous manner; not cnly
the soldiers taken in the field of battle, but the in¬
habitants, young and old; and it being a very pitecus
sight, and such as must needs move compassion in
those that had the least degree of tenderness left
them, to see those who had gone all their davs well-
dressed, now stripped, and scarcely having rags to
cover their nakedness; that circumstance of their
captivity is particularly taken notice of, and fore¬
told, the more to affect them to whom this prophecy
was delivered. It is particularly said to be the
shame of Egypt, (v. 4.) because the Egyptians were
a proud people, and therefore when they did fall
intn disgrace, it was the more shameful to them:
and the higher they had lifted up themselves, the
lower was their fall, both in their c.wn eyes and in
the eyes of others.
IV. The use and application of this, v. 5, 6.
1. All that had any dependence upon, or corres¬
pondence with Egypt and Ethiopia, should now be
ashamed of them, and afraid of having any thing to
do with them. Those countries that were in dan¬
ger of being overrun by the Assyrians, expected
that Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, with bis liumir
ous forces, should put a stop to the progress of their
victorious arms, and be a barrier to his neighbours;
and with yet more assurance they gloried that
Egypt, a kingdom so famous for policy and prowess,
would do their business, would oblige them to raise
the siege of Ashdod, and retire with precipitation :
but, instead of this, by attempting to oppose him,
they do but expose themselves, and make their
country a prey to him. Hereupon, all about them
are ashamed that ever they promised themselves
any advantage from two such weak and cownrdly
nations, and more afraid now' than ever they were
of the growdng greatness of the king of Assyria, be¬
fore whom Egypt and Ethiopia proved but as briers
and thorns put to stop a consuming fire, which do
but make it burn the more strongly. Note, Those
who make any creature their expectation and glory,
and so put it in the place of God, will, sooner or
later, be ashamed of it, and their disappointment in
it will but increase their fear. See Ezck. xxix. 6, 7.
2. The Jews in particular should be convinced of
their folly in resting upon such broken reeds, and
should despair of any relief from them ; (u. 6.) The
inhabitants of this Isle, the land of Judah, situated
upon the sea, though not surrounded by it; of this
country, so the margin: everyone shall now have
his eyes opened, and shall say, “ Behold, such is our
expectation, so vain, so foolish, and this is that
97
ISAIAH, XXL
which it will come to; we have fled for help to the |i
Egyptians and Ethiopians, and have hoped by them
to be delivered from the king of Assyria; but now
that they are broken thus, how shall we escape,
that are not able to bring such armies into the field
as they did?” Note, (1.) Those that confide in
creatures will be disappointed, and will be made
ashamed of their confidence, for vain is the help of
man, and in vain is salvation hoped for from the
hills, or the height and multitude of the mountains.
(2.) Disappointment in creature-confidences, in¬
stead of driving us to despair, as here, (How shall
we escape?) should drive us to God, to whom if we
flee for help, our expectation shall not be frustrated.
CHAP. XXI.
In this chapter we have a prophecy of sad times coming,
and heavy burthens; I. Upon Babylon, here called the
desert of the sea , that it should be destroyed by the Medes
and Persians with a terrible destruction, which yet God’s
people should have advantage by, v. 1 . . 10. II. Upon
Dumah, or Idumea, v. 1 1, 12. III. Upon Arabia, or Ke-
dar, the desolation of which country was very near, v. 13. .
17. These and other nations which the princes and peo¬
ple of Israel had so much to do with, the prophets of Is¬
rael could not but have something to say to : foreign af¬
fairs must be taken notice of as well as domestic ones,
and news from abroad inquired after as well as news at
home.
1. npHE burden of the desert of the sea.
JL As whirlwinds in the south pass
through; so it cometh from the desert, from
a terrible land. 2. A grievous vision is de¬
clared unto me ; The treacherous dealer
dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoil-
eth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, () Media:
all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.
3. Therefore are my loins filled with pain ;
pangs have taken hold upon me, as the
pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was
bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dis¬
mayed at the seeing of it. 4. My heart
panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night
of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto
me. 5. Prepare the table, watch in the
watch-tower, eat, drink : arise, ye princes,
and anoint the shield. 6. For thus hath the
Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman,
let him declare what he seeth. 7. And he
saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a
chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels ; and
he hearkened diligently with much heed. 8.
And he cried, A lion : My lord, I stand con¬
tinually upon the watch-tower in the day¬
time, and I am set in my ward whole nights;
9. And, behold, here cometh a chariot of
men, with a couple of horsemen. And he
answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is
fallen; and all the graven images of her gods
he hath broken unto the ground. 10. O my
threshing, and the com of my floor: that
which I have heard of the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.
We had one burthen of Babylon before, {ch. 13.)
here we have another prediction of its fall; Goa
saw fit thus to possess his people with the belief of
this event by line upon line; because Babylon some¬
times pretended to be a friend to them, (as ch.
Vol. IV. — N
xxxix. 1.) and God would hereby warn them nut to
trust to that friendship, and sometimes was really
an enemy to them, and God would hereby warn
them not to be afraid of that enmity. Babylon is
marked for ruin; and all that believe God’s pro¬
phets, can, through that glass, see it tottering, see
it tumbling, even then when with an eye of sense
they see it flourishing, and sitting as a queen.
Babylon is here called the desert or / iluin of the
sea, for it was a flat country, and full i f lakes, or
loughs, (as they call them in Ireland,) like little
seas, and was abundantly watered with the many
streams of the river Euphrates. Babylon did but
lately begin to be famous, Nineveh having outshined
it while the monarch}’ was in the Assyrian hands;
but in a little time it became the lady of kingdoms;
and before it arrived at that pitch of eminence
which it was in Nebuchadnezzar’s time, God, by
this prophet, plainly foretold its fall, again and
again, that his people might not be terrified at its
rise, nor despair of reliet in due time when they
were its prisoners, Job. v. 3. Ps. xxxvii. £5, 36.
Some think it is here called a desert, because,
though it was now a populous city, it should in time
be made a desert. And therefore the destruction cf
Babylon is so often prophesied of by this evangelical
prophet, because it was typical of the destruction
of the man of sin, the great enemy of the New Tes¬
tament church, which is foretold in the Revelation
in many expressions borrowed from these prophe¬
cies, which therefore must be consulted and collated
by those who would understand the prophecy cf
that book. Here is,
I. The powerful irruption and descent which the
Medes and Persians should make upon Babylon; ( v .
1, 2.) They will come from the desert, from a ter¬
rible land. The northern parts of Media and Per¬
sia, where their soldiers were mostly bred, was
waste and mountainous; tenable to strangers that
were to pass through it, and producing soldiers that
were very formidable. Elam, (Persia) is summrned
to go up against Babylon, and in conjunction with
the forces of Media, to besiege it; when God has
work of this kind to do, he will find, though it be in
a desert, in a terrible land, proper instruments to
be employed in it. These forces come as whirl¬
winds from the south, so suddenly, so strongly, and
so terribly: such a mighty noise shall they make,
and throw down every thing that stands in their
way. As is usual in such a case, some deserters
will go over to them, the treacherous dealers toil l
deal treacherously. Historians tell us of Gadatas
and Gobryas, two great officers of the king of Baby¬
lon, that went over to Cyrus, and, being well ac¬
quainted with all the avenues of the city, led a party
directly to the palace, where Belshazzar was slain:
thus with the help of the treacherous dealers the
sfioilers spoiled. Some read it thus, There shall be
a deceiver of that deceiver, Babylon, and a spoiler
of that spoiler. Or, which comes all to one, The
treacherous dealer has found one that deals treache¬
rously, and the spoiler one that spoils, as it is ex-
gounded, ch. xxxiii. 1. The Persians shall p. vthe
abylonians in their own coin; they that by fraud
and violence, cheating and plundering, unrighteous
wars and deceitful treaties, have made a prey cf
their neighbours, shall meet with their match, and
by the same methods shall themselves be made a
prev of.
II. The different impressions made hereby upon
those concerned in Babylon.
1. To the poor oppressed captives it would be
yvelcome news; for they had been told long ago that
Babylon’s destroyer would be their deliverer; and
therefore when they hear that Elam and Media are
coming up to besiege Babylon, all their sighing will
be made to cease; they shall no longer mingle their
98
ISAIAH, XXL
rears with Euphrates’ streams, but resume their
uarps, and smile when they remember Zion, which,
before, they wept at the thought of. For the sigh-
■ng of the needy the God of pity will arise in due
rime; (Ps. xii. 5.) he will break the yoke from off
their neck, will remove the rod of the wicked from
off their lot, and so make their sighing to cease.
2. To the proud oppressors it would be a grievous
vision, (t>. 2. ) particularly to the king of Babylon
for the time being, and it should seem that he it is
who is here brought in, sadly lamenting his inevita¬
ble fate; (x>. 3, 4.) Therefore are my loins foiled
with j lain , pangs have taken hold upon me, &c.
which was literally fulfilled in Belshazzar, for that
very night in which his city was taken, and himself
slain, upon the sight of a hand writing mystic cha- 1
racters upon the wall, his countenance was changed,
and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of
his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against
another, Dan. v. 6. And yet that was but the be¬
ginning of sorrows; Daniel’s decyphering of the
writing could not but increase his terror, and the
alarm which immediately followed, of the execu¬
tioners at the door, would be the completing of it.
And those words, The night of my pleasure has he
turned into fear to me, plainly refer to that aggra¬
vating circumstance of Belshazzar’s fall, that he
was slain on that night when he was in the height
of his mirth and jollity, with his cups and concu¬
bines about him, and a thousand of his lords revel¬
ling with him; that night of his pleasure, when he |
promised himself an undisturbed, unallayed enjoy¬
ment of the most exquisite gratifications of sense,
with a particular defiance of God and religion in the
profanation of the temple-vessels — that was the
night that was turned into all this fear. Let this
give an effectual check to vain mirth and sensual
pleasures, and forbid us ever to lay the reins on the
neck of them — that we know not what heaviness
the mirth may end in, nor how soon laughter may
be turned into mourning; but this we know, that for
all these things God shall bring us into judgment;
let us therefore mix trembling always with our joys.
III. A representation of the posture in which
Babylon should be found when the enemy should
surprise it; all in festival gaiety; (y. 5.) “Prepare
the table with a}l manner of dainties, set the guards,
let them watch in the watch-tower, while we eat
and drink securely, and make merry; and if any
alarm should be given, the princes shall arise, and
anoint the shield, and be in readiness to give the
enemy a warm reception.” Thus secure are they,
and thus do they gird on the harness with as much
joy as if they had put it off.
IV. A description of the alarm which should be
given to Babylon, upon its being forced by Cyrus
and Darius. The Lord, in vision, showed the pro¬
phet the watchman set in the watch-tower, near
the palace, as is usual in times of danger; the king
ordered those about him to post a sentinel in the
most advantageous place for discovery, and accord¬
ing to the duty of a watchman, let him declare what
he sees, v. 6. We read of a watchman thus set to
receive intelligence, in the story of David, (2 Sam.
xviii. 24.) and in the story of Jehu, 2 Kings ix. 17.
This watchman here discovered a chariot with a
couple of horsemen attending it, in which we may
suppose the commander-in-chief to ride; he then
saw another chariot drawn by asses or mules, which
were much in use among the Persians, and a chariot
drawn by camels, which were likewise much in use
among the Medes; so that (as Grotius thinks) these j
two chariots signify the two nations combined against
Babylon; or rather, these chariots come to bring ti¬
dings to the palace; compare Jer. li. 31, 32. One \
post shall run to meet another, and one messenger
:o meet another, to show the king of Babylon that
his city is taken at one end, while he is revelling a*
the other end, and knows nothing of the matter.
This watchman, seeing these chariots at some dis
tance, hearkened diligently with much heed, to re¬
ceive the first tidings. And ( v . 8.) he cried, A lion;
this word, coming out of a watchman’s mouth, no
doubt gave them a certain sound, and every body
knew the meaning of it, though we do not know it
now. It is likely that it was intended to raise at¬
tention; he that has an ear to hear, let him hear, as
when a lion roars : or he cried as a lion, very loud
and in good earnest; the occasion being very urgent.
And what has he to say? 1. He professes his con¬
stancy to his post assigned him ; “/stand, my lord,
continually upon the watch-tower, and have never
discovered any thing material, till just now; all
seemed safe and quiet. ” Some make it to be a com¬
plaint of the people of God, that they had long ex¬
pected the downfall of Babylon, according to the
prophecy, and it was not yet come; but withal a re¬
solution to- continue waiting, as Hab. ii. 1. I will
stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower,
to see what will be the issue of the present provi¬
dences. 2. He gives notice of the discoveries he
had made; (y. 9.) Here comes a chariot of men,
with a couple of horsemen; a vision representing the
enemy’s entry into the city with all their force, or
the tidings brought to the royal palace of it.
V. A certain account is at length given of the
overthrow of Babylon. He in the chariot answered
and said, (when he heard the watchman speak,)
Babylon is fallen, is fallen; or, God answered thus
to the prophet inquiring concerning the issue of
these affairs; “ It is now come to this, Babylon is
surely and irrecoverably fallen; Babylon’s business is
done now. All the graven itnages of her gods he
has broken unto the ground .” Babylon was the
mother of harlots, of idolatry, which was one of the
grounds of God’s quarrel with her; but her idols
shall now be so far from protecting her, that some
of them shall be broken down to the ground, and
others of them, that were worth carrying away,
shall go into captivity, and be a burthen to the
beasts that carried them, ch. xlvi. 1, 2.
VI. Notice is given to the people of God, who
were then captives in Babylon, that this prophecy
of the downfall of Babylon was particularly intend¬
ed for their comfort and encouragement, and they
might depend upon it, that it should be accomplish¬
ed in due season, v. 10. Observe, 1. The title the
prophet gives them in God’s name, O my threshing,
and the corn of my floor; the prophet calls them
his, because they were his countrymen, and such as
he had a particular interest in and concern for; but
he speaks it as from God, and directs his speech to
those that were Israelites indeed, the faithful in the
land. Note, (1.) The church is God’s floor, in
which the most valuable fruits and products of this
earth are, as it were, gathered together and laid up.
(2.) True believers are the corn of God’s floor; hv
pocrites are but as the chaff and straw, which take
up a great deal of room, but are of small value, with
which the wheat is now mixed, but from which it
shall be shortly and for ever separated. (3. ) The
corn of God’s floor must expect to be threshed by
afflictions and persecutions. God’s Israel of old was
afflicted from her youth, often under the plougher’s
plough, (Ps. cxxix. 3. ) and the thresher’s flail. (4. )
Even then God owns it for his threshing, it is his
still; nay, the threshing of it is by his appointment,
and under his restraint and direction. The thresh¬
ers could have no power against it, but what is given
them from above. 2. The assurance he gives them
of the truth of what he had delivered to them,
which therefore they might build their hopes upon,
That which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, that, and nothing else, that, and no
99
ISAIAH, XXI
fiction of fancy o'" my own, have I declared unto
you. Note, In all events concerning the church,
past, present, and to come, we must have an eye to
God, both as the Lord of hosts and as the God of
Israel, who has power enough to do any thing for
his church, and grace enough to do every thing that
is for her good. Let us also diligently notice the
words of his prophets, as words received from the
Lord. As they dare not smother any thing which
he has intrusted them to declare, so they dare not
declare any thing as from him, which he has not
made known to them, I Cor. xi. 23.
11. The burden of Duniah. He calleth
to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the
night? watchman, what of the night ? 12.
The watchman said, The morning cometh,
and also the night : if ye will inquire, in¬
quire ye: return, come.
This prophecy concerning Dumah is very short,
and withal dark and hard to be understood. Some
think that Dumah is a part of Arabia, and that the
inhabitants descended from Dumah the sixth son
of Ishmael, as those of Kedar (v. 16, 17.) from Ish-
mael’s second son, Gen. xxv. 13, 14. Others, be-
c mse mount S.'ir is here mentioned, by Dumah un¬
derstand Idumea, the country of the Edomites.
Some of Israel’s neighbours are certainly meant,
whose distress is foretold, not only for warning to
them to prepare them for it, but for warning to Is¬
rael not to depend upon them, or any of the nations
about them, for relief in a time of danger, but upon
God only. We must see all creature-confidences
failing Us", and feel them breaking under us, that
we may not lay more weight upon them than they
will bear. Rut though the explication of this pro¬
phecy be difficult, because we have no history in
which we find the accomplishment of it, yet the ap¬
plication will be easy. We have here,
1. A question put by an Edomite to the watch¬
man. Some one or other calls out of Seir,
somebody that was more concerned for the public
safety and welfare than the rest, who were gene¬
rally" careless and secure; as the man of Macedonia,
in a vision, desired Paul to come over and help
them, (Acts xvi. 9.) so this man of mount Seir, in a
vision, desired the prophet to inform and intruct
them. He calls not many; it is well there are any,
that all are not alike unconcerned about the things
that belong to the public peace. Some out of Seir
ask advice of God’s prophets, and are willing to be
taught, when many of God’s Israel heed nothing.
The question is serious. What of the night? It is
put to a proper person, the watchman, whose office
it is to answer such inquiries: he repeats the ques¬
tion, as one in care, as one in earnest, and desires to
have an answer. Note, (1.) God’s prophets and min¬
isters are appointed to be watchmen, and we are to
look upon them as such. They are as watchmen
in the city in a time of peace, to see that all be safe,
to knock at every door by personal inquiries; (“ Is
it locked? Is the fire safer”) to direct those that
are at a loss, and check those that are disorderly,
Cant. iii. 3. — v. 7. They are as watchmen in the
camp in time of war; (Ezek. xxxiii. 7.) they are to
take notice of the motions of the enemy, and to give
notice of them, to make discoveries, and then
give warning; and in this they must deny them¬
selves. (2.) It is our duty to inquire of the watch¬
men, especially to ask again and again, What of
the night? For watchmen wake when others sleep.
[1.] What time of the night? After a long sleep in
sin an security, is it not time to rise, high time to
awake out of sleep? Rom. xiii. 11. We have a
great deal of work to do, a long journey to go; is it
not time to be stirring? “Watchman, what o’clock
is it? After a long dark night is there any hopes of
the day dawning?” [2.] What tidings of the night?
What from the night? So some. “ What vision
has the prophet had to-night? We are readv to
receive it.” Or rather, “What occurs to-night?
What weather is it? What news?” We must ex¬
pect an alarm, and never be secure; the day of
the Lord will come as a thief in the night; we must
prepare to receive the alarm, and resolve to keep
our ground, and then take the first hint of danger,
and to our arms presently, to our spiritual wea¬
pons.
2. The watchman’s answer to this question. The
watchman was neither asleep nor dumb; though it
was a man of mount Seir that called to him, he was
ready to give him an answer; The morning comes.
He answers, (1.) By way of prediction; “there
comes first a morning of light, and peace, and op¬
portunity, you will enjoy one day of comfort more;
but afterward comes a night of trouble and cala¬
mity.” Note, In the course of God’s providence, it
is usual that morning and night are counter-
changed, and succeed each other. Is it night?
Yet the morning comes, and the day-spring knows
his place, Ps. xxx. 5. Is it day? Yet the night
comes also: if there be a morning of youth and
health, there will come a night of sickness and old
age; if a morning of prosperity in the family, in the
public, yet we must look for changes. But God
usually gives a morning of opportunity before he
sends a night of calamity, that his own people may
be prepared for the storm, and others left inex¬
cusable. (3.) By way of excitement; If ye will in¬
quire, inquire ye. Note, It is our wisdom to im¬
prove the present morning in preparation for the
night that is coming after it; “ Inquire , return,
come. Be inquisitive, be penitent, be willing and
obedient.” The manner of expression is very ob¬
servable, but we are put to our choice what we will
do; “ If ye will inquire, inquire ye; if not, it is at
your peril ; you cannot say but you have a fair offer
made you.” We are also urged to be at a point;
“ If you will, say so, and do not stand pausing; what
you will do, do quickly, for it is no time to trifle.”
Those that return and come to God, will find they
have a great deal of work to do, a^but a little time
to do it in, and therefore they mave need to be
busy.
1 3. The burden upon Arabia. In the forest
in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling com¬
panies of Dedanini. 14. The inhabitants of
the land of Tenia brought water to him that
was thirsty, they prevented with their bread
him that fled. 15. For they fled from the
swords, from the drawn sword, and from
the bent bow, and from the grievousness of
war. 16. For thus hath the Lord said
unto me, Within a year, according to the
years of a hireling, and all the glory of
Kedar shall fail : 17. And the residue of
the number of archers, the mighty men of
the children of Kedar, shall be diminish¬
ed : for the Lord God of Israel hath spo¬
ken it.
Arabia was a large country, that lay eastward
and southward of the land of Canaan; much of it
was possessed by the posterity of Abraham. The
Dedanim here mentioned, (v. 13.) descended from
Dedan, Abraham’s son by Iveturah; the inhabitants
of Tema and Kedar descended from Ishmael, Gen.
i ou ISAIAH, XXII.
xxv. 3, 13, 15. The Arabians generally lived in
tents, and kept cattle, were a hardy people, inured
to labour; probably the Jews depended upon them
as a soil of a wall between them and the more war¬
like eastern nations; and therefore, to alarm them,
they shall hear the burthen of Arabia, and see it
sinking under its own burthen.
1. A destroying army shall be brought upon
them, with a sword, with a drawn sword, with a
bow ready bent, and with all the grievousness of
war, v. 15. It is probable that the king of Assyria,
in some of the marches of his formidable and victo¬
rious army, took Arabia in his way, and meeting
with little resistance, made an easy prey of them.
The consideration of the grievousness of war should
make us thankful for the blessings of peace.
2. The poor country people will hereby be forced
to flee for shelter wherever they can find a place;
so that the travelling com/ianies of Dedanim, which
used to keep the high-roads with their caravans,
shall be obliged to quit them, and lodge in the forest
in Arabia, (v. 13.) and shall not have the wonted
convenience of their own tents, poor and weather¬
beaten as they are.
3. They shall stand in need of refreshment, being
ready to perish for want of it, in their flight from
the invading army ; “ 0 ye inhabitants of the land of
Tenia,” (who probably, were next neighbours to the
companies of Dedanim,) “bring ye water” (so the
margin reads it) “ to him that is thirsty, and firevent
with your bread those that flee, for they are objects
of your compassion : they do not wander for wan¬
dering sake, nor are they reduced to straits by any
extravagance of their own, but they flee from the
sword.” Tema was a country where water was
sometimes a scarce commodity, (as we find, Job vi.
19.) and we may conclude it would be in a particu¬
lar manner acceptable to these poor distressed re¬
fugees. Let us learn hence, (1.) To look for dis¬
tress ourselves; we know not what straits we may
be brought into before we die. Those that live in
cities, may be forced to lodge in forests; and those
may know the want of necessary food, who now eat
bread to the full. Our mountain stands not so strong
but that it may be moved, rises not so high but that
it may be scaled. These Arabians would the bet¬
ter bear these calamities, because in their way of
living thsy had Uwd themselves to hardships. (2.)
To look with compassion upon those that are in dis¬
tress, and with all cheerfulness to relieve them, not
knowing how soon their case may be ours; “ Bring
water to them that are thirsty, and not only give
bread to those that need and ask it, but prevent
those with it that have need, give it them unask¬
ed. ” They that do so, shall find it remembered
to their praise, as (according to our reading) it is
here remembered to the praise of the land of Tema,
that they did bring water to the thirsty, and re¬
lieved even those that were on the falling side.
4. All that which is the glory of Kedar shall van¬
ish away and fail. Did they glory in their numer¬
ous herds and flocks? They shall all be driven
away by the enemy. It seems, they were famous
above other nations for the use of the bow in battle;
but their archers, instead of foiling the enemy,
shall fall themselves; and the residue of their num¬
ber, when they are reduced to a small number,
shall be diminished; (x>. 17.) their mighty, able-
bodied men, and men of spirit too, shall become
very few; for they being most forward in the de¬
fence of their country, were most exposed, and fell
first, either by the enemies’ sword, or into the
enemies’ hand. Note, Neither the skill of archers,
(though they be ever so good marksmen,) nor the
courage of mighty men, can protect a people from
the judgments of God, when they come with com¬
mission'; they rather expose the undertakers. That
is poor glory, which will thus quickly come to
nothing.
5. All this shall be done in a little time; “ Within
one year, according to the years of a hireling, (with¬
in one year, precisely reckoned,) this judgment
shall come upon Kedar.” If this fixing of the time
be of no great use to us now, (because we find not
either when the prophecy was delivered, or when it
was accomplished,) yet it might be of great use to
the Arabians then, to awaken them to repentance,
that, like the men of Nineveh, they might prevent
the judgment, when they were thus told it was just
at the door. Or, when it begins to be fulfilled, the
business shall be done, be begun and ended in one
year’s time. God, when he pleases, can do a great
work in a little time.
6. It is all ratified by the truth of God; (x>. 16.)
“ Thus hath the Lord said to me; you may take my
word for it, that it is his word;” and we may be
sure no word of his shall fall to the ground. And
again, (x>. 17.) The Lord God of Israel hath sfioken
it; as the God of Israel, in pursuance of his gra¬
cious designs concerning them; and we may be sure
the Strength of Israel will not lie.
CHAP. XXII.
We are now come nearer home, for this chapter is the
burthen of the valley of vision, Jerusalem; other places
had their burthen for the sake of their being concerned
some way or other with Jerusalem, and were reckoned
with either as spiteful enemies, or deceitful friends, to
the people of God; but now let Jerusalem hear her
doom. This chapter concerns, I. The city of Jerusalem
itself, and the neighbourhood depending upon it. Here
is, 1. A prophecy of the grievous distress they should
shortly be brought into, by Sennacherib’s invasion of the
country, and laying siege to the city, v. 1..7. Are-
proof given them for their misconduct in that distress,
in two things, (1.) Not having an eye to God in the use
of the means of their preservation, v. 8. . 11. (2.) not
humbling themselves under his mighty hand, v. 12... 14.
II. The court of Hezekiah, and the officers of that court:
1. The displacing of Shebna, a bad man, and turning
him out of the treasury, v. 15. . 19, 25. 2. The preferring
of Eliakim to his place, who should do his country bet¬
ter service, v. 20. . . 24.
l.r¥^HE burden of the valley of vision.
JL What aileth thee now, that thou
art wholly gone up to the house-tops ? 2.
Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city,
a joyous city : thy slain men are not slain
with the sword, nor dead in battle. 3.
All thy rulers are fled together, they are
bound by the archers : all that are found in
thee are bound together, which have fled
from far. 4. Therefore said I, Look away
from me ; 1 will weep bitterly, labour not
to comfort me ; because of the spoiling of
the daughter of my people. 5. For it is
a day of trouble, and of treading down,
and of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts
in the valley of vision, breaking down the
walls, and of crying to the mountains.
6. And Elam bare the quiver with cha¬
riots of men anil horsemen, and Kir unco¬
vered the shield. 7. And it shall come to
pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full
of chariots, and the horsemen shall set
themselves in array at the gate.
The title of this prophecy is very observable; it
is the burthen of the valley of vision, of Judah and
ISAIAH
Jerusalem; all so agree. Fitly enough is Jerusa¬
lem called a valley; for the mountains were round
about it; and the land of Judah abounded with fruit¬
ful valleys. And by the judgments of God, though
they h id been as a towering mountain, they should
be brought low, sunk and depressed, and become
dark and dirty, as a valley. But most emphati¬
cally it is called a valley of vision, because there
God was known, and his name great; there the
prophets were made acquainted with his mind by
visions, and there the people saw the goings of their
God and King in his sanctuary. Babylon, being a
stt anger to God, though rich and great, was called
the desert of the sea; but Jerusalem, being intrusted
with his oracles, is a valley of vision; blessed are
their eyes, for they see, and they have seers by office
among them. Where Bibles and ministers are,
there is a valley of vision, from which is expected
fruit accordingly; but here is a burthen of the val¬
ley of vision, and a heavy burthen it is. Note,
Church-privileges, if they be not improved, will
not secure men from the judgments of God; You
only have I known of all the families of the earth,
therefore mill I punish you. The valley of vision
has a p irticular burthen; Thou Capernaum, Matt,
xi.. 23. The higher any are lifted up in means
and mercies, the heavier will their doom be if they
abuse them.
Now the burthen of the valley of vision here, is
that which will not quite ruin it, but frighten it; for
it refers not to the destruction of Jerusalem by Ne¬
buchadnezzar, but to the attempt made upon it by
Sennacherib, which we had the prophecy of, (ch.
10. ) and shall meet with the history of, ch. 36. It is
here again prophecied of, because the desolation of
many of the neighbouring countries, which were
foretold in the foregoing chapters, were to be brought
to pass by the Assyrian army. Now let Jerusalem
know, that when the cup is going round, it will be
put into her hand, and though it will not be to her a
fatal cup, yet it will be a cup of trembling. Here
is foretold,
1. The consternation that the city should be in
upon the approach of Sennacherib’s army. It used
to be full of stirs, a city of great trade, people hur¬
rying to and fro about their business, a tumultuous
city, populous and noisy ; where there is great trade,
there is great tumult. It used to be a joyous re¬
velling city, made such by the busy part, and the
merry part, of mankind; places of concourse are
places of noise. “ But what ails thee now, that the
shops are quitted, and there is no more walking in
the streets and exchange, but thou art wholly gone
up to the house-tops, (v. 1.) to bemoan thyself in
silence and solitude, or to secure thyself from the
enemy, or to look abroad, and see if any succours
come to thy relief, or which way the enemies’ mo¬
tions are.” Let both men of business and sports¬
men rejoice as though they rejoiced not, for some¬
thing may happen quickly, which they little think
of, that will be a damp to their mirth, and a stop to
their business, and send them to match as a sparrow
alone upon the house-top, Ps. cii. 7.
But why is Jerusalem in such a fright? Her slain
men are not slain with the sword, {v. 2.) but, (1.)
Slain with famine; so some; for Sennacherib’s army
having laid the country waste, and destroyed the
fruits of the earth, provisions must needs be very
scarce and dear in the city, which would be the
death of many of the pooret sort of people, who
would be constrained to feed on that which was
unwholesome. (2.) Slain with fear; they were put
into this fright, though they had not a man killed,
but were so disheartened themselv s, that they
seemed as effectually stabbed with fear as if they
had been run through with a sword.
2. The inglorious flight of the rulers of Judah,
, XXII. 101
who fled from far, from all parts of the country, to
Jerusalem, (v. 6.) fled together, as it were by con¬
sent, and were found in Jerusalem, having left theii
respective cities, which they should have taken care
of, to be a prey to the Assyrian army, which, meet¬
ing with no opposition, when it came up against
all the clefenced cities of Judah, easily took them, ch.
xxxvi. 1. These rulers were bound from the bow;
so the word is; they not only quitted their own ci¬
ties like cowards, but, when they came to Jerusa¬
lem, were of no service there, but were as if their
hands were tied from the use of the bow, by the
extreme distraction and confusion they were in;
they trembled, so that they could not draw a bow.
See how easily God can dispirit men, and how cer¬
tainly fear will do it, when the tyranny of it is yield¬
ed to.
3. 'Pile great grief which this should occasion to
all serious, sensible people, among them; which is
represented by the prophet’s laying the thing to
heart himself; he lived to see it, "and was resolved
to share with the children of his people in their
sorrows, v. 4, 5. He is not willing to proclaim his
sorrow, and therefore bids those about him to look
away from him; he will abandon himself to grief,
and indulge himself in it, will weep secretly, but
weep bitterly, and will have none go about to com¬
fort him, for his grief is not obstinate, and he is
pleased with his pain. But what is the occasion of
his grief? A poor prophet had little to lose, and had
been inured to hardship, when he walked naked
and barefoot; but it is for the spoiling of the daugh¬
ter of his people. Note, Public grievances should
be our griefs. It is a day of trouble and of tread¬
ing down, and of perplexity ; our enemies trouble
us, and tread us down, and our friends are perplex¬
ed, and know not what course to take, to do us a
kindness; the Lord God of hosts is now contending
with the valley of vision; the enemies with their
battering-rams are breaking down the walls, and
we are in vain crying to the mountains, (to keep off
the enemy, or to fall on us and cover us,) or looking
for help to come to us over the mountains, or ap¬
pealing, as God does, to the mountains, to hear our
controversy, (Micah vi. 1.) and to judge between
us and our injurious neighbours.
4. The great numbers and strength of the enemv,
that should invade their country' and besiege their
city, v. 6, 7. Elam, the Persians, come with their
quiver full of arrows, and with chariots of fighting
men, and horsemen; Kir, the Medes, muster up
their arms, unsheath the sword, and uncover the
shield, and get every thing ready for battle, every
thing ready for the besieging of Jerusalem: then
the choice valleys about Jerusalem, that used to be
clothed with flocks, and covered over with corn,
shall be full of chariots of war, and at the gate of
the city the horsemen shall set themselves in array,
to cut off all provisions from going in, and to force
their way in. What a condition must the city be
in, that was beset on all sides with such an army?
8. And he discovered the covering of Ju¬
dah, and thou didst look in that day to the
armour of the house of the forest. 9. Ye
have seen also the breaches of the city of
David, that they are many; and ye gather¬
ed together the waters of the lower pool :
10. And ye have numbered the houses of
Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken
down to fortify the wall. 1 1 . Ye made alsc
a ditch between the two walls for tne water
of the old pool : but ye have not looked unto
the maker thereof, neither had respect unto
102
ISAIAH, XXII.
him that fashioned it long ago. 12. And in
that day did the Lord God of hosts call to
weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness,
and to girding with sackcloth: 13. And,
behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and
killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine :
let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall
die. 14. And it was revealed in mine ears
by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity
shall not be purged from you till ye die,saith
the Lord God of hosts.
What is meant by the covering of Judah, which,
in the beginning of this paragraph, is said to be dis¬
covered, is not agreed. The fenced cities of Judah
were a covering to the country; but those being ta¬
ken by the army of the Assyrians, they ceased to
be a shelter; so that the whole country lay exposed
to be plundered. The weakness of Judah, its na¬
kedness, and inability to help itself, now appeared
more than ever; and thus the covering of Judah
was discovered. Its magazines and stores, which
had been locked up, were now laid open for the
public use. Dr. Lightfoot gives another sense of it,
that by this distress into which Judah should be
brought, God would discover their covering, uncloak
their hypocrisy, would show all that was in their
heart, as is said of Hezekiah upon another occasion,
2 Chron. xxxii. 31. Now they discovered both
their carnal confidence, (v. 9.) and their carnal se¬
curity, v. 13. Thus, by one means or other, the
iniquity of Ephraim will be discovered, and the sin
of Samaria, Hos. vii. 1.
They were now in a great fright, and in this fright
they discovered two things much amiss:
I. A great contempt of God’s goodness, and his
power to help them. They made use of the means
they could think of for their own preservation; and
it is not that that they are blamed for, but, in doing
this, they did not acknowledge God. Observe,
1. How careful they were to improve all advan¬
tages that might contribute to their safety. When
Sennacherib had made himself master of all the
defenced cities of Judah, and Jerusalem was left as
a cottage in a vineyard, they thought it was time to
look about them; a council was immediately called,
a council of war; and it was resolved to stand upon
their defence, and not tamely to surrender. Pur¬
suant to this resolve, they took all the prudent mea¬
sures they could for their own security. We tempt
God, if, in times of danger, we do not the best we
can for ourselves. (1.) They inspected the maga¬
zines and. stores, to see if thev were well stocked
with arms and ammunition. They looked to the ar¬
mour of the house of the forest, which Solomon built
in Jerusalem for an armoury, (1 Kings x. 17.) and
thence they delivered out what they had occasion
for. It is the wisdom of princes, in time of peace,
to provide for war, that they may not have arms to
seek when they should use them, and perhaps upon
a sudden emergency. (2.) Thev viewed the forti¬
fications, the breaches of the city of David; they
walked round the walls, and observed where they
were gone to decay, for want of seasonable repairs,
or broken by some former attempts made upon
them. These breaches were many; the more shame
f r the house of David, that they suffered the city
of David to lie neglected. They had, probable,
often seen those breaches; but now they saw them
to consider what course to take about them. This
good we should get by public distresses, we should
be awakened by them to refiair our breaches, and
amend what is amiss. (3.) Thev made sure of
water for the city, and did what they could to de¬
prive the besiegers of it; Ye gathered together the
waters of the lower pool, of which there was, pro¬
bably, no great store, and of which, therefore, they
were the more concerned to be good husbands. See
what a mercy it is, that, as nothing is more neces¬
sary to the support of human life than water, so
nothing is more cheap and common; but it is bad
indeed when that, as here, is a scarce commodity.
(4.) They numbered the houses of Jerusalem, that
every house might send in their quota of men for
the public sen ice, or contribute in money to it;
which they raised by a poll, so much a head, or so
much a house. (5.) Because private property ought
to give way to the public safety, those houses that
stood in their way, when the wall was to be fortified,
were broken down; which, in such a case of neces¬
sity, is no more an injury to the owner, than blow¬
ing up houses in case of fire. (6.) They made a
ditch between the outer and inner wall, for the
greater security of the city; and they contrived to
draw the water of the old pool to it, that they
might have plenty of water themselves, and might
deprive the besiegers of it; for, it seems, that was
the project, lest the Assyrian army should come and
find much water, (2 Chron. xxxii. 4.) and so should
be the better able to prolong the siege. If it be
lawful to destroy the forage of a country, much
more to divert the streams of its waters, for the
straitening and starving of an enemy.
2. How regardless they were of God in all these
preparations; but ye have not looked unto the
Maker thereof; of Jerusalem, (the city yru are so
solicitous for the defence of,) and of all the advan¬
tages which nature has furnished it with for its de¬
fence; the mountains round about it, (Ps. exxv. 2.)
and the rivers, which were such as the inhabitants
might turn which way soever they pleased for their
convenience. Note, (1.) It is God that made his
Jerusalem, and fashioned it long ago, in his coun¬
sels. The Jewish writers, upon this place, sav,
There were seven things which God made before
the world; meaning which he had in his eye when
he made the world, the garden of Eden, the law,
the just ones, Israel, the throne of glory, Jerusa-
sa/em, and Messiah the Prince. The gospel-church
has God for its Maker. (2.) Whatever service we
do, or endeavour to do, at any time, for God’s Je¬
rusalem, it must be with an eve to him as the
Maker of it; and he takes it ill if we do not. It is
charged upon them here, that they did not look to
God. [l.j They did not design his glory, in what
they did. They fortified Jerusalem because it was
a rich city, and their own houses were in it; not be¬
cause it was the holy city, and God’s house was in
it. In all our cares for the defence of the church,
we must look more at God’s interest in it than at
our own. [2. J They did not depend upon him for
a blessing upon their endeavours, saw no need of it,
and therefore sought not to him for it, but thought
their own powers and policies sufficient for them.
Of Hezekiah himself it is said, that he trusted in
God, (2 Kings xviii. 5.) and particularly upon this
occasion; (2 Chron. xxxii. 8.) but there were those
about him, it seems, who were great statesmen and
soldiers, but had little religion in them. [3.] They
did not give him thanks for the advantages they
had in fortifying their citv from the waters of the
old pool, which were fashioned long ago, as Kishon
is called an ancient river, Judg. v. 21. Whatever in
nature is at any time serviceable to us, we must
therein acknowledge the goodness of the God of
nature; who, when he fashioned it long ago, fitted
it to be so, and according to whose ordinance it con¬
tinues to this day. Every creature is that to us that
God makes it to be; and therefore, whatever use it
is of to us, we must look at him that fashioned It,
bless him for it, and use it for him.
ISAIAH, XXII.
II. A great contempt of God’s wrath and justice
m contending with them, v. 12 — 14. Where ob¬
serve,
1. What was God’s design in bringing this cala-
lamity upon them; it was to humble them, bring
them to repentance, and make them serious. In
that day of trouble, and treading down, and per¬
plexity,' the Lord did thereby call to weeping, and
mourning, and all the expressions of sorrow, even
to baldness and girding’ with sackcloth; and all this,
to lament their sins, by which they had brought
those judgments upon their land, to enforce their
prayers, by which they might hope to avert the
judgments’ that were breaking in, and to dispose
themselves to a reformation of their lives by a holy
seriousness, and a tenderness of heart, under the
word of God. To this God called them by his
prophets’ explaining his providences, and by his
providences awakening them to regard what his
rophets said. Note, When God threatens us with
is judgments, he expects and requires that we
humble ourselves under his mighty hand; that we
tremble when the lion roars, and in a day of adver¬
sity consider.
2. H,ow contrary they walked to this design of
God; (t>. 13.) Behold, joy and gladness, mirth and
feasting, all the gaiety and all the jollity imagina¬
ble: they were as secure and pleasant as they used
to be, as if they had no enemy in their borders, or
were in no danger of falling into his hands. When
they had taken the necessary precautions for their
security, then they set all deaths and dangers at
defiance, and resolved to be merry, let come on
them what would. They that should have been
eating among the mourners, were among the wine-
bibbers, the riotous eaters of flesh; and observe
what they said, Let us eat and drink, for to-mor¬
row we shall die. This may refer either to the par¬
ticular danger they were now in, and the fair warn¬
ing which the prophet gave them of it, or to the
general shortness and uncertainty of human life,
and the nfearness of death at all times. This was
the language of the profane scoffers who mocked
the messengers of the Lord, and misused his pro¬
phets. (1. ) They made a jest of dying; “ The pro¬
phet tells us we must die shortly, perhaps to-mor-
row, and therefore we should mourn and repent
to-day; no, rather let ws eat and drink, that we
may be fattened for the slaughter, and may be in
good heart to meet our doom; if we must have a
short life, let it be a merry one.” (2.) They ridi¬
culed the doctrine of a future state on the other
side death; for if there were no such state, the
apostle grants there would be something of reason
in what they said, 1 Cor. xv. 32. If, when we die,
there were an end of us, it were good to make our¬
selves as easy and merry as we could, while we live;
but if for all these things God shall bring us into
judgment , it is at our peril if we walk in the way
of our heart and the sight of our eyes, Eccl. xi. 9.
Note, A practical disbelief of another life after this,
is at the bottom of the carnal security and brutish
sensuality, which are the sin and shame and ruin of
so great a part of mankind, as of the old world,
who were eating and drinking till the food came.
3. How much God was displeased at it; he sig¬
nified his resentment of it to the prophet, revealed
it in his ears, to be by him proclaimed upon the
house-top; Surely this iniquity shall not be purged
from you till ye die, v. 14. It shall never be ex¬
piated with sacrifice and offering, any more than
the iniquity of the house of Eli, 1 Sam. iii. 14. It
is a sin against the remedy, a baffling of the utmost
means of conviction, and rendering them ineffec¬
tual; and therefore it is not likely they should ever
repent of it, or nave it pardoned. The Chaldee reads
rt, It shall not be forgiven you till you die the second \
103
death. Those that walk contrary to God, he will
walk contrary to them; with the froward he will
show himself froward.
15. Thus saith the Lord God of hosts,
Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto
Shebna, which is over the house, and say,
1G. What hast thou here, and whom hast
thou here, that thou hast hewed ihee out
a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him
out a sepulchre on high, and that grav-
eth a habitation for himself in a rock? 17
Behold, the Lord will carry thee away
with a mighty captivity, and will surely
cover thee. 18. He will surely violently
turn and toss thee like a ball into a large,
country: there shalt thou die, and there
the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame
of thy lord’s house. 1 9. And I will drive
thee from thy station, and from thy state
shall he pull thee down. 20. And it shall
come to pass in that day, that I will call
my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah:
21. And I will clothe him with thy robe,
and strengthen him with thy girdle, and 1
will commit thy government into his hand ;
and he shall be a father to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22. And the key of the house of David will
1 lay upon his shoulder: so he shall open,
and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and
none shall open. 23. And I will fasten him
as a r ail in a sure place ; and he shall be
for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
24. And they shall hang upon him all the
glory of his father’s house, the offspring and
the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from
the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels
of flagons. 25. In that day, saith the Lord
of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the
sure place be removed, and be cut down,
and fall; and the burden that was upon it
shall be cut off: for the Lord hath spoken it.
We have here a prophecy concerting the displa¬
cing of Shebna, a great officer at court, and the pre¬
ferring of Eliakim to the post of honour and trust
that he was in. Such changes are common in the
courts of princes, it is therefore strange that so much
notice should be taken of it by the prophet here: but
by the accomplishment of what was foretold concern¬
ing these particular persons, God designed to con¬
firm his word in the mouth of Isaiah concerning
other and greater events; and it is likewise to show,
that, as God has burthens in store for those nations
and kingdoms abroad that are open enemies to his
church and people; so he has for those particular
persons at home, that are false friends to them, and
betray them. It is likewise a confirmation in gene¬
ral of the hand of Divine Providence in all events
of this kind, which to us seem contingent, and to de¬
pend upon the wills and fancies of princes: promo¬
tion comes neither from the east, nor from the west,
nor from the south; but God is the Judge, Ps. lxxv.
6, 7. It is probable that this prophecy was deli¬
vered at the same time with that in the former part
of the chapter, and began to be fulfilled before
ISAIAH, XXII.
104
S-nnacherib’s invasion; for now Shebna was over the
hou.tr, but then Eliakim was,((7i. xxxvi.3. ) and Sheb-
n *. coming down gradually, was only scribe. Here is,
I. The prophecy of Shebnu’s disgrace; lie is call¬
ed this treasurer, being intrusted with the manage¬
ment of the revenue; and he is likewise said to be
over the house; for such was his boundless ambition
and covetousness, that less than two places, and
those two of the greatest importance at court, would
not content him. It is common for self-seeking men
thus to grasp at more than they can manage; and
so the business of their places is neglected, while
the pomp and profit of them wholly engage the
mind. It does not appear what were the particu¬
lar instances of Shebna’s mal-administration, for
which Isaiah is here sent to prophesy against him;
but the Jews say, “ He kept up a traitorous corres¬
pondence with the king of Assyria, and was in treaty
with him to deliver the city into his hands.” How¬
ever it was, it should seem that he was a foreigner,
(for we never read of the name of his father,) and
that he was an enemy to the true interests of Judah
and Jerusalem; it is probable that he was first pre¬
ferred by Ahaz. Hezekiah was himself an excel¬
lent prince; but the best masters cannot always be
sure of good servants: we have need to pray for
princes, that they may be wise and happy in the
choice of those they trust. These were times of
reformation, yet Shebna, a bad man, complied so
far as to keep his places at court; and it is probable
that many others did like him, for which reason
S nnacherib is said to have been sent against a hy¬
pocritical nation, ch. x. 6. In this message to Sheb-
n i, we have,
1. A reproof of his pride, vanity, and security;
(v. lfi.) “ What hast thou here, and whom hast thou
h°re? What a mighty noise and bustle dost thou
oi ike! What estate hast thou here, that thou wast
barn to? 117 iom hast thou here, what relations that
thou art allied to? Art thou not of mean and ob¬
scure original, filius /io/iuli — an utter plebeian, that
comest we know not whence? What is the meaning
of this then, th it thou hast built thee a fine house,
hast graved thee a habitation?” So very nice and
curious was it, that it seemed rather to be the work
of an engraver than of a mason or carpenter. And it
seemed engraven in a rock; so firmly was it founded,
and so impregnable was it. “ Nay, thou hast hewed
thee out a sepulchre;” as if he designed that his pomp
should survive his funeral. Though Jerusalem was
not the place of his fathers' sepulchres, (as Nelie-
miah called it with a great deal of tenderness, Neh.
ii. 3.) he designed it should be the place of his own;
and therefore set up a monument for himself in his
life-time, set it up on high. They that make stately
monuments for their pride, forget that, how beauti¬
ful soever they appear outwardly, within they are
full of dead men’s bones: but it is pity that the
grave-stone should forget the grave.
2. A prophecy of his fall, and the sullying of his
glory.
(1.) That he should now quickly be displaced and
degraded; (v. 19.) I will drive thee from thy sta¬
tion. High places are slippery places; and those
are justly deprived of their honour, that are proud
of it, and puffed up with it; and deprived of their
power, that do hurt with it. God will do it who
shows himself to be God, by looking upon proud
men, ami abasing them , Job xl. 12. To this, v. 25.
refers. The nail that is now fastened in the sure
place, Shebn i, who thinks himself immoveably fixed
in Ins office, shall be removed, and cut down, and
fall. Those are mistaken, who think any place in
this world a sure place, or themselves as nails fas-
t-oed in it; for tV-re is nothing here but uncertaintv.
When the nail falls, the burthen that was upon it is
cut off: when Shebna was disgraced, all that had a
I dependence upon him fell into contempt too. Those
! that are in high places will have many hanging upon
them, as favourites whom they are proud of ana
trust to; but they are burthens upon tlu m, and per¬
haps with their weight break the nail, and both fall
together, and by deceiving ruin one another — the
common fate of great men and their flatterers, who
expect more from each other than either performs.
(2.) That after awhile he should not only be dri¬
ven from his station, but driven his country; The
Lord will carry thee away with the captivity of a
mighty man, v. 17, 18. Some think the Assyrians
seized him, and took him away, because he had
promised to assist them, and did not, but appeared
against them; or, perhaps, Hezekiah, finding out
his treachery, banished him, and forbade him ever
to return; or, he himself, finding that he was be¬
come obnoxious to the people, withdrew into some
other country, and there spent the rest of his days
in meanness and obscurity. Grotius thinks he was
stricken with a leprosy, which was a disease ccm-
monly supposed to come from the immediate hand
of God’s displeasure, particularly for the punish¬
ment of the proud, as in the case of Miriam and
Uzziah; and by reason of this disease, he was
tossed like a ball out of Jerusalem. Those who,
when they are in power, turn and toss others, will
be justly turned and tossed themselves, when their
day shall come to fall. Many who have thought
themselves fastened like a nail, may come to be
tossed like a ball; for here have we no continuing
city. Shebna thought his place too strait for him,
he had no room to thrive; God will therefore send
him into a large country, where he shall have room
to wander, but never find the way back again; for
there he shall die, and lay his bones there, and not
in the sepulchre he had hewn out for himself. And
there the chariots which had been the chariots of
his glory, in which he had rattled about the streets
of Jerusalem, and which he took into banishment
with him, should but serve to upbraid him with his
former grandeur, to the shame of his lord’s house,
of the court of Ahaz, that had advanced him.
II. The prophecy of Eliakim’s advancement, t>.
20, &c. He is God’s servant, has approved him¬
self faithfully so in other emplovments, and there¬
fore God will call him to this high station. Those
that are diligent in doing the duty of a low sphere,
stand fairest for preferment in God’s books. Elia¬
kim does not undermine Shebna, or make an inter¬
est against him, nor does he intrude into his office:
but God calls him to it; and what God calls us to,
we may expect he will own us in.
It is here foretold,
1. That Eliakim should be put into Shebna’s
place of lord chamberlain of the household, lord
treasurer, and prime minister of state. The pro¬
phet must tell Shebna this; (y. 21.) “ He shall have
thy robe, the badge of honour: and thy girdle, the
badge of power; for he shall have thy government.”
To hear of it would be a great mortification to Sheb¬
na, much more to see it. Great men, especiallv if
proud men, cannot endure their successors. God
undertakes the doing of it, not only because he
would put it into the heart of Hezekiah to do it, and
his hand must be acknowledged, guiding the hearts
of princes in placing and displacing men, (Prov.
xxi. 1.) but because the powers that are subordi¬
nate as well as supreme, are ordained of God. It is
God that clothes princes with their robes, and there¬
fore we must submit ourselves to them for the
Lord’s sake, and with an eye to him, 1 Pet. ii. 13.
And since it is he that commits the government into
their hand, they must administer it according to his
will, for his glory; they must judge for him, by
whom they judge, and decree justice, Prov. viii. 15.
And they may depend upon him to furnish them for
105
ISAIAH, XXIII.
■what he calls them to: according to the promise
here, I will clothe him; and then it follows, I will
strengthen him. Those that are called to places of
trust and power, should seek unto God for grace to
um tble them to do the duty of their places, for that
ought to be their chief care.
Eliakim’s advancement is further described by
the laving of the key of the house of David ufion
his shoulders, v. 22. Probably, he carried a golden
key upon his shoulder as a badge of his office, or
had one embroidered upon his cloak or robe, to
which this alludes. Being over the house, and hav¬
ing the key delivered to him, as the seals are to the
lord keeper, he shall often and none shall shut, shut
and none shall often. He had access to the house
of the precious things, the silver and the gold, and
the s/tices; to the house of the armour and the trea¬
sures, ( ch . xxxix. 2.) and disposed of the stores there
as he thought fit for the public service. He put
whom he pleased into the inferior offices, and turned
out whom he pleased. Our Lord Jesus describes
his own power as Mediator by an allusion to this,
(Rev. iii. 7.) that he has the key of David, where¬
with he oftetts and no man shuts, he shuts and no
man oftens: his power in the kingdom of heaven,
and in the ordering of all the affairs of that king¬
dom, is absolute, irresistible, and uncontrollable.
2. That he should be fixed and confirmed in that
office: he shall have it for life, and not durante bene-
filacito— during pleasure; (v. 23.) I will fasten
him as a nail iii a sure place, not to be removed or
cut down. Thus lasting shall the honour be, that
comes from God, to all those who use it for him.
Our Lord Jesus is as a nail in a sure place: Iris
kingdom cannot be shaken, and he himself is still
the same.
S. That he should be a great blessing in his office :
and that is it that crowns the favours here conferred
upon him. God makes his name great, for he shall
be a blessing, Gen. xii. 2.
(1.) He shall be a blessing to hiscountry; (v. 21.)
He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
and to the house of Judah. He shall take care not
onlv of the affairs of the king’s household, but of
all the public interests in Jerusalem and Judah.
Note, Rulers should be fathers to those that are
under their government; to teach them with wis¬
dom, rule them with love, and correct what is amiss
with tenderness; to protect them and provide for
them, and be solicitous about them, as a man is for
his own children and family. It is happy with a
people, when neither court, nor city, nor country,
has anv separate interests, but all centre in the
same, so that the courtiers are true patriots, and
whom the court blesses, the countiy has reason to
bless too; and when those who are fathers to Jeru¬
salem, the royal city, are no less so to the house of
Judah.
(2.) He shall be a blessing to his family; (v. 23,
24.) He shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s
house: the consummate wisdom and virtue which
recommended him to this great trust made him the
honour of his family, which, probably, was very
considerable before," but now became much more
so. Children should aim to be a credit to their pa¬
rents and relations. The honour men reflect upon
their families by their piety and usefulness, is more
t'l be valued than that which they derive from their
families by their names and titles.
Eliakim being preferred, all the glory of his fa¬
ther’s house was hung upon him; they all made their
court to him, and his brethren’s sheaves bowed to
his. Observe, the glory of this world gives a man
no intrinsic worth or excellency; it is but hung upon
him as an appurtenance, and it will soon drop from
him. Eliakim was compared to a nail in a sure
place; in pursuance cf which comparison, all the
Vol. IV. — O
| relations of his family, which, it is likely, were nu¬
merous, and that was the glory cf it, are said to
have a dependence upon him; as in a house the \cs-
I sels that have handles to them, are hung up upon
nails and pins. It intimates likewise, that he shall
generously take care of them all, and bear the
weight of that carryall the vessels, not only the fla¬
gons, but the cups, the vessels of small quantity,
| the meanest that belonged to his family, shall be
provided for by him. See what a burthen they bring
upon themselves, that undertake great trusts; they
little think how many and how much will hang upon
them, if they resolve to be faithful in the discharge
of their trust. Our Lord Jesus having the key of
the house of David, is as a nail in a sure place, and
all the glory of his father’s house hangs upon him,
I is derived from him, and depends upon him; even
j the meanest that belong to his church, are welcome
to him, and he is able to bear the stress of them all.
That soul cannot perish, nor that concern fall to the
ground, though ever so weighty, that is by faith
hung upon Christ.
CHAP. XXIII.
This chapter is concerning Tyre, an ancient wealthy city,
situated upon the sea, and for many ages one of the most
celebrated cities for trade and merchandise in those parts
of the world. The lot of the tribe of Asher bordered
upon it; ( Joshua xix. 29.) it is called the strong city Tyre.
We seldom find it a dangerous enemy to Israel, but some¬
times their faithful ally, as in the reigns of David and
Solomon; for trading cities maintain their grandeur, not
by conquests of their neighbours, but by commerce with
them. In this chapter is foretold, I. The lamentable
desolation of Tyre, which was performed by Nebuchad¬
nezzar and the Chaldean army, about the time that they
destroyed Jerusalem; and a hard task they had of it, as
appears, Ezek. xxix. 18. where they are said to have
served, a hard service against Tyre , and yet to have no
wages, v. 1 - . 14. II. The restoration of Tyre after 70
- years, and the return of the Tyrians out of their captivity
to their trade again, v. 15. .18.
1 . rTXIE burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships
JL of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so
that there is no house, no entering in : from
the land of Chittim it is revealed to them.
2. Be still, ye inhabitants of the isles ; thou
whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass
over the sea, have replenished. 3. And by
great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest
of the river, is her revenue; and she is a
mart of nations. 4. Be thou ashamed, O
Zidon; for the sea hath spoken, even the
strength of the sea, saving, 1 travail not, nor
bring forth children, neither do I nourish up
young men, nor bring up virgins. 5. As
at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they
be sorely pained at the report of Tyre. 6.
Pass ye over to Tarshish ; howl, ye inha¬
bitants of the isle. 7. Is this your joyous
! city , whose antiquity is of ancient days? her
1 own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
8. Who hath taken this counsel against
Tyre, the crowning city , whose merchants
are princes, whose traffickers ore the hon¬
ourable of the earth? 9. The LoRn of
hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of
all glory, and to bring into contempt all the
honourable of the earth. 10. Pass through
thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish
106
ISAIAH, XXIII.
there is no more strength. 11. He stretched
out his hand over the sea; he shook the
kingdoms: the Lord hath given a com¬
mandment against the merchant-city, to de¬
stroy the strong holds thereof. 1 2. And he
said, Thou shalt no more rejoice, O thou
oppressed virgin, daughter of Zidon ; arise,
pass over to Chittim ; there also shalt thou
iiave no rest. 1 3. Behold, the land of the
Chaldeans: this people was not till the As¬
syrian founded it for them that dwell in the
wilderness : they set up the towers thereof,
they raised up the palaces thereof; and he
brought it to ruin. 14. Howl, ye ships of
Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste.
Tyre being a sea-port town, this prophecy of its
overthrow fitly begins and ends with, Howl, ye ships
of Tarshish; for all its business, wealth, and honour
depended upon its shipping; if that be ruined they
are all undone. Observe,
I. Tyre flourishing. This is taken notice of, that
her fall may appear the more dismal; 1. The mer¬
chants of Zidon, who traded at sea, had at first re¬
plenished her, v. 2. Zidon was the more ancient
city, situate upon the same sea-coast, a few leagues
more to the north, and Tyre was at first only a co¬
lony of that; but the daughter had outgrown the
mother, and was become much more considerable.
It may be a mortification to great cities to think
how they were at first replenished. 2. Egypt had
helped very much to raise her, v. 3. Sihor was the
river of Egypt, by that river, and the ocean into
which it ran, the Egyptians traded with Tyre: and
the harvest of that river was her revenue. The
riches of the sea, and the gains by goods exported
and imported, are as much the harvest to trading
towns, as that of hay and corn is to the country ; and
sometimes the harvest of the river proves a better
revenue than the harvest of the land. Or, it may
be meant of all the products of the Egyptian soil,
which the men of Tyre traded in, and which were
the harvest of the river Nile, owing themselves to
the overflowing of that river. 3. She was become
the mart of the nations; the great emporium of that
part of the world. Some of every known nation
might be found there, especially at certain times of
the year, when there was a general rendezvous of
merchants. This is enlarged upon by another pro¬
phet, Ezek. xxvii. 2, 3, &c. See how the hand of
the diligent, by the blessing of God upon it, makes
rich. Tyre became rich and great by industry,
though she had no other ploughs going' than those
that plough the waters. 4. She was a joyous city,
noted for mirth and jollity, v. 7. Those that were
so disposed, might find there all manner of sports
and diversions, all the delights of the sons and daugh¬
ters of men; balls, and plays, and operas, and every
thing of that kind, that a man had a fancy to. This
made them secure and proud, and they despised the
country people, who neither knew nor relished any
joys of that nature: and this made them very loath
to believe and consider what warnings God gave
them by his servants; they were too merry to mind
them. Her antiquity likewise was of ancient days,
and she was proud of that, and that helped to make
her secure; as if because she had been a city time
out of mind, and her antiquity had been of ancient
days, therefore she must continue a city time with¬
out end, and her continuance must be to the days
of eternity. 5. She was a crowning city, (y. 8.)
that crowned herself. Such were the power and
oomp of her magistrates, that they crowned those
who had dependence on her, and dealings with hi r
It is explained in the following words; Her mer
chants are princes, and live like princes, for tin-
ease and state they take; and her traffickers, what¬
ever country they go to, are the honourable of the
earth, who are respected by all. How slightly so¬
ever some now speak of tradesmen, it seems, for¬
merly, and among the wisest nations, there were
merchants, and traders, and men of business, that
were the honourable of the earth.
II. Here is Tyre falling. It does not appear that
she brought trouble upon herself by provoking her
neighbours with her quarrels, but rather by tempt¬
ing them with her wealth: but if that was it that
induced Nebuchadnezzar to fall upon Tyre, he was
disappointed; for after it had stood out a siege of
13 years, and could hold out no longer, the inhabit¬
ants got away by sea, with their families and goods,
to other places where they had an interest, and left
Nebuchadnezzar nothing but the bare city. See a
history of Tyre in Sir Walter Raleigh’s History t f
the World, lib. ii. cap. 7, sect. 3, 43. page 283.
which will give much light to the prophecy, and
that in Ezekiel concerning Tyre.
See how the destruction of Tyre is here foretold:
1. The haven should be spoiled, or, at least, ne¬
glected: there shall be no convenient harbour for the
reception of the ships of Tarshish, but all laid nvaste,
( v . 1. ) so that there shall be no house, no dock fi r
the ships to ride in, no inns or public houses for the
seamen, no entering into the port; perhaps it w:.s
choked with sand, or blocked up by the enemy; or.
Tyre being destroyed and laid waste, the ships that
used to come from Tarshish and Chittim into that
port, shall now no more enter in; for it is revealed
and made known to them, they have received the
dismal news, that Tyre is destroyed and laid waste:
so that there is now no more business for them there.
See how it is in this world; those that are spoiled
by their enemies are commonly slighted by their
old friends.
2. The inhabitants are struck with astonishment.
Tyre was an island; the inhabitants of it, who had
made a mighty noise and bustle in the world, had
revelled with loud huzzas, shall now be still and
silent; (v. 2.) they shall sit down as mourners, so
overwhelmed with grief, that they shall not be able
to express it. Their proud boasts of themselves,
and defiances of their neighbours, shall be silenced.
God caii soon quiet those, and strike them dumb,
that are the noisy, busy people of the world. Be
still; for God will do his work, (Ps. xlvi. 10. Zech.
ii. 13. ) and you cannot resist him.
3. The neighbours are amazed, blush, and are in
pain for them; Zidon is ashamed, (v. 4.) by whom
Tyre was at first replenished, for the rolling waves
of the sea brought to Zidon this news from T yre ; and
there the strength of the sea, a high spring-tide, pro¬
claimed, saying, “I travail not, nor bring forth
children, now as I have done. I do not now bring
ship loads of young people to Tyre, to be bred up
there in trade and business, as I used to do;” which
was the thing that had made Tyre so rich and popu¬
lous. Or, the sea, that used to be loaded with fleets
of ships about Tyre, shall now be as desolate as a
sorrowful widow that is bereaved of all her chil¬
dren, and has none about her to nourish and bring
up. Egypt indeed was a much larger and more
considerable kingdom than Tyre was; and yet Tyre
had so large a correspondence, upon the account of
trade, that all the nations about shall be as much in
pain, upon the report of the ruin of that one city, as
they would have been, and, not long after, were,
upon the report of the ruin of all Egypt, v. 5. Or.
as some read it, When the report shall reach to the
Egyptians , they shall be sorely panned to hear it oj
Tyre; both because of the loss of their trade with
107
ISAIAH,
that city, and because it was a threatening step to¬
ward their own ruin; when their neighbour’s house
was on fire, their own was in danger.
4. The merchants, as many as could, should trans¬
mit their effects to other places, and abandon Tyre,
where they had raised their estates, and thought
they had made them sure; ( v . 6.) “ Ye that have
long been inhabitants of this isle,” (for it lay off
in the sea about half a mile from the continent,)
“ it is time to howl now, for ye must pass over to
Tarshish. The best course Vou can take, is to
make the best of your way to Tarshish, to the sea,”
(to Tarsessus, a city in Spain; so some,) “ or to
some other of your plantations.” Those that think
their mountain stands strong, and cannot be moved,
will find that here they have no continuing city.
The mountains shall defiart, and the hills be re¬
moved.
5. Those that could not make their escape, must
expect no other than to be carried into captivity;
for it was the way of conquerors, in those times, to
take those they conquered to be bondmen in their
own country, and send of their own to be freemen
in theirs; (x>. 7.) Her own feet shall carry her afar
off to sojourn; she shall be hurried away on foot
into c iptivity, and many a weary step they shall
take toward their own misery. Those that have
lived in the greyest pomp and splendour, know not
what hardships they may be reduced to before they
die.
6. Many of those that attempted to escape should
be pursued, and fall into the hands of the enemy.
Tyre shall pass through her land as a river, ( v .
10.) running down, one company after another, into
the ocean or abyss of misery. Or, though they
hasten away as a river, with the greatest swiftness,
hoping to outrun the danger, yet there is no more
strength, they are quickly tired, and cannot get for¬
ward, but fall an easy prey into the hands of the
enemy. And as Tyre has no more strength, so her
sister Zidon has no more comfort; (v. 12.) “ Thou
shalt no more rejoice, 0 oppressed virgin, daughter
of Zidon, that art now ready to be overpowered by
the victorious Chaldeans; thy turn is next, there¬
fore arise, pass over to Chittim; flee to Greece, to
Italy, any whither, to shift for thy own safety ; yet
there also shalt thou have no rest; thine enemies
shall disturb thee, and thine own fears shall disquiet
thee, there where thou hopedst to find some repose. ”
Note, We deceive ourselves, if we promise our¬
selves rest any where in this world. Those that are
uneasy in one place, will be so in another; and when
God’s judgments pursue sinners, they will overtake
them.
But whence shall all this trouble come?
(1.) God will be the Author of it; it is a destruc¬
tion from the Almighty. It will be asked, {y. 8.)
“ Who has taken this counsel against Tyre? Who
has contrived it? Who has resolved it? Who can
find in his heart to lay such a stately, lovely city in
ruins? And how is it possible it should be effected?
To this it will be answered;
[1.] God has designed it, who is infinitely wise
and just, and never did, nor ever will do, any wrong
to any of his creatures; (y. 9.) The Lord of hosts,
that has all things at his disposal, and gives not ac¬
count of any of his matters, he has purposed it; it
shall be done according to the counsel of his will; and
that which he aims at herein, is, to stain the pride of
all glory, to pollute it, profane it, and throw it to be
trodden upon; and to bring into contempt, and make
despicable, all the honourable ones of the earth, that
they may not admire themselves, and be admired
by others, as usual. God did not bring those cala¬
mities upon Tyre in a way of sovereignty, to show
an arbitrary and irresistible power; but he did it to
punish the Tyrians for their pride. Many other I
XXIII.
sins, no doubt, reigned among them; idolatry, sen¬
suality, and oppression; but the sin of pride is fast¬
ened upon, as that which was the particular ground
of God’s controversy with Tyre, for he resists the
proud. All the world observing, and being sur¬
prised at, the desolation of Tyre, we have here an
exposition of it. God tells the world what he meant
by it: First, He designed to convince men of the
vanity and uncertainty of all earthly glory; to show
them what a withering, fading, perishing thing it
is, even then when it seems most substantial. It
were well if men would be thoroughly taught this
lesson, though it were at the expense of so great a
destruction. Are men’s learning and wealth, their
pomp and power, their interest in, and influence
upon, all about them, their glory? Are their stately
houses, rich furniture, and splendid appearances,
their glory? Look upon the ruins of Tyre, and see
all this glory stained, and sullied, and buried in the
dust. The honourable ones of heaven will be for
ever such; but see the grandees of Tyre, some fled
into banishment, others forced into captivity, and
all impoverished; and you will conclude that the
honourable of the earth, even the most honourable,
know not how soon they may be brought into con¬
tempt. Secondly, He designed hereby to prevent
their being proud of their glory, their being puffed
up, and confident of the continuance of it. Let the
ruin of Tyre be a warning to all places and persons
to take heed of pride, for it proclaims to all the
world, that he who exalts himself shall be abased.
[2.] God will do it, who has all power in his
hand, and can do it effectually; (y. 11.) He stretch¬
ed out his hand over the sea; he has done it, wit¬
ness the dividing of the Red sea, and the drowning
of Pharaoh in it. He has often shaken the king¬
doms that were most secure; and he has now given
commandment concerning this merchant-city, to
destroy the strong holds thereof. As its beauty
shall not intercede for it, but that shall be stained;
so its strength shall not protect it, but that shall be
broken. If any think it strange that a city so well
fortified, and that has so many powerful allies,
should be so totally ruined, let them know that it is
the Lord of hosts that has given a commandment
to destroy the strong holds thereof; and who can
gainsay his orders, or hinder the execution of them 5
(2.) The Chaldeans shall be the instruments of
it; (d. 13.) Behold the land of the Chaldeans; how
easily they and their land were destroyed by the
Assyrians. Though their own hands founded it, set
up the towers of Babylon, and raised up its palaces,
yet he, the Assyrian, brought it to ruin; whence the
Tyrians might infer, that as easily as the old Chal¬
deans were subdued by the Assyrians, so easily shall
Tyre be vanquished by those new Chaldeans. Babel
was built by the Assyrian, for them that dwell in
the wilderness. It may be rendered, for the ships.
The Assyrians founded it for ships, and ship-men
that traffic upon those vast rivers Tigris and Eu¬
phrates to the Persian and Indian seas; for men oj
the desert; for Babylon is called the desert of the
sea, ch. xxi. 1. Thus Tyrus was built upon the
sea for the like purpose. But the Assyrians (says
Dr. Lightfoot) brought that to ruin, now lately, in
Hezekiah’s time, and so shall Tyre, hereafter, be
brought to ruin by Nebuchadnezzar. If we looked
more upon the failing and withering of others, we
should not be so confident as we commonly are of
the continuance of our own flourishing and standing.
1 5. And it shall come to pass in that day,
that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years,
according to the days of one king: after the
! end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as a
!! harlot. 16. Take a harp, go about the citv,
108 ISAIAH, XXIII.
thou harlot that hast been forgotten : make
sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou
mayest be remembered. 17. And it shall
come to pass, after the end of seventy years,
that the Lord will visit Tyre, and she shall
turn to her hire, and shall commit fornica¬
tion with all the kingdoms of the world
upon the face of the earth. 18. And her
merchandise and her hire shall be holiness
to the Lord : it shall not be treasured nor
laid up; for her merchandise shall be for
them that dwell before the Lord, to eat
sufficiently, and for durable clothing.
Here is,
I. The time fixed for the continuance of the de¬
solations of Tyre, which were not to be perpetual
desolations; Tyre shall be forgotten 70 years, v. 15.
So long it shall lie neglected, and buried in obscuri¬
ty. It was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar much
about the time that Jerusalem was, and lay as long
as it did in its ruins. See the folly of that proud
ambitious conqueror. What the richer, what the
stronger, was he for making himself master of Tyre,
when all the inhabitants were driven cut of it, and
he had none of his own subjects to spare for the re¬
plenishing and fortifying of it? It is strange what
pleasure men could take in destroying cities, and
making their memorial perish with them, Ps. ix. 6.
He trampled on the pride of Tyre, and therein serv¬
ed God’s purpose; but with greater pride, for which
God soon after humbled him.
II. A prophecy of the restoration of Tyre to its
glory again; After the end of 70 years, according
to the years of one king, or one dynasty, or family,
of kings, that of Nebuchadnezzar; when that ex¬
pired, the desolations of Tyre came to an end.
And we may presume that Cyrus at the same time,
when he released the Jews, and encouraged them
to rebuild Jerusalem, released the Tyrians also, and
encouraged them to rebuild Tyre. Thus the pros¬
perity and adversity of places, as well as persons,
are set the one over against the other; that the most
glorious cities may not be secure, nor the most ruin¬
ous despair. It is foretold,
1. That God’s providence shall again smile upon
this ruined city; (v. 17.) The Lord will visit Tyre
in mercy; for though he contend, he will not con¬
tend for ever. It is not said, Her old acquaintance
shall visit her, the colonies she has planted, and the
trading cities she has had correspondence with; they
have forgotten her; but, The Lord shall visit her
by some unthought-of turn; he shall cause his in¬
dignation toward her to cease, and then things will
run, of course, in their former channel.
2. That she shall use her best endeavours to re¬
cover her trade again. She shall sing as a harlot,
that has been some time under correction for her
lewdness: but, when she is set at liberty, (so violent
is the bent of corruption,) she will use her old arts
of temptation. The Tyrians being returned from
their captivity, and those that remained recovering
new spirits thereupon, they shall contrive how to
force a trade, shall procure the best choice of goods,
undersell their neighbours, and be obliging to all
customers; as a harlot that has been forgotten,
when she comes to be spoken of again, recommends
herself to company by singing and playing; takes a
harp, goes about the city, perhaps in the night, se¬
renading, makes sweet ’ melody, and sings many
songs. These are innocent and allowable diver¬
sions, if soberly and moderately and modestly used;
but those that’ are attached to them should" not be
over fond of them, nor ambitious to excel in them;
because, whatever they are now, anciently they
were some of the baits with which harlots used to
entice fools. Tyre shall now by degrees come to be
the mart of nations again; she shall return to her
hire, to her traffic, and shall commit fornication:
she shall have dealings in trade (for she carries on
the similitude of a harlot) with all the kingdoms of
the world, that she had formerly traded with in
her prosperity. The love of worldly wealth is a spi¬
ritual whoredom, and therefore covetous people
are called adulterers and adulteresses, (James iv. 4. )
and covetousness is spiritual idolatry.
3. That, having recovered hertrade again, she shall
make a better use of it than she had done formerly;
and this good she should get by her calamities, (v.
18.) Her merchandise, and her hire, shall be holiness
to the Lord. The trade of Tyre, and all the gain of
her trade, shall be devoted to God and to his honour,
and employed in his service. It shall not be trea¬
sured and hoarded up, as formerly, to be the matter
of their pride, and the support of their carnal confi¬
dence; but it shall be laid out in acts of piety and
charity. What thev can spare from the mainten¬
ance of themselves and their families, shall be for
them that dwell before the Lord, for the priests, the
Lord’s ministers that attend in his temple at Jeru
salem ; not to maintain them in pomp and grandeur,
but that they and theirs may eat sufficiently, may
have food convenient for them, with as little as may
be of that care which would divert them from their
ministration; and that they may have, not rich and
fine clothing, but durable clothing, that which is
strong and lasting; clothing for old men; so some
read it; as if the priests, though they were young,
must wear such plain, grave clothing as old mi n
used to wear. Now, (1.) This supposes that reli¬
gion should be set up in New Tyre, that they should
come to the knowledge of the true God, and into
communion with the Israel of God. Perhaps their
being fellow-captives with the Jews in Babylon,
(who had prophets with them there,) disposed them
to join with them in their worship there, and turned
them from idols, as it cured the Jews of their idola¬
try; and when they were released with them, and,
as they had reason to believe, for their sakes, when
they were settled again in Tyre, they would send
gifts and offerings to the temple, and presents to
the priests. We find men of Tyre then dwell¬
ing in the land of Judah, Neh. xiii. 16. Tvre and
Sidon were better disposed to religion in Christ’s
time, than the cities of Israel, for if Christ had gone
among them, they would have repented, Matth. xi.
21. And we meet with Christians at Tyre, (Acts
xxi. 3. ) and, many years after, did Christianity flour¬
ish there. Some of the rabbins refer this prophecy
of the conversion of Tyre to the days of the Mes¬
siah. (2. ) It directs those that have estates, to make
use of them in the service of God and religion, and
to reckon that best laid up, which is so laid rut.
Both the merchandise of the tradesman, and the
hire of the day-labourers, shall be devoted to God.
Both the merchandise, (the employment we follow,)
and the hire, (the gain of our employment,) must
be holiness to the Lord ; alluding to the motto en¬
graven on the frontlet of the High-Priest, (Exod.
xxxix. 30.) and to the separation of the tithe under
the law. Lev. xxvii. 30. See a promise like this
referring to gospel-times, Zech. xiv. 20, 21. We
must first give up ourselves to be holiness to the
Lord, before what we do, or have, or get, can be
so. When we abide with God in our particular call
ings, and do common actions after a godly sort, when
we abound in works of piety and charity, are liberal
in relieving the poor, and supporting the ministry,
and encouraging the gospel, then our merchandise
and our hire are holiness to the Lord, if we sin
cerely look at his glory in it. And it need not
ISAIAH, XXIV.
109
ic treasured and laid up on earth; for it is trea¬
sured and laid up in heaven, in bags that ivax not
old, Luke xii. 33.
CHAP. XXJV.
It is agreed that here begins a new sermon, which is con¬
tinued to the end of ch. xxvii. And in it, the prophet,
according to the directions he had received, does, in
many precious promises, say to the righteous, It shall be
well icith them; and, in many dreadful threatening, he
says, Wo to the xoicked, it shall be ill xoith them; (ch. iii.
1 0* 11.) and these are interwoven, that they may illus¬
trate each other. This chapter is, mostly, threatening;
and as the judgments threatened are very sore and griev¬
ous ones, so the people threatened with those judgments,
are very many. It is not the burthen of any particu¬
lar city or kingdom, as those before, but the burthen
of the whole earth. The word indeed signifies only the
land , because our own land is commonly to us as all the
earth. But it is here explained by another word that it
is not so confined, it is the world , v. 4. So that it must,
at least, take in a whole neighbourhood of nations. I .
Some think (and very probably) that it is a prophecy of
the great havoc that Sennacherib and his Assyrian army
should now shortly make of many of the nations in that
part of the world. 2. Others make it to point at the like
devastations which, about 100 years after, Nebuchad¬
nezzar and his armies should make in the same coun¬
tries; going from one kingdom to another, not only to
conquer them, but to ruin them, and lay them wraste; for
that was the method which those eastern nations took
in their wars. The promises that are mixed with the
threatenings, are intended for the support and comfort
of the people of God in those very calamitous times.
And since here are no particular nations named, either
by whom, or on whom, those desolations should be
brought, I see not but it may refer to both these events.
Nay, the scripture has many fulfilling’s, and we ought to
give it its full latitude; and therefore I incline to think
that the prophet, from those and the like instances which
he had a particular eye to, designs here to represent in
general the calamitous state of mankind, and the many
miseries which human life is liable to, especially those
that attend the wars of the nations. Surely the prophets
were sent, not only to foretell particular events, but to
form the minds of men to virtue and piety, and for that
end their prophecies were written and preserved, even
for our learning, and therefore ought not to be looked
upon as of private interpretation. N ow, since a thorough
conviction of the vanity of the world, and its insufficiency
to make us happy, will go far toward bringing us to
God, and drawing out our affections towards another
world, the prophet here shows what vexation of spirit
we must expect to meet with in these things, that we
may never take up our rest in them, nor promise our¬
selves satisfaction any where short of the enjoyment of
God. In this chapter, we have, 1. A threatening of
desolating judgments for sin; (v. 1..12.) to this is
added an assurance, that, in the midst of them, good
people should be comforted, (v. 13 .. 16.) II. A further
threatening of the like desolations, (v. 16. . 22.) to which
is added an assurance, that, in the midst of all, God
should be glorified.
l.TJEHOLD, the Lord maketh the
Jj earth empty; and maketh it waste,
and turneth it upside down, and scattereth
abroad the inhabitants thereof. 2. And it
shall be, as with the people, so with the
priest; as with the servant, so with his mas¬
ter ; as with the maid, so with her mistress ;
as with the buyer, so with the seller ; as
with the lender, so with the borrower ; as
with the taker of usury, so with the giver of
usury to him. 3. The land shall be utterly
emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord
hath spoken this word. 4. The earth
moumeth, and fadeth away; the world
languisheth, and fadeth away ; the haughty
people of the earth do languish. 5. The
earth also is defiled under the inhabitants
thereof, because they have transgressed the
laws, changed the ordinance, broken the
everlasting covenant. G. Therefore hath
the curse devoured the earth, and they that
dwell therein are desolate: therefore the
inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few
men left. 7. The new wine mourneth, the
vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do
sigh. 8. The mirth of tablets ceaseth, the
noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of
the harp ceaseth. 9. They shall not drink
wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter
to them that drink it. 1 0. The city of confu¬
sion is broken down ; every house is shut up,
that no man may come in. 1 1 . There is a
crying for wine in the streets; all joy is dark¬
ened, the mirth of the land is gone. 12. In
the city is left desolation, and the gate is smit¬
ten with destruction.
It is a very dark and melancholy scene that this
prophecy presents to our view; turn our eves which
way we will, every thing looks dismal. The deso¬
lations are here described in a great variety of ex¬
pressions to the same purport, and all aggravating.
I. The earth is stripped of all its ornaments, and
looks as if it were taken off its basis; it is made
empty and waste, (n. 1. ) as if it were reduced to its
first chaos, Tohu and Bohu, nothing but confusion
and emptiness again, (Gen. i. 2.) without form and
void. It is true, earth sometimes signifies the land,
and so the same word Eretz is here translated; (r.
3.) The land shall be utterly emptied, arid utterly
spoiled ; but I see not why it should not there, as
well as v. 1. be translated the earth ; for most com¬
monly, if not always, where it signifies some one
particular land, it lias something joined to it, or, at
least, not far from it, which does so appropriate it;
as, the land (or earth) of Egypt, or Canaan ; or this
land, or ours, or yours, or the like. It might indeed
refer to some particular country, and an ambiguous
word might be used to warrant such an application;
for it is good to apply to ourselves, and our own
lands, what the scripture says in general, of the va¬
nity and vexation of spirit that attend all things here
below ; but it should seem designed to speak wlfat
often happens to many countries, and will do while
the world stands, and what may, we know not how
soon, happen to our own, and what is the general
character of all earthly things, they are empty f f
all solid comfort and satisfaction, a little thing makes
them waste. We often see numerous families, and
plentiful estates, utterly emptied, and utterly spc.il-
ed, by one judgment or other, or perhaps only by a
gradual and insensible decay. Sin has turned the
earth upside down; the earth is become quite a dif¬
ferent thing to man from what it was when God
made it to be his habitation. Sin has also scattered
abroad the inhabitants thereof; the rebellion at Ba¬
bel was the occasion of the dispersion there. How
many ways are there in which the inhabitants both
of towns and of private houses are scattered abroad,
so that near relations and old neighbours know no¬
thing of one another! To the same purport, v. 4.
The earth mourns, and fades away; it disappoints
those that placed their happiness in it, and raised
their expectations high from it, and proves not what
they promised themselves it would be; The whole
world languishes and fades away, as hastening to¬
ward a dissolution. It is, at the best, like a flower,
which withers in the hands of those that please
no
ISAIAH, XXIV.
themselves too much with it, and lay it in their bo¬
soms. And as the earth itself grows old, so they that
dwell therein are desolate; men carry crazy, sickly
bodies along with them, are often solitary, and con¬
fined by affliction, v. 6. When the earth languishes,
and is not so fruitful as it used to be, then they
that dwell therein, that make it their home, and
rest, and portion, are desolate; whereas they that
Dy faith dwell in God, can rejoice in him, even when
the fig-tree does not blossom. If we look abroad,
and see in how many places pestilences and burn¬
ing fevers rage, and what multitudes are swept
away by them in a little time, so that sometimes the
living scarcely suffice to bury the dead, perhaps we
shall understand what the prophet means, when he
says, The inhabitants of the earth are burned, or
consumed, some by one disease, others by another,
and there are but few men left, in comparison.
Note, The world we live in is a world of disappoint¬
ment, a vale of tears, and a dying world; and the
children of men in it are but of few days, and full
of trouble.
II. It is God that brings all these calamities upon
the earth; the Lord that made the earth, and made
it fruitful and beautiful, for the service and comfort
of man, now makes it empty and waste; (y. 1.)
for its Creator is, and will be, its Judge; he has an
incontestable right to pass sentence upon it, and an
irresistible power to execute that sentence. It is
the Lord that has spoken this word, and he will do
the work; (u. 3.) it is his curse that has devoured
the earth, (y. 6. ) the general curse which sin brought
upon the ground for man’s sake, (Gen. iii. 17. ) and
all the particular curses which families and coun¬
tries bring upon themselves by their enormous wick¬
edness. See the power of God’s curse, how it makes
all empty, and lays all waste; those whom he
curses, are cursed indeed.
III. Persons of all ranks and conditions shall
share in these calamities; (t>. 2.) It shall be, as with
the people, so with the priest, &c. This is ti-ue of
many of the common calamities of human life; all
are subject to the same diseases of body, sorrows of
mind, afflictions in relations, and the like; there is
one event to those of very different stations; time and
chance happen to them all. It is in a special manner
true ot the destroying judgments which God some¬
times brings upon sinful nations; when he pleases,
he can make them universal, so that none shall es¬
cape them, or be exempt from them; whether men
have little or much, they shall lose it all. Those of
the meaner rank smart first by famine; but those
of the higher rank go first into captivitv, while the
poor of the land are left. It should be 'all alike, 1.
With high and low; .Is with the people, so with the
priest, or prince. The dignity of magistrates and
ministers, and the respect and reverence owing to
both, shall not secure them; the faces of elders are
not honoured, Lam. v. 12. The priests had been
as corrupt and wicked as the people; and if their
character serve not to restrain them from sin, how
can they expect it should serve to secure them from
judgments? In both, it is like people, like priest,
Hosea iv. 8, 9. 2. With bond and free; As with
the servant, so with his master; as with the maid,
so with her mistress; they have all corrupted their
way, and therefore will all be made miserable when
the earth is made waste. 3. With rich and poor;
those that have money beforehand, that are pur¬
chasing, and letting out money to interest, will fare
no better than those that are so impoverished, that
they are forced to sell their estates, and take up
money at interest. There are judgments short of
the great day of judgment, in which rich and poor
meet together. Let not those that are advance^
in the world, set their inferiors at too great a dis¬
tance, because they know not how soon they may
be set upon a level with them. The rich man’s
wealth is his strong city, in his own conceit; but it
does not always prove so.
IV. It is sin that brings these calamities upon the
earth; Therefore the earth is made empty, and
fades away, because it is defiled under the inhabi¬
tants thereof; (v. 5.) it is polluted by the -sins of
men, and therelore it is made desolate by the judg¬
ments of God. Such is the filthy nature of sin, that
it defiles the earth itself under the sinful inhabitants
thereof, and it is rendered unpleasant in the eves of
God and good men. See Lev. xviii. 25, 27, 28.
Blood, in particular, defiles the land. Numb. xxxv.
33. The earth never spues out its inhabitants, till
they have first defiled it by their sins. Why, what
have they done? 1. They have transgressed the
laws of their creation, not answered the ends of it:
the bonds of the law of nature have been broken by
them, and they have cast from them the cords of
their obligations to the God of nature. 2. They
have changed the ordinances of revealed religion,
those of them that have had the benefit of that.
They have neglected the ordincmces; so some read
it; and have made no consciencrtof observing them;
they have passed over the laws, in the commission
of sin, and have passed by the ordinance, in the
omission of duty. 3. Herein they have broken the
everlasting covenant, which is a perpetual bond, and
will be to those that keep it a perpetual blessing. It
is God’s wonderful condescension, that he is pleased
to deal with men in a covenant-way; to do them
good, and thereby oblige them to do him service.
Even those that had no benefit by God’s covenant
with Abraham, had benefit by his covenant with
Noah and his sons, which is called an everlasting
covenant, his covenant with day and night; but they
observe not the precepts of the sons of Noah, they
acknowledge not God’s goodness in the day and
night, nor study to make him any grateful returns,
and so break the everlasting covenant, and defeat
the gracious designs and intentions of it.
V. These judgments shall humble men’s pride,
and mar their mirth: when the earth is made empty.
1. It is a great mortification to men’s pride; (y.
4.) The haughty people of the earth do languish;
for they have lost that which supported their pride,
and for which they magnified themselves: those that
have held their heads highest, God can make hang
the head.
2. It is a great damp to men’s jollity; this is en¬
larged upon much; (f. 7 — 9.) All the merry-hearted
do sigh; such is the nature pf carnal mirth, it is but
as the crackling of thorns under a pot, Eccl. vii. 6.
Great laughters commonly end in a sigh: they that
make the world their chief joy, cannot rejoice ever¬
more. When God sends his judgments into the
earth, he designs thereby to make those serious
that were wholly addicted to their pleasures; Let
your laughter be turned into mourning. When the
earth is emptied, the noise of them that rejoice in it,
ends. Carnal joy is a noisy thing; but the noise of it
will soon be at an end, and the end of it is heaviness.
Two things are made use of to excite and express
vain mirth, and the jovial crew is here deprived of
both; (1.) Drinking; the new wine mourns, it is
grown sour for want of drinking; for, how proper
soever it may be for the heavy heart, (Prov. xxxi.
6.) it does not relish then as it does to the merrv-
hearted: the vine languishes, and gives little hopes
of a vintage, and therefore the merry-hearted do
sigh; for they know no other gladness than that < f
their corn and wine and oil increasing, (Ps. iv. 7.t
and if you destroy their vines and their fig-trees, you
make all their mirth to cease, Hos. ii. 11, 12. They
shall not now drink wine with a song, as they uset.
tc do, and with huzzas; but rather drink it with a
sigh: nay, Strong drink shall be bitter to them that
ISAIAH, XXIV.
drink it, bc( ause they cannot but mingle their tears
with it; or, through sickness, they have lost the re¬
lish of it God has many ways to imbitter wine and
strong drink to them that love them, and have the
highest gust'of them: distemper of body, anguish of
mind, the ruin of the estate or country, will make
tlie strong drink bitter, and all the delights of sense
tasteless and insipid. (2.) Music; The mirth of
tabrets ceases, and the joy of the harp, which used
to be at their feasts, ch. v. 12. The captives in Ba¬
bylon hang their harps on the willow trees. In
short, all joy is darkened, there is not a pleasant
look to be seen, nor has any one power to force a
smile; all the mirth of the land is gone, (y. 11.) and
if it were that mirth which Solomon calls madness,
there is no great loss of it
VI. The cities will in a particular manner feel
from these desolations of the country; {v. 10.) The
city of confusion is broken, is broken down; so we
read it; it lies exposed to invading powers, not only
by' the breaking down of its walls, but by the con¬
fusion that the inhabitants are in; every house is
shut up; perhaps by reason of the plague, which has
burned or consumed the inhabitants, so that there
are few men left, v. 6. Houses infected are usually
shut up, that no man may come in: or, they are
shut up because they are deserted and uninhabited.
There is a crying for wine, for the spoiling of the
vintage, so that there is likely to be no wine. In
the city, in Jerusalem itself, that had been so much
frequented, there shall be left nothing but desola¬
tion; grass shall grow in the streets, and the gate is
smitten with destruction; (v. 12.) all that used to
pass and repass through the gate, are smitten, and
all the strength of the city is cut off. How soon can
God make a city of order a city of confusion, and
then it will soon be a city of desolation!
1 3. When thus it shall be in the midst of
the land among the people, there shall be as
the shaking of an olive-tree, and as the
gleaning-grapes when the vintage is done.
1 4. They shall lift up their voice, they shall
sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall
cry aloud from the sea. 15. Wherefore
glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the
name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles
of the sea.
Here is mercy remembered in the midst of wrath;
in Judah and Jerusalem, and the neighbouring coun¬
tries, when they are overrun by the enemy, Sen¬
nacherib or Nebuchadnezzar, there shall be a rem¬
nant preserved from the general ruin, and it shall
be a devout and pious remnant. And this method
God usually observes, when his judgments are
abroad; he does not make a full end, ch. vi. 13. Or,
we may take it thus; Though the greatest part of
mankind have all their comfort ruined by the emp¬
tying of the earth, and the making of that desolate,
vet there are some few who understand themselves
better, who have laid up their treasure in heaven,
and not in things below, and therefore can keep up
their comfort and joy in God, even then when the
earth mourns and fades away.
Observe, 1. The small number of this remnant:
(x>. 13.) when all goes to ruin, there shall be as the
shaking of an olive-tree, and the gleaning-grapes,
here and there one, who shall escape the common
calamity, (;is Noah and his family, when the old
world was drowned,) that shall be able to sit down
upon a heap of the ruins of all their creature-com¬
forts, and even then rejoice in the Lord, (Hab. iii.
16 — 18.) who, when all faces gather blackness, can
lift up their heads with joy, Luke xxi. 26, 28. These
111
few are dispersed, and at a distance from each
other, like the gleanings of the olive-tree; and they
are concealed,- hid under the leaves. The Lord
only knows them that are his, the world does not.
2. The great devotion of this remnant, which is
the greater for their having so narrowly escaped
this great destruction; (v. 14.) They shall lift up
their voice, they shall sing. (1. ) They shall sing
for joy in their deliverance; when the mirth of car¬
nal worldlings ceases, the joy of the saints is as lively
as ever; when the merry-hearted do sigh because
the vine languishes, the upright-hearted do sing
because the covenant of grace, the fountain of their
comforts, and the foundation of their hopes, never
fails; they that rejoice in the Lord, can rejoice in
tribulation, and by faith may be in triumphs, when
all about them are in tears. (2. ) They shall sing
to the glory and praise of God; shall sing not only
for the mercy, but for the majesty, of the Lords
their songs are awful and serious, and in their spi¬
ritual joys they have a reverent regard to the great¬
ness of God, and keep at an humble distance, when
they attend him with their praises. The majesty
of the Lord, which is matter of terror to wicked
people, furnishes the saints with songs of praise.
They shall sing for the magnificence, or transcen¬
dent excellency, of the Lord, showed both in his
judgments and in his mercies; for we must sing, and
sing unto him, of both, Ps. ci. 1. Those who have
made, or are making, their escape from the land
(that being emptied and made desolate) to the sea
and the isles of the sea, shall from thence cry aloud ;
their dispersion shall help to spread the knowledge
of God, and they shall make even remote shores to
ring with his praises. It is much for the honour of
God, if those who fear him rejoice in him, and
praise him, even in the most melancholy times.
3. Their holy zeal to excite others to the same
devotion; (v. 15.) they encourage their fellow-suf¬
ferers to do likewise. (1.) Those who are in the
fires, in the furnace of affliction, those fires by which
th e inhabitants of the earth are burned, v. 6. Or,
in the valleys, the low, dark, dirty places. (2.)
Those who are in the isles of the sea, whither they
are banished, or are forced to flee for shelter, and
hide themselves remote from all their friends; they
went through fire and water; (Ps. lxvi. 12.) yet in
both let them glorify the Lord, and glorify him as
the Lord God of Israel. They who through grace
can glory in tribulation, ought to glorify God in tri¬
bulation, and give him thanks for their comforts,
which abound as their afflictions do abound. We
must in every fire, even the hottest, in every isle,
even the remotest, keep up our good thoughts of
God; when, though he slay us, yet we trust in him,
though, for his sake, we are killed all the day long,
yet none of these things move us, then we glorify
the Lord in the fires: thus the three children, and
the martyrs that sang at the stake.
16. From the uttermost part of the earth
have we heard songs, even glory to the righ¬
teous. But I said, My leanness, my lean¬
ness, wo unto me ! the treacherous dealers
have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacher¬
ous dealers have dealt very treacherously.
17. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are
upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. 1 8.
And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth
from the noise of the fear shall fall into the
pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst
of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the
windows from on high are open, and the
ISAIAH, XXIV.
foundations of the earth do shake. 1 9. rI lie
earth is utterly broken down, .the earth is
clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceed¬
ingly. 20. The earth shall reel to and fro
like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a
cottage ; and the transgression thereof shall
be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not
rise again. 21. And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the Lord shall punish the
host of the high ones that are on high, and
the kings of the earth upon the earth. 22.
And they shall be gathered together as pri¬
soners are gathered in the pit, and shall be
shut up in the prison, and after many days
shall they be visited. 23. Then the moon
shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed,
when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount
Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his an¬
cients, gloriously.
These verses, as those before, plainly speak,
I. Comfort to saints; they may be driven, by the
common calamities of the places where they live,
into the uttermost parts of the earth, or perhaps
they are forced thither for their religion; but there
they are singing, not sighing; from thence have we
heard songs," and it is a comfort to us to hear them,
to hear that good people carry their religion along
with them, even to the most distant regions, to hear
that God visits them there, and gives encourage¬
ment to hope that from thence he will gather them,
Deut. xxx. 4. And this is their song, even glory to
the righteous: the word is singular, and may import
the righteous God, who is just in all he has brought
upon us; this is glorifying the Lord in the fires: or,
the meaning may be,' These songs redound to the
glory or beauty of the righteous that sing them. We
do the greatest honour imaginable to ourselves,
when we employ ourselves in honouring and glorify¬
ing God. This may have reference to the sending
of the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth, as
far off as this island of ours, in the days of the Mes¬
siah, the glad tidings of which are echoed back in
songs heard from thence, from churches planted
there, even glory to the righteous God, agreeing
with the angels’ song. Glory be to God in the high¬
est, and glory to all righteous men; for the work of
redemption was ordained before the world for our
glory.
If. Terror to sinners; the prophet, having com¬
forted himself and others with the prospect of a saved
remnant, returns to lament the miseries he saw
breaking in like a mighty torrent upon the earth;
“ But I said, My leanness, my leanness, wo unto
me, ( v . 16. ) the very thought of it frets me, and
makes me lean.” He foresees,
1. The prevalency of sin, that iniquity should
abound; (x>. 16.) The treacherous dealers have dealt
treacherously ; this is itself a judgment, and that
which provokes God to bring other judgments. ( 1. )
Men are false to one another; there is no faith in
man, but a universal dishonesty. Truth, that sa¬
cred bond of society, is departed, and there is no¬
thing but treachery in men’s dealings. See Jer. ix.
1, 2. (2.) They are all false to their God; as to
him, and their covenant with him, the children of
men are all treacherous dealers, and have dealt
very treacherously with their God, in departing
from their allegiance to him : this is the original, and
this the aggravation of the sin of the world; and
when men have been false to their God, how should
they be true to any other?
2. The prevalency of wrath and judgment for
that sin:
(1.) The inhabitants of the earth will be pursuec
from time to time, from place-to place, by cne mis¬
chief or other; (y. 17, IS. ) Fear, and the pit, and
the snare; fear of the pit, and the snare, are upon
them, wherever they are; for the sons of men know
not what evil they may suddenly be snared in, Eccl.
ix. 12. These three words seem to be chosen for
the sake of an elegant paronomasia, or, as we now
scornfully call it, a jingle of words; Pachad, and
Pachath, and Pach; but the meaning is plain, (?:.
18.) that evil pursues sinners, (Prov. xiii. 21.) that
the curse shall overtake the disobedient, (Deut.
xxviii. 15.) that those who are secure, because they
have escaped one judgment, know not how soon
another may arrest them. What this prophet
threatens all the inhabitants of the earth with, an¬
other makes part of thejudgmentofMoab, Jer. xlviii.
43, 44. But it is a common instance of the calami¬
tous state of human life, that, when we seek to avoid
one mischief, we fall into a worse, and that the end
of one trouble is often the beginning of another; so
that we are least safe when we are most secure.
(2.) The earth itself will be shaken to pieces; it
will be literally so at last, when all the works therein
shall be burnt up, and often, figuratively so, before
that period; The windows from on high arc open
to pour down wrath, as in the univers; 1 deluge; upon
the wicked God shall rain snares, (Ps. xi. 6.) and,
the fountains of the great deep being broken up, the
foundations of the earth do shake of course, the
frame of nature is unhinged, and all is in confusion.
See how elegantly this is expressed; ( v . 19, 20.)
The earth is utterly broken down, it is clean dissolv¬
ed, it is moved exceedingly, moved out of its place;
God shakes heaven and earth. Hag. ii. 6. See the
misery of those who lay up their treasure in the
things of the earth, and mind those things; they
place their confidence in that which shall shortlv
be utterly broken down and dissolved; the earth
shall reel to and fro like a drunkard; so unsteady,
so uncertain, are all the motions of these thing's.
Worldly men dwell in it as in a palace, as in a cas¬
tle, as in an impregnable tower; but it shall be re¬
moved like a cottage, so easily, so suddenly, and
with so little loss to the great Landlord. The pull¬
ing down of the earth will be but like the pulling
down of a cottage, which the country is willing to
be rid of, because it does but harbour beggars; and
therefore no care is taken to rebuild it, it shall fall
and not rise again; but there shall be new heavens
and a new earth, in which shall dwell nothing but
righteousness.
But what is it that shakes the earth thus, and
sinks it? It is the transgression thereof that shall be
heavy upon it. Note, Sin is a burthen to the whole
creation; it is a heavy burthen, a burthen under
which it groans now, and will sink at last. Sin is
the ruin of states, and kingdoms, and families; they
fall under the weight of that talent of lead, Zcch.
v. 7, 8.
(3. ) God will have a particular controversy with,
the kings and great men of the earth; (y. 21.) He
will punish the host of the high ones; hosts of
princes are no more before God than hosts of com¬
mon men; what can a host of high ones do with
their combined force, when the Most High, the
Lord of hosts, contends with them to abase their
height, and scatter their hosts, and break all their
confederacies? The high ones, that are on high,
that are puffed up with their height and grandeur,
that think themselves so high that they are out of
the reach of any danger, God will visit upon them
all their pride and cruelty, with which they have
oppressed and injured their neighbours and subjects,
and it shall now return upon their own heads. The
113
JSAIAH, XXV.
Kit gs of the earth shall now be reckoned with upon .
the earth, to show that verily there is a God that
judges in the earth, and will render to the proudest
ot kings according to the fruit of their doings. Let
those that are trampled upon by the high ones of
the earth, comfort themselves with this, that,
though they cannot, dare not, must not, resist them,
yet there is a God that will call them to an account,
that will triumph over them upon their own dung¬
hill; and the earth they are kings of, is, in the eye
of God, no better. This is general only; it is par¬
ticularly foretold, (u. 22.) that they shall be ga¬
thered together as firisoners; convicted, condemned
prisoners are gathered in the pit, or dungeon, and
there they shall be shut up under close confinement;
the kings and high ones, who took all possible liber¬
ty themselves, and took a pride and pleasure in
strutting up others, shall now be themselves shut
up. Let not the free man glory in his freedom, any
more than the strong man in his strength, for he
knows not what restraints he is reserved for; but
after many days they shall be visited. Either, [1.]
They shall be visited in wrath; it is the same word,
in another form, that is used, v. 21. The Lord
shall punish them; they shall be reserved to the
day of execution, as condemned prisoners are, and
as fallen angels are reserved in chains of darkness
to the judgment of the great day, Jude 6. Let this
account for the delays of divine vengeance; sen¬
tence is not executed speedily, because execution-
day is not yet come, and perhaps will not come till
after many days; but it is certain, that the wicked
is reserv ed for the day of destruction, and is there¬
fore preserved in the mean time, but shall be
brought forth to the day of wrath. Job xxi. 30. Let
us therefore judge nothing before the time. [2.]
They shall be visited in mercy, and be discharged
from their imprisonment, and shall again obtain, if
not theii; dignity, yqf their liberty. Nebuchadnez¬
zar in his conquests made many kings and princes
his captires, and kept them in the dungeon in Baby¬
lon, and, among the rest, Jehoiachim king of Judah;
but, after many days, when his head was laid, his
son visited them, and granted fas should seem) some
reviving to them all in their bondage; for it is made
an instance of his particular kindness to Jehoiachim,
that he set his throne above the throne of the rest of
the kings that were with him, Jer. lii. 32. If we
apply it to the general state of mankind, it denotes
a revolution of conditions; those that were high are
punished, those, that were punished are relieved,
after many days; that none in this world may be
secure, though their condition be ever so prosperous,
nor any despair, though their condition be ever so
deplorable.
3. Glory to God in all this, v. 23. When all
this comes to pass, when the proud enemies of God’s
church are humbled and brought down, (1.) Then
it shall appear, beyond contradiction, that the Lord
reigns; which is always true, but not always alike
evident. When the kings of the earth are punished
for their tyranny and oppression, then it is proclaim¬
ed and proved to all the world, that God is King of
kings, King above them, by whom they are con¬
querable, King over them, to whom they are ac¬
countable; that he reigns as Lord of hosts, of all
hosts, of their hosts; that he reigns in mount Zion,
and in Jerusalem; in his church, for the honour and
welfare of that, pursuant to the promises on which
that is founded, reigns in his word and ordinances;
that he reigns before his ancients, before all his
saints, especially before his ministers, the elders of
nis church, who have their eye upon all the out¬
goings of his power and providence, and, in all these
events, observe his hand. God’s ancients, the old
disciples, the experienced Christians, that have of¬
ten, when they have been perplexed, gone into the
VOL. IV.— P
sanctuary of God in Zion and Jerusalem, and ac¬
quainted themselves with his manifestations of him¬
self there, they shall sec mere than others of God’s
dominion and sovereignty in these operations ol his
providence. (2.) Then it shall appear, beyond
comparison, that lie reigns gloriously , in such bright¬
ness and lustre, that the moon shall be confounded,
and the sun ashamed, as the lesser lights are eclips¬
ed and extinguished by the greater. Great men,
who thought themselves to have as bright a lustre '
and as vast a dominion, as the sun and moon, shall
be ashamed when God appears above them, much
more w’hen he appears against them: then shall
their faces be filled with shame, that they may seek
God’s name. The eastern nations worshipped the
sun and moon; but when God shall appear so glo¬
riously for his people against his and their enemies,
all these pretended deities shall be ashamed that
ever they received the homage of their deluded
worshippers. The glory of the Creator infinitely
outshines the glory of the brightest creatures. In
the great day, when the Judge of heaven and earth
shall shine forth in his glory, the sun shall by his
transcendent lustre be turned into darkness, and
the moon into blood.
CHAP. XXY.
After the threatening^ of wrath in the foregoing chapter,
we have here, I. Thankful praises for what God had done,
which the prophet, in the name of the church, offers up
to God, and teaches us to offer the like, v. I . .5." 11.
Precious promises of what God would yet further do for
his church, especially in the grace of the gospel, v. 6 . . 8.
III. The church’s triumph in God over her enemies
thereupon, v. 9 . . 12. This chapter looks as pleasantly
upon the church as the former looked dreadfully upon
the world.
1. LORD, thou art my God; I will
9 exalt thee, I will praise thy name:
for thou hast done wonderful things ; thy
counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2. For thou hast made of a city a heap ; of
a defenced city a ruin : a palace of strangers
to be no city; it shall never be built. 3.
Therefore shall the strong people glorify
thee, the city of the terrible nations shall
fear thee. 4. F or thou hast been a strength
to the poor, a strength to the needy in his
distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow
from the heat, when the blast of the terrible
ones is as a storm against the wall. 5. Thou
shalt bring down the noise of strangers as
the heat in a dry place ; even the heat with
the shadow of a cloud : the branch of the
terrible ones shall be brought low.
• It was said, in the close of the foregoing chapter,
that the I^ord of hosts shall reign gloriously ; now,
in compliance with that, the prophet here speaks
of the glorious majesty of his kingdom, (Ps. cxlv.
i2.) and gives him the glory of it; and however it
might have an accomplishment in the destruction
of Babylon, and the deliverance of the Jews out of
their captivity there, it seems to look further, to the
praises that should be offered up to God by the
gospel-church, for Christ’s victories over our spiri¬
tual enemies, and the comforts he has provid' d for
all believers. Here,
I. The prophet determines to praise God him¬
self: for they that would stir up others, should in
the first place stir up themselves, to praise God;
{v. 1.) “0 Lord, thou art my God, a God it cove-
114
ISAIAH, XXV.
innt with me.” When God is punishing the kings
of the earth upon the earth, and making them
tremble before him, a poor prophet can go to him,
and with an humble boldness, say, 0 Lord, thou art
my (lod; and therefore I will exalt thee, I will
praise thy name. Those that have the Lord for
their God, are obliged to praise him; for therefore
he took us to be his people, that we might he an to
him for a name, and for a praise, Jer. xiii. 11. In
praising God, we exalt him; not that we can make
him higher than he is, but we must make him to
appear to ourselves and others higher than he does.
See Exod. xv. 2.
II. He pleases himself with the thought that
others also shall be brought to praise God; (y. 3.)
“ Therefore, because of the desolations thou hast
made in the earth by thy providence, (Ps. xlvi. 8. )
and the just vengeance thou hast taken on thine and
thy church’s enemies, therefore shall the strong
people glorify thee in concert, and the city” (the
metropolis) “of the terrible nations” (or the cities
of such nations) “shall fear thee.” This maybe
understood, 1. Of those people that have been
strong and terrible against God; those that have
been enemies to God’s kingdom, and have fought
against the interests of it with a great deal of
strength and terror, shall either be converted, and
glorify God by joining with his people in his service,
or, at least, convinced, so as to own themselves con¬
quered. Those that had been the terror of the
mighty, shall be forced to tremble before the judg¬
ments of God, and call in vain to rocks and moun¬
tains to hide them. Or, 2. Of those that shall be
now made strong and terrible for God and by him,
though before they were weak and trampled upon.
He shall so visibly appear for them, and with them,
that fear God, and glorify him, that all shall ac¬
knowledge them a strong people, and shall stand in
awe of them. There was a time when many of the
people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the
Jews fell upon them, (Esther viii. 17.)' and when
they that knew their God, were strong, and did
exploits, (Dan. xi. 32.) for which they glorify
God.
III. He observes what is, and ought to be, the
matter of this praise: we and others must exalt God,
and praise him, for,
1. He has done wonders according to the counsel
of his own will, v. 1. We exalt God by admiring
what he has done as truly wonderful; wonderful
proofs of his power, beyond what any creature could
perform ; and wonderful proofs of his goodness, be¬
yond what such sinful creatures as we are could ex¬
pect. These wonderful things, which are new and
surprising to us, and altogether unthought of, are,
according to his counsels of old, devised by his wis¬
dom, and designed for his own glory, and the com¬
fort of his people. All the operations of providence
are according to God’s eternal counsels, (and those
faithfulness and truth itself,) all consonant to his at¬
tributes, consistent with one another, and sure to be
accomplished in their season.
2. He has in particular humbled the pride, and
broken the power, of the mighty ones of the earth;
(v. 2.) “ Thou hast made of a city, of many a city,
a heap of rubbish; of many a defenced city, that
thought itself well guarded by nature and art, and
the multitude and courage of its militia, thou hast
made a ruin.”. What created strength can holdout
against Omnipotence? “ Many a city, so richly
built, that it might be called a palace, and so much
frequented and visited by persons of the best rank
from all parts, that it might be called a palace of
strangers, thou hast made to be no city; it is levelled
with the ground, and not one stone left upon another,
audit shall never be built again. ” This has been
the case of many cities in divers parts of the world,
and in our r. >vn nation particularly; cities that flour¬
ished once, are gone to decay, and lost, and it is
scarcely known (except by urns or coins digged up
out of the earth) where they stood. How many of
the cities of Israel have long since been heaps and
ruins! God hereby teaches us, that here we have
no continuing city, and must therefore seek one to
come, which will never be a ruin, or go to decay.
3. He has seasonably relieved and succoured his
necessitous and distressed people; (v. 4.) Thou
hast been a Strength to the poor, a Strength to the
needy. As God weakens the strong that are proud
and secure, so he strengthens the weak that arc
humble and serious, and stay themselves upon him.
Nay, he not only makes them strong, but he is
himself their Strength; for in him they strengthen
themselves, and it is his favour and grace that are
the strength of their hearts. He is a Strength to
the needy in his distress, then when he needs strength,
and when his distress drives him to God. And as
he strengthens them against their inward decays, so
he shelters them from outward assaults: he is a Re¬
fuge from the storm of rain or hail, and a Shadow
from the scorching heat of the sun in summer. God
is a sufficient Protection to his people in all weathers,
both hot and cold, wet and dry; the armour of
righteousness serves both on the right hand and on
the left, 2 Cor. vi. 7. Whatever dangers or troubles
God’s people may be in, effectual care is taken that
thev shall sustain no real hurt or damage. When
perils are most threatening and alarming, God will
then appear for the safety of his people; when the
blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the
wall, which makes a great noise, but cannot over¬
throw the wall. The enemies of God’s poor are
terrible ones; they do all they can to make them¬
selves so to them; their rage is like a blast of wind,
loud, and blustering, and furious; but, like the wind,
it is under a divine check; foi'God holds the winds
in his fst.s; and God will be such a Shelter to his
people, that they shall be able to stand the shock,
keep their ground, and maintain their integrity and
peace. A storm, beating on a ship, tosses if, but
that which beats on a wall never stirs it, Ps. lxxvi.
10. — cxxxviii. 7.
4. That he does, and will, shelter those that trust
in him, from the insolence of their proud oppressors;
(y. 5.) Thou shall, or thou dost, bring down the
noise of strangers, thou shalt abate and still it, as
the heat in a dry place is abated and moderated by
the shadow of a cloud interposing; the branch, or
rather the song or triumph, of the terrible ones
shall be brought low, and they shall be made to
change their note, and fall their voice. Observe,
here, (1.) The oppressors of God’s people are call¬
ed strangers; for they forget that those they oppress
are made of the same mould, of the same blood,
with them. They are called terrible ones; for so
they affect to be, rather than amiable ones; they
would rather be feared than loved. (2.) Their in¬
solence toward the people of God is noisy and hot,
and that is all; it is but the noise of strangers, who
think to carry their point by hectoring and bullving
all that stand in their way, and talking big. Pha¬
raoh king of Egypt is but a noise, Jer. xlvi. 17. It
is like the heat of the sun scorching in the middle
of the day; but where is it, when the sun is set?
(3.) Their noise and heat, and all their triumph,
will be humbled and brought low, when their
hopes are baffled, and all their honours laid in the
dust. The branches, even the top branches, of
the terrible ones, will be broken off, and thrown to
the dunghill. (4.) If the labourers in God’s vine¬
yard be at any time called to bear the burthen and
heat of the day, he will find some way or other to
refresh them, as with the shadow of a cloud, that
they may not be pressed above measure.
Ilf.
ISAIAH, XXV.
6. And in this mountain shall the Lord
of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat
things, a feast of wines on the lees; of fat
things full of marrow, of wines on the lees
well refined. 7. And he will destroy in this
mountain the face of the covering cast over
all people, and the vail that is spread over
all nations. 8. He will swallow up death
in victory; and the Lord God will wipe
away tears from off all faces ; and the re¬
buke of his people shall he take away from
off all the earth : for the Lord hath spo¬
ken it.
If we suppose (as many do) that this refers to the
great joy that should be in Zion and Jerusalem,
either when the army of the Assyrians was routed
by an angel, or when the Jews were released out of
their captivity in Babylon, or upon occasion of some
other equally surprising deliverance; yet we cannot
avoid making it to look further, to the grace of the
gospel, and the glory which is the crown and con¬
summation of that grace; for it is at our resurrection
through Christ that the saying here written shall be
brought to pass ; then and not till then, (if we may
believe St. Paul,) it shall have its full accomplish¬
ment; death is swallowed up in victory, 1 Cor. xv.
54. This is a key to the rest of the promises here
connected together. And so we have here a pro¬
phecy of the salvation and the grace brought unto
us by Jesus Christ, into which the prophets inquired,
and searched diligently, 1 Pet. i. 10.
1. That the grace of the gospel should be a royal
feast for all people; not like that of Ahasuerus,
which was intended only to show the grandeur of
the master of the feast; (Esther i. 4.) for this is in¬
tended to gratify the guests, and therefore, whereas
all there was for show, ali here is for substance.
The preparations made in the gospel for the kind
reception of penitents and supplicants with God, are
often in the New Testament set forth by the simili¬
tude of a feast; as Matth. xxii. 1, &c. which seems
to be borrowed from this here. (1.) God himself
is the Master of the feast, and, we may be sure, he
prepares like himself, as becomes him to give,
rather than as becomes us to receive. The Lord of
hosts makes this feast. (2. ) The guests invited are,
all people, Gentiles as well as Jews. Go preach the
gospel to every creature. There is enough for all,
and whoever will, may come, and take freely, even
those that are gathered out of the highways and the
hedges. (3.) The place is mount Zion; thence the
preaching of the gospel takes rise, the preachers
must begin at Jerusalem. The gospel-church is the
Jerusalem that is above, there this feast is made,
and to it all the invited guests must go. (4.) The
provision is very rich, and every thing is of the best;
it is a feast which supposes abundance and variety;
it is a continual feast to believers, it is their own
rault if it be not. It is a feast of fat things and full
of marrow; so relishing, so nourishing, are the com¬
forts of the gospel to all those that feast upon them ,
ind digest them. The returning prodigal was en¬
tertained with the fatted calf; and David has that
pleasure in communion with God, with which his
soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness. It is a
feast of wines on the lees; the strongest-bodied wines,
that have been kept long upon the lees, and then are
well refined from them, so that they are clear and
fine. There is that in the gospel, which, like wine
soberly used, makes glad the heart, and raises the
spirits, and is fit for those that are of a heavy
heart, being under convictions of sin, and mourning
for it, that tnev may drink, and forget their misery,
(for that is the proper use of wine, it is a cordial for
those that need it, Prov. xxxi. 6, 7.) m<iy be of
good cheer, knowing that their sins are forgiven,
and may be vigorous in their spiritual work and
warfare, as a strong man refreshed with wine.
2. That the world should be freed from that dark¬
ness of ignorance and mistake, in the mists of which
it has been so long lost and buried; (r. 7.) He will
destroy in this mountain the face of the covering,
(the covering of the face,) with which all people art
covered, (hoodwinked or blindfolded,) so that they
cannot see their way, nor go about their work, and
by reason of which they wander endlessly. Theii
faces are covered as men condemned, or as dead
men. There is a vail s/iread over alt nations, fci
they all sat in darkness; and no marvel, when the
Jews themselves, among whom God was known, had
a vail upon their hearts, 2 Cor. iii. 15. But this vail
the Lord will destroy', by the light of his gospel shin¬
ing in the world, and the power of his spirit open¬
ing men’s eyes to receive it. He will raise these to
spiritual life, that had long been dead in trespasses
and sins.
3. That death should be conquered, the power of
it broken, and the property ot it altered; He will
swallow up death in victory, v. 8. (1.) Christ will
himself, in his resurrection, triumph over death;
will break its bands, its bars, asunder, and cast away
all its cords. The grave seemed to swallow him up,
but really he swallowed it up. (2.) The happiness
of the saints shall be out of the reach of death,
which puts a period to all the enjoyments of this
world, imbitters them, and stains the beauty of
them. (3.) Believers may triumph over death, and
look upon it as a conquered enemy; O death, where
is thy sting ? (4.) When the dead bodies of the
saints shall be raised at the great day, and their mor¬
tality swallowed up of life, then death will be for
ever swallowed up of victory; and it is the last enemy.
4. That grief shall be banished, and there shall
be perfect and endless joy; The Lord God will wipe
away tears from of all faces. Those that mourn
for sin, shall be comforted, and have their conscien¬
ces pacified. In the covenant of grace there shall
be that provided, which is sufficient to balance all
the sorrows of this present time, to wipe away cur
tears, and to refresh us. Those particularly that
suffer for Christ, shall have consolations abounding
as their afflictions do abound. But in the joys of
heaven, and no where short of them. Will fully be
brought to pass this saying, as that before, for there
it is that God shall wipe away all tears. Rev. vii.
17. — xxi. 4. And therefore there shall be 770 more
sorrow, because there shall be jio more death. The
hope of this should now wipe away all excessive
tears, all the weeping that hinders sowing.
5. That all the reproach cast' upon religion and
the serious professors of it, shall be for ever rolled
away; The rebuke of his people, which they have
long lain under, the calumnies and misrepresenta¬
tions by which they have been blackened, the inso¬
lence and cruelty with which their persecutors have
trampled on them and trodden them down, shall be
taken away. Their righteousness shall be brought
forth as the light, in the view of all the world, who
shall be convinced they are not such as they have
been invidiously characterized: and so their’ salva¬
tion from the injuries done them as such, shall be
wrought out. Sometimes in this world God does
that for his people, which takes away their reproach
from among men. However, it will be done ef¬
fectually at the great da \,for the Lord has spoken it,
who can, and will, make it good. Let us patiently
bear sorrow and shame now, and improve both; for
shortly both will be done away.
9. And it shall be said in that day, Lo,
ISAIAH, XXVI.
1 1 G
this is our God; we have waited for him,
and he will save us: this is the Lord; we
have waited for him, we will be glad and re¬
joice in his salvation. 10. 1 or in this moun¬
tain shall the hand of the Lord rest, and
Moab shall be trodden down under him,
even as straw is trodden down for the dung¬
hill. 1 1 . And he shall spread forth his hands
in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth
spreadeth forth his hands to swim; and he
shall bring down their pride together with
the spoils of their hands. 12. And the for¬
tress of the high fort of thy walls shall he
bring down, lay low, and bring to the
ground, even to the dust.
Here is,
I. The welcome which the church shall give to
these blessings promised in the foregoing verses;
( v . 9. ) It shall be said in that day, with a humble,
holy-triumph and exultation, Lo, this is our God,
we have waited for him! Thus will the deliverance
of the church out of long and sore troubles be cele¬
brated; thus will it be as life from the dead. With
such transports of joy and praise will those entertain
the glad tidings of the Redeemer, who looked for
him, and for redemption in Jerusalem by him: and
with such a triumphant song as this, will glorified
saints enter into the joy of the Lord. 1. God him¬
self must have the glow of all; “ Lo, this is our
God, this is the Lord. This which is done, is his
doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. Herein he
has done like himself, has magnified his own wis¬
dom, power, and goodness. Herein he has done for
us like our God,' a God in covenant with us, and
whom we serve.” Note, Our triumphs must not
terminate in what God does for us, and gives to us;
but must pass through them to himself, who is the
Author and Giver of them; This is our God. Have
any of the nations of the earth such a God to trust
to? No, their rock is not as our Rock: there is none
like unto the God of Jeshurun. (2.) The longer it
has been expected, the more welcome it is. “ This
is he whom we have waited for, in dependence upon
his word of promise, and a full assurance that he
would come in the set time, in due time, and there¬
fore we were willing to tarry his time. And now
we find it is not in vain to wait for him; for the
mercy comes at last, with an abundant recompense
for the delay. ” (3. ) It is matter of joy unspeakable ;
“ We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. We
that share in the benefits of it will concur in the joy¬
ful thanksgivings for it.” (4.) It is an encourage¬
ment to hope for the continuance and perfection of
this salvation; We have waited for him, and he will
save us, will carry on what he has begun; for, as
for God, our God, his work is perfect.
II. A prospect of further blessings for the se¬
curing and perpetuating of these.
1. The power of God shall be engaged for them,
and shall continue to take their part; in this moun¬
tain shall the hand of the Lord rest, v. 10. The
church and people of God shall have continued
proofs of God’s presence with them, and residence
among them, his hand shall be continually over
them, to protect and guard them, and continually
stretched out to them, fpr their supply. Mount
Zion is his rest for eye r; here he will dwell.
2. The power of their enemies, that is engaged
against them, shall be broken. Moab is here put for
ail the adversaries of God’s people, that are vexa-
lious to them; thev shall all be trodden down, or
•hreshed, ffor then thev beat out the corn by tread¬
ing it, ) and shall be thrown out as straw to. the dung¬
hill, being good for nothing else. God having ca-isea
his hand to rest ujion this mountain, it shall not be a
hand that hangs down, or is folded up, feeble and
inactive; but he shall s/iread forth his hands, in the
midst of his people, like one that swims; which inti¬
mates that he will employ and exert his power for
them vigorously, that he will be doing for them on
all sides; that he will easily and effectually put by
the opposition that is given to his gracious intentions
for them, and thereby further and push forward his
good work among them; and that he will be contin¬
ually active on their behalf, for so the swimmer is.
It is foretold, particularly, what he shall do for
them; (1.) He shall bring down the pride of their
enemies (which Moab was notoriously guilty of, ch.
xvi. 6.) by one humbling judgment after another,
stripping them of that which they are proud of. (2.)
He shall bring down the spoils of their hands, shall
take from them that which they have get by spoil
and rapine; he shall bring down the arms of their
hands, which are lifted up against God’s Israel; he
shall quite break their power, and disable them to
do mischief. (3.) He shall ruin all their fortifica¬
tions, v. 12. Moab has his walls, and his high forts,
with which he hopes to secure himself, and from
which he designs to annoy the people of God; but
God shall bring them all down, lay them low, bring
them to the ground, to the dust; and so they who
trusted to them will be left exposed. There is no
fortress impregnable to Omnipotence; no fort so
high, but the arm of the Lord can overtop it, and
bring it down. This destruction of Moab is typical
of Christ’s victory over death, (spoken of v. 8.) his
spoiling principalities and powers in his cross, (Col.
ii. 15. ) his pulling down of Satan’s strong holds by
the preaching of his gospel, (2 Cor. x. 4.) and his
reigning till all his enemies be made his footstool,
Ps. cx. 1.
CHAP. XXVI.
This chapter is a song of holy joy and praise, in which the
great things God had engaged, in the foregoing chapter,
to do for his people against his enemies and their ene¬
mies, are celebrated: it is prepared to be sung when that
prophecy should be accomplished; for we must be for¬
ward to meet God with our thanksgiving, when he is
coming towards us with his mercies. Now the people
of God are here taught, I. To triumph in the safety and
holy security both of the church in general, and of every
particular member of it, under the divine protection, v.
1 . . 4. II. To triumph over all opposing powers, v. 5,
6. III. To walk with God, and wait for him, in the
worst and darkest times, v. 7 . . 9. IV. To lament the
stupidity of those who regarded not the providence of
God, either merciful or afflictive, v. 10, 11. V. To en¬
courage themselves, and one another, with hopes that
God would still continue to do them good, (v. 12, 14.)
engaging themselves to continue in his service, v. 13.
VI. To recollect the providences of God that had respect¬
ed them in their low and distressed condition, and their
conduct under those providences, v. 15.. 18. VII. To
rejoice in hope of a glorious deliverance, which should
be as a resurrection to them, (v. 19.) and to retire in the
expectation of it, 20, 21. And this is written for the sup¬
port and assistance of the faith and hope of God’s people
in all ages, even those upon whom the ends ofthe world
are come.
l.TN that clay shall this song be sung in
A the land of Judah ; We have a strong
city : salvation will God appoint for walls
and bulwarks. 2. Open ye the gates, thal
the righteous nation which keepeth the truth
may enter in. 3. Thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee;
because he trusteth in thee. 4. Trust ye in
the Lord forever: for in the Lord JEHO
VAH is everlasting strength.
ISAIAH, XXVJ.
To the prophecies of gospel-grace very fitly is a
song annexed, in which we may give God the glory,
and take to ourselves the comfort, of that grace; In
that day , the gospel-day, which the day ot the vic¬
tories and enlargements of the Old Testament
church was typical of, (to some of which perhaps
this has a primary reference,) in that day, this song
shall be sung ; there shall be persons to sing it, and
cause and hearts to sing it; it shall be sung in the
land of Judah, which was a figure of the gospel-
church; for the gospel-covenant is said to be made
with the house oj Judah, Heb. viii. 8.
Glorious things are here said of the church of God:
1. That it is strongly fortified against those that
are bad; (n. 1.) ITe have a strong city; it is a city
incorporated by the charter of the everlasting cove¬
nant, fitted for the reception of till that are made
free by that charter, for their employment and en¬
tertainment; it is a strong city, as Jerusalem was,
while it was a city compact together, and had God
himself a Wall of fire round about it; so strong, that
none would have believed that an enemy could ever
have entered into the gates of Jerusalem, Lam. iv.
12. The church is a strong city, for it has walls
and bulwarks, or counterscarps, and those of God’s
own appointing; for he has, in his promise, appoint¬
ed salvation itself to be its defence. Those that are
designed for salvation will find that to be their pro¬
tection, 1 Pet. i. 4.
2. That it is richly replenished with those that
are good, and they are instead of fortifications to it;
for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, if they are such as
they should be, are its strength, Zech. xii. 5. The
gates are here ordered to be opened, that the right¬
eous nation, which keeps the truth, may enter in;
(y. 2.) they had been banished and driven out by
the iniquity of the former times, but now the laws
that were made against them are repealed, and they
have liberty to enter in again. Or, There is an act
for a general naturalization of all the righteous,
whatever nation they are of, encouraging them to
come and settle in Jerusalem. When God has
done great things for any place or people, he ex¬
pects that thus they should render according to the
oenefit done unto them; they should be kind to his
people, and take them under their protection, and
r,to their bosom. Note, (1. ) It is the character of
righteous men, that they keep the truths of God; a
•trim belief of which will have a commanding influ¬
ence upon the regularity of the whole conversation.
Good principles, fixed in the head, will produce
good resolutions in the heart, and good practices in
the life. (2. ) It is the interest of states to counte¬
nance such, and court them among them, for they
bring a blessing with them.
3. That all who belong to it are safe and easy, and
have a holy security and serenity of mind in the as¬
surance of God’s favour. (1. ) This is here the mat¬
ter of a promise; (y. 3.) Thou wilt keep, him in
peace, peace, in perfect peace, inward peace, outward
peace, peace with God, peace of conscience, peace
*.t all times, under all events; this peace shall he be
put into, and kept in the possession of, whose mind
is stayed upon God, because it trusts in him. It is
the character of every good man, that he trusts in
God; puts himself under his guidance and govern¬
ment, and depends upon him that it shall be greatly
to his advantage to do so. They that trust in God,
must have their minds stayed upon him; must tiust
him at all times, under all events, must firmly and
faithfully adhere to him, •with an entire satisfaction
.n him. Such as do so, God will keep in perpetual
peace, and that peace shall keep them. When evil
tidings are abroad, they shall calmly expect the
event, and not be disturbed by frightful apprehen¬
sions arising from them, whose hearts are fixed,
trusting in the Lord, Ps. cxii. 7. (2.) It is the mat¬
ter of a precept; (i>. 4.) “Let us make ourselves
easy 6y trusting in the Lord for ever; since God
has promised peace to those that stay themselves
upon him, let us not lose the benefit of that promise,
but repose an entire confidence in him. Trust in
him for ever, at all times, when you have nothing
else to trust to; trust in him for that peace, that po¬
tion, which will be" for ever.” Whatever we trust
to the world for, it will be but for a moment; all we
expect from it, is confined within the limits of time;
but what we trust in God for, will last as long as we
shall last. For in the Lord Jehovah, Jah, Jehovah,
in him who was, and is, and is to. come, there is a
rock of ages, a firm and lasting foundation for faith
and hope to build upon; and the house built on that
rock will stand in a storm. They that trust in God
shall not only find in him, but receive from him,
everlasting' strength, strength that will carry them
to everlasting life, to that blessedness which is for
ever; and therefore let them trust in him for eve r,
and never cast away or change their confidence.
5. For he bringetli down them that dwell
on high; the lofty city he layeth it low: he lay-
eth it low, even to the ground; he bringetli it
even to the dust. 6. The foot shall tread it
down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps
of the needy. 7. The way of the just is up¬
rightness : thou, most upright, dost weigh the
path of the just. 8. Yea, in the way of thy
judgments, O Lord, have we waited for
thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name,
and to the remembrance of thee. 9. With
my soul have I desired thee in the night ;
yea, with my spirit within me will I seek
thee early : for when thy judgments are in
the earth, the inhabitants of the world will
learn righteousness. 10. Let favour be
showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn
righteousness : in the land of uprightness
will he deal unjustly, and will not hehold
the majesty of the Lord'. 11. Lord,
ivhen thy hand is lifted up, they w ill not
see: but they shall see, and be ashamed
for their envy at the people; yea, the fire
of thine enemies shall devour them.
Here the prophet further encourages us to trust in
the Lord for ever, and continue waiting on him, for,
I. He will make humble souls that trust in him,
to triumph over their proud enemies; (to 5, 6.)
they that exalt themselves shall be abased, for he
brings down them that dwell oti high; and wherein
they dwell proudly, he is, and will be, above them;
even the lofty city, Babylon itself, or Nineveh, he
lays it low, ch. xxv. 12. He can do it, be it ever
so well fortified. He has often done it; he will do
it, for he resists the proud, it is his glory to do it,
for he proves himself to be God by looking on the
proud, and abasing them. Job xl. 12. But, on the
contrary, they that humble themselves shall be
exalted; for the feet of the poor shall tread upon
the lofty cities, v. 6. He does not say, Great
armies shall tread them down; but, When God
will have it done, even the feet of the poor shall do
it; (Mai. iv. 3.) Ye shall tread down the wicked:
come, set your feet on the necks of these kings.
See Ps. cxlvii. 6. Rom. xvi. 20.
II. He takes cognizance of the way of his peo¬
ple, and has delight in it; [y. 7.) The way of
118
ISAIAH, XXVI.
the just is evenness; so it may be read: it is their
endeavour and constant care to walk with God in
■in even, steady course of obedience and holy con¬
versation; My foot stands in an even place, goes
m an even path, Ps. xxvi. 12. And it is their hap¬
piness, that God makes their way plain and easy
before them; Thou, most upright, dost level, or
make even the path of the just, by preventing or
removing those things that would be stumbling-
blocks to them, so that nothing shall offend them,
Ps. cxix. 165. God weighs it; (so we read it;) he
considers it, and will give them grace sufficient for
them, to help them over all the difficulties they
may meet with in their way. Thus with the up¬
right, God will show himself upright.
III. It is our duty, and will be our comfort, to
wait for God, and to keep up holy desires toward
him, in the darkest and most discouraging times, v.
8, 9. This has always been the practice of God’s
people, even then when God has frowned upon
them; 1. To keep up a constant dependence upon
him; “ In the way of thy judgments we have still
waited for thee; when thou hast corrected us, we
have looked to no other hand than thine to relieve
us;” as the servant looks only to the hand of his
master, till that he have mercy upon him, Ps.
cxxiii. 2. We cannot appeal from God’s justice,
but to his mercy. If God’s judgments continue
long, if it be a road of judgments, (so the word sig¬
nifies,) yet we must not be weary, but continue
waiting.’ 2. To send up holy desires toward him;
our troubles, how pressing soever, must never put
us out of conceit with our religion, nor turn us away
from God; but still the desire of out soul must be
to his name, and to the remembrance of him; and
in the night, the darkest, longest night of affliction,
with, our souls must we desire him. (1. ) Our great
concern must be for God’s name, and our earnest
desire that that may be glorified, whatever be¬
comes of us and our names. This is that which we
must wait for, and pray for; “ Father, glorify thy
name, and we are satisfied.” (2.) Our great com¬
fort must be in the remembrance of that name, of
all that whereby God has made himself known.
The remembrance of God must be our great sup-
trort and pleasuVe; and though sometimes we be
unmindful of him, yet still our desire must be to¬
ward the remembrance of him, and we must take
pains with our own hearts to have him always in
mind. (3.) Our desires toward God must be in¬
ward,- fervent, and sincere. With our soul we
must desire him, with our soul we must pant after
him, (Ps. xlii. 1.) and with our spirits within us,
with the innermost thought, and the closest appli¬
cation of mind, we must seek him. We make no¬
thing of our religion, whatever our profession be,'
if we do not make heart-work of it. (4. ) Even in
the darkest night of affliction, our desires must be
toward God, as our Sun and Shield; for however
God is pleased to deal with us, we must never think
the worse of him, nor cool in our love to him. (5.)
If our desires be indeed toward God, we must evi¬
dence it by seeking him, and seeking him early, as
those that desire to find him, and dread the
thoughts of missing him. They that would seek j
God, and find him, must seek betimes, and seek ;
him earnestly. Though we come ever so early,
we shall find him ready to receive us.
IV. It is God’s gracious design, in sending abroad
his judgments, thereby to bring men to seek him
and serve him; When thy judgments are upon the
earth, laying all waste, then we have reason to ex¬
pect that not only God’s professing people, but
even the inhabitants of the world will learn right¬
eousness; will have their mistakes rectified and
their lives reformed, will be brought to acknow¬
ledge God’s righteousness in punishing them; will
repent of their own unrighteousness in offending
God, and so be brought to walk in right paths.
They will do this; judgments are designed to bring
them to this, they have a natural tendency to pro¬
duce this effect; and though many continue obsti¬
nate, yet some, even of the inhabitants of the world,
will profit by this discipline, and will learn right¬
eousness; surely they will, they are strangely stupid
if they do not. Note, The intention of affliction is,
to teach us righteousness; and blessed is the mail
whom God chastens, and thus teaches; Ps. xoiv. 12.
Discite justitiam, moniti, et non temnere divos —
Let this rebuke teach you to cultivate righteousness,
and cease from despising the gods. Virg.
V. Those are wicked indeed, that will not be
wrought upon by the favourable methods God takes
to reduce and reform them; and it is necessary
that God should deal with them in a severe way by
his judgments, which shall prevail to humble those
that would not otherwise be humbled. Observe,
1. How sinners walk contrary to Gcd, and refuse
to comply with the means used for their reforma
tion, and to answer the intentions of them, v. 10.
(1.) Favour is showed to them; they receive
many mercies from God, he causes liis sun to shine,
and his rain to fall, upon them, nay he prospers
them, and into their hands he brings plentifully;
they escape many of the strokes of God’s judg¬
ments, which others, less wicked than they, have
been cut off by; in some particular instances, they
seem to be remarkably favoured above their neigh¬
bours, and the design of all this is, that they may be
won upon to love and serve that God who thus fa¬
vours them ; and yet it is all in vain, they will not
learn righteousness, will not be led to repentance
by the goodness of God; and therefore it is requi¬
site that God should send his judgments into the
earth, to reckon with men for abused mercies.
(2.j They live in a land of uprightness, where
religion is professed, and is in reputation, where
the word of God is preached, and where they have
many good examples set them : in' a land of even¬
ness, where there are not so many stumbling-blocks
as in other places; in a land of correction, where
vice and profaneness are discountenanced and pun¬
ished; yet there they will deal unjustly, and go on
frowardly in their evil ways. They that do wick¬
edly, deal unjustly both with God and man, and
with their own souls; and those that will not be re¬
claimed by the justice of the nation, may expect
the judgments ot God upon them. Nor can they
expect a place hereafter in the land of blessedness,
who now conform not to the laws and usages, noi
improve the privileges and advantages of the land
of uprightness. And why do they not? It is be¬
cause they will not behold the majesty of the Lord;
will not believe, will not consider, what a Gi d of
terrible majesty he is, whose laws and justice they
persist in the contempt of. God’s majesty appears
in all the dispensations of his providence; but they
regard it not, and therefore study not to answer the
ends of those dispensations. Even when we re¬
ceive of the mercy of the Lord, we must still be¬
hold the majesty of the Lord, and his goodness.
(3.) God lifts up his hand, to give them wanting,
that they may, by repentance and prayer, make
their peace with him; but they take no notice of it,
are not aware that God is angry with them, or
coming forth against them; they will not see, and
none so blind as those who will not see, who shut
their eyes against the clearest conviction of guilt and
wrath ; who ascribe that to chance, or common fate,
which is manifestly a divine rebuke; who regard
not the threatening symptoms of their own ruin, but
cry peace to themselves, when the righteous God
is waging war with them.
2. How God will at length be too hard for them;
ISAIAH, XXVI. UO
for wlren he judges, he will overcome; They will
not see, but they shall see; they shall be made to
see, whether they will or no, that God is angry
with them. Atheists, scomers, and the secure,
will shortly feel, what now they will not believe.
That it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God. They will not see the evil of sin,
and particularly the sin of hating and persecuting
the people of God; but they shall see, by the to¬
kens of God’s displeasure against them for it, and
the deliverances in which God will plead his peo¬
ple’s cause, that what is done against them lie takes
as done against himself, and will reckon for it ac¬
cordingly. They shall see that they have done God’s
people a great deal of wrong, and therefore shall
be ashamed of their enmity and envy toward them,
and their ill usage of such as deserved better treat¬
ment. Note, Those that bear ill will to God’s peo¬
ple, have reason to be ashamed of it, so absurd and
unreasonable is it; and, sooner or later, they shall
be ashamed of it, and the remembrance of it shall
fill them with confusion. Some read it, They shall
see, and be confounded for the zeal of the people,
by the zeal God will show for his people; when
they shall be made to know how jealous God is for
the honour and welfare of his people, they shall be
confounded to think that they might have been of
that people, ajid would not. Their doom there¬
fore is, that, since they slighted the happiness of
God’s friends, the fire of his enemies shall devour
them, that fire which is prepared for his enemies,
and with which they shall be devoured, the fire de¬
signed for the devil and his angels. Note, Those
that are enemies to God’s people, and envy them,
God looks upon as his enemies, and will deal with
them accordingly.
1 2. Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us:
for thou also hast wrought all our works in
us. l .3. O Lord our God, other lords be¬
sides thee have had dominion over us ; hut
by thee only will we make mention of thy
name. 1 4. They are dead, they shall not live ;
they are. deceased, they shall not rise: there¬
fore hast thou visited and destroyed them,
and made all their memory to perish. 15.
Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord,
thou hast increased the nation : thou art glo¬
rified ; thou hadst removed it far unto all
the ends of the earth. 16. Lord, in trou¬
ble have they visited thee ; they poured out
a prayer when thy chastening was upon
them. 17. Like as a woman with child,
that draweth near the time of her delivery,
is m pain, and crieth out in her pangs ; so
have we been in thy sight, O Lord. 1 8.
We have been with child, we have been in
pain, we have as it were brought forth
wind; we have not wrought any deliver¬
ance in the earth, neither have the inhabit¬
ants of the world fallen. 19. Thy dead
mm shall live, together with my dead body
shall lliey arise. Awake and sing, ye that
dwell in dust : for thy dew is as the dew of
herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
The prophet, in these verses, looks back upon
what God had done with them, both in mercy and
mdgmrnt, and sings unto God of both; and then
looks forward upon what he hoped God would do
for them. Observe,
I. His reviews and reflections are mixed. When
he looks back upon the state of the church, he finds,
1. That God had in many instances been very
gracious to them, and h d done great things for
them; (to 12.) Thou hast wrought all our ivories
in us, or for us. Whatever good work is done by
us, it is owing to a good work wrought by the
grace of God in us; it is he that puts good thoughts
and affections into our hearts, if at an)' time they be
there, and that works in us both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. Acti agim us — Being acted upon,
we act. And if any kindness be showed us, or any
of our affairs be prosperous and successful, it is
God that works it forus; and every creature, every
business, that are any way serviceable to our com¬
fort, it is he that makes them to be so; sometimes
he makes that to work for us, which seemed to
make against us.
In particular; (v. 15.) Thou hast increased the
nation, 0 Lord, so that a little one has become a
thousand; in Egypt they multiplied exceedingly,
and afterward in Canaan; so that they filled the
land; and in this thou art glorified; for the multi¬
tude of the people is the honour of the prince:
and therein God was glorified as faithful to his co¬
venant with Abraham, that he would make him a fa
ther of many nations. Note, God’s nation is a grow
ing nation, and it is the glory of God that it is so. Tin
increase of the church, that holy nation, is therefore
to be rejoiced in, because it is the increase of these
that make it their business to glorify God in this
world.
2. That yet he had laid theiR under his rebukes.
(1.) The neighbouring nations had sometimes op¬
pressed them, and tyrannized over them; {y. 13.)
“O Lord our God, thou who hast the sole right to
rule us, whose subjects and servants we are, to thee
we complain, (for whither else should we go with
our complaints?) that other lords, beside thee, have
had dominion over us.” Not only in the day
of the Judges, but afterwards, God frequently sold
them into the hand of their enemies; or rather, by
their iniquities they sold themselves, ch. lii. 3 — 5.
When they had been careless in the service of God,
God suffered their enemies to have dominion over
them, that they might know the difference between
his service and the service of the kingdoms of the
countries. It may be understood as a confession of
sin, their serving other gods, and subjecting them¬
selves to the superstitious laws and customs of their
neighbours, by which other lords (for they called
their idols Baals, lords,) had dominion over them,
beside God. But now they promise that it shall be
so no more; “ From henceforth by thee only will we
make mention of thy name; we will worship thee
only, and in that wav only which thou hast instituted
and appointed.” The same may be our penitent
reflection. Other lords, beside Goa, have had domi¬
nion over us; every lust has been our lord, and we
have been led captive by it; and it has been long
enough, and too long, that we have, thus wronged
both God and ourselves. The same therefore imis*
be our pious resolution, that from henceforth w,.
will make mention of God’s name only, and by him
only; that we will keep close to God and to cur
dutv, and never desert it.
(2.) They had sometimes been carried into cap¬
tivity before their enemies; (i>. 15.) “The nation
which at first thou didst increase, and make to take
root, thou hast now diminished, and plucked up, and
removed to all the ends of the earth, driven out to
the utmost parts of heaven;” as is threatened, Deut.
xxx. 4. — xxviii. 64. But observe, betwixt the men¬
tion of the increasing of them, and that of the re
moving of them, it is said, Thou art glorified; foj
120
ISAIAK, XXVI
rhe judgments God inflicts upon his people for tlieii
si s, are for his honour, as well as the mercies lie
bestows upon them in performance of His promise.
(3. ; He remembers that when they were thus
oppressed, and carried captive, they cried unto
God; which was a good evidence that they neither
had quite forsaken him, nor were quite forsaken of
him, and that there were merciful intentions in the
judgments they were under; (x>. 16.) Lord, in trou¬
ble have they visited thee. This was usual with the
people of Israel, as we find frequently in the story
of the Judges; when other lords had dominion over
them, they humbled themselves, and said, The Lord
is righteous, 2 Chron. xii. 6. See here, [1.] The
need we have of afflictions; they are necessary to stir
up prayer; when it is said, In trouble they have vi¬
sited thee, it is implied that in their peace and pros¬
perity they were strangers to God, kept at a distance
from him, and seldom came near him; as if, when
the world smiled upon them, they had no occasion
for his favours. [2.] The benefit we often have by
afflictions; they bring us to God, quicken us to our
duty, and show us our dependence upon him. Those
that before seldom looked at God, now visit him;
they come frequently, they become friendly, and
make their court to him. Before, prayer came drop
by drop, but now they pour out a prayer; it comes
now like water from a fountain, not like water from
a still. They poured out a secret speech; so the mar¬
gin: praying is speaking to God, but it is a secret
speech; for it is the language of the heart, otherwise
it is not praying. Afflictions bring us to secret
prayer, in which we may be more free and parti¬
cular in our addresses to him, than we can be in
ublic. In affliction, those will seek God early, who
efore sought him slowly, Hos. v. 15. It will make
men fervent and fluent in prayer; “ They poured
out a prayer, as the drink-offerings were poured out,
when thy chastening was upon them.” But it is to
lie feared, when the chastening is off them, they
will by degrees return to their former carelessness,
as they had often done.
(4. ) He complains that their struggles for their
own liberty had be.en very painful and perilous, but
that thev had not been successful, v. 17, 18.
[1.] They had the throes and pangs they dread¬
ed; “We have been like a woman in labour, that
cries out in her pangs. We have with a great deal
of anxiety and toil endeavoured to help ourselves,
and our troubles have been increased by those at¬
tempts;” as when Moses came to deliver Israel, the
tale of bricks was doubled. Their prayers were
quickened by the acuteness of their pains, and be¬
came as strong and vehement as the cries of a wo¬
man in sore travail; so have sue been in thy sight, 0
Lord. It was a comfort and s itisfaction to them,
in their distress, that God had his eye upon them,
that all their miseries were in his sight; he was no
stranger to their pangs or their prayers; Lord, all
my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not
hid from thee, Ps. xxxviii. 9. Whenever they came
to present themselves before the Lord with their
complaints and petitions, they were in agonies like
those of a woman in travail.
[2.] They came short of the issue and success
thev desired and hoped for; “TVe have been with
child; we have had great expectation of a speedy
and happy deliverance, have been big with hopes,
and, when we have been in pain, have comforted
ourselves with this, that the joyful birth would make
us forget our misery, John xvi. 21. But alas, ive
have as it were brought forth wind; it has proved
a false conception, our expectations have been frus¬
trated, and our pains have been rather dying pains
than travailing ones; we have had a miscarrying
womb and dry breasts. All our efforts have proved
successless; we have not wrought any deliverance
in the earth, for oui selves or foi our friends uid
allies; but rather have made our own case and
theirs worse; neither have the inhabitants oj the
world, whom we have been contesting with, fallen
before us, either in their power or in their hopes;
but they are still as high and arrogant as ever.”
Note, A righteous cause may be strenuously plead¬
ed both by prayer and endeavour, both with God
and man; and yet for a great while may suffer, and
the point not be gained.
II. His prospects and hopes are very pleasant. In
general, “Thou wilt ordain peace for us, (v. 12.)
all that good which the necessity ot our case calls
for.” What peace the church has, or hopes for, it
is of God’s ordaining. And we may comfort cur-
selves with this. That what trouble soever may foi
a time be appointed to the people of God, peace
will at length be ordained for them ; for the end of
those men is peace. And if God by his Spirit work
all our works in us, he will ordain peace for us; fot
the work of righteousness shall be peace. And tha'
is true and lasting peace, such as the world can nei¬
ther give nor take away, which God ordains; for tc
those that have it, it shall be unchangeable as the
ordinances of the day and of the night. And from
what God has done for us, we may encourage our¬
selves to hope that he will yet further do us good.
“ Thou hast heard the desire of the humble, and
therefore wilt; (Ps. x. 17.) and when this peace is
ordained for us, then by thee only will we make
mention of thy name; (t>. 13.) we will give the glory
of it to thee only, and not to any other. And w'e will
depend upon thy grace only to enable us to do so.’
We cannot praise God’s name, but by his strength.
Two things in particular the prophet here com¬
forts the church with the prospect of.
1. The amazing ruin of her enemies; (x/. 14.)
They are dead, those other lords that have had do-
minion over us; their power is irrecoverably broken,
they are quite cut off and extinguished; and they
shall not live, shall never be able to hold up the
head any more. Being deceased, they shall not rise,
but, like Haman, when they have begun to fall be¬
fore the seed of the Jews, they shall sink like a
stone. Because they are sentenced to this final ruin,
therefore, in pursuance of that sentence, God him¬
self has visited them in wrath, as a righteous Judge,
and has cut off both the men themselves, fie has
destroyed them,) and the remembrance of them;
they and their names are buried together in the
dust. He has made all their memory to' perish:
they are either forgotten, or made mention of with
detestation. Note, The cause that is maintained in
opposition to God and his kingdom among men,
though it may prosper awhile, will certainly sink
at last, and all that adhere to it will perish with it.
The Jewish doctors, comparing this with x’. 19.
infer, that the resurrection of the dead belongs to
the Jews only, and that those of other nations shall
not rise. But we know better; that all who are in
their graves, shall hear the voice o f the Son of God;
and that this speaks of the final destruction ot
Christ’s enemies, which is the second death.
2. The surprising resurrection of her friends, v.
19. Though the church rejoices not in the birth of
the man-child, of which she travailed in pain, but
has as it were brought forth wind, (y. 18. ) yet the
disappointment shall be balanced in a way equiva
lent; Thy dead men shall live; those who were
thought to be dead, who had received a sentence of
death within themselves, who were cast out as if
they had been naturally dead, they shall appear
again in their former vigour. A spirit of life from
God shall enter into the slain witnesses, and they
shall prophesy again, Rev. xi. 11. The dry bones
shall live, and become an exceeding great army ,
Ezek. xxxvii. 10. Together with my dead body
121
ISAIAH
•hall thn/ arise. If we believe the resurrection
if the dead, of our dead bodies at the last day,
as Job did, and the prophet here, that will fa¬
cilitate our belief of the promisee! restoration of the
cburca’s lustre and strength in this world. When
God’s time is come, how low soever she may be
brought, they shall arise, even Jerusalem, the city
of God, but now lying like a dead body, a car¬
case to which the eagles are gathered together.
God owns it still for his, so does the prophet; but it
shall arise, shall be rebuilt, and flourish again. And
therefore, let 'the poor, desolate, melancholy re¬
mains of its inhabitants, that dwell as in dust, awake
and sing, for they shall see Jerusalem, the city of
their solemnities, a quiet habitation again, ch. xxxili.
20. The dew of God’s favour shall be to it as the
evening dew to the herbs, that were parched with
the heat of the sun all day, it shall revive and refresh
them. And as the spring-dews, that water the
earth, and make the herbs that lay buried in it, to
put forth and bud, so shall they flourish again, and
the earth shall cast out the dead, as it casts the
herbs out of their roots. The earth, in which they
seemed to be lost, shall contribute to their revival.
When the church and her interests are to be res¬
tored, neither the dew of heaven, nor the fatness of
the earth, shall be wanting to do their parts towards
it. Now this (as Ezekiel’s vision, which is a com¬
ment upon it) may be fitly accommodated, (1.) To
the spiritual resurrection of those that were dead in
sin, by the power of Christ’s gospel and grace. So
Dr. Lightfoot applies it, Hor. Hebr. in Joh. xii. 24.
The Gentiles shall live, with my body shall they
arise; they shall be called in after Christ’s resur¬
rection, shall rise with him, and sit with him in
heavenly places; nay, they shall arise my body;
(says he;) they shall become the mystical body of
Christ, and shall rise as part of him. (2.) To the
last resurrection; when dead saints shall live, and
rise together with Christ’s dead body; for he rose
as tiie First-Fruits, and believers shall rise by virtue
of their union with him, and their communion in his
resurrection.
20. Come, my people, enter thou into thy
chambers, and shut thy doors about thee :
hide thyself as it were for a little moment,
until the indignation be overpast. 21. For,
behold, the Lord cometh out of his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for
their iniquity : the earth also shall disclose
her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
These two verses are supposed not to belong to
the song, which takes up the rest of the chapter,
but to begin a new matter, and to be rather an in¬
troduction to the following chapter than the conclu¬
sion of this. Or, whereas, in the foregoing song,
the people of God had spoken to him, complaining
of their grievances, here he returns an answer to
their complaints. In which,
1. He invites them into their chambers; (i>. 20.)
“Come, my people, come to me, come with me;”
(lie calls them no whither but where he himself
will accompany them;) “let the storm that dis¬
perses others, bring you nearer together. Come,
and entei1 into thy chambers; stay not abroad, lest
you be caught in the storm, as the Egyptians in the
hail,” Exod. ix. 21. (1.) “Come into chambers
of distinction; come into your own apartments, and
continue not any longer mixed with the children of
Babylon. Come out from among them, and be ye
separate,” 2 Cor. vi. 17. Rev. xvni. 4. If God has
set apart them that are godly for himself, they
ought to set themselves apart. (2.) “ Into chambers
of defence; in which, by the secrecy, of them, oi the
Vol. iv. — Q
, XXVI.
strength, you may be safe in the worst of times.”
The attributes of God are the secret of his taberna¬
cle, Ps. xxvii. 5. His name is a strong tower, into
which we may run for shelter, Prov. xviii. 10. We
must, by faith, find a way into these chambers, and
there hide ourselves with a holy security and seren¬
ity of mind, we must put ourselves under the divine
protection. Come, as Noah into the ark, for he
shut the doors about him; when dangers are threat¬
ening, it is good to retire, and lie hid, as Elijah did
by the brook Cherith. (3.) Into chambers of devo¬
tion; “Enter into thy closet, and shut thy door,
Matth. vi. 6. Be private with God; enter into thy
chamber, to examine thyself and commune with
thy own heart, to pray, and humble thyself before
God.” This work is to be done in times of dis¬
tress and danger; and thus we hide ourselves; we
recommend ourselves to God to hide us, and he
will hide us either under heaven or in heaven. Is¬
rael must keep within doors, when the destroying
angel is slaying the first-born of Egypt, else the
blood on the door-posts will not secure them. So
must Rahab and her family, when Jericho is de¬
stroyed. Those are most safe, that are least seen.
Qui bene latuit, bene vixit — He has lived ■well, who
has sought a proper degree of concealment.
2. He assures them that the trouble would be over
in a very short time; that they should not long be in
any fright or peril; “Hide thyself for a moment,
the smallest part of time we can conceive, like an
atom of matter; nay, if you can imagine one moment
shorter than another, it is but for a little moment,
and that with a quasi too, as it were, for a little mo¬
ment, less than you think of; when it is over, it will
seem as nothing to you, you will wonder how soon
it is gone. You shall not need to lie long in con¬
finement, long in concealment; the indignation will
presently be overpast; the indignation of the ene¬
mies against you, their persecuting power and rage,
which force you to abscond; when the wicked rise,
a man is hid. This will soon be over, God will cut
them off, will break their power, defeat their pur¬
poses, and find a way for your enlargement. ” When
Athanasius was banished Alexandria by an edict
of Julian, and his friends greatly lamented it, he
bid them be of good cheer; JVubicula est quee cito
pertransibit — It is a little cloud that will soon blow
over. You shall have tribulation ten clays; that is
all, Rev. ii. 10. This enables God’s suffering peo¬
ple to call their afflictions light, that they are but
for a moment.
3. He assures them that their enemies should be
reckoned with for all the mischief they had done
them by the sword, either of war or persecution, v.
21. The Lord will punish them for the blood they
have shed. Here is, (1.) The judgment set, anil
process issued out; The Lord conies out of his place,
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their ini¬
quity, in giving such disturbance to all about them.
There is a great deal of iniquity among the inhabi¬
tants of the earth ; but, though they all combine in
it, though hand join in hand to carry it on, yet it
shall not go unpunished. Beside the everlasting
punishment into which the wicked shall go hereaf¬
ter, there are often remarkable punishments of
cruelty, oppression, and persecution, in this world.
When men’s indignation is overpast, and they have
done their worst, let them then expect God’s indig¬
nation, for he sees that his day is coming, Ps. xxxvii.
13. God comes out of his place, to punish; he
shows himself in an extraordinary manner from
heaven, the firmament of his power, from the sanc¬
tuary, the residence of his grace; he is raised up out
of his holy habitation, where he seemed before to
conceal himself; and now he will do something
great, the product of his wise, just, and secret coun¬
sels; as a prince that goes to take the chair, or take
122
ISAIAH, XXVII.
the field, Zech. ii. 13. Some observe, that God’s
place is the mercy-seat, there he delights to be;
when he punishes, he comes out of his place, for he
has no pleasure In the death of sinners. (2.) The
criminals convicted by the notorious evidence of the
fact; The earth shall disclose her blood; the innocent
blood, the blood of the saints and martyrs, which has
been shed upon the earth like water, and has soaked
into it, and been concealed and covered by it, shall
now be brought to light, and brought to account; for
God will make inquisition for it, and will give those
that shed it blood to drink, for they are worthy.
Secret murders, and other secret wickednesses,
shall be discovered, sooner or later. And the slain
which the earth has long covered, she shall no
longer cover, but they shall be produced as evidence
against the murderers. The voice of Abel’s blood
cries from the earth, Gen. iv. 10, 11. Those sins
which seem to have been buried in oblivion, will be
called to mind, and called over again, when the day
of reckoning comes. Let God’s people therefore
wait awhile with patience, for, behold, the Judge
stands before the door.
CHAP. XXVII.
In this chapter, the prophet g^oes on to show, I. What great
things God would do for his church and people, which
should now shortly be accomplished in the deliverance
of Jerusalem from Sennacherib, and the destruction of
the Assyrian army; but it is expressed generally, for the
•encouragement of the church in after ages, with refer¬
ence to the power and prevalency of her enemies. 1.
That proud oppressors should be reckoned with, v. 1. 2.
That care should be taken of the church, as of God’s
vineyard, v. 2, 3. 3. That God would let fall his con¬
troversy with the people, upon their return to him, v. 4,
5. 4. That he would greatly multiply and increase them,
v. 6. 5. That as to their afflictions, the property of them
should be altered; (v. 7.) they should be mitigated and
moderated, (v. 8.) and sanctified, v. 9. 6. That though
the church might be laid waste, and made desolate, for a
time, (v. 10, 11.) yet it should be restored, and the scat¬
tered members should be gathered together again, v. 12,
13. II. All this is applicable to the grace of the gospel,
and God’s promises to, and providences concerning, the
Christian church, and such as belong to it.
l.TN’ that clay the Lord, with his sore,
A and great, and strong sword, shall
punish leviathan the piercing serpent-, even
leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall
slay the dragon that is in the sea. 2. In
that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of
red wine. 3. I the Lord do keep it ; 1 will
water it every moment ; lest any hurt it, I
will keep it night, and day. 4. F ury is not
in me: who would set the briers and thorns
against me in battle? I would go through
them, I would burn them together. 5- Or
iet him take hold of my strength, that he
may make peace with me; and he shall
make peace with me. 6. He shall cause
them that come of Jacob to take root: Is¬
rael shall blossom and bud, and fill the face
of the world with fruit.
The prophet is here singing of judgment and
mercy.
I. Of judgment upon the enemies of God’s church;
(d. l.) tribulation to them that trouble it, 2 Thess.
i. 6. When the Lord comes out of his place, to
punish the inhabitants of the earth, (ch. xxvi. 21.)
lie will be sure to punish leviathan, the dragon that
is in the sea; every proud, oppressing tyrant, that
is the terror of the mighty, and, like the leviathan,
is so fierce, that none dare stir him up, and his heart
as hard as a stone, and when he raises up himself,
the mighty are afraid, Job xli. 10, 24, 25. Th>.
church has many enemies, but commonly some on>
that is more formidable than the rest. So Senna
cherib was, in his day, and Nebuchadnezzar in his
and Antiochus in his; so Pharaoh had been forme;
ly, and he is called leviathan, and the dragon, P
lxxiv. 14. ch. li. 9. Ezek. xxix. 3. The New Tes¬
tament church has had its leviathans; we read of a
great red dragon ready to devour it, Rev. xii. 3.
Those malignant persecuting powers are here com¬
pared to the leviathan, for bulk and strength, and
the mighty bustle they make in the world; to
dragons, for their rage and fury; to serpents, pier¬
cing serpents, penetrating in their counsels, quick in
their motions, which, if they once get in their head,
will soon wind in their whole body; crossing like a
bar, so the margin, standing in the way of all their
neighbours, and obstructing them; to crooked ser¬
pents, subtle and insinuating, but perverse and mis¬
chievous. Great and mighty princes, if they op¬
pose the people of God, are, in God’s account, as
dragons and serpents, and plagues of mankind; and
the Lord will punish them in due time. They are
too big for men to deal with, and call to an account,
and therefore the great God will take the doing of
it into his own hands. He has a sore, and great,
and strong sword, wherewith to do execution upen
them, when the measure of their iniquity is full,
and their day is come to fall. It is emphatically
expressed in the original; The Lord with hisswora,
that cruel one, and that great one, and that strong
one, shall punish this unwieldy, this unruly crimi¬
nal, and it shall be capital punishment; he shall slay
the dragon that is in the sea; for the wages of his
sin is death. This shall not only be a prevention
of his doing further mischief, as the slaying of a wild
beast, but a just punishment for the mischief he has
done, as the putting of a traitor or rebel to death.
God has a strong sword for the doing of this; va¬
riety of judgments, sufficient to humble the proud-'
est, and break the most powerful, of his enemies;
and he will do it when the day of execution comes.
In that day, he will punish; his day which is coming
Ps. xxxvii. 13. This is applicable to the spiritua
victories obtained by our Lord Jesus over the powers
of darkness. He not only disarmed, spoiled, and
cast out, the prince of this world, but, with his
strong sword, the virtue of his death, and the preach¬
ing of his gospel, he does, and will, destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil, that great
leviathan, that old serpent, the dragon. He shall
be bound, that he may not deceive the nations, and
that is a punishment to him, Rev. xx. 2, 3. And,
at length, for deceiving the nations, he shall be cast
into the lake of fire, Rev. xx. 10.
II. Of mercy to the church; in that same day,
when God is punishing the leviathan, let the church
and all her friends be easy and cheerful; let those
that attend her, sing to her for her comfort, sing her
asleep with these assurances; let it be sung in her
assemblies.
1. That she is God’s vineyard, and is under his
particular care, v. 2, 3. She is, in God’s eye, a vine¬
yard of red wine. The world is as a fruitless,
worthless wilderness; but the church is enclosed as
a vineyard, a peculiar place, and of value, that has
great care taken of it, and great pains taken with it,
and from which precious fruits are gathered, where¬
with they honour God and man. It is a vineyard
of red wine, yielding the best and choicest grapes;
intimating the reformation of the church, that it
now brings forth good fruit unto God, whereas be¬
fore it brought forth fruit to itself, or brought forth
wild grapes, ch. v. 4.
Now God takes care, (1.) Of the safety of this
vineyard; I the Lord do keep it. He speaks this.
123
ISAIAH, XXVII.
as glorying in it, that he is, and has undertaken to
be, tlie Keeper of Israel: those that bring forth
fruit to God, are, and shall be always, under his
protection. He speaks this, as assuring us that they
shall be so; I the Lord, that can do every thing, but
cannot lie nor deceive, I do keep it, lest any hurt it;
I will keep it night and day. God’s vineyard in
this world lies much exposed to injury; there are
many that would hurt it, would tread it down, and
lay it waste; (Ps. lxxx. 13.) but God will suffer no
real hurt or damage to be done it, but what he will
bring good out of it. He will keep it constantly,
night and day; and not without need, for the ene¬
mies are restless in their designs and attempts against
it, and, both night and day, seek an opportunity to
do it a mischief. God will keep it in the night of
affliction and persecution, and in the day of peace
and prosperity, the temptations of which are no less
dangerous. God’s people shall be preserved, not
only from the pestilence that ivalketn in darkness,
but from the destruction that ivasteth at noon-day,
Ps. xci. 6. This vineyard shall be well fenced.
(2.) Of the fruitfulness of this vineyard; I will
water it every moment, and yet it shall not be over¬
watered. The still and silent dews of God’s grace
and blessing shall continually descend upon it, that
it may bring forth much fruit. W e need the con¬
stant and continual waterings of the divine grace;
for if that be at any time withdrawn, we wither,
and come to nothing. God waters his vineyard by
the ministry of the word, that is, by his servants the
rophets, whose doctrine shall drop as the dew.
aul plants, and Apollos waters, but God gives the
increase; for without him the watchman wakes,
and the husbandman waters, in vain.
2. That though sometimes he contends with his
people, yet, upon their submission, he will be re¬
conciled to them, x’. 4, 5. Fury is not in him to¬
ward his vineyard; though he meets with many
things in it that are offensive to him, yet he does
not seek advantages against it, nor is extreme to
mark what is amiss in it. It is true, if he find in it
bries and thorns instead of vines, and they be set in
battle against him, (as indeed that in the vineyard,
which is not for him, is against him,) he will tread
them down, and burn them; but otherwise, “If I
am angry with my people, they know what course
to take; let them humble themselves, and pray, and
seek my face, and so take hold of my strength with
a sincere desire to make their peace with me, and I
will soon be reconciled to them, and all shall be
well! ” God sees the sins of his people, and is dis¬
pleased with them ; but, upon their repentance, he
turns away his wrath.
This may very well be construed as a summary
of the doctrine of the gospel, with which the church
is to be watered every moment. (1.) Here is a
quarrel supposed between God and man; for here
is a battle fought, and peace to be made. It is an
old quarrel, ever since sin first entered; it is, on
God’s part, a righteous quarrel, but, on man’s part,
most unrighteous. (2.) Here is a gracious invita¬
tion given us to make up this quarrel, and to get
these matters in variance accommodated; “Let
him that is desirous to be at peace with God, take
hold on his strength, on his strong arm, which is
lifted up against the sinner, to strike him dead; and
iet him bv supplication keep back the stroke; let
him wrestle with me, as Jacob did, resolving not to
let me go without a blessing; and he shall be Israel
— a firince with God.” Pardoning mercy is called
the power of our Lord; let him take hold on that.
Christ is the Arm of the Lord, ch. liii. 1. Christ
crucified is the power of God; (1 Cor. i. 24.) let
him by a lively faith take hold on him, as a man
that is sinking catches hold of a bough, or cord, or
plank, that is in his reach; or as the malefactor took
hold on the horns of the altar, believing that there
is no other name by which he can be saved, by
which he can be reconciled, (3.) Here is a three¬
fold cord of arguments to persuade us to do this.
[1.] Time and space are given us to do it in, for
tury is not in God; he does not carry it towards us
as great men carry it towards their inferiors, when
the one is in fault, and the other in a fury. Men in
a fury will not take time for consideration; it is,
with them, but a word and a blow. Furious men
are soon angry, and implacable when they are
angry; a little thing provokes them, and no little
thing will pacify them : but it is not so with God;
he considers our frame, is slow to anger, does not
stir up his wrath, nor always chide. [2.] It is in
vain to think of contesting with him. If we persist
in our quarrel with him, and think to make our
part good, it is but like setting briers and thorns be¬
fore a consuming fire, which will be so far from
giving check to the progress of it, that they will but
make it bum the more outrageously. We are not
an equal match for Omnipotence. Wo unto him
therefore that strives with his Maker! He knows
not the power of his anger. [3.] This is the only
way, and it is a sure way, to reconciliation; “Let
him take this course- to make peace with me, and
he shall make peace; and thereby good, all good,
shall come unto him.” God is willing to be recon¬
ciled to us, if we be but willing to be reconciled to
him.
3. That the church of God in the world shall be
a growing body, and come at length fb be a great
body; (i>. 6.) In times to come, (so some read it,) in
after-times, when these calamities are overpast; or,
in the days of the gospel, the latter days, he shall
cause Jacob to take root, deeper root than ever yet;
for the gospel-church shall be more firmly fixed
than ever the Jewish church was, and shall spread
further. Or, He shall cause them of Jacob, that
come back out of their captivity, or, as we read it,
them that come of Jacob, to take root downward,
and bear fruit upward, ch. xxxvii. 31. They shall
be established in a prosperous state, and then they
shall blossom and bud, and give hopeful prospects
of a great increase; and so it shall prove, for they
shall Jill the face of the world with fruit. Many
shall be brought into the church, proselytes shall be
numerous; some out of all the nations about, that
shall be to the God of Israel for a name and a praise:
and the converts shall be fruitful in the fruits of
righteousness; the preaching of the gospel brought
forth fruit in all the world, (Col. i. 6.) fruit that
remains, John xv. 16.
7. Hath he smitten him, as he smote those
that smote him ? or is he slain according to
the slaughter of them that are slain by him 1
8. In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou
wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough
wind in the day of the east wind. 9. By
this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be
purged; and this is all the fruit to take away
his sin; when he maketh all the stones of
the altar as chalk-stones that are beaten in
sunder, the groves and images shall not stand
up. 10. Yet the defenced city shall he de¬
solate, and the habitation forsaken, and left
like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed,
and there shall he lie down, and consume
the branches thereof. 1 1. When the houghs
thereof are withered, they shall be broken
off: the women come and set them on fire
124
ISAIAH, XXVII.
for it is a people of no understanding: there- ;
fore lie that made them will not have mercy !
on them, and he that formed them will show
them no favour. 12. And it shall come to
pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat
off from the channel of the river unto the
stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered
one by one, O ye children of Israel. 1 3. And
it shall come to pass in that day, that the
great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall
come which were ready to perish in the land j
of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of
Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the
holy mount at Jerusalem.
Here is the prophet again singing of mercy and
judgment, not, as before, judgment to the enemies,
and mercy to the church; but judgment to the
church, and mercy mixed with that judgment.
I. Here is judgment threatened even to Jacob and
Israel; they shall blossom and bud, v. 6. But, 1.
They shall be smitten and slain ; (v. 7. ) some of them
shall. If God finds any thing amiss among them,
he shall lay them under the tokens of his displea¬
sure for it. Judgment shall begin at the house of
God, and those whom God has known of all the
families of the earth, he will punish in the first place.
2. Jerusalem, their defenced city, shall be desolate,
v. 10, 11. G8d having tried a variety of methods
with them for their reformation, which, as to many,
have proved ineffectual, he will for a time lay their
country waste, which was accomplished when Jeru¬
salem was destroyed by the Chaldeans; then that
habitation was for a long time forsaken. If lesser
judgments do not do the work, God will send '
greater; for, when he judges, he will overcome.
Jerusalem had been a defenced city, not so much by
art or nature, as by grace and the divine protection; J
but when God was provoked to withdraw, her De¬
fence was departed from her, and then she was left
like a wilderness. And in the pleasant gardens of
Jerusalem cattle shall feed, shall lie down there,
and there shall be none to disturb them or drive
them away, there they shall be levant and cou-
chant* and they shall eat the tender branches of
the fruit-trees; which perhaps further signifies that
the people should become an easy prey to their ene- |
mies; when the boughs thereof are withered as they
grow upon the tree, being blasted by winds and
frosts, and not pruned, they shall be broken off for
fuel, and the women and children shall come and
set them on fire. There shall be a total destruction,
for the very trees shall be destroyed. And this is a
figure of the deplorable state of the vineyard, (v.
2.) when it brought forth wild grapes ; ( ch . v. 2.)
and our Saviour seems to refer to this, when he says
of the branches of the vine which abide not in him,
that they are cast forth and withered, and men ga¬
ther them, and cast them into the fire, and they are
burned, (John xv. 6.) which was in a particular
manner fulfilled in the unbelieving Jews.
The similitude is explained in the following words;
It is a fieofile of no understanding, brutish and sot¬
tish, and destitute of the knowledge of God, and
that have no relish or savour of divine things, like a
withered branch that has no san in it; and this is at
the bottom of all those sins for which God left
them desolate, their idolatry first, and afterward
their infidelity. Wicked people, however in other
things they may be wits and politicians, in their
greatest concerns are of no understanding; and their
* A liiw-phrnae, applicable when cattle have been so long in an¬
other man’s ground, that they have lain down, and are risen up to
feed — Ed.
ignorance being wilful, that shall not only not be their
excuse, but it shall be the ground of their condem¬
nation; for therefore he that made them, that gave
them their being, wilt not have mercy on them, nor
save them from the ruin they bring upon them¬
selves; and he that formed them into a people, form¬
ed them for himself, to show forth his praise, seeing
they do not answer the end of their formation, but
hate to be reformed, to be new-formed, will reject
them, and show them no favour; and then they are
undone: lor if he that made use of his power, do
not make us happy in his favour, we had better ne¬
ver have been made. Sinners flatter thertisclves
with hopes of impunity; at least that they shall not
be dealt with so severely as their ministers tell
them, because God is merciful, and because he is
their Maker: but here we see how weak and insuf¬
ficient those pleas will be; for if they be of no un¬
derstanding, lie that made them, though he made
them, and hates nothing that he has made, and
though he has mercy in store for those who so far
understand themselves as to apply themselves to
him for it, yet on them he will have no mercy, and
will show them no favour.
II. Here is a great deal of mercy mixed with
this judgment; for there are good people mixed
with those that are corrupt and degenerate, a rem¬
nant according to the election of grace, on whom
God will have mercy, and to whom he will show
favour: and these promises seem to point at all the
calamities of the church, for which God would gra¬
ciously provide these allays.
1. Though they should be smitten and slain, yet
not to that degree, and in that manner, that their
enemies shall be smitten and slain; (vl 7.) God
has smitten Jacob and Israel, and he is slain; many
of them that understand among the profile, shall
fall by the sword and by fame many days, Dan. xi.
33.. But it shall not be as those are smitten and
slain, (1.) Who smote him formerly, who were the
rod of God’s anger, and the staff in Iris hand, which
he made use of for the correction of his people,
and to whose turn it shall come to be reckoned with
even for that: the child is spared, but the rod Is
burned. (2. ) Who shall afterward be slain by him,
when he shall get the dominion, and repay them in
their own coin; or slain for his sake in the pleading
of his cause. God’s people and God’s enemies are
here represented, [1.] As struggling with each
other; so the seed of the woman and the seed of
the serpent have been, are, and will be: in this
contest there are slain on both sides. God makes
use of wicked men, not only to smite, but to slay his
people; for they are his sword, Ps. xvii. 13. But
when the cup of trembling comes to be put into
their hand, it will be much worse with them than
ever it was with God’s people in their greatest
straits: the seed of the woman has only his heel
bruised, but the serpent has his head crushed and
broken. Note, Though God’s persecuted people
may be great losers, and great sufferers, for awhile,
yet they that oppress them, will prove to be greater
losers, and greater sufferers, at last, here or hereaf¬
ter; for God will render double to them, Rev. xviii. 6.
[2.] As sharing together in the calamities of this
present time, they are both smitten, both slain, and
both by the hand of God; for there is one event to
the righteous and to the wicked; but is Jacob smitten
as his enemies are? No, by no means; to him the
property is altered, and it becomes quite another
thing. Note, However it may seem to us, there is
really a vast difference between the afflictions and
deaths of good people, and the afflictions and deaths
of wicked people.
2. Though God will debate with them, yet it shall
be in measure, and the affliction shall be mitigated,
moderated, and proportioned to their strength, not
ISAIAH, XXVIII. 125
■o their deserts, v. 8. He will deal out afflictions
co them, as the wise physician prescribes medicines
to his patient, just such a quantity of each ingredi¬
ent, or orders how much blood shall be taken when
a vein is opened: thus God orders the troubles of
his people, not suffering them to be temfited above
what they are able, 1 Cor. x. 13. He measures out
their afflictions by a little at a time, that they may
not be pressed above measure; for he knows their
frame, and corrects in judgment, and docs not stir
up all his wrath. When the affliction is shooting
forth, when he is sending it out, and giving it its
commission, then he debates in measure, and not in
extremity; he considers what we can bear, then
when he begins to correct; and when he proceeds
in his controversy, so that it is the day of his
east-wind, which is not only blustering and noisy,
but blasting and noxious, yet he stays his rough
wind, checks it, and sets bounds to it, does not
suffer it to blow so hard as it was feared; when
he is winnowing his corn, it is with a gentle gale,
that shall only blow away the chaff, but not the
good corn. God has the winds at his command,
and every affliction under his check; Hitherto it
shall go, but jio further. Let us not despair
when things are at the worst; be the winds ever so
rough, ever so high, God can say unto them, Peace,
be still.
3. Though God will afflict them, yet he will
make their afflictions to work for the good of their
souls, and correct them as the father does the child,
to drive out the foolishness that is bound up in their
hearts; (n. 9.) By this therefore shall the iniquity
iff Jacob be fiurged. This is the design of the af¬
fliction, to this it is adapted as a proper means, and,
by the grace of God working with it, it shall have
this blessed effect; it shall mortify the habits of sin;
by this those defilements of the soul shall be purged
away; it shall break them off from the practice ot it;
this is all the fruit, this is it that God intends, this is
all the harm it will do them, to take away their sin;
than which they could not have a greater kindness
done them, though it be at the expense of an afflic¬
tion. Therefore, because the affliction is mitigated
and moderated, and the rough wind stayed, there¬
fore we may conclude that he designs their refor¬
mation, not their destruction: and because he deals
thus gently with us, we should therefore study to
answer his ends in afflicting us. The particular sin
which the affliction was intended to cure them of,
was, the sin of idolatry, the sin which did most
easily beset that people, and to which they were
strangely addicted. Efihraim is joined to idols.
But by the captivity in Babylon they were not only
weaned from this sin, but set against it. Efihraim
shall say, What have I to do any 7 nore with idols?
Jacob then has his sin taken away, his beloved sin,
when he makes all the stones of the altar, of his idol¬
atrous altar, the stones of which were precious and
sacred to him, as chalk-stones that are beaten in sun¬
der; he not only has them in contempt, and values
them no more than chalk-stones, but he conceives
an indignation at them, and, in a holy revenge, beats
them asunder as easily as chalk-stones are broken
to pieces: the groves and the images shall not stand
before this penitent, but they shall be thrown down
too, never to be set up again. This was according to
the law for the demolishing and destroying of all the
monuments of idolatry; (Deut. vii. 5.) and accord¬
ing to this promise, since the captivity in Babylon,
no people in the world have such a rooted aversion
to idols and idolatry as the people of the Jews.
Note, The design of affliction is to part between us
and sin, especially that which has been our own
iniquity; and then it appears that the affliction has
done us good, when we keep at a distance from the
occasions of sin, and use all needful precaution that
we may not only not relapse into it, but not so much
as be tempted to it, Ps. cxix. 67.
4. Though Jerusalem shall be desolate and for¬
saken for a time, yet there will come a day when
its scattered friends Shall resort to it again out of all
the countries whither they were dispersed; (f. 12,
13.) though the body of the nation is abandoned as
a people of no understanding, yet those that are in¬
deed children of Israel shall be gathered together
again as the sheep of the flock, when the shepherds
that scattered them are reckoned with, Ezek. xxxiv.
10 — 12. Now observe concerning these scattered
Israelites, (1.) From whence thev shall be fetched;
The Lord shall beat thetn off as fruit from the tree,
or beat them out as corn out of the ear; he shall
find them out, and separate them from those whom
they dwelt among, and with whom they seemed to
be incorporated, from the channel of the river
Euphrates north-east, unto Nile the stream of
Egypt, which lay south-west; those that were driven
into the land of Assyria, and were captives there in
the land of their enemies, where they were ready to
perish for want of necessaries, and ready to despair
of deliverance; and those that were outcasts in the
land of Egyfit, whither many of those that were
left behind, after the captivity into Babvlon, went,
contrary to God’s express command, (Jen xliii. 6,
7.) and there lived as outcasts: God has mercy in
store for them all, and will make it to appear, that
though they are cast out, they are not cast off. ( 2. )
In what manner they shall be brought back; “Ye
shall be gathered one by one, not in multitudes, net
in troops forcing your way; but silently, and as it
were by stealth, dropping in, first one, and then
another.” This intimates that the remnant that
shall be saved, consists but of few, and those saved
with difficulty, and so as by fire, scarcely saved;
they shall not come for company, but as God shall
stir up every man’s spirit. (3.) By what means
they shall be gathered togther; The great trumfiet
shall be blown, and then they shall come. Cyrus’s
proclamation of liberty to the captives is this great
trumpet, which awakened the Jews that were asleep
in their thraldom to bestir themselves; it was like
the sounding of the jubilee-trumpet, which publish¬
ed the year of release. This is applicable to the
preaching of the gospel, by which sinners are gather¬
ed in to the grace of God, such as were outcasts and
ready to perish; those that were afar off are made
nigh; the gospel proclaims the acceptable year of the
Lord. It is applicable also to the archangel’s trum¬
pet at the last day, by which saints shall be gather¬
ed to the glory of God, that lay as outcasts in their
graves. (4.) For what end they shall be gathered
together; to worshifi the Lord in the holy moimt at
Jerusalem. When the captives rallied again, and
returned to their own land, the chief thing they had
their eye upon, and the first thing they applied
themselves to, was, the worship of God:' the holv
temple was in ruins, but they had the holy mount,
the filace of the altar, Gen. xiii. 4. Liberty to wor-
' ship God is the most valuable and desirable liberty;
and, after restraints and dispersions, a free access
to his house should be more welcome to us than a
free access to our own houses. Those that are ga¬
thered by the sounding of the gospel-trumpet, are
brought in to worship God, and added to the church,
and the great trumpet of all will gather the saints
together, to sei-ve God day and night in his temfile.
CHAP. XXVIII.
In this chapter, I. The Ephraimites are reproved and
threatened for their pride and drunkenness, their secu¬
rity and sensuality, v. 1. .8. But, in the midst of this,
here is a gracious promise of God’s favours to the rem¬
nant of his people, v. 5, 6. IT. They are likewise re¬
proved and threatened for their dulness and stupidity,
unaptness to profit by the instructions which the pro-
26
ISAIAH, XXVIII.
phets gave them, in God’s name, v. 9.. 13. III. The
rulers of Jerusalem are reproved and threatened for
their insolent contempt of God’s judgments, and setting
them at defiance; and, after a gracious promise of Christ
and his grace, they are made to know that the vain
hopes of escaping the judgments of God, with which
they flattered themselves, would certainly deceive them,
v. 14. . 22. IV. All this is confirmed by a comparison
borrowed from the method which the husbandman takes
with his ground and grain, according to which they must
expect God would proceed with his people, whom he had
lately called his threshing and the corn of his floor, ch.
xxi. 10. v. 23- -29. This is written for our admonition,
and is profitable for reproof and warning to us.
1. '%1SyrO to the crown of pride, to the
t T drunkards of Ephraim, whose glo¬
rious beauty is a fading flower, which are
on the head of the fat valleys of them that
are overcome with wine! 2. Behold, the
Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which,
as a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm,
as a flood of mighty waters overflowing,
shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3. The crown of pride, the drunkards of
Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet. 4.
And the glorious beauty which is on the
head of the fat valley shall be a fading
flower, mid as the hasty fruit before the sum¬
mer: which, when he that looketh upon it
seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eatetli it
up. 5. In that day shall the Lord of hosts
be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem
of beauty, unto the residue of his people;
6. And for a spirit of judgment to him that
sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them
that turn the battle to the. gate. 7. But
they also have erred through wine, and
through strong drink are out of the way: the
priest and the prophet have erred through
strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine,
they are out of the way through Strong drink;
they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8. For all tables are full of vomit and filthi¬
ness, so that there is no place clean.
Here,
I. The prophet warns the kingdom of the ten
tribes, of the judgments that were coming upon
them for their sins, which were soon after executed
by the king of Assyria, who laid their country waste,
and carried the people into captivity. Ephraim
had his name from fruitfulness, their soil being very
fertile, and the products of it abundant, and the
best of the kind; they had a great many flat valleys,
(u. 1,4.) and Samaria, which was situated on a hill,
was, as it were, on the head of the fat valleys; their
country was rich and pleasant, and as the garden
of the Lord: it was the glory of Canaan, as that
was the glory of all lands: their harvest and vin¬
tage were the glorious beauty on the head of their
valleys, which were covered over with corn and
vines. Now observe,
1. What an ill use they made of their plenty;
what God gave them to serve him with, they per¬
verted, and abused, by making it the food and fuel
of their lusts.
(1.) They were puffed up with pride by it; the
goodness with which God crowned their years,
which should have been to him a crown of praise,
was to them a crown of pride. They that are rich
in the world, are -nt to be high-minded, 1 Tim. vi.
17. Their kuiv "mo wore the crown, was proud
that he ruled over so rich a country; Samaria, their
royal city, was notorious for pride. Perhaps it was
usual at their festivals, or ret els, to wear garlands
made up of flowers and ears cf corn, which they
wore, in honour of their fruitful country. Pride was a
sin that generally prevailed among tin m, and there¬
fore the prophet, in his name who resists the proud,
boldly proclaims a Wo to the crown of pride. If
those who wear crowns be proud of them, let them
not think to escape this wo. What men are preud
of, be it ever so mean, is to them as a crown; he
that is proud thinks himself as great as a king; but
wo to those who thus exalt themselves, for they
shall be abased; their pride is the preface to their
destruction.
(2.) They indulged themselves in sensuality;
Ephraim was notorious for drunkenness, and excess
ot riot; Samaria, the head of the fat valleys, was full
of those that were overcome with wine; were bro¬
ken with it, so the margin. See how f olishly
drunkards act, and no marvel, when, in the very
commission of the sin, they make fools and brutes
of themselves; they yield, [1.] To be conquered by
the sin; it overcomes them, and brings them into bon¬
dage, (2 Pet. ii. 19.) they are led captive by it, and
the captivity is the more shameful and inglorious,
as it is voluntary. Some of these wretched slaves
have themselves owned that there is not a greater
drudgery in the world than hard drinking. They
are overcome not with the wine, but with the love
of it. [2.] To be ruined bv it; they are broken by
wine; their constitution is broken by it, and their
health ruined; they are broken in their callings and
estates, and their families are brought to ruin by it;
their peace with God is broken, and their souls in
danger of being eternally undone, and all this for
the gratification of a base lust. Wo to these drunk¬
ards of Ephraim ! Ministers must bring the gene¬
ral woes of the word home to particular places and
persons. We must say, Wo to drunkards; their con¬
dition is a woful condition, their brutish pleasures
are to be pitied, and not envied; they shall not in¬
herit the kingdom of God, (1 Cor. vi. 10.) the
curse is in force against them, Deut. xxix. 19, 2C
Nay, we must go further, and say, Wo to the
drunkards of such a place; that they may hear and
fear; nay, and. Wo to this or that person, if he be a
drunkard. There is a particular wo to the drunk¬
ards of Ephraim, for they are of God’s professing
people, and it becomes them worse than any other
they know better, and therefore should give a bet¬
ter example: Some make the crown of pride to
belong to the drunkards, and to mean the garlands
with which they were crowned, that got the victory
in their wicked drinking-matches, and drank down
the rest of the company; they were proud of their
being mighty to drink wine; but wo to them who thus
glory in their shame.
2. The justice of God in taking away their plenty
from them, which they thus abused. Their glori¬
ous beauty, the plenty they were proud of, is but a
fading flower, it is meat that perishes. The most
substantial fruits, if God blast them, and blow upon
them, are but fading flowers, v. 1. God can easilv
take away their com in the season thereof (Hos. ii.
9.) and recover locum vast a turn — ground that has
been alienated and is run to waste, those goods of
his, which they prepared for Baal. God has an
officer ready to' make a seizure for him, has one at
his beck, a mighty and strong one, who is able to
do the business, even the king of Assyria, who shall
cast down t-J the earth with the hand, shall easily
and effectually, and with fhe turn of a hand, de¬
stroy all that which they are proud of, and pleased
with, v. 2. He shall throw it down to the ground,
127
ISAIAH, XXVIII.
?(■ be broken to pieces with a strong hand, with a
(land that they cannot oppose. Then the crown of
pride, and the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trod¬
den under foot; ( v . 3.) they shall lie exposed to’
contempt, and shall not be able to recover them¬
selves. Drunkards, in their folly, are apt to talk
proudly, and vaunt themselves most then when
they most shame themselves; but they render them¬
selves the more ridiculous by it. The beauty of
their valleys, which they gloried in, will be, (1. )
Like a fading flower; (as before, v. 1.) it will wither
of itself, and has in itself the principles of its own
corruption; it will perish in time by its own moth
and rust. (2.) Like the hasty fruit, which, as soon
as it is discovered, is plucked and eaten up; so the
wealth of this world, beside that it is apt to de-
c iv of itself, is subject to be devoured by others, as
greedily as the first ripe fruit, which is earnestly
desired, Mic. vii. 1. Thieves break through and
steal. The harvest which the worldling is proud
of the hungry eat u/i; (Job. v. 5.) no sooner do they
see the prey, but they catch at it, and swallow up
all they can lay their hands on. It is likewise easi¬
ly devoured, as that fruit which, being ripe before
it is grown, is very small, and is soon eaten up; and
there being little of it, and that of little worth, it is
not reserved, but used immediately.
II. He next turns himself to the kingdom of Judah,
whom he calls the residue of his people, (v. 5.) for
they were but two tribes to the other ten.
L He promises them God’s favours, and that
they should be taken under his guidance and pro¬
tection, when the beauty of Ephraim shall be left
exposed to be trodden down and eaten up, v. 5, 6.
In that day, when the Assyrian army is laying Israel
waste, and Judah might think that their neigbour’s
house being on fire, their own was in danger, in that
day of treading down and perplexity, then God will
be to the residue of his people all they need, and
can desire; not only to the kingdom of Judah, but
to those of Israel, who had kept their integrity, and,
as was, probably, the case with some, betook them¬
selves to the land of Judah, to be sheltered by good
king Hczekiah. When the Assyrian, that mighty
one, was in Israel as a tempest of hail, noisy and
battering, as a destroying storm bearing down all
before it, especially at sea, and as a flood of mighty
waters overflowing the country, ( v . 2.) then in that
day will the Lord of hosts, of all hosts, distinguish
by peculiar favours his people who have distin¬
guished themselves by a steady and singular adhe¬
rence to him, and that which they most need he
will himself be to them. This very much enhances
the worth of the promises, that God, covenanting to
be to his people a God all-sufficient, undertakes to
be himself all that to them that they can desire.
(1.) He will put all the credit and honour upon
them, which are requisite, not only to rescue them
from contempt, but to gain them esteem and repu¬
tation. He will be to them for a crown of glory, and
for a diadem of beauty. They that wore the crown
of pride looked upon God’s people with disdain, and
trampled upon them, and thev were the song of the
drunkards of Ephraim; but God will so appear for
them by his providence, as to make it evident that
they have his favour toward them, and that shall
be to them a crown of glory; for what greater glory
can any people have, than for God to own them as
his own? And he will so appear in them, by his
grace, as to make it evident that they have his image
renewed on them, and that shall be to them a diadem
of beauty : for what greater beauty can any person
have than the beauty of holiness? Note, Those that
have God for their God, have him for a Crown of
glory, and a Di; dem of beauty; for they are made
to him kings and priests. (2. ) He will give them
all the wisdom and grace necessary to the due dis¬
charge of the duty of their place. He will h.vnself
be a Spirit of judgment to them that sit in judg¬
ment; the privy-counsellors shall be guided by wis¬
dom and discretion, and the judges govern by jus¬
tice and equity. It is a great mercy to any people,
when those that are called to places of power and
public trust are qualified for their pi res; when
those that sit in judgment have a spirit of judg¬
ment, a spirit of government. (3.) He will give
them all the courage and boldness requisite to carry
them resolutely through the difficulties and opposi¬
tions they are likely to meet with. He w ill be for
strength to them that turn the battle to the gate, to the
gates of the enemy whose cities they beriige, or to
their own gates, when they sally out upon the ene¬
mies that besiege them. The strength of the sol¬
diery depends as much upon God as the wisdom of
the magistracy; and where God gives both these, he
is to that people a Crown of glory. This may well
be supposed to refer to Christ, and so the Chaldee
Paraphrase understands it; in that day shall Mes¬
siah be a Crowui of glory; Simeon calls him the
Glory of his people Israel: and he is made of God
to us Wisdom, Righteousness, and Strength.
2. He complains of the corruptions that were
found among them, and the many corrupt ones;
( v . 7.) But they also , many of them of Judah, have
erred through wine. There are drunkards of Je¬
rusalem, as well as drunkards of Ephraim; and
therefore the mercy of God is to be so much the
more admired, that he has not blasted the glory of
Judah, as he has done that of Ephraim. Sparing
mercy lays us under peculiar obligations, when it is
thus distinguishing. Ephraim’s sins are found in
Judah, and yet not Ephnim’s ruins. They have
erred through wine; their drinking to excess is it¬
self a practical error; they think to raise their fancy
by it, but they ruin their judgment, and so put "a
cheat upon themselves; they think to preserve their
health by it, and help digestion, but the)- spoil their
constitution, and hasten diseases and deaths. And
it is the occasion of a great many errors in princi¬
ple; their understanding is clruded, and con¬
science debauched, by it; and therefore, to support
themselves in it, they espouse corrupt notions, and
form their minds in favour of their lusts. Proba¬
bly, some were drawn in to worship idols by their
love of the wine and strong drink, which there was
plenty of at their idolatrous festivals; and so they
erred through wine, as Israel, for love of the daugh¬
ters of Moab, joined themselves to Baal-peor.
Three things are here observed as aggravations
of this sin;
(1.) That those were guilty of it, whose business
it was to warn others against it, and to teach them
better, and therefore who ought to have set a better
example; The priest and the prophet are swal¬
lowed up of wine; their office is quite drowned and
lost in it. The priests, as sacrificers, were obliged
by a particular law to be temperate, (Lev. x. 9.)
and, as rulers and magistrates, it was not for them
to drink wine, Prov. xxxi. 4. The prophets were
a kind of Nazarites, (as appears by Amos ii. 11.)
and, as reprovers by office, were concerned to keep
at the utmost distance from the sins they reproved
in others; yet there were many of them ensnared in
this sin. What! a priest, a prophet, a minister, and
yet drunk ! Tell it not in Gath. Such a scandal are
they to their coat.
(2.) That the consequences of it were very per¬
nicious, not only hv the ill influence of their exam¬
ple, but the prophet, when he was drunk, erred in
vision; the false prophets plainly discovered them¬
selves to be so, when they were in drink. The
priest stumbled in judgment, and forgot the law;
(Prov. xxxi. 5.) he reeled and staggered as much
in the operations of his mind as in tire motions of
128
ISAIAH, XXVIII.
his body. What wisdom or justice can be expect¬
ed from those that sacrifice reason, and virtue, and
conscience, and all that is valuable, to such a base
lust as the love of strong drink is? Happy art thou,
O land, when thy princes eat and drink for
strength, and not for drunkenness.1' Eccl. x. 17.
(3.) That the disease was epidemical, and the
generality of those that kept any thing of a table,
were infected with it; All tables are full of vomit,
v. 8. See what an odious thing the sin of drunk¬
enness is, what an affront it is to human society; it
is rude and ill-mannered, enough to sicken the
beholders; for the tables where they eat their
meat, are filthily stained with the marks of this sin,
which the sinners declare as Sodom; their tables
are full of vomit. So that the victor, instead of
being proud of his crown, ought rather to be asham¬
ed of it. It bodes ill to any people, when so sottish a
sin as drunkenness is, becomes national.
9. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and
whom shall he make to understand doc¬
trine ? them that are weaned from the milk,
and drawn from the breasts. 10. For pre¬
cept must be upon precept, precept upon
precept ; line upon line, line upon line ;
here a little, and there a little : 11.
For with stammering lips, and another
tongue, will' he speak to this people. 12.
To whom he said, This is the rest where¬
with ye may cause the weary to rest ; and
this is the refreshing : yet they would
not hear. 13. But the word of the Lord
was unto them, precept upon precept, pre¬
cept upon precept : line upon line, line
upon line ; here a little, and there a little ;
that they might go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.
The prophet here complains of the wretched
stupidity of this people, that they were unteacha-
ble, ancl made no improvement of the means of
grace which they enjoyed; they still continued as
they were, their mistakes not rectified, their hearts
not renewed, nor their lives reformed.
I. What it was that their prophets and minis¬
ters designed and aimed at; it was to teach them
knowledge, the knowledge of God and his will,
and to make them understand doctrine, t>. 9. This
is God’s way of dealing with men, to enlighten
men’s minds first with the knowledge of his truth,
and thus to gain their affections, and bring their
wills into a compliance with his laws; thus he en¬
ters in by the door, whereas the thief and robber
c'imb up another way
II. What method they took, in pursuance of this
design; they left no means untried, to do them good,
but taught them as children are taught, little chil¬
dren that are beginning to learn, that are taken'
from the breast to the book; {v. 9.) for among the
Jews it was common for mothers to nurse their
children till they were three years old, and almost
ready to go to school. And it is good to begin be¬
times with children, to teach them, as they are ca¬
pable, the good knowledge of the Lord, and to in¬
struct them, even when they are but newly weaned
from the milk.
The prophets taught them as children are taught,
for,
1. They were constant and industrious in teach¬
ing them ; they took great pains with them, and with
great prudence, teaching them as they needed it,
and were able to bear it; (y. 10.) Precept upon
precept. It must be so, or, as some read it, It hat
been so. They have been taught, as children are
taught to read, by precept upon precept, and taught
lo write, by line upon line; a little here, and a little
there, a little of one thing, and a little of another,
that, the variety of instructions might be pleasing
and inviting; a "little at one time, and a little at ano¬
ther, that they might not have their memories over¬
charged; a little from one prophet, and a little from
another, that every one might be pleased with his
friend, and him he admired. Note, For our instruc¬
tion in the things of God, it is requisite that we have
precept upon precept, and line upon line: that one
precept and line should be followed, and so enforced,
by another; the precept of justice must be upon the
precept of piety, and the precept of charity upon
that of justice. Nay, it is necessary that the same
precept and the same line should be often repeated,
and inculcated upon us; that we may the better un¬
derstand them, and the more easily recollect them
when we have occasion for them. Teachers shouf’
accommodate themselves to the capacity of the
learners, give them what they most need, and can
best bear, and a little at a time, Dent. vi. 6, 7.
2. They accosted them in a kind manner, v. 12.
God, by his prophets, said to them, “This way
that we are directing you to, and directing you in,
it is the rest, the only rest, wherewith you may cause
the weary to rest; and this will be the refreshing of
your own souls, and will bring rest to your country
from the wars and other calamities with which it
has been long harassed.” Note, God, by his word,
calls us to nothing but what is really for our own ad¬
vantage; for the service of God is the only trae rest
for those that are weary of the service of sin, and
there is no refreshing but under the easy yoke of
the Lord Jesus.
III. What little effect all this had upon the peo¬
ple: they were as unapt to leam as young children
newly weaned from the milk, and it was as impos¬
sible to fasten any thing upon them; (v. 9.) nay,
one would choose rather to teach a child of two
years old than undertake to teach them: for they
have not only (like such a child) no capacity to re¬
ceive what is taught them, but they are prejudiced
against it. As children, they have need of milk,
and cannot bear strong meat, Heb. v. 12. 1. They
would not hear, (r. 12.) no, not that which' would
be rest and refreshing to them ; the)' had no mind to
hear it; the word of God commanded their serious
attention, but could not gain it; they were where it
was preached, but they turned a deaf ear to it, or,
as it came in at one ear, it went out at the other. 2.
They would not heed; it was unto them precept
upon precept, and line upon line; (v. 13.) they
went on in a road of external performances, they
kept up the old custom of attending upon the pro¬
phet’s preaching, and it was continually sounding in
their ears; but that was all, it made no impression
upon them ; they had the letter of the precept, but
no experience of the power and spirit of it; it was
continually beating upon them, but it beat nothing
into thym. Nay, 3. It should seem, they ridiculed
the prophet’s preaching, and bantered it; the word
of tne Lord was unto them Tsau latsau, kau lakau;
in the original it is in rhyme; they made a song of
the prophet’s words, and sang it when they were
merry over their wine; David was the song of the
drunkards. It is great impiety, and a high affront
to God, thus to make a jest of sacred things; to
speak of that vainly which should make us serious.
IV. How severely God would reckon with them
for this:
1. He would deprive them of the privilege of plain
preaching, and speak to them with stammering lips
and another tongue, v. 11. They that will not un¬
derstand what is plain and level to their capacity
ISAIAH,
but despise it as mean and trifling, are justly
amused with that which is above them. Or, God
will send foreign armies among them, whose lan¬
guage they understand not, to lay their country
waste. Those that will not hear the comfortable
voice of God’s word, shall be made to hear the
dreadful voice of his rod. Or, these words may be
taken as denoting God’s gracious condescension to
their capacity in his dealing with them; he lisped
to them in their own language, as nurses do to their
children, with stammering lips, to humour them;
he changed his voice, tried first one way, and then
another; the apostle quotes it as a favour, (1 Cor.
xiv. 21.) applying it to the gift of tongues, and com¬
plaining that yet for all this they would not hear.
2. He would bring utter ruin upon them; by their
profane contempt of God and his word they are but
hastening on. their own ruin, and ripening themselves
for it; it is that they may go and fall backward,
may grow worse and worse, may depart further and
further from God, and proceed from one sin to an¬
other, till they be quite broken, and snared, and
taken, and rained, v. 13. They have here a little,
and there a little, of the word of God; they think it
too much, and say to the seers, See not; but it proves
too little to convert them, and will prove enough to
condemn them. If it be not a savour of life unto
life, it will be a savour of death unto death.
14. Wherefore hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this peo¬
ple which is in Jerusalem: 15. Because
ye have said, We have made a covenant
with death, and with hell we are at agree¬
ment; when the overflowing scourge shall
pass through, it shall not come unto us: for
we have made lies our refuge, and under
falsehood have we hid ourselves. 1 6. There¬
fore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay
in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried
stone, a precious corner-sforce, a sure foun¬
dation: he that believeth shall not make
haste. 17. Judgment also will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet; and
the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,
and the waters shall overflow the hiding-
place. 18. And your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement
with hell shall not stand; when the over¬
flowing scourge shall pass through, then ye
shall be trodden down by it. 19. From the
time that it goeth forth it shall take you : for
morning by morning shall it pass over, by
day and by night; and it shall be a vexa¬
tion only to understand the report. 20. For
the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch
himself on it; and the covering narrower than
that he can wrap himself in it. 21. For the
Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim,
he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon,
that he may do his work, his strange wqrk;
and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
22. Now, therefore, be ye not mockers, lest
your bands be made strong: fori have heard
from the Lord God of hosts a consump¬
tion, even determined, upon the whole earth.
The prophet, having reproved those that made a
Vol. iv. — R
XXVIII. 120
jest < f the word of God, here goes cn to reprove
those that made a jest of the judgments of Gcd, and
Set them at defiance; for he is a jealous God, and
will not suffer either his ordinances or his provi¬
dences to be brought into contempt. He addresses
himself to the scornful men who ruled in Jerusalem,
who were the magistrates of the city, v. 14. It is
bad with a people, when their thrones of judgment
become the seats of the scornful, when rulers are
scorners; but that the rulers of Jerusalem should be
men of such a character, that they should make
light of God’s judgments, and scorn to take notice
oi the tokens of his displeasure, is very sad. Who
will be mourners in Zion, if they are scorners?
Observe,
I. How these scornful men lulled themselves asleep
in carnal security, and even challenged God Al¬
mighty to do his worst; (v. 15.) Ye have said, We
have made a covenant with death and the grave.
They thought themselves as sure of their lives, even
then when the most destroying judgments were
abroad, as if they had made a bargain with death,
upon a valuable consideration, not to take them away
by any violence, but by old age. If we be at peace
with God, and have made a covenant with him,
we have in effect, made a covenant with death,
and it shall come in the fittest time, that, whenever
it comes, it shall be no terror to us, nor do us anv
real damage; death is ours, if we be Christ’s:
(1 .Cor. ii. 22.) but to think of making death our
friend, or being in league with it, while by sin we
are making God our Enemy, and are at war with
him, is the greatest absurdity that can be. It was
a fond conceit which these scorners had, “ When
the overflowing scourge shall pass through cur
country, and others shall fall under it, yet it shall
not come to us, nor reach us, though it extend far,
not bear us down, though it is an overflowing
scourge.” It is the greatest folly imaginable for
impenitent sinners to think that either in this world
or the other they shall fare better than their neigh¬
bours. But what is the ground of their confidence?
Why, truly, We have made lies our refuge. Either,
1. Those things which the prophets told them,
would be lies and falsehood to them, and would de¬
ceive, though they themselves looked upon them
as substantial fences. The protection of their idols,
the promises with which their false prophets soothed
them, their policy, their wealth, their interest in the
people; these they confided in, and not in God; nay,
these they confided in against God. Or, 2. Those
things which should be lies and falsehood to the
enemy, who was flagellum Dei — the scourge of
God, the overflowing scourge; they would secure
themselves by imposing upon the enemy with their
stratagems of war, or their feigned submissions in
treaties of peace. The rest of the cities of Judah
were taken because they made an obstinate defence,
but the rulers of Jerusalem hope to succeed better,
they think themselves greater politicians than these
of the country towns; they will compliment the
king of Assyria with a promise to surrender their
city, or to become tributaries to him, with a pur¬
pose at the same time to shake off his yoke as soon
as the danger is over, not caring though they be
found liars to him; as the expression is, Deut.
xxxiii. 29. Note, Those put a cheat upon them¬
selves, that think to gain their point by putting
cheats upon those they deal with. Those that pur¬
sue their designs by trick and frajid, by mean and
paltry shifts, may perhaps compass them, but can¬
not. expect comfort in them. Honesty is the best
policy. But such refuges as these arc they driven
to that depart from God, and throw themselves cut
of his protection.
II. How God, by the prophet, awakens them out of
this sleep, and shows them the folly of their security.
130
ISAIAH,
1. He tells them upon what grounds they might
be secure: he does not disturb their f dse confi¬
dences, till he has first showed them a firm bottom
on which they may repose themselves, (v. 16.) Be¬
hold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone. This
foundation is, (1.) The promises of God in general;
his word, upon which he has caused his people to
hope; his covenant with Abraham, that he would
be a God to him and his; this is a foundation, a
foundation of stone, firm and lasting, for faith to
build upon; it is a tried stone, for all the saints have
stayed themselves upon it, and it never failed them.
(2.) The promise of Christ in particular, for to him
this is expressly applied in the New Testament,
1 Pet. ii. 6 — 8. He is that Stone which is become
the Head of the corner. The great promise of the
Messiah and his kingdom, which was to begin at
Jerusalem, was sufficient to make God’s people
easy in the worst of times; for they knew well that
till he was come, the sceptre should not de/iart from
Judah. Zion shall continue while this Foundation
is yet to be laid there. Thus saith the Lord Jeho¬
vah, for the comfort of those that dare not make
lies their refuge; “Behold, and look upon me, as
one that has undertaken to lay in Zion a Stone.”
Jesus Christ is a Foundation of God’s laying; this is
the lord’s doing. He is laid in Zion, in the church,
in the holy hill. He is a tried Stone; a trying Stone,
so some; a Touch-stone that shall distinguish be¬
twixt ti-ue and counterfeit. He is a precious Stone,
for such are the foundations of the Hew Jerusalem;
(Rev. xxi. 19.) a Corner-stone, in whom the sides
of the building are united; the Headstone of the
corner. And he that believes these promises, and
rests upon them, shall not make haste, shall not run
to and fro in a hurry, as men at their wits’ end,
shall not be shifting here and there for his own safety,
nor be driven to his feet by any terrors, as the wick¬
ed man is said to be, (Job xviii. 11.) but with a fixed
heart shall quietly wait the event, saying, Welcome
the will of God. He shall not make haste, in his
expectations, so as to anticipate the time set in the
divine counsels, but, though it tarry, will wait the
appointed hour, knowing that he that shall come,
•will come, and will not tarry. He that believes
will not make more haste than good speed, but be
satisfied that God’s time is the best time, and wait
with patience for it. The apostle, from the LXX.
explains this, (1 Pet. ii. 6.) He that believes on him
shall not be confounded; his expectations shall not
be frustrated, but far outdone.
2. He tells them that upon the grounds which
they now built on, they could not be safe, but their
confidences would certainly fail them; ( v . 17.)
Judgment will I lay to the line, and righteousness
to the plummet. This denotes, (1.) The building
up of his church; having laid the foundation, (m. 16.)
he will raise the structure, as builders do, by line
ai\d plummet, Zech. iv. 10. Righteousness shall be
the line, and judgment the plummet. The church,
being founded on Christ, shall be formed and re¬
formed by the scripture, the standing rule of judg¬
ment and righteousness. Judgment shall return
unto righteousness, Ps. xciv. 15. Or, (2.) The pun¬
ishing of the church’s enemies, against whom he
will proceed in strict justice, according to the threat-
enings of the law; he will give them their deserts,
and bring upon them the judgments they have
challenged, but in wisdom too, and by an exact
rule, that the tares may not be plucked up with the
wheat. And when God comes thus to execute
judgment,
[1.] These scornful men will be made ashamed
of the vain hopes with which they had deluded
themselves:
First, They designed to make lies their refuge;
but it will indeed prove a refuge of lies, which .the
XXVIII.
hail shall sweep away, that tempest of hail spoken
cf, v. 2. They that make lies their refuge build
upon the sand, and the building will fall, when the
storm comes, and bury the builder in the ruins of it.
They that make any thing their hiding-place but
Christ, the waters shall overflow it, as every shel¬
ter but the ark was overtopped and overthrown by
the waters of the deluge. Such is the hope of the
hypocrite, this will come of all his confidences.
Secondly, They boasted of a covenant with death,
and an agreement with the grave: but it shall be
disannulled, as made without his consent that has
the keys and sovereign command of hell and death.
Those do but delude themselves, that think by any
wiles to evade the judgments of God.
Thirdly, They fancied that when the overflowing
scourge should pass through the land, it should not
come near them; but the prophet tells them that
then, when others were falling by the common ca¬
lamity, they should not only share in it, but should
be trodden down by it; “Ye shall be to it for a
treading down, it shall triumph over you as much
as over any other, and you shall become its easy
prey.”
1 hey are further told, (v. 19.) 1. That it shall
begin with them ; they shall be so far from escaping
it, that they shall be the first that shall fall by it;
From the time it goes forth, it shall take you, as if
it came on purpose to seize you. 2. That it shall
pursue them close; “ Morning by morning shall it
pass over; as duly as the day returns, you shall
hear of some desolation or other made by it; for di¬
vine justice will follow its blow; you shall never be
safe or easy, by day or by night; there shall be a
pestilence walking in darkness, and a destruction
wasting at noon-day. ” 3. That there shall lie no
avoiding it; “The understanding of the report of
its approach shall not give you any opportunity to
make your escape, for there shall be no way of es¬
cape open; but it shall be only a vexation, you shall
see it coming, and not see how to help yourselves.”
Or, “The very report of it at a distance will be a
terror to you ; what then will the thing itself be?”
Evil tidings arc a terror and vexation to scomers,
but he whose heart is fixed, trusting in God, is not
afraid of them; whereas, when the overflowing
scourge comes, then all the comforts and confidences
of scorners fail them, v. 20. (1.) That in which
they thought to repose themselves, reaches not to
the length of their expectations; The bed is shorter
than that a man can stretch himself upon it, so that
he is forced to cramp and contract himseif. (2.)
That in which they thought to shelter themselves
proves insufficient to answer the intention; The co
vering is narrower than that a man can wrap him¬
self in it. Those that do not build upon Christ, as
their Foundation, but rest in a righteousness of their
own, will prove in the end thus to have deceived
themselves, they can never be easy, safe, or warm;
the bed is too short, the covering is too narrow;
like our first parents’ fig-leaves, the shame of their
nakedness will still appear.
[2.] God will be glorified in the accomplishment
of his counsels, v. 21. When God comes to contend
with these scorners, First, He will do his work,
and bring to pass his act, he will work for his own
honour and glory, according to his own purpose;
the work shall appear, to all that see it, to be the
work of God as the righteous Judge of the earth
Secondly, He will do it now against his people, an
formerly he did it against their enemies; by which
his justice will appear to be impartial; he will now
rise up against Jerusalem , as, in David’s time
against the Philistines in mount Perazim, (2 Sam. v.
20.) and as, in Joshua’s time, against the Canaanites
in the valley of Gibeon. If those that profess them¬
selves members of God’s church, by their pride and
ISAIAH
scornfulness make themselves like Philistines and
Canaanites, they must expect to be dealt with as
such. Thirdly , This will be his strange work, his
strange act, his foreign deed : it is work that he is
backward to, he rather delights in showing mercy,*
and does not afflict willingly: it is work that he is
not used to; as to his own people, he protects and
favours them; it is a strange work indeed, if he turn
to be their enemy, and fight against them; ( ch . lxiii.
10. ) it is a work that all the neighbours will stand
amazed at; (Deut. xxix. 24.) and therefore the
ruins of Jerusalem are said to be, an astonishment,
Jer. xxv. 18.
Lastly, We have the use and application of all
this; (v. 22.) “ Therefore be ye not mockers; dare
not to ridicule either the reproofs of God’s word, or
the approaches of his judgments.” Mocking the
messengers of the Lord was Jerusalem’s measure¬
filling sin. The consideration of the judgments of
God that are coming upon hypocritical professors,
should effectually silence mockers, and make them
serious; “ Be ye not mockers, lest your bands be
made strong; both the bands by which you are
bound under the dominion of sin,” (for there is little
hope of the conversion of mockers,) “ and the bands
by which you are bound over to the judgments of
God.” God has bands of justice strong enough to
hold those that break ail the bonds of his law in
sunder, and cast away all his cords from them. Let
not these mockers make light of divine threaten-
ings, for the prophet (who is one of those with whom
the secret of the Lord is) assures them that the
Lord God of hosts has, in his hearing, determined
a consumfition ufion the whole earth; and can they
think to escape? Or shall their unbelief invalidate
the threatening?
23. Give ye ear, and hear my voice;
hearken, and hear my speech. 24. Doth
the ploughman plough all day to sow ? doth
he open and break the clods of his ground ?
25. When he hath made plain the face
thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches,
and scatter the cummin, and cast in the
principal wheat, and the appointed barley,
and the rye, in their place ? 26. For his God
doth instruct him to discretion, and doth
teach him. 27. For the fitches are not
threshed with a threshing instrument, neither
is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cum¬
min ; but the fitches are beaten out with a
staff, and the cummin with a rod. 23.
Bread-cora is bruised ; because he will not
ever be threshing it, nor break it with the
wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horse¬
men. 29. This also cometh forth from the
Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in coun¬
sel, and excellent in working.
This parable, which (as many of our Saviour’s
parables) is borrowed from the husbandir an’s call¬
ing, is ushered in with a solemn preface demanding
attention, He that has ears to hear, let him hear,
hear and understand, v. 23.
I. The parable here is plain enough, that the hus¬
bandman applies himself to the business of his call¬
ing with a great deal of pains and prudence, secun¬
dum artem — according to rule, and, as his judg¬
ment directs him, observes a method and order in
his work. 1. In his ploughing and sowing; Does
the filoughman plough all day to sow? Yes, he
does, and he ploughs in hope, and sows in hope, 1
XXV111. 131
Cor. ix. 10. Does he open and break the clods? Yes,
he does, that it may be fit to receive the seed. And
when he has thus made plain the face thereof does
he not sow his seed, seed suitable to the soil? For
the husbandman knows what grain is fit for clayey
ground, and what for sandy ground, and accordingly
he sows each in its place; wheat in the principal
place, (so the margin reads it;) for it is the principal
grain, and was a staple-commodity of Canaan,
(Ezek. xxvii. 17.) and hurley in the appointed place.
The wisdom and goodness of the God of nature are
to be observed in this, that, to oblige his creatures
with a grateful variety of productions, he has suited
tp them an agreeable variety of earths. 2. In his
threshing, v. 27, 28. This also he proportions to
the grain that is to be threshed out; the fitches and
the cummin, being easily got out of their husk or ear,
are only threshed with a staff and a rod; but Me
bread-corn requires more force, and therefore that
must be bruised with a threshing instrument, a
sledge shod with iron, that was drawn to and fro
over it, to beat out the corn; and yet he will not be
ever threshing it, nor any longer than is necessary
to loosen the corn from the chaff; he will not break
it, or crush it into the ground with the wheel of his
cart, nor bruise it to pieces with his horsemen; the
grinding of it is reserved for another operation. Ob¬
serve, by the wav, what pains are to be taken, not
only for the earning, but for the preparing of our
necessary food; and yet, after all, it is meat that
perishes. Shall we then grudge to labour much
more for the meat which endures to everlasting life?
Bread-corn is bruised; Christ was; it pleased the
Lord to bruise him, that he might be the Bread of
life to us.
II. The interpretation of the parable is not so
plain. Most interpreters make it a further answer
to those who set the judgments of God at defiance;
“Let them know that as the husbandman will not
be always ploughing, but will at length sow his seed,
so God will not be always threatening, but will at
length execute his threatenings, and bring upon sin¬
ners the judgments they have deserved; but in wis¬
dom, and in proportion to their strength, that they
may not be ruined, but reformed, and brought to
repentance, by them. ” But I think we may give
this parable a greater latitude in the exposition of it
1. In general; that God, who gives the husband¬
man this wisdom, is, doubtless, himself infinitely
wise. It is God that instructs the husbandman to
discretion, as his God, -v. 26. Husbandmen have
need of discretion, wherewith to order their affairs,
and ought not to undertake that business unless they
do in some measure understand it; and they should
by observation and experience endeavour to improve
themselves in the knowledge of it. Since the king
himself is served of the field, the advancing of the
art of husbandry is a common service to mankind,
more than the cultivating of most other arts. The
skill of the husbandman is from God, as every good
and perfect gift is. This takes off something'of the
weight and terror of the sentence passed on man for
sin, that when God, in execution of it, sent man to
till the ground, he taught him how to do it most to
his advantage, else, in the greatness of his folly, he
might have been for ever tilling the sand of the
sea, labouring to no purpose. It is he that gives
men capacity for this business, an inclination to it,
and a delight in it; and if some were not by Provi¬
dence cut out for it, and made to rejoice, as Issachar,
that tribe of husbandmen, in their tents, notwith¬
standing the toil and fatigue of this business, we
should soon want the supports of life. If some are
more discreet and judicious in managing these or
any other affairs than others are, God must be ac¬
knowledged in it; and to him husbandmen must
seek for direction in their business; for they, above
132 ISAIAH, XXIX.
other men, have an immediate dependence upon
the divine providence. As to the other instance of
the husbandman’s conduct in threshing his corn, it
is said, This also comes forth from the Lord of hosts,
v. 29. Even the plainest dictates of sense and reason
must be acknowledged to come forth from the Lord
of hosts. And if it is from him that men do things
wisely and discreetly, we must needs acknowledge
him to be wise in counsel, and excellent in working.
God’s working is according to his will, he never
acts against his own mind, as men often do, and
there is a counsel in his whole will; he is therefore
excellent in working, because he is wonderful in
counsel.
2. God’s church is his husbandry. 1 Cor. iii. 9.
If Christ is the true Vine, his Father is the Hus¬
bandman, (John xv. 1.) and he is continually, by his
word and ordinances, cultivating it. Poes the
filoughman plough all day, and break the clods of
his ground, that it may receive the seed, and does
not God by his ministers break up the fallow ground ?
Does not the ploughman, when the ground is fitted
for the seed, cast in the seed in its proper soil? He
does so, and so the great God sows his word by the
hand of his ministers, (Mattli. xiii. 19.) who are to
divide the word of truth, and give every one their
portion. Whatever the soil of the heart is, there is
some seed or other in the word proper for it. And
as the ivord of God, so the rod of God, is thus
wisely made use of. Afflictions are God’s thresh-
mg instruments, designed to loosen us from the
world, to part between us and our chaff, and to pre¬
pare us for use. And as to these, God will make
use of them as there is occasion; but he will propor¬
tion them to our strength, they shall be no heavier
than there is need. If the rod and the staff will an¬
swer the end, he will not make use of his cart-wheel
and his horsemen. And where these are necessary,
as for the braising of the bread-corn, (which will
not otherwise be got clean from the straw,) yet he
will not be ever threshing it, will not always chide,
but his anger shall endure but for a moment; nor
will he crush under his feet the prisoners of the earth.
And herein we must acknowledge him wonderful
in counsel, and excellent in working.
CHAP. XXIX.
This wo to Ariel, which we have in this chapter, is the
same with the burthen of the valley of vision, (ch. 22. 1.)
and (it is very probable) points at the same event — the
besieging of Jerusalem by the Assyrian army, which was
cut off there by an angel; yet it is applicable to the de¬
struction of Jerusalem oy the Chaldeans, and its last de¬
solations by the Romans. Here is, I. The event itself
foretold, that Jerusalem should be greatly distressed;
(v 1 . .4, 6.) but that their enemies, who distressed them, !
should be baffled and defeated, v. 5, 7, 8. II. A reproof
to three sorts of sinners; 1. Those that were stupid and ,
regardless of the warnings which the prophet gave them, I
v. 9. . 12. 2. Those that were formal and hypocritical in
their religious performances, v. 13, 14. 3. Those politi¬
cians thatatheistically and profanely despised God’s pro- !
vidence, and set up their own projects in competition
with it, v. 15. . 17. III. Precious promises of grace and
mercy to a distinguishing remnant whom God would
sanctify, and in whom he would be sanctified when their
enemies and persecutors should be cut off, v. 18 . . 24.
1. 'WfO to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where
V T David dwelt ! add ye year to year ;
let them kill sacrifices. 2. Yet I will dis¬
tress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and
sorrow : and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
3. And I will camp against thee round
about, and will lay siege against thee with
a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
4. And thou shalt be brought down, and
sh ilt speak out of the ground, and thy speech
shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice
shall be as of one that hath a familiar spiiit
out of the ground, and thy speech shall whis¬
per out of the dust. 5. Moreover, the mul¬
titude of thy strangers shall be like small
dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones
shall be as chaff that passeth away ; yea, it
shall be at an instant suddenly. 6. Thou
shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with
thunder, and with earthquake, and great
noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame
of devouring fire. 7. And the multitude of
all the nations that fight against Ariel, even
all that fight against her and her munition,
and that distress her, shall be as a dream of
a night-vision. 8. It shall even be as when
a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he
eateth ; but he awaketh, and his soul is emp¬
ty : or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and
behold, he drinketh ; but be awaketh, and,
behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appe¬
tite : so shall the multitude of all the nations
be, that fight against mount Zion.
That it is Jerusalem which is here called Ariel, is
agreed, for that was the city where David dwelt;
that part of it which was called Zion, was in a par¬
ticular manner the city of David, in which both the
temple and the palace were; but why it is so called is
very uncertain; probably, the name and the reason
were, then, well known. Cities, as well as persons,
get surnames and nicknames. Ariel signifies the
lion of God, or the strong lion; as the lion is king
among beasts, so was Jerusalem among the cities,
giving law to all about her; it was the city of the
great King, (Ps. xlviii. 1, 2.) it was the head city
of Judah, who is called a lion’s whelp, (Gen. xlix.
9.) and whose ensign was a lion; and he that is the
Lion of the tribe of Judah, was the glory of it. Jeru¬
salem was a terror sometimes to the neighbouring
nations, and, while she was a righteous city, was
bold as a lion. Some make Ariel to signify the altar
of burnt-offerings, which devoured the beasts offer¬
ed in sacrifice, as the lion does his prey. Wo to
that altar in the city where David dwelt; that was
destroyed with the temple by the Chaldeans. I ra¬
ther take it as a wo to Jerusalem, Jerusalem; it is
repeated here, as it is Matth. xxiii. 37. that it might
be the more awakening. Here is,
I. The distress of Jerusalem foretold; though Je¬
rusalem be a strong city, as a lion, though a holv
city, as a lion of God, yet, if iniquity be found there,
wo be to it. It was the city where David dwelt, it
was he that brought that to it, which was its glory,
and which made it a type of the gospel-church, aiid
his dwelling in it was typical of Christ’s residence
in his church. 'Phis is mentioned as an aggravation
of Jerusalem's sin, that in it were set both the testi¬
mony of Israel, and the thrones of the house of David.
1. Let Jerusalem know that her external per¬
formance of religious services will not serve as an
exemption from the judgments of God; (y. 1.) “Add
ye year to year; go on in the road of your annual
feasts, let all your males appear there three times
a year before the Lord, and none empty, according
to the law and custom, and let them never miss any
of these solemnities; let them kill the sacrifces, as
they used to do, but, as long as their lives are unre¬
formed, and their hearts unhumbled, let them not
think thus to pacify an offended God, and to turn
away his wrath.” Note, Hypocrites may be found
TSAI AH, XXIX.
133
in a constant track of clevout exercises, and tread¬
ing around in them, and with these they may flatter
themselves, but can never please God, or make
their peace with him.
2. Let her know that God is coming forth against
her in displeasure, that she shall be visited of the
Lord of hosts, (v. 6.) her sins shall be inquired into,
and punished; God will reckon for them with terri¬
ble judgments, with the frightful alarms and rueful
desolations of war, which shall lie like thunder and
earthquakes, storms and tempests, and devouring
fire, especially upon the account of the great noise.
When a foreign enemy was not in the borders, but
in the bowels, of their country, roaring and ravag¬
ing, and laying all waste, especially such an army
as that of the Assyrians, whose commanders being
so very insolent, as appears by the conduct of Rab-
shakeh, the common soldiers, no doubt, were much
more rude; they might see the Lord of those hosts
visiting them with thunder and storm. Yet this be¬
ing here said to be a great noise, perhaps it is inti¬
mated that they shall be worse frightened than hurt.
Particularly,
( 1. ) Jerusalem shall be besieged, straitly besieged.
He does not say, I will destroy Ariel, but, I will
distress Ariel; and she is therefore brought into dis¬
tress, that, being thereby awakened to repent and
reform, she may not be brought to destruction; (ti.
3 .) I will camfl against thee round about. It was
the enemy’s army that encamped against it; but God
says that he will do it, for they are his hand, he
does it by them. God had often, and long, by a
host of angels, encamped for them round about
them, for their protection and deliverance; but now
he was turned to be their Enemy, and fought against
them. The siege laid against them was of his lay¬
ing, and the forts raised against them were of his
raising. Note, When men fight against us, we
must, in them, see God contending with us.
(2.) She shall be in grief to see the country laid
waste, and all the fenced cities of Judah in the ene¬
mies’ hand; There shall be heaviness and sorrow,
(v. 2.) mourning and lamentation; so these two
words are sometimes rendered. Those that are
most merry and jovial, are, commonly, when they
come to be in distress, most overwhelmed with
heaviness and sorrow ; their laughter is then turned
into mourning. “ All Jerusalem shall then be unto
me as Ariel, as the altar, with fire upon it, and slain
victims about it:” so it was, when Jerusalem was
aestroyed by the Chaldeans; and many, no doubt,
were slain, when it was besieged by the Assyrians.
The whole ci{y shall be an altar, in which sinners,
falling by the judgments that are abroad, shall be
as victims to divine justice. Or thus; There shall
be heaviness and sorrow; they shall repent, and
reform, and return to God, and then it shall be
to me as Ariel. Jerusalem shall be like itself,
shall become to me a Jerusalem again, a holy city,
eh. i. 26.
(3.) She shall be humbled and mortified, and
made submissive;- (v. 4.) “ Thou shall be brought
down from the height of arrogancy and insolence to
which thou art come: the proud looks and the proud
language shall be brought down by one humbling
providence after another.” Those that despised
God’s judgments, shall be humbled by them ; for the
proudest sinners shall either bend or break before
him. They had talked big, had lifted ufi the horn
on high, and had sfioken with a stiff neck; (Ps.
lxxv. 5.) but now thou shalt sfieak out of the ground,
out of the dust; as one that has a familiar spirit,
whisjfiering out of the dust. This intimates that they
should be faint and feeble, not able to speak up, nor
to say all they would say; but, as those who are
sick, or whose spirits are ready to fail, their speech
(hall be low and interrupted; and that they should
;l be fearful, and in consternation, forced to speak low
as being afraid lest their enemies shtuld overheat
them, and take advantage against them ; and that
they should be tame, and obliged to submit to the
conquerors. When Htzvkiah submitted to the
king of Assyria, saying, I have offended, that which
thou /tut test on me I will bear, (2 Kings xviii. 14.)
then his speech was low, out of the dust. God can
make those to crouch, that have been most daring,
and quite dispirit them.
II. The destruction of Jerusalem's enemies is
foretold, for the comfort of all that were her friends
and well-wishers in this distress; (v. 5, 7.) “ Thou
shale be brought down, (v. 4.) to s/ieak out of the
dust; so low thou shalt be reduced. But” (so it
may be rendered) “ the multitude of thy strangers
ana thy terrible ones, the numerous armies of the
enemy, shall themselves be like small dust, not able
to speak at all, or so much as whisper, but as chaff
that fiasses away. Thou shall be abased, but they
shall be quite dispersed, smitten and slain after an¬
other manner, (ch. xxvii. 7. ) they shall pass away,
yea, it shall be at an instant, suddenly; the enemy
shall be surprised with the destruction, and you
with the salvation.” The army of the Assyrians
was by an angel laid dead upon the spot, in an in¬
stant, suddenly. Such will be the destruction of the
enemies of the gospel- Jerusalem; in one hour is
their judgment come, Rev. xviii. 10. Again, (v. 6.)
Thou shalt be visited; or, as it used to be rendered,
She shall be visited with thunder and a great noise.
Thou shalt be put into a fright which theu shalt
soon recover. But (v. 7.) the multitude of the na¬
tions that fight against her, shall be as a dream oj
a night-vision; they and their prosperity and suc¬
cess shall soon vanish past recall. The multitude
of the nations that fight against Zion, shall be as a
hungry man, who dreams that he eats, but still is
hungry; that is, 1. Whereas they hoped to make a
prey of Jerusalem, and to enrich themselves with
the plunder of that opulent city, their hopes shall
prove vain dreams, with which their fancies may
please and sport themselves for awhile, but they
shall be disappointed. They fancied themselves
masters of Jerusalem, but shall never be so. 2.
They themselves, and all their pomp, and power,
and prosperity, shall vanish like a dream, when
one awakes; shall be of as little value, and as short
continuance, Ps. lxxiii. 20. He shallop away as a
dream. Job xx. 8. The army of Sennacherib van
ished and was gone quickly, though it had filled the
country as a dream fills a man’s head; especially as
a dream of meat fills the head of him that went to
bed hungry.
Many understand these verses as part of the
threatening of wrath, when God comes to distress
Jerusalem, and lay siege to her. (1.) The multi¬
tude of her friends, whom she relies upon for help,
shall do her no good; for though they are terrible
ones, they shall be like the small dust, and shall
pass away. (2.) The multitude of her enemies
shall never think they can do her mischief enough;
but, when they have devoured her much, still they
shall be but like a man who dreams he eats, hungry,
and greedy to devour her more.
9. Stay yourselves and wonder ; cry ye
out, and cry: they are drunken, hut not
with wine ; they stagger, but not with strong
drink. 10. For the Lord hath poured out
upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath
closed your eyes : the prophets and your
rulers, the seers, hath he covered. 1 1 . And
the vision of all is become unto you as the
words of a book that is sealed, which men
134
ISAIAH, £XIX.
deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read
this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot;
for it is sealed. 12. And the book is deliv¬
ered to him that is not learned, saying, Read
this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not
learned. 13. Wherefore the Lord said,
Forasmuch as this people draw near me
with their mouth, and with their lips do
honour me, but have removed their heart
far from me, and their fear toward me is
taught by the precept of men : 1 4. There¬
fore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvel¬
lous work among this people, even a mar¬
vellous work and a wonder; for the wisdom
of their wise men shall perish, and the un¬
derstanding of their prudent men shall be
hid. 15. Wo unto them that seek deep to
hide their counsel from the Lord, and their
works are in the dark, and they say, Who
seethus? and who knoweth us? 16. Surely
your turning of things upside down shall be
esteemed as the potter’s clay : for shall the
work say of him that made it, He made
me not? or shall the thing framed say of
him that framed it, He had no understand¬
ing?
Here,
I. The prophet stands amazed at the stupidity
of the greatest part of the Jewish nation. They
had Levites, who taught the good knowledge of the
Lord, and had encouragement from Hczekiah in
doing so, 2 Chron. xxx. 22. They had prophets,
who brought them messages immediately from God,
and signified to them what were the causes, and
what should be the effects, of God’s displeasure
against them. Now one would think, surely this
great nation, that has all the advantages of divine
revelation, is a wise and understanding fleoflle,
Deut. iv. 6. But alas! it was quite otherwise, v. 9.
The prophet directs himself to the sober thinking
part of them, calling upon them to be affected with
the general carelessness of their neighbours. It
may be read, “They delay, they put off their re¬
pentance, but wonder ye that they should be so sot¬
tish; they sport themselves with their own deceiv-
mgs, they riot and revel, but do ye cry out, lament
their folly, cry to God by prayer for them. The
more insensible they are of the hand of God gone
out against them, the more do you lay to heart these
things.” Note, The security of sinners in their sin¬
ful ways is just matter of lamentation and wonder
to all serious people, who should think themselves
concerned to pray for those that do not pray for
themselves. But wlvat is the matter? What are
we thus to wonder at?
1. We may well wonder that the generality of
the people are so sottish and brutish, and so infatu¬
ated, as if they were intoxicated; They are drunken,
but not with wine; (not with wine only, with that
they were often drunk;) and they erred through
wine, ch. xxviii. 7. They were drunk with the
love of pleasures, with prejudices against religion,
and with the corrupt principles they had imbibed;
like drunken men, they know not what they do or
say, or whither they go. They are not sensible of
the divine rebukes they are under. They have
beaten me, and I felt it not, says the drunkard,
Prov. xxiii. 35. God speaks to them once, yea
twice; but, like men drunk, they perceive it not.
they understand it not, but forget the law. They
stagger in their counsels, are unstable and unsteady,
and stumble at every thing that lies in their way.
There is such a thing as spiritual drunkenness.
2. It is yet more strange that God himself has
floured out uflon them a sflirit of deep sleefl, and has
closed their eyes, (i>. 10.) that he who bids them
awake, and open their eyes, should yet lay them to
sleep, and shut their eyes; but it is in a way cf
righteous judgment, to punish them for their loving
darkness rather than light, their loving sleep.
When God by his prophets called them, they said.
Yet a little sleefl, a little slumber; and therefore he
gave them up to strong delusions, and said, Sleefl
on now. This is applied to the unbelieving Jews,
who rejected the gospel of Christ, and were justly
hardened in their infidelity, till wrath came upon
them to the uttermost; (Rom. xi. 8.) God has given
them the sflirit of slumber. And we have reason to
fear it is the woful case of many who live in the
midst of gospel-light.
3. It is very sad that this should be the case of
those who were their prophets, and rulers, and
seers; that they who should be their guides, are
themselves bjindfolded; and it is easy to tell what
the fatal consequences will be when he blind lead
the blind. This was fulfilled when, in the latter
days of the Jewish church, the chief priests, and
the scribes, and the elders of the people, were the
great opposers of Christ and his gospel, and brought
themselves under a judicial infatuation.
4. The sad effect of this was, that all the means
of conviction, knowledge, and grace, which they
enjoyed, were ineffectual, and did not answer the
end; (y. 11, 12.) “ The vision of all Me prophets,
true and false, is become to you as the words of a
book, or letter, that is sealed ufl; you cannot discern
the truth of the real visions, and the falsehood of
the pretended ones.” Or, every vision particularly
that this prophet had seen for them, and published
to them, was become unintelligible; they had it
among them, but were never the wiser for it, any
more than a man (though a good scholar) is for a
book delivered to him sealed up, and which he
must not open the seals of. He sees it is a book,
and that is all, he knows nothing of what is in it.
So they knew that what Isaiah said was a vision
and prophecy, but the meaning of it was hid from
them; it was only a sound of words to them, which
they were not at all alarmed by, or affected with:
it answered not the intention, for it made no im¬
pression at all upon them. Neither the learned nor
the unlearned were the better for all the messages
God sent them by his servants the prophets, nor
desired to be so. The ordinary sort of people ex¬
cused themselves from regarding what the prophets
said, with their want of learning and a liberal edu¬
cation; as if they were not concerned to know and
do the will of God, because they were not bred
scholars; It is nothing to me, I am not learned.
Those of better rank pretended that the prophet
had a peculiar way of speaking, which was obscure
to them, and which, though they were men of let¬
ters, they had not been used to; and, Si non vis in-
telligi, debes negligi — IJ you wish not to be under¬
stood, you deserve to be neglected. Both these are
groundless pretences; for God’s prophets have been
no unfaithful debtors either to the wise or to the
unwise, Rom. i. 14. Or, we may take it thus; the
book of prophecy was given to them sealed, so that
they could not read it, as a just judgment upon
them ; because it had often been delivered to them
unsealed, and they would not take pains to learn the
language of it, and then made excuse for their not
reading it, because they were not learned. “ But
observe, The vision is become thus to you, whose
minds the god of this world has blinded; but it is
JSAIAH, XXIX. 135
not so in itself, it is not so to all; the same vision
which to you is a savour of death unto death, to
others is, ami shall be, a savour of life unto life.”
Knowledge is easy to him that understands.
II. The prophet, in God’s name, threatens those
that were formal and hypocritical in their exercises
of devotion, v. 13, 14. Observe here,
1. The sin that is here charged upon them — dis¬
sembling with God in their religious performances,
v. 13. He that knows the heart, and cannot be im¬
posed upon with shows and pretences, charges it
upon them, whether their hearts condemn them for
it, or no. He that is greater than the heart, and
knows all things, knows that though they dram
nigh to him with their mouth, and honour him with
their li/is, yet they are not sincere in it. To wor¬
ship God is to make our approaches to him, and to
present our adorations of him; it is to draw nigh to
him as those that have business with him, with an
intention therein to honour him. This we are to do
with our mouth and with our lips, in speaking of
him, and in speaking to him; we must render to
him the calves of our lifts, Hosea xiv. 2. And if
the heart be full of his love and fear, out of the
abundance of that the mouth will speak. But there
are many whose religion is lip-labour only. They
say that which expresses an approach to God and
an adoration of him, but it is only from the teeth
outward. For, (1.) They do not apply their
minds to the service; when they pretend to be
speaking to God, they are thinking of a thousand
impertinences; They have removed their hearts far
from me, that they might not be employed in
prayer, nor come within reach of the word. When
work was to be done for God, which required the
heart, that was sent out of the way on purpose, with
the fool’s eyes into the ends of the earth. (2. ) They
do not make the word of God the rule of their wor¬
ship, nor his will their reason; Their fear toward
me is taught by the freceft of men. They wor¬
shipped the God of Israel, not according to his ap¬
pointment, but their own inventions; the directions
of their false prophets or their idolatrous kings, or
their usages of the nations that were round about
them; the tradition of the elders was of more value
and validity with them than the laws which God
commanded Moses. Or, if they did worship God
in a way conformable to his institution, in the days
of Hezekiah, a great reformer, they had more an
eve to the precept of the king than to God’s com¬
mand. This our Saviour applies to the Jews in his
time, who were formal in their devotions, and wed¬
ded to their own inventions, and pronounces con¬
cerning them, that in vain they did worship God.
Matt. xv. 8, 9.
2. It is a spiritual judgment with which God threat¬
ens to punish them for their spiritual wickedness;
( v . 14.) I will add to do a marvellous work. They
did one strange thing, they removed all sincerity
from their hearts; now God will go on and do ano¬
ther, he will remove all sagacity from their heads;
the wisdom of their wise men shall perish. They
played the hypocrite, and thought to put a cheat
upon God, and now they are left to themselves to
play the fool; and not only to put a cheat upon
themselves, but to be easily cheated by all about
them. Those that make religion no more than a
pretence, to serve a turn, are out in their politics;
and it is just with God to deprive those of their un¬
derstanding, whopait with their uprightness. This
w is fulfilled in the wretched infatuation which the
Jewish nation were manifestly under, after they had
rejected the gospel of Christ; they removed their
hearts far from God, and therefore God justly re¬
moved wisdom far from them, and hid from their
eyes the things that belonged even to their tempo¬
ral peace. This is a marvellous work; it is surpris-
| ing, it is astonishing, that wise men should of a
sudden lose their wisdom, and be given up to strong
delusions. Judgments on the mind, though least
taken notice of, are to be most wondered at.
III. He shows the folly of those that thought to
act separately and secretly frcm God, and were
carrying on designs independent upon God, and
which they projected to conceal from his all-seeing
eye.
Here we have, 1. Their politics described; (v.
15.) They seek deep to hide their counsel from the
Lord, that he may not know either what they do,
or what they design; they say, “Who sees us? No
man, and therefore not Gcd himself.” The con¬
sultations they had about their own safety, they kept
to themselves, and never asked God’s advice con¬
cerning them; nay, they knew they were displeas¬
ing to him, but thought they could conceal them
from him; and if he did not know them, he could
not baffle and defeat them. See what foolish, fruit¬
less pains sinners take in their sinful ways; they
seek deep, they sink deep, to hide their’ counsel
from the Lord, who sits in heaven, and laughs at
them. Note, A practical disbelief of God’s omni¬
science is at the bottom both of the carnal worships
and of the carnal confidences of hypocrites; Ps. xciv.
7. Ezek. viii. 12. — ix. 9.
2. The absurdity of their politics demonstrated;
(f. 16.) “Surely your turning of things upside
down thus, your various projects, turning your af¬
fairs this and that way to make them shape as ycu
would have them; or, rather, your inverting the' or¬
der of things, and thinking to make God’s provi¬
dence give attendance to your projects, ami that
God must know no more than you think fit, which
is perfectly turning things upside down, and bcgin-
ing at the wrong end, it shall be esteemed as the pot-
1 ter’s clay; God will turn and manage you, and all
your ccunsels, with as much ease and as absolute a
ower, as the potter forms and fashions his clay.”
ee how God despises, and therefore what little
reason we have to dread, those contrivances of men,
that are carried on without God, particularly these
against him. They that think to hide their coun¬
sels from God; (1.)' They do, in effect, denv him to
be their Creator. It is as if the work should say cf
him that made it, “ He made me not, I made my¬
self.” If God made us, he certainly knows us, as
the psalmist shows, Ps. cxxxix. 1, 13 — 15. So that
they who say that he does not see them, m ight as well
say that he did not make them. Much of the wick¬
edness of the wicked arises from this, thev forget
; that God formed them, Deut. xxxii. 18. Dr, (2.)
Which comes all to one, they deny him to be a wise
Creator; The thing framed saith of him that framed
it, He had no understanding: for if he had under¬
standing to make us so curiously, especially to make
us intelligent beings, and to put understanding into
the inward part, (Job xxxviii. 36.) no doubt he has
understanding to know us, and all we say and do.
As they that quarrel with God, so they that think
to conceal themselves from him, do, in effect, charge
him with folly; but he that formed the eye, shall ht
not see? Ps. xciv. 9.
1 7. Is it not yet a very little while, and
Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a
forest? 18. And in that day shall the deaf
hear the words of the book, and the eyes of
the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out
of darkness. 19. The meek also shall in¬
crease their joy in the Lord, and the poor
among men shall rejoice in the Holy One
I of Israel. 20. F or the terribleone is brought
136
ISAIAH, XXIX.
to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and
all that watch for iniquity are cut off: 21.
That make a man an offender for a word,
and lay a snare for him that reproveth in
the gate, and turn aside the j ust for a thing of
nought. 22. Therefore thus saith the Lord,
who redeemed Abraham, concerning the
house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be
ashamed, neither shall his face now wax
pale. 23. But when he seeth his children,
the work of my hands, in the midst of him,
they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify
the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the
God of Israel. 24. They also that erred
in spirit shall come to understanding, and
they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
They that thought to hide their counsels from
the Lord, were said to turn things upside down, ( v .
16.) and they intended to do it unknown to God;
but God here tells them that he will turn things up¬
side down his way; and let us see whose word shall
stand, his or theirs. They disbelieve Providence;
“Wait awhile,” says God, “and you shall be con¬
vinced by ocular demonstration, that there is a God
who governs the world, and that he governs it, and
orders all the changes that are in it, for the good of
his church.” The wonderful revolution here fore¬
told may refer primarily to the happy settlement
of the affairs of Judah and Jerusalem after the de¬
feat of Sennacherib’s attempt, and the repose which
srood people then enjoyed, when they were delivered
fnm the alarms of the sword both of war and per¬
secution. But it may look further, to the rejection
nf the Jews at the first planting of the gospel, (for
their hypocrisy and infidelity were here foretold,
i’. 13.) and the admission of the Gentiles into the
church.
In general, it is a great and surprising change
that is here foretold, v. 17. Lebanon, that was a
forest, is turned into a fruitful field; and Carmel,
that was a fruitful field, shall become a forest It
is a counter-change. Note, Great changes, both
for the better, and for the worse, are often made in
a very little while. It was a sign given them of the
defeat of Sennacherib, that the ground should be
more than ordinarily fruitful; (c/i. xxxvii. 30.) Ye
shall eat this year such as grows of itself: food for
man shall be (as food for beasts is) the spontaneous
product of the soil; then Lebanon became a fruitful
fi 'ld, so fruitful, that that which used to be reckon¬
ed a fruitful field, in comparison with it, shall be
looked upon but as a forest. When a great harvest
of souls was gathered in to Christ from among the
Gentiles, then the wilderness was turned into a fruit-
fid field, and the Jewish church, that had long been
a fruitful field, became a desolate and deserted fo¬
rest, eh. liv. 1.
In particular, 1. Those that were ignorant shall
become intelligent, v. 18. Those that understand
not this prophecy, (but it was to them as a sealed
bonk, v. 11.) shall, when.it is accomplished, under¬
stand it, and shall acknowledge, not only the hand
nf God in the event, but the voice of God in the pre¬
diction of it. The deaf shall then hear the words of
the hook: the fulfilling of prophecy is the best ex¬
position of it. The poor Gentiles shall then have
divine revelation brought among them; and those
that sat in darkness shall see a great light; those that
were blind shall see out of obscurity; for the gospel
was sent to them to often their eyes, Acts xxvi. 18.
Observe, In order to the making of men fruitful
in good affections and actions, the course God’s
grace takes with them is, to open their under
standings, and make them hear the w< ’’ds of God’s
book.
2. Those that were erroneous shall become ortho¬
dox; ( v . 24.) They that erred in spirit, that were
under mistakes and misapprehensions concerning
the words of the book, and the meaning nf them,
they shall come to understanding, to a right under¬
standing of things; the Spirit of truth shall rectify
their mistakes, and lead them into all truth. This
should encourage us to pray for those that have err¬
ed, and are deceived, that God can, and often does,
bring such to understanding. They that murmured
at the truths of God as hard sayings, and loved to
pick quarrels with them, shall learn the true mean¬
ing of these doctrines, and then they will be better
reconciled to them. They that erred concerning
the providence of God, as to public affairs, and
murmured at the disposals of it, when they shall
see the issue of things, shall better understand them,
and be aware of what God was designing in all,
Hosea xiv. 9.
3. Those that were melancholy shall become
cheerful and pleasant; (v. 19.) The meek also shall
increase their joy in the Lord. Those who are poor
in the world, and poor in spirit, who, being in afflic¬
tion, accommodate themselves to their affliction —
are purely passive, and not passionate, when they
see God appearing for them, they shall add, or re¬
peat, joy in the Lord. This intimates, that even
in their distress they kept up their joy in the Lord,
but now they increased it. Note, They who, when
they are in trouble, can truly rejoice in God, shall
soon have cause given them greatly to rejoice in
him. When joy in the world is decreasing and fad¬
ing, joy in God is increasing and getting ground.
This shining light shall shine more and more; for
that which is aimed at is, that this joy may be full.
Even the poor among men may rejoice in the Holy
One of Israel, and their poverty needs not deprive
them of that joy, Heb. iii. 17, 18. And the meek,
the humble, the patient, and dispassionate, shall
grow in this joy. Note, the grace of meekness will
contribute very much to the increase of our holy
joy.
4. The enemies that were formidable shall be¬
come despicable. Sennacherib, that terrible one,
and his great army, that put the country into such
a consternation, shall be brought to nought, (v. 20.)
shall be quite disabled to do any further mischief.
The power of Satan, that terrible one indeed, shall
be broken by the prevalency of Christ’s gospel; and
they that were subject to bondage, through fear of
him that had the power of death, shall be deliver¬
ed, Heb. ii. 14, 15.
5. The persecutors that were vexatious shall be
quieted; and so those they were troublesome to shall
be quiet from the fear of them. To complete the
repose of God’s people, not only the terrible one
from abroad shall be brought to nought, but the
scorners at home too shall be consumed and cut off
by Hezekiah’s reformation. Those are a happy
people, and likely to be so, who, when God gives
them victory and success against their terrible ene¬
mies abroad, take care to suppress vice and pro¬
faneness, and the spirit of persecution, those more
dangerous enemies at home. Or, They shall bi
consumed and cutoff by the judgments of God, shall
be singled out to be made examples of. Or, They
shall insensibly waste away, being put to confusion
by the fulfilling of those predictions which they
had made a jest of.
Observe, What had been the wickedness of these
scunners, for which they should be cut off; they had
been persecutors of God’s people and prophets, pro
bablv of the prophet Isaiah particularly, and there¬
fore he complains thus feelingly of them, an 1 ol
137
ISAIAH, XXX.
their subtle malice. Some, as informers and per-
Si-cut .rs, others, as judges, did all they could to
t ike away his life, or, at least, his liberty. And
this is very applicable to the chief priests and Pha¬
risees, who persecuted Christ and his apostles, and
for th it sin they and their nation of scomers were
cut off and consumed. (1.) They ridiculed the pro¬
phets and the serious professors of religion; they
despised them, and did their utmost to bring them
into contempt; they were scomers, and sat in the
seat of the scornful. (2.) They lay in wait for an
occasion against them; by their spies they watch
for iniquity, to see if they can lay hold on any thing
that is s aid or done, that may be called an iniquity.
Or, They themselves watch for an opportunity to
do mischief, as Judas did to betray our Lord Jesus.
(3. ) They took advantage against them for the least
slip of the tongue; and if a thing were ever so little
said amiss, it served them to ground an indictment
upon. They made a man, though he were ever so
wise and good a man, though he were a man of God,
an offender for a word, a word mischosen or mis¬
placed, when they could not but know that it was
well-meant. They cavilled at every word that the
prophets spake to them by way of admonition,
though ever so innocently spoken, and without any
design to affront them. They put the worst con¬
struction upon what was said, and made it criminal
by strained innuendos. Those who consider how apt
we are to speak unadvisedly, and to mistake what
we hear, will think it very unjust and unfair to make
a man an offender for a word. (4.) They did all
they could to bring those into trouble, that dealt
faithfully with them, and told them of their faults.
Those that reprove in the gates, reprovers by office,
that were bound by the duty of their place, as pro¬
phets, as judges, and magistrates, to show people
their transgressions, they hated these, and laid
snares for them, as the Pharisees’ emissaries, who
were sent to watch our Saviour, that they might
entangle him in his talk, (Matth. xxii. 15.) that
they might have something to lay to his charge,
which might render him odious to the people, or
obnoxious to the government; so persecuted they the
prophets: and it is next to impossible for the most
cautious to place their words so warily, as to escape
such snares. See how base wicked people are, who
bear ill-will to those who, out of good-will to them,
seek to save their souls from death: and see what
need reprovers have both of courage to do their
duty, and of prudence to avoid the snare. (5. ) They
pervert judgment, and will never let an honest man
carry an honest cause; They turn aside the just for
a thing of nought; they condemn him, or give the
ciuse against him, upon no evidence, no colour, or
pretence, whatsoever. They run a man down, and
misrepresent him, by all the little arts and tricks
they can devise, as they did our Saviour. We must
not think it strange if we see the best of men thus
treated; the disciple is not greater than his Master.
But wait awhile, and God will not only bring forth
their righteousness, but cut off and consume these
learners.
6. Jacob, who was made to blush bythe reproaches,
and made to tremble by the threatenings, of his ene¬
mies, shall now be relieved both against his shame
and against his fear, by the rolling away of those re¬
proaches, and the defeating of those threatenings;
{v. 22.) Thus the Lord saith, who redeemed Abra¬
ham ; called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, and so
rescued him from the idolatry of his fathers, and
p'ucked him as a brand out of the fire. He that
redeemed Abraham out of his snares and troubles
will redeem all that are by faith his genuine seed,
out of theirs. He that began his care of his church
in the redemption of Abraham, when it and its Re¬
deemer were in his loins, will not now cast off the
Voh. IV. — S
care of it. Because the enemies of his people are
so industrious both to blacken them, and to frighten
them, therefore he will appear for the house of Ja¬
cob, and they shall not be ashamed as they have
been, but shall have wherewith to answer those
that reproach them, nor shall their faces now wax
pale; but they shall gather courage, and look their
enemies in the face without change of countenance,
as they have reason to do, who have the God of
Abraham on their side.
7. Jacob, who thought his family would be ex¬
tinct, and the entail of religion quite cut off, shall
have the satisfaction of seeing a numerous progeny
devoted to God for a generation, v. 23. (1.) He shall
see his children; multitudes of believers and pray¬
ing people, the spiritual seed of faithful Abraham
and wrestling Jacob. Having bis quiver full of
these arrows, he shall not be ashamed, (v. 22.) but
shall speak with his enemy in the gate, Ps. cxxvii.
5. Christ shall not be ashamed, ( ch . 1. 7.) for he
shall see his seed; (ch. liii. 10. ) he sees some, and
foresees more, in the midst of him, flocking to the
church, and residing there. ' (2. ) His children are
the work of God’s hands; being formed by him,
they are formed for him, his workmanship, created
unto good works. It is some comfort to parents, to
think that their children are God’s creatures, the
work of the hands of his providence. But it will be
much more a comfort to them, to see their children
his new creatures, the work of the hands of his
grace. (3.) He and his children shall sanctify' the
name of God as their God, as the Holy One of
Jacob, and shall fear and worship the God of Israel.
This is opposed to his being ashamed, and waxing
pale; when he is delivered from his contempts and
dangers, he shall not magnify himself, but sanctify
the Holy One of Jacob. If God make our condition
easy, we must endeavour to make his name glorious.
Parents and children are then ornaments and com¬
forts indeed to each other, when they join in sancti¬
fying the name of God. When parents give up
their children, and children give up themselves, to
God to be to him for a name ana a praise, then
the forest will soon become a fruitful field.
CHAP. XXX.
The prophecy of this chapter seems to relate (as that in
the chapter before) to the approaching- danger of Jeru¬
salem and desolations of Judah by Sennacherib’s inva¬
sion. Here is, I. A just reproof to those who, in that
distress, trusted to the Egyptians for help, and were all
in a hurry to fetch succours from Egypt, v. 1 . .7. II. A
terrible threatening against those who slighted the good
advice which God by nis prophets gave them for the re¬
pose of their minds in that distress, assuring them that
whatever became of others, the judgment would certain¬
ly overtake them, v. 8.. 17. III. A gracious promise to
those who trusted in God, that they should not only sec
through the trouble, but should see happy days after it.
times of ioy and reformation, plenty of the means or
grace, and therewith plenty of outward good things,
and increasing joys and triumphs; (v. 18 . .26.) many of
these promises are very applicable to gospel grace. IV.
A prophecy of the total rout and ruin of the Assyrian
army, which should bean occasion of great joy, and an
introduction to those happy times, v. 27 . . 33.
1. WO to the rebellious children, saith
t V the Lord, that take counsel, but
not of me; and that cover with a covering,
but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin
to sin: 2. That walk to go down into
Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth ,
to strengthen themselves in the strength of
Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of
Egypt! 3. Therefore shall the strength of
Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in
138
ISAIAH, XXX.
the shadow of Egypt your confusion. 4.
For his princes were at Zoan, and his am¬
bassadors came to Hanes. 3. They were
all ashamed of a people that could not profit
them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame,
and also a reproach. 6. The burden of the
beasts of the south : Into the land of trouble
and anguish, from whence come the young
and old lion, the viper and fiery flying ser¬
pent, they will carry their riches upon the
shoulders of young asses, and their treasures
upon the bunches of camels, to a people
that shall not profit them. 7. For the Egyp¬
tians shall help in vain, and to no purpose:
therefore have I cried concerning this, Their
strength is to sit still.
It was often the fault and folly of the people of the
Jews, that, when they were insulted by their neigh¬
bours on one side, they sought for succour from their
neighbours on the other side, instead of looking
up to God, and putting their confidence in him.
Against the Israelites they sought to the Syrians,
2 Chron. xvi. 2, 3. Against the Syrians they sought
to the Assyrians, 2 Kings xvi. 7. Against the As¬
syrians they sought to the Egyptians, and Rabsha-
keh upbraided them with it, 2 Kings xviii. 21. Now
observe here,
1. How this sin of theirs is described, and what
there was in it that was provoking to God. When
they saw themselves in danger and distress, (1.)
They would not consult with God. They would do
things of their own heads, and not advise with God,
though they had a ready and certain way of doing
it by Urim or prophets. They were so confident
of the prudence of their own measures, that they
thought it needless to consult the oracle; nay, they
were not willing to put it to that issue; “They take
counsel among themselves, and one from another;
but they do not ask counsel, much less will thev
take counsel of me. They cover with a covering,'’
(they think to secure themselves with one shelter
or other, which may serve to cover them from the
violence of the storm,) “but not of my S/iirit;”
(not such as God by his Spirit, in the mouth of his
prophets, directed them to;) “ and therefore it will
prove too short a covering, and a refuge of lies.”
(2.) They could not confide in God. They did not
think it enough to have God on their side, nor were
they at all solicitous to make him their Friend, but
they strengthened themselves in the strength of
Pharaoh; they thought him a powerful ally, and
doubted not but to be able to cope with the Assy¬
rian, while thev had him for them. The shadow
of Egypt (and it was but a shadow) was the cover¬
ing in which they wrapped themselves.
2. What was the evil of this sin; (1.) It bespoke
them rebellious .children; and a wo is here de¬
nounced against them under that character, xi. 1.
They were, in profession, God’s children; but, not
trusting in him, they were justly stigmatized as re¬
bellious; for if we distrust God’s providence, we do,
in effect, withdraw ourselves from our allegiance.
(2.) They added sin to sin. It was sin that brought
them into distress; and then, instead of repenting,
they tresfiassed yet against the Lord , 2 Chron.
xxviii. 22. And they that abused God’s mercies
to them, in making them the fuel of their lusts,
abused their afflictions too, in making them an ex¬
cuse for their distrust of God; and so they make
bad worse, and add sin to sin; and they that do so,
as thev make their own chain heavy, so it is just
with God to make their plagues wonderful. Now
that which aggravated it was, [1.] That they took
so much pains to secure the Egyptians for them;
They walk, or go down to Egypt, travel up and
down to find an advantageous road thither; but
they have not asked at my mouth, never considered
whether God would allow and approve of it or no.
[2. J That they were at such a vast expense to do
it, v. 6. They load the beasts of the south (horses
fetched from Egypt, which lay south from Judea,)
with their riches; fancying, as it is common with a
people in a fright, that they were safer any where
than where they were. Or, they sent their riches thi¬
ther, as bribes toPharaoh’s courtiers, to engage them
in their interests, or as pay for their armv. Ged
would have helped them gratis; but if they will
have it from the Egyptians, they must pay dearly
for it, and they seem willing to do so. The riches
that are so spent will turn to a bad account. They
carried their effects to Egypt through a land (so ft
may be read) of trouble and anguish; that vast
howling wilderness which lay between Canaan and
Egypt, whence come the lion and fiery serpent.
Dent. viii. 15. They would venture through that
dangerous wilderness, to bring what they had to
Egypt. Or, it may be meant of Egypt itself,
which had been to Israel a house of bondage, and
therefore a land of trouble and anguish, and which
abounded in ravenous and venomous creatures.
See what dangers men run into, that forsake God;
and what dangers they will ran into, in pursuance
of their carnal confidences, and their expectations
from the creature.
3. What would be the consequence rf it; (1.)
The Egyptians would receive their ambassadors,
would speak kindly to them, and be willing to treat
with them; (x'. 4.) His princes were at Zoan, at
Pharaoh’s court there, and had their audience of
the king, who encouraged them to depend upcn
his friendship, and the succcurs he would send
them. But, (2.) They would not answer their ex¬
pectation, they could not profit them, xt 5. Ft r
God says, They shall not profit them; (xi. 6.) and
every' creature is that to us, (and no more,) which
he makes it to be. Either, the forces they were to
furnish them with, could not be raised in time; or,
when they were raised, they were not fit for ser¬
vice, and they would not venture any of their vete¬
ran troops in the expedition; or, the march was so
long, that they could not come up when they had
occasion for them; or, the Egyptians w< uld not be
cordial to Israel, but would secretly incline to the
Assyrians, upon some account or other; The
Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose,
v. 7. They shall hinder and hurt, instead of help¬
ing. And therefore, (3.) These people, that were
now so fond of the Egy ptians, would at length be
ashamed of them, and of all their expectations
from them, and confidence in them; (x>. 3.) “ The
strength of Pi araoh, which was your pride, shall
be your shame; all your neighbours will upbraid
you, and you will upbraid yourselves, with your
folly in trusting to it. And the shadow of Egypt,
that land shadowing with wings, {ch. xviii. 1.) that
was your confidence, shall be your confusion; it
will not only disappoint you, and be the matter of
your shame, but it will weaken all your other sup¬
ports, and be an occasion of mischief to you.”
God afterward threatens the ruin of Egypt for this
very thing, because they had dealt treacherously
with Israel, and been a staff of a reed to them,
Ezek. xxix. 6, 7. The princes and ambassadors
of Israel, that were so forward to court an alliance
with them, when they come among them, shall see
so much of their weakness, or rather of their base¬
ness, that they shall all be ashamed of a people that
could not be a help or projit to them , but a shame
and reproach, v. 5. Those that trust in God, and
139
ISAIAH
> his power, providence, and promise, are never
made ashamed of their hope: but they that put
confidence in any creature, will, sooner or later,
find it a reproach to them. God is true, and may
he trusted; but every man a liar, and must be sus¬
pected. The Creator is a Rock of ages, the crea¬
ture a broken reed; we cannot expect too little
from man, or too much from God.
4. The use and application of all this; (v. 7. )
Then-fore have I cried concerning this matter, this
project of theirs. I have published it, that all
might take notice of it. I have pressed it as one in
earnest. Their strength is to sit still, in an humble
dependence upon God, and his goodness, and a
quiet submission to his will; and not to vary about,
and agitate themselves about obtaining help from
this and the other creature. If we sit stdl in a
day of distress, hoping and quietly waiting for the
salvation of the Lord, and using only lawful, regu¬
lar methods for our own preservation, this will be
the strength of our souls, both for services and suf¬
ferings, and it will engage divine strength for us.
We weaken ourselves, and provoke God to with¬
draw from us, when we make flesh our arm, for
then our heart departs from the Lord. When we
have tired ourselves by seeking for help from crea¬
tures, wc shall find it the best way of recruiting
ourselves, to repose in the Creator; Here I am, let
him do with me as he / ileascs .
8. Now go, write it before them in a ta¬
ble, and note it in a book, that it may be
for the time to come for ever and ever; 9
That this is a rebellious people, lying chil¬
dren, children that will not hear the law of
the Lord: 10. Which say to the seers,
See not : and to the prophets, Prophesy not
onto us right things; speak unto us smooth
things, prophesy deceits : 11. Get ye out
of the way, turn aside out of the path,
cause the Holy One of Israel to cease
from before us. 12. Wherefore thus saith
the Holy One of Israel, Because ye de¬
spise this word, and trust in oppression and
perverseness, and stay thereon : 1 3. There¬
fore this iniquity shall be to you as a
breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high
wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at
an instant. 14. And he shall break it as
the breaking of the potter’s vessel that is
broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so
that there shall not be found in the burst¬
ing of it a sherd to take fire from the
hearth, or to take water withal out of the
pit. 15. For thus saith the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel, In returning and
rest shall ye be saved ; in quietness and in
confidence shall be your strength ; and ye
would not. 16. But ye said, No ; for we
will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye
flee: and, We will ride upon the swift;
therefore shall they that pursue you be
swift. 1 7. One thousand shall flee at the
rebuke of one ; at the rebuke of five shall
ye flee ; till ye be left as a beacon upon the
top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a
hill.
, XXX.
Here,
I. Tlie preface is very awful; the prophet must
not only preach this, but he must write it, (v. 8.)
write it in a table, to be hung up, and exposed to
public view; he must carefully note it, not in loose
papers which might be lost or tom, but in a bo: k,
to be preserved for posterity in fierpetuam rei me-
moriam — for a standing testimony against this
wicked generation; let it remain not only to the
next succeeding ages, but for ever and ever, while
the world stands; and so it shall, for the bo<k if
the scriptures, no doubt, shall continue, and be
read, to the end of time. Let it be written, 1. To
shame the men of the present age, who would net
hear and heed it when it was spoken; let it be
written, that it may not be lost; their children may-
profit by it, though they will not. 2. To justify
God in the judgments he was about to bring upen
them; people will be tempted to think he was
too hard upon them, and over severe, unless they
know how vert' bad they were, how very provok¬
ing, and what fair means God tried with them be¬
fore he brought it to this extremity. 3. For warn¬
ing to others not to do as they did, lest they fare as
they fared; it is designed for admonition to those of
the remotest place and age, even those upon whom
the ends of the world are come, 1 Cor. x. 11. It may
be of use for God’s ministers not only to preach,
but to write; for that which is written remains.
II. The character given of the profane and
wicked Jews is very sad; he must, if he will draw
them in their own colours, write this concerning
them, (and we are sure he does not bear false wit¬
ness against them, nor make them worse than they
were, for the judgment of God is according to
truth,) That this is a rebellious people, v. 9 The
Jews were, for aught we know, the only professing
people God had then in the world, and yet many
of them were a rebellious people. 1. They rebel¬
led against their own convictions and covenants;
for they are lying children, that will not stand to
what they say, that promise fair, but perform no¬
thing; when he took them into covenant with him,
he said of them, Surely they are my people, chil¬
dren that will not lie; ( ch . lxiii. 8.) but they proved
otherwise. 2. They rebelled against the divine
authority; they are children that will not hear the
law of the Lord, nor heed it, but will do as they
have a mind, let God himself say what he will to
the contrary.
III. The charge drawn up against them is very
high, and the sentence passed upon them very
dreadful.
T wo things they here stand charged with, and
their doom is read for both, a fearful doom.
1. They forbade the prophets to speak to them
in God’s name, and to deal faithfully with them.
This their sin is described, v. 10, 11. They set
themselves so violently against the prophets to hin¬
der them from preaching, or, at least, from dealing
plainly with them in their preaching, did so banter
them and browbeat them, that they did, in effect,
say to the seers, See not. They had the light, but
they loved darkness rather. It was their privilege,
that they had seers among them, but they did what
thev could to put out their eyes; that they had pro¬
phets among them, but they did what they could to
stop their mouths; for they tormented them in their
wicked ways, Rev. xi. 10. Those that silence
good ministers, and discountenance good preaching,
are justly counted, and called, rebels against God.
See what it was in the prophets’ preaching, witl
which they found themselves aggrieved. (1.) The
prophets told them of their faults, and wamec.
them of their misery and danger by reason of sin,
and they could not bear that. They must speak to
them smooth things; must flatter them in theii
140
ISAIAH, XXX.
sins, and say that they did well, and there was no
harm, no peril, in the course of life they lived in.
Let a thing be ever so right and true, if it be not
smooth, they will not hear it. But if it be agreeable
to the good opinion they have of themselves, and will
confirm them in that, though it be ever so false, and
ever so great a cheat upon them, they will have it
prophesied to them. Those deserve to be deceived,
that desire to be so. (2. ) The prophets stopped them
in their sinful pursuits, and stood in their way like
the angel in Balaam’s road, with the sword of
God’s wrath drawn in their hand; so that they
could not proceed without terror. And this they
took amiss; when they went on frowardly in the
way of their hearts, they said to the prophet,
“ Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the
paths. What do you do in our way? Cannot you
let us alone to do as we please?” Those have their
hearts fully set in them to do evil, that bid their
faithful monitors to stand out of their way. For¬
bear, why shouldest thou be smitten? 2 Chron. xxv.
16. (3.) The prophets were continually telling
them of the Holy One of Israel, what an Enemy he
is to sin, and how severely he will reckon with sin¬
ners; and this they could not endure to hear of.
Both the thing itself, and the expression of it, were
too serious for them ; and therefore if the prophets
will speak to them, they will make it their bargain
that they shall not call God the Holy One of Israel;
for God’s holiness is that attribute which wicked
people most dread. Let us no more be troubled
with that state-preface (as Mr. White calls it) to
your impertinent harangues. Those have reason
to fear perishing in their sins, that cannot bear to
be frightened out of them.
Now what is the doom passed upon them for
this? We have it v. 12, 13. Observe, [1.] Who
it is that gives judgment upon them; Thus saith the
Holy One of Israel. That title of God which they
particularly excepted against, the prophet makes
use of. Faithful ministers will not be driven from
using such expressions as are proper to awaken
sinners, though they be displeasing. We must tell
men that God is the Holy One of Israel, and so
they shall find him, whether they will hear, or
whether they will forbear. [2.] What the ground
of the judgment is; because they despise this word;
either in general, every word that the prophets
said to them, or, this word in particular, which
speaks God the Holy One of Israel, they despise
this, and will neither make it their fear, to stand in
awe of it, nor make it their hope, to put any confi¬
dence in it; but, rather than they will be beholden
to the Holy One of Israel; will trust in oppression
and perr<ersenessi in the wealth they have got, and
the interests they have made, by fraud and vio¬
lence, or in the sinful methods they have taken for
their own security, in contradiction to God and his
will. On these they stay, and therefore they justly
should fall. [3.] What the judgment is, that is
passed upon them; “ This iniquity shall beta you
as a breach ready to fall. This confidence of
vours will be like a house built upon the sand,
which will fall in the storm, and bury the builder
in the ruins of it. Your contempt of that word of
God, which yon might build upon, will make every
thing else you trust to, like a wall that bulges out,
which, if any weight be laid upon it, comes down,
nay, which often sinks with its own weight.” The
ruin they would hereby bring upon themselves,
should be, First, A surprising rum; the breaking
shall come suddenly, at an instant, when they do
not expect it; which will make it the more fright¬
ful; and when they are not prepared or provided
for it, which will make it the more fatal. Second¬
ly, An utter ruin, universal and irreparable; “ You
and all your confidences shall be not only weak as
the potter’s clay, ( ch . xxix. 16.) but broken to
pieces as the potter’s vessel. He that has the rod
of iron shall break it, (Ps. ii. 9.) and he shall not
spare, nor have any regard to it, nor be in care
to preserve or keep whole any part of it. But
when once it is broken, so as to be unfit for use, let
it be dashed, let it be crushed, all to pieces, so that
there may not remain one sherd big enough to takt
up a little fire or water” — two things we have daih
need of, and which poor people commonly fetch in
a piece of a broken pitcher. They shall not only
be as a bowing wall, (Ps. lxii. 3.) but as a broker
mug or glass, which are good for nothing, nor car
ever be made whole again.
2. They slighted the gracious directions God gave
them, not only how to secure themselves, and make
themselves safe, but how to compose themselves,
and make themselves easy; they would take their
own way, v. 15. — 17. Observe here,
(1.) The method God put them into for salvation
and strength. The God that knew them, and knew
what was proper for them, and desired their wel¬
fare, gave them this prescription; and it is recom¬
mended to us all. [1.] Would we be saved from
the evil of every calamity, guarded against the
temptation of it, and secured from the curse of it,
which are the only evil things in it? It must be in
returning, and rest; in returning to God, and repos¬
ing in him as our Rest. Let us return from our evil
ways, into which we have gone aside, and rest and
settle in the way of God and duty, and that is the
way to be saved; “ Return from this project of go¬
ing down to Egypt, and rest satisfied in the will of
God, and then you may trust him with your safety.
In returning, in the thorough reformation of your
hearts and lives; and in rest, in an entire submis¬
sion of your souls to God, and a complacency in
him, you shall be saved.” [2.] Would we be
strengthened to do what is required of us, and to
bear what is laid upon us? It must be in quietness,
and in confidence; we must keep our spirits calm
and sedate by a continual dependence upon God,
and his power and goodness; we must retire into
ourselves with a holy quietness, suppressing all tur¬
bulent and tumultuous passions, and keeping the
peace in our own minds. And we must rely upon
God with a holy confidence that he can do what he
will, and will do what is best for his people. And
this will be our strength; it will inspire us with such
a holy fortitude as will carry us with ease and cou¬
rage through all the difficulties we may meet with.
(2.) The contempt they put upon this prescrip¬
tion; they would not take God’s counsel, though it
was so much for their own good. And justly will
they die of their disease, that will not take God for
their Physician. We are certainly enemies to our¬
selves, if we will not be subjects to him. They
would not so much as try the method prescribed;
“But ye said, JVo, (v. 16. ) we Will not compose our¬
selves, for sue will flee upon horses, and ire will ride
upon the ssuift; we will hurry hither and thither to
fetch in foreign aids.” They think themselves
wiser than God, and that they know what is good
for themselves better than he does. When Senna¬
cherib took all the fenced cities of Judah, those re¬
bellious children would not be persuaded to sit still,
and patiently to expect God’s appearing for them,
as he did wonderfully at last; but they would shift
for their own safety, and thereby they exposed
themselves to so much the more danger.
(3.) The sentence passed upon them for this.
Their sin shall be their punishment; “ You will flee,
and therefore you shall flee; you will be upon the
full speed, and therefore so shall those be, that pur¬
sue you.” The dogs are most apt to run barking
after him that rides fast. The conquerors protected
those that sat still, but pursued those that made
ISAIAH, XXX.
141
-heir escape; and so that \ try project by which they
hoped to save themselves, was justly their ruin, and
the most guilty suffered most. It is foretold, v. 17.
[1.] That they should be easily cut off; they should
be so dispirited with their own fears, increased by
their flight, that one of the enemy should defeat a
thousand of them, and five put an army to flight;
which could never be, unless their Rock had sold
them, Dent, xxxii. 30. [2.] That they should be
generally cut off, and only here and there one should
escape, alone in a solitary place, and left fora spec¬
tacle too, as a beacon ufion the to/ 1 of a mountain; a
warning to others to avoid the like sinful courses and
carnal confidences.
18. And therefore will the Loud wait,
that lie may be gracious unto you ; and there¬
fore will he be exalted, that he may have
mercy upon you; for the Lord is a God of
judgment : blessed are all they that wait for
him. 19. For the people shall dwell in Zion
at Jerusalem ; thou shalt weep no more : he
will be very gracious unto thee at the voice
of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will
answer thee. 20. And though the Lord
give you the bread of adversity, and the wa¬
ter of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be
removed into a corner any more, but thine
eyes shall see thy teachers: 21. And thine
ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying,
This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn
to the right hand, and when ye turn to the
left. 22. Ye shall defile also the covering
of thy graven images of silver, and the orna¬
ment of thy molten images of gold : thou
shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth ;
thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. 23.
Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that
thou shalt sow the ground withal ; and bread
of the increase of the earth, and it shall be
fat and plenteous : in that day shall thy cat¬
tle feed in large pastures. 24. The oxen
likewise, and the young asses that ear the
ground, shall eat clean provender which
hath been winnowed with the shovel and
with the fan. 25. And there shall be upon
every high mountain, and upon every high
hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day
of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26. Moreover, the light of the moon shall be
as the light of the sun, and the light of the
sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven
days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up
the breach of his people, and healeth the
stroke of their wound.
The dosing words of the foregoing paragraph,
( Ye shall be left as a beacon upon a mountain, j
some understand as a promise, that a remnant of
them should be reserved as monuments of mercy.
Here the prophet tells them what good times should
succeed these calamities; or, the first words in this
paragraph may be read by way of antithesis. Not¬
withstanding this, yet will the Lord wait, that he
may be gracious. The prophet, having showed
chat those who made Egypt their confidence would
Ire ashamed of it, here shows that they who sat still
and made God alone their Confidence, would have
the comfort of it. It is matter of comfort to the peo¬
ple of God, when the times are very bad, that all
will be well yet, well with them that fear God,
when we say to the wicked, It shall be ill with them.
I. God will be gracious to them, and will have
mercy on them: that is the foundation of all good.
It we find favour with God, and he have mercy
upon us, we shall have comfort, according to the
time that we have been afflicted. 1. “ He will wait
to be gracious; (i>. 18.) he will wait till you return
to him and seek his face, and then he will be ready
to meet you with mercy. He will wait, that he may
do it in the best and fittest time, when it will be
most for his glory, when it will come to you with the
most pleasing surprise. He will continually follow
you with his favours, and not let slip any opportu¬
nity of being gracious to you.” 2. “ He will stir up
himself to deliver you, will be exalted, will be raised
up out of his holy habitation, (Zech. ii. 13.) that he
may appeal- for you in more than ordinary instances
ot power and goodness; and thus he will be exalted;
be will glorify his own name, that is it he aims at in
having mercy on his people. ” 3. He will be very
gracious; (v. 19.) and this, in answer to prayer,
which makes his kindness doubly kind; “He will
be gracious to thee, at the voice of thy cry; the cry
of thy necessity, when that is most urgent; the cry
of thy prayer, when that is most fervent. When he
shall hear it, there needs no more, at the first word
he will answer thee, and say, Here I am.” Herein
he is very gracious indeed.
In particular, (1.) Those who were disturbed in
the possession of their estates, shall again enjoy them
quietly. When the danger is over, the people shall
dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, as they used to do; they
shall dwell safely, free from the fear of evil. (2. )
Those who were all in tears shall have cause to re¬
joice, and shall weep no more; and those who dwell
in Zion, the holy city, will find enough there to
wipe away tears from their eyes. Now this is
grounded upon two great truths; [1.] That the Lord
is a God of judgment; he is both wise and just in all
the disposals of his providence, true to his word,
and tender of hispeople. If he correct his children,
it is with judgment; (Jer. x. 24.) with moderation
and discretion, considering their frame. We think
we may safely refer ourselves to a man of judgment;
and shall we not commit our way to a God of judg¬
ment? [2.] That therefore all those are blessed,
who wait for him; who not only wait on him with
their prayers, but wait for him with their hopes;
who will not take any indirect course to extricate
themselves out of their straits, or anticipate their
deliverapce, but patiently expect God’s appearances
for them in his own way and time. Because God is
infinitely wise, those are truly happy who refer
themselves to him.
II. They shall not again know the want of the
means of grace, v. 20, 21. Here, 1. It is supposed
that they might be brought into straits and troubles,
after this deliverance was wrought for them. It
was promised (v. 19.) that they should weep no
more, and that God would be gracious to them; and
yet here it is taken for granted that God may give
them the bread of adversity, and the water of afflic¬
tion, prisoners’ fare, (1 Kings xxii. 27.) coarse and
sorry food, such as the poor use. When one trou¬
ble is over, we know not how soon another may suc¬
ceed ; and we may have an interest in the favour of
God, and such consolations as are sufficient to pro
hibit weeping, and yet may have bread of adversitt
given us to eat, and water of affliction to drink.
Let us therefore not judge of love or hatred by what
is before us. 2. It is promised thattheirfyras/;o;(W
see their teachers, that they should have faithiul
U'2
ISAIAH, XXX.
teachers among them, and should have hearts to re¬
gard them, and not slight them as they had done;
and then they might the better be reconciled to the
bread of adv ersity and the water of affliction. It
was a common saying among the old Puritans,
Brown bread and the gospel are good fare. A fa¬
mine of bread is not so great a judgment as a famine
of the word of God, Amos viii. 11, 15. It seems
that their teachers had been removed into corners,
(probably, being forced to shift for their safety in
the reign of Ahaz,) but it shall be so no more. Veri¬
tas non quxrit angulos — Truth seeks no comers
for concealment; but the teachers of truth may some¬
times be driven into corners for shelter; and it goes
ill with the church when it is so; when the woman
with her crown of twelve stars is forced to flee into
the wilderness, (Rev. xii. 6.) when the prophets
are hid by fifty in a cave, 1 Kings xviii. 4. But
God will find a time to call the teachers out of their
corners again, and to replace them in their solemn
assemblies, which shall see their own teachers, the
eyes of all the synagogue being fastened on them,
Luke iv. 20. And it will be the more pleasing be¬
cause of the restraint they have been for some time
under, as light out of darkness, as life from the dead.
To all that love God, and their own souls, this re¬
turn of faithful teachers out of their corners, espe¬
cially with a promise that they shall not be removed
into comers any more, is the most acceptable part
of anv deliverance, and has comfort enough in it to
sweeten even the bread of adversity and the water
of affliction. But this is not all; it is promised that
they shall have the benefit, not only of a public
ministry, but of private and particular admonition
and advice; (it. 21.) “ Thine ears shall hear a word
behind thee, calling after thee as a man calls after a
traveller that he sees going out of his road. ” Ob¬
serve, (1.) Whence this word shall come; from be¬
hind thee, from some one whom thou dost not see,
but who sees thee. “ Thine eyes see thy teachers;
but this is a teacher out of sight, it is thy own con¬
science, which shall now by the grace of God be
awakened to doits office.” (2.) What the word
shall be; “ This is the way, walk ye in it. When
thou art doubting, conscience shall direct thee to
the way of duty; when thou art dull and trifling,
conscience shall quicken thee in that way.” As
God has not left himself without witness, so he
has not left us without guides to show us our way.
(3.) The seasonableness of this word; It shall come
when ye turn to the right hand, or to the left. We
are very apt to miss our way; there are turnings on
both hands, and those so tracked and seemingly
straight, that they may easily be mistaken for the
right way; there are right hand and left hand errors,
extremes on each side virtue; the tempter is busy
courting us into the by-paths. It is happy then if,
bv the particular counsels of a faithful minister or
friend, or the checks of conscience, and the striv¬
ings of God’s Spirit, we be set right, and prevented
from going wrong. (4.) The success of this word;
“ It shall not onlv be spoken, but thine ears shall
hear it; whereas God has formerly sfioken once, yea,
twice, and thou hast not fierceived it, (Job xxxiii.
14.) now thou shalt listen attentively to these secret
whispers, and hear them with an obedient ear. ” If
God give us not only the word, but the hearing ear,
not only the means of grace, but a heart to make a
good use of those means, we have reason to say, He
is very gracious to us, and reason to hope he has yet
further mercy in store for us.
III. They shall be cured of their idolatry, shall
fall out with their idols, and never be reconciled to
them again, v. 22. The deliverance God shall
work for them, shall convince them that it is their
interest, as well as duty, to serve him only; and they
shall own that as their trouble was brought upon
them for their idolatries, so it was removed upon
condition that they should not return to them. This
is also the good effect of their seeing of their teach¬
ers, and hearing of the word behind them; by this it
shall appear that they are the better fir the means
of grace they enjoy — they shall break off from their
best-beloved sin. Observe, 1. How foolishly mad
they had formerly been upon their idols, in the day
of their apostacy; idolaters are said to be mad upon
their idols, (Jer. 1. 38.) dotingly fond of them; they
had graven images of silver, and molten images of
gold, and, though gold needs no painting, they had
coverings and ornaments on these; they sp. red no
cost in doing honour to their idols. 2. How wisely
mad (if I may so speak) they now were at their
idols, what a holy indignation they conceived against
them in the day of their repentance! They not
only degraded their images, but defaced them ; not
only defaced them, but defiled them; they not only
spoiled the shape of them, but in a pious fury threw
away the gold and silver they were made of, though
otherwise valuable, and convertable to a good use
They could not find in their hearts to make any
vessel of honour of it. The rich clothes wherewith
their images were dressed up, they cast away as
filthy cloth, which renders those that touch them
unclean until the even, Lev. xv. 23. Note, To all
true penitents sin is become very odious; they loathe
it, and loathe themselves because of it; they cast it
away to the dunghill, the fittest place for it, nay, to
the cross, for they crucify the flesh; their cry
against it is, Crucify it, crucify it. They say unto
it, Abi hinc in malam rem — Get thee hence. They
are resolved never to harbour it any more. They
put as far from them as thev can, all the occasions
of sin, and temptations to it, though they are as a
right eye or a right hand, and protest against it as
Epraim did, (Hos. xiv. 8.) What have I to do any
more with idols? Probably, this was fulfilled in
many particular persons, who, by the deliverance
of Jerusalem from Sennacherib’s army, were con¬
vinced of the folly of their idolatry, and forsook it;
it was fulfilled in the bod}' cf the Jewish nation at
their return from their captivity in Babylon, for they
abhorred idols ever after; and it is accomplished
daily in the conversion of souls, by the power of di¬
vine grace, from spiritual idolatry to the fear and
love of God. Those that join themselves to the
Lord, must abandon every sin, and say unto it. Get
thee hence.
IV. God will then give them plenty of all good
things: when he gives them their teachers, and they
give him their hearts, so that they begin to seek the
kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof,
then all other things shall be added to them, Matth.
vi. 33. And when the people are brought to praise
God, then shall the earth yield her increase, and
with it God, even our own God, shall bless us, Ps.
lxvii. 5, 6. So it follows here; “When ye shall
have abandoned your idols, then shall God give the
rain of your seed;” v. 23. When we return to God
in a way of duty, he will meet us with his favours.
1. God will give you rain of your seed, rain to water
the seed you sow, just at the time that it calls for it,
as much as it needs, and no more. Observe, How
man’s industry and God’s blessing concur to the
good things we enjoy relating to the life that now is;
'Thou shalt sow the ground, that is thy part, and
then God will give the rain of thy seed, that is his
part. It is so in spiritual fruit; we must take pains
with our hearts, and then wait on God for his grace.
2. The increase of the earth shall be rich and good,
and every thing the best of the kind; it shall he fat
and fat, very fat and very good ,fat and plenteous,
so we read it; good, and enough of it. Your land
shall be Canaan indeed; it was remarkably so after
the defeat of Sennacherib, by the special blessing
143
ISAIAH,
.if God, ch. xxxvii. 30. God would thus repair the ||
losses they sustained by that devastation. 3. Not I
only the tillage,- but the pasture ground, should be j
remarkably fruitful; The cattle shall feed in large |
fiast ures; those that are at grass, shall have room
enough, and the oxen and asses that are kept up for
use, to ear the ground, which must be the better fed
ft r their being worked, they shall eat clean proven¬
der: the corn shall not be given them in the chaff as
usual, to make it go the further, but good clean corn
fit for man’s use, being winnowed with the fan; the
brute creatures shall share in the abundance: it is
fit they should, for they groan under the burthen of
the curse which man’s sin has brought upon the
earth. 4. Even the tops of the mountains, that used
to be barren, shall be so well watered with the rain
of heaven, that there shall be rivers and streams
there, and running down thence to the valleys, (v.
25. ) and this in the day of the great slaughter that
should be made by the angel in the camp of the As¬
syrians; when the towers and batteries they had
erected for the carrying on of the seige of Jerusa¬
lem, the army being slain, should fall of course. It
is probable that this was fulfilled in the letter of it,
and tiiat about the same time that that army was
cut off, there were extraordinary rains, in mercy to
the land.
V. The effect of all this should be extraordinary
comfort and joy to the people of God. (v. 26.)
Light, that is, knowledge, shall increase; when the
prophecies are accomplished, they shall be fully un¬
derstood; or, rather, triumph shal’ the light of the
joy that is sown for the righteous, shall now come
up’ with a great increase; the light of the moon shall
become as bright and as strong as that of the sun,
and that of the sun shall increase proportionably,
and be as the light of seven days: every one shall be
much more cheerful, and appear much more plea¬
sant, than usual. There shall be a high spring-tide
of joy in Judah and Jerusalem, upon occasion of the
ruin of the Assyrian army, when the Lord binds ufi
the breach of his people; not only saves them from
being further wounded, but heals the wounds that
have been given them by this invasion, and makes
up all their losses. The great distress they were
reduced to, their despair of relief, and the sudden¬
ness of their deliverance, would much augment
their joy. This is not unfitly applied by many to the
light which the gospel brought into the world to
them that sat in darkness, which as far exceeded
the Old Testament light as that of the sun does
that of the moon, and which proclaims healing to
the broken-hearted, and the binding up. of their
wounds.
27. Behold, the name of the Lord cometh
from far, burning with his anger, and the
burden thereof is heavy ; his lips are full of
indignation, and his tongue as a devouring
fire: 28. And his breath, as an overflowing
stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck,
to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity:
and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the
people, causing them to err. 29. Ye shall
have a song, as in the night when a holy so¬
lemnity is kept ; and gladness of heart, as
when one goeth with a pipe to come into the
mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One
of Israel. 30. And the Lord shall cause
his glorious voice to be heard, and shall
shew the lighting down of his arm, with the
indignation of his anger, and with the flame
XXX.
I of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tem-
i pest, and hailstones. 31. For through Ihe
1 voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be
beaten down, which smote with a rod. 32
And in every place where the grounded
staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay
upon him, it shall be with tablets and harps:
and in battles of shaking will he fight with
it. 33. F or Tophet is ordained of old ; yea,
for the king it is prepared : he hath made
it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and
much wood: t lie breath of the Lord, like
a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
This terrible prediction of the ruin of the Assyri¬
an army, though it is a threatening to them, is part
of the promise to the Israel of God; that God w< uld
not only punish the Assyrians for the mischief they
had done to the Israel of God, but would disable
and deter them from doing the like again; and this
prediction, which would now shortly be accom¬
plished, would ratify and confirm the foregoing pro¬
mises, which should be accomplished in the latter
days.
Here is,
I. God Almighty angry, and coming forth in anger
against the Assyrians; he is here introduced in all
the power and all the terror of his wrath, v. 27.
The name of Jehovah, which the Assyrians dis¬
dain, and set at a distance from them, as if they
were out of its reach, and it could do them no harm,
behold, it comes from far; a messenger in the name
of the Lord comes from' as far off as heaven itself;
he is a messenger of wrath, burning with his anger.
God’s lips are full of indignation at the blasphemy
of Rabshakeh, who compared the God rf Israel
with the gods of the heathen; his tongue is as a de¬
vouring fire, for he can speak his proud enemies
to ruin; his very breath comes with as much force
as an overflowing stream, and with it he shall slay
the wicked, ch. xi. 4. He does not stifle or smother
his resentments, as men do theirs, when they are
either causeless or impotent; but he shall cause his
glorious voice to be heard, when he proclaims war
with an enemy that sets him at defiance, v. 30. He
shall display the indignation of his anger, anger in
the highest degree; it shall be as the flame of a de¬
vouring fire, which carries and consumes all before
it; with lightning or dissipation, and with tempest
and hailstones, all which are the formidable phe¬
nomena of nature, and therefore expressive of the
terror of the Almighty God of nature.
II. The execution done by this anger of the Lord.
Men are often angry, when they can only threaten,
and talk big; but when God causes his glorious
voice to be heard, that shall not be all, he will show
the lighting down of his arm too, v. 30. The ope¬
rations of his providence shall accomplish the me¬
naces of his word; they that would not see the lift¬
ing up of his arm, (ch. xxvi. 11.) shall feel the
lighting down of it, and find, to their cost, that the
burthen thereof is heavy, (v. 27.) so heavy, that
they cannot bear it, nor bear up against it, but must
unavoidably sink and be crushed under it. Who
knows the power of his anger, or imagines what
an offended God can do?
Five things are here prepared for the execution:
1. Here is an overflowing stream, that shall reach
to the midst of the neek, shall quite overwhelm the
whole body of the army; and Sennacherib only, the
head of it, shall keep above water and escape this
stroke, while yet he is reserved for another in the
house of Nisroch his god. The Assyrian army had
been to Judah as an overflowing stream, reaching
144
ISAIAH, XXXI.
even to the neck, ( ch . viii. 7, 8.) and now the breath
oi God’s wrath will be so to it.
2. Here is a sieve of vanity, with which God
would sift those nations of which the Assyrian army
was composed, in 28. The great God can sift na¬
tions, for they are all before him as the small dust
of the balance: he will sift them, not to gather out
of them any that should lie preserved, but so as to
shake them one against another, put them into con¬
sternation, and shake them all away at last; for it is
a sieve of vanity (which retains nothing) that they
are shaken with, and they are found all chaff.
3. Here is a bridle, which God has in their jaws,
to curb and restrain them from doing the mischief
they would do, and to force and constrain them to
serve his purposes against their own will, ch. x. 7.
God particularly says of Sennacherib, {ch. xxxvii.
29.) that he will put a hook in his nose, and a bri¬
dle in his lips; it is a bridle causing them to err,
forcing them to such methods as will certainly be
destructive to themselves and their interest, and
in which they will be infatuated. God with a word
guides his people into the right way, {v. 21.) but
with a bridle he turns his enemies headlong upon
their own ruin.
4. Here is a rod, and a staff", even the voice of the
Lord, his word giving orders concerning it, with
which the Assyrian shall be beaten down, v. 31.
The Assyrian had been himself a rod, in God’s
hand, for the chastising of his people, and had
smitten them — {ch. x. 5.) that was a transient rod;
but against the Assyrian shall go forth a grounded
staff, that shall give a steady blow, shall stick close
to him, and strike home, so as to leave an impres¬
sion upon him; it is a staff with a foundation, found¬
ed upon the enemies’ deserts, and God’s determi¬
nate counsel; it is a consumption determined; {ch.
x. 23.) and therefore there is no escaping it, no
getting out of the reach of it, it shall pass in every
place where an Assyrian is found, and the Lord
shall lay it upon him, and cause it to rest, v. 32.
Such is the woful case of those that persist in en¬
mity to God; the wrath of God abides on them.
5. Here is Tophet ordained and prepared for
them, v. 33. The valley of the son of Hinnom, ad¬
joining to Jerusalem, was called Tophet; in that
valley it is supposed many of the Assyrian regi¬
ments lay encamped, and were there slain by the
destroying angel; or there the bodies of those that
were so slain, were burned. Hezekiah had lately,
and from yesterday, (so the word is,) ordained it;
that is, say some, lie had rid it of the images that
were set up in it, to which they there burnt their
children, and so prepared it to be a receptacle
for the dead bodies of their enemies; for the king
of Assyria, for his army, it is prepared, and there
is fuel enough ready to burn them all; and they shall
be consumed as suddenly and effectually as if the
fire were kept burning by a continual stream of
brimstone, for such the breath of the Lord, his
word and his wrath, will be to it. Now as the pro¬
phet, in the foregoing promises, slides insensibly
into the promises of gospel-graces and comforts, so
here, in the threatening of the ruin of Sennache¬
rib’s army, he points at the final and everlasting
destruction of all impenitent sinners. Our Saviour
calls the future misery of the damned, Gehenna, in
allusion to the valley of Hinnom, which gives some
countenance to the applying of this to that misery,
as also that in the Apocalypse, that is so often called
the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This
is said to be prepared of old for the devil and his
angels, for the greatest of sinners, the proudest, and
that think themselves not accountable to any for
what they say and do; even for kings it is prepared.
It is deep and large, sufficient to receive the world
of the ungodly; the pile thereof is fire and much
wood. God’s wrath is the fire, and sinners make
themselves fuel to it; and the breath of the Lord
(the power of his anger) kindles it, and will keep it
ever burning. See ch. lxvi. 24. Wherefore stand
in awe and sin not.
III. The great joy which this should occasion to
the people of God; the Assyrian’s fall is Jerusalem’s
triumph; {v. 29.) Ye shall have a song as in the
night, a psalm of praise, such as they sing, who by
night stand in the house of the Lord, and sing to his
glory who^gv'ws songs in the night. It shall not be
a song of vain mirth, but a sacred song, such as was
sung when a holy solemnity was kept in a gra\e
and religious manner. Our jov in the fall of the
church’s enemies must be a holy joy, gladness of
heart, as when one goes, with a pipe, (such as the
sons of the prophets used when they prophesied, 1
Sam. x. 4.) to the mountain of the Lord, there to
celebrate the praises of the Mighty One of Israel.
Nay, in every place where the divine vengeance
shall pursue the Assyrians, they shall nrt only fall
unlamented, but all their neighbours shall attend
their fall with tabrets and harps, pleased to see how
God, in battles of shaking, such as shake them out
of the world, fights with them; {v. 32.) for when
the wicked perish, there is shouting; and it is with
a particular satisfaction that wise and good men see
the ruin of those who, like the Assyrians, have in¬
solently bid defiance to God, and trampled upon all
mankind.
CHAP. XXXI.
This chapter is an abridgment of the foregoing chapter;
the heads of it are much the same. Here is, I. A wo
to those who, when the Assyrian army invaded them,
trusted to the Egyptians, and not to God for succour, v.
1 . . 3. II. Assurance given of the care God would take
of Jerusalem in that time of danger and distress, v. 4, 5.
III. A call to repentance and reformation, v. 6, 7. IV.
A prediction of the fall of the Assyrian army, and the
fright which the Assyrian king should thereby be put
into, v. 8, 9.
1. to them that go down to Egypt
V ▼ for help, and stay on horses, and
trust in chariots, because they arc many
and in horsemen, because they are very
strong: but they look not unto the Holy
One of Israel, neither seek the Loud ! 2.
Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and
will not call back his words; but will arise
against the house of the evil-doers, and
against the help of them that work iniquity.
3. Now the Egyptians are men, and not
God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord shall stretchout his hand,
both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that
is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall
fail together. 4. For thus hath the Lord
spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the
young lion roaring on his prey, when a mul
titude of shepherds is called forth against
him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor
abase himself for the noise of them : so shall
the Lord of hosts come down to fight for
mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. 5. As
birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend
Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it.
mid passing over he will preserve it.
This is the last of four chapters together, that be¬
gin with wo; and they are all woes to the sinners
ISAIAH, XXXI. 1U
that were found among the professing people of
God; to tUe drunkards of Eflhraim, (ch. xxviii. 1.)
to Ariel, ( ch . xxix. 1.) to the rebellious children,
( ch . xxx. 1.) and here, to them that go down to
Ego fit for help.; for men’s relation to the church
will not secure them from divine woes, if they live
in contempt of divine laws. Observe,
I. What the sin was, that is here reproved, v. 1.
1. Idolizing the Egyptians, and making court to
them, as if happy were the people that had the
Egyptians for their friends and allies. They go
down to Egypt for help in every exigence; as if the
worshippers' of false gods had a better interest in
heaven, and were more likely to have success on
earth, than the servants of the living and true God.
That which invites them to Egypt, is, that the
Egyptians have many chariots to accommodate
them with, and horses and horsemen that were
strong; and if they could get a good body of forces
from thence into their service, they would think
themselves able to deal with the king’of Assyria and
his numerous army. Their kings were forbidden
to multiply horses' and chariots, and were told of
the folly of trusting to them; (Ps. xx. 7.) but they
think themselves wiser than their Bible. 2. Slight¬
ing the God of Israel; They look not to the Holy
One of Israel; they treat him as if he were not
worth taking notice of in this distress; they advise
not with him, seek not his favour, nor are in any
care to make him their Friend.
II. The gross absurdity and follv of this sin.
1. They neglected one whom, if they would not
hope in him, they had reason to fear. They do not
seek the Lord, nor make their application to him,
yet he also is wise, v. 2. They are solicitous to get
the Egyptians into an alliance with them, because
thev have the reputation of a politic people; and is
not God wise too? And would not infinite wisdom,
engaged on their side, stand them in more stead than
all the policies of Egypt? They are at the pains of
going down to Egypt, a tedious journey, when they
might have had better advice, and better help, by
looking up to heaven, and would not. But if they
will not court God’s wisdom to act for them, they
shall find it act against them ; he is wise, too wise for
them to outwit, and he will bring evil upon those
who thus affront him; he will not call back his words
as men do, (because they are fickle and foolish,) but
he will rise against the house of the evil-doers, this
cabal of them that go down to Egypt; God will ap¬
pear to their confusion, according to the word that
tie has spoken, and will oppose the help they think
to bring in from the workers of iniquity. Some
think the Egyptians made it one condition of their
coming into an alliance with them, that they should
worship the gods of Egypt, and they consented to
it, and therefore they are both called evil-doers and
workers of iniquity.
2. They trusted to those who were unable to help
them, and would soon appear to be so, v. 3. Let
them know that the Egyptians, whom they depend
so much upon, are men, and not God. As it is good
for men to know themselves to be blit, men, (Ps. ix.
20.) so it is good for us to consider that those we
love and trust to are but men. They therefore can
do nothing without God, nothing against him, no¬
thing in comparison with him. They are men, and
therefore fickle and foolish, mutable and mortal,
here to-day, and gone to-morrow; they are men,
and therefore let us not make gods of them, by
making them our hope and confidence, and expect¬
ing that in them which is to be found in God only;
they are not God,, they cannot do that for us which
God can do, and will, if we trust in him. Let us
not then neglect him, to seek to them ; let us not for¬
sake the Rock of ages for broken reeds, nor the
Fountain of living waters for broken cisterns. The
V or,, iv. — T
Egyptians indeed have horses that are very strong;
but they are flesh, and not spirit, and therefore,
strong as they are, they may be wearied with a long
march, and become unserviceable, or wounded and
slain in battle, and leave their riders to be ridder
over. Every one knows this, that the Egyptians
are not God, and their horses are not spirit; but they
that seek to them for help do not consider it, else
they would not put such confidence in them. Sin¬
ners may be convicted of folly by the plainest and
most self-evident truths, which they cannot deny,
but will not believe.
3. They would certainly be ruined with the Egyp¬
tians they trusted in, v. 3. When the Lord does
but stretch out his hand, how easily, how effectual¬
ly, will he make them ashamed of their confidence
in Egvpt, and the Egyptians ashamed of the encou¬
ragement they gave them to trust in them : for he
that helps, and he that is holpen, shall fall together,
and their mutual alliance shall prove their joint ruin.
The Egyptians were shortly to be reckoned with,
as appears by the burthen of Egypt, (ch. xix.) and
then those who fled to them for shelter and succour
should fall with them, for there is no escaping the
judgments of God; evil pursues sinners, and it is
just with God to make that creature a scourge to
us, which we make an idol of.
4. They took God’s work out of his hands; they
pretended a great deal of care to preserve Jerusa¬
lem, in advising to an alliance with Egypt; and when
others would not fall in with their measures, they
pleaded self-preservation, and went to Egypt them¬
selves. Now the prophet here tells them that Je¬
rusalem should be preserved without aid from
Egypt, and that those who tarried there should be
safe, when those who fled to Egypt should be ruined.
Jerusalem was under God’s protection, and there¬
fore there was no occasion to put it under the pro¬
tection of Egypt: but a practical distrust of God’s
all-sufficiency is at the bottom of all our sinful de¬
partures from him to the creature.
The prophet tells them he had it from God’s own
mouth. Thus hath the I-ord spoken to me, we may
depend upon it;
(1.) That God would appear against Jerusalem’s
enemies with the boldness of a lion over his prey, v.
4. When the lion comes out to sieze his prey, a
multitude of shepherds come out against him ; (for
it becomes neighbours to help one another, when
persons or goods are in danger;) these shepherds
dare not come near the lion; all they can do is, to
make a noise, and with that they think to fright him
off. But does he regard it? No, he will not be afraid
of their voice, nor abase himself so far as to be in the
least moved by it, either to quit his prey, or to make
any more haste than otherwise he would do in seiz¬
ing it. Thus will the Lord of hosts come down to
fight for mount Zion, with such an unshaken, un¬
daunted resolution, not to be moved by any opposi¬
tion; and he will as easily and irresistibly destroy
the Assyrian army as a lion tears a lamb in pieces.
Whoever appear against God, they are but like a
multitude of poor simple shepherds shouting at a
lion, who scorns to take notice of them, or so much
as to alter his pace for them. Surely they that have
such a Protector need not go to Egypt for help.
(2.) That God would appear for Jerusalem’s
friends with the tenderness of a bird over her young,
v. 5. God was ready to gather Jerusalem, as a hen
gathers her brood under her wings; (Matth. xxiii.
37. ) but they that trusted to the Egyptians would
not. As birds flying to their nests with all possible
speed, when they see them attacked, and fluttering
about their nests with all possible concern, hovering
over their young ones to protect them, and drive
away the assailants, with such compassion and af¬
fection will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem.
ISAIAH, XXXI.
I 16
As an eagle stirs up her young when they are in
danger, takes them ancl bears them on her wings, so
the Lord led Israel out of Egypt: (Deut. xxxii. 11,
12. ) and he has now the same tender concern for
them that he had then, so that they need not flee
into Egypt again for shelter. Defending, he will
deliver it; he will so defend it as to secure the con¬
tinuance of its safety; not defend it for awhile, and
abandon it at last, but defend it so that it shall not
fall into the enemy’s hand; I will defend this city
to save it, ch. xxxvii. 35. Passing over, he will
preserve it; the word for passing over is used in that
sense only here and Exod. xii. 12, 23, 27. concern¬
ing the destroying angel’s passing over the houses of
the Israelites, when he slew all the first-born of the
Egyptians, to which story this refers here; the As¬
syrian army was to be routed by a destroying angel,
who should pass over Jerusalem, though that de¬
served to be destroyed, and draw his sword only
against the besiegers. They shall be slain by the
pestilence, but none of the besieged shall take the
infection. Thus he will again pass over the houses
of his people, and secure them.
6. Turn ye unto him from whom the chil¬
dren of Israel have deeply revolted. 7. For
in that day every man shall cast away his
idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which
your own hands have made unto you for a
sin. 8. Then shall the Assyrian fall with
the sword, not of a mighty man ; and the
sword, not of a mean man, shall devour
him: but he shall flee from the sword, and
his young men shall be discomfited. 9. And
he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear,
and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign,
saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and
his furnace in Jerusalem.
This explains the foregoing promise of the de¬
liverance of Jerusalem; she shall be fitted for de¬
liverance, and then it shall be wrought for her; for
in that method God delivers.
1. Jerusalem shall be reformed, and so she shall
De delivered from her enemies within her walls, v.
6, 7. Here is, (1.) A gracious call to repentance.
This was the Lord’s voice crying in the city, the
voice of the rod, the voice of the sword, and the
voice of the prophets interpreting the judgment;
“ Turn ye, O turn ye now, from your evil ways,
unto God, return to your allegiance to him from
whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted,
from whom you, O children of Israel, have revolt¬
ed.” He reminds them of their birth and parent¬
age, that they were children of Israel, and therefore
under the highest obligations imaginable to the God
of Israel, as an aggravation of their revolt from him,
and as an encouragement to them to return to him.
They have been backsliding children, yet children;
therefore let them return, and their backslidings
shall be healed: they have deeply revolted, with
great address, as they supposed, the revolters are
profound; (Hos. v. 2.) but it will prove that they have
revolted dangerously ; the stain of their sins is gone
deep into their nature, not to be easily got out, like
the blackness of the Ethiopian; They have deeply
corrupted themselves, (Hos. ix. 9.) they have sunk
deep into misery, and cannot easily recover them¬
selves; therefore you have need to hasten your re¬
turn to God. (2.) A gracious promise of the good
success of this call; (v. 7.) In that day every man
shall cast away his idols, in obedience to Hezekiah’s
orders, which, till they were alarmed by the Assy¬
rian invasion, many refused to do. That is a happy
fright which frightens us from our sins. It shall
be a general reformation; every man shall cast away
his own idols; shall begin with them, before he un¬
dertakes to demolish other people’s idols, which
there will be no need of, when every man reforms
himself. It shall be a thorough reformation: for
they shall part with their idolatry, their beloved
sin, with their idols of silver and gold, their idols
that they are most fond of. Many make an idol of
their silver and gold, and by the’ love of that are
drawn to revolt from God; but those that turn to
God cast that away out of their hearts, and will be
ready to part with it when God calls. It shall be a
reformation upon a right principle, a principle of
piety, not of politics, they shall cast away their
idols, because they have been unto them for a sin,
an occasion of sin ; therefore they will have nothing
to do with them, though they had been the work of
their own hands, and upon that account they had a
particular fondness for them. Sin is the work of
our own hands, but in working it we have been
working our own ruin, and therefore we must cast
it away: and those are strangely wedded to it, who
will not be prevailed with to cast it away, when
they see that otherwise they themselves will be cast¬
aways. Some make this to be only a prediction that
those who trust in idols, when they find they stand
them in no stead, will cast them away in indigna¬
tion. But it agrees so exactly with ch. xxx. 22.
that I rather take it as a promise of a sincere refor¬
mation.
2. Jerusalem’s besiegers shall be routed, and so
she shall be delivered from the enemies about her
walls; the former makes way for this. If a people
return to God, they may leave it to him to plead
their cause against their enemies. Then, when
they have cast away their idols, then shall the Assy¬
rian fall, v. 8, 9. (1.) The army of the Assyrians
shall be laid dead upon the spot by the sword, not
of a mighty man, nor of a mean man, nor of any man
at all, either Israelite or Egyptian, not forcibly by
the sword of a mighty man, not surreptitiously by
the sword of a mean man, but by the sword of an
angel, who strikes more strongly than a mighty
man, and yet more secretly than a mean man; by
the sword of the Lord, and his power and wrath in
the hand of the angel: thus the young men of the
army shall melt, and be discomfited, and become
tributaries to death. When God has work to do
against the enemies of his church, we expect it must
be done by mighty men and mean men, officers and
common soldiers; whereas God can, if he pleases,
do it without either. He needs not armies of men,
who has legions of angels at command, Matth. xxvi.
53. (2.) The king of Assyria shall flee for the same,
shall flee from that invisible sword, hoping to get
out of the reach of itj and he shall make the best
of his wav to his own dominions, shall pass over to
some strong hold of his own, for fear lest the Jews
should pursue him, now that his army was routed.
Sennacherib had been very confident that he should
make himself master of Jerusalem, and in the most
insolent manner had set both God and Hezekiah at
defiance; yet now he is made to tremble for fear of
both. God can strike a terror into the proudest of
men, and make the stoutest heart to tremble. See
Job xviii. 11. — xx. 24. His princes that accompany
him shall be afraid of the ensign, shall be in a con¬
tinual fright at the remembrance of the ensign in
the air, which perhaps the destroying angel dis¬
played before he gave the fatal blow. Or, they
shall be afraid of every ensign they see, suspecting
it is a party of the Jews pursuing them. The ban¬
ner that God displays for the encouragement of his
people, (Ps. lx. 4.) will be a terror to his and their
enemies. Thus he cuts off the spirit of princes, and
is terrible to the kings of the earth. But who will
147
ISAIAH,
do this? It is the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and
his furnace in Jerusalem; [1.] Whose residence is
there, and who there keeps house, as a man does
where his fire and his oven are; it is the city of the
great King, and let not the Assyrians think to turn
him out of the possession of his own house. [2.]
Who is there a consuming Fire to all his enemies,
and will make them as a fiery' oven in the day of
his wrath, Ps. xxi. 9. He is himself a Wall of fire
round about Jerusalem, so that whoever assaults
her, does it at his peril, Zecli. ii. 5. Rev. xi. 5.
[3.] Who has his altar there, on which the holy
hre is continually kept burning, and sacrifices daily
offered to his honour, and with which he is well-
pleased'; and therefore he will defend this city, es¬
pecially having an eye to the great Sacrifice which
was there also to be offered, of which all the sacri¬
fices were types. If we keep up the fire of holy
love and devotion in our hearts and houses, we may
depend upon God to be a Protection to us and them.
CHAP. XXXII.
This chapter seems to be such a prophecy of the reign of
Hezekiah, as amounts to an abridgment of the history
of it, and this with an eye to the kingdom of the Mes¬
siah, whose government was typified uy the thrones of
the house of David; for which reason he is so often
called the Son of David. Here is, I. A prophecy of that 1
good work of reformation with which he should begin j
nis reign, and the happy influence it should have upon ;
the people, who had been wretchedly corrupted and de¬
bauched in the reign of his predecessor, v. 1 . .8. II. A |
prophecy of the great disturbance that would be given to
the kingdom in the middle of his reign by the Assyrian
invasion, v. 9. . 14. III. A promise of better times after- '
ward, toward the latter end of his reign, in respect both |
of piety and peace, (v. 15.. 20.) which promise may be
supposed to look as far forwa'rd as the days of the Mes¬
siah.
1. TJEHOLD, a king shall reign in righ-
J J teousness, and princes shall rule in
judgment. 2. And a man shall be as a
hiding-place from the wind, and a covert
from the tempest; as rivers of water in a
dry place; as the shadow of a great rock in
a weary land. 3. And the eyes of them that
see shall not be dim; and the ears of them
that hear shall hearken. 4. The heart also
of the rash shall understand knowledge, and
the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready
to speak plainly. 5. The vile person shall
be no more called liberal, nor the churl said
to be bountiful. 6. For the vile person will
speak villany, and his heart will work
iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter
error against the Lord, to make empty the
soul of the hungry; and he will cause the
drink of the thirsty to fail. 7. The instru¬
ments also of the churl are evil: he de-
viseth wicked devices to destroy the poor
with lying words, even when the needy
speaketh right. 8. But the liberal deviseth
liberal things; and by liberal things shall he
stand.
We have here the description of a flourishing
kingdom; “Blessed art thou, 0 land, when it is
thus with thee, when kings, princes, and people,
are, in their places, such as they should be.” It
may be taken as a directory both to magistrates and
subjects, what both ought to do; or as a panegyric
to Hezekiah, who ruled well, and saw something of
, XXXII.
the happy effects of his good government: and it
was designed to make the people sensible how happy
they were under his administration, and how care¬
ful they should be to improve the advantages of it,
and withal to direct them to look for the kingdom of
Christ, and the times of reformation which that
kingdom should introduce.
It is here promised, and prescribed, for the com¬
fort of the church:
I. That magistrates should do their duty in their
places, and the powers answer the great ends for
which they were ordained of God, v. 1, 2. 1. There
shall be a king and princes that shall reign and
rule; for it cannot go well when there is no king in
Israel. The princes must have a king, a monarch
over them as supreme, in whom they may unite;
and the king must have princes under him as offi¬
cers, by whom he may act, 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14. They
both shall know their place, and fill it up; the king
shall reign, and yet, without any diminution to his
just prerogative, the princes shall rule in a lower
sphere, and all for the public good. 2. They shall use
their power according to law, and not against it; they
shall reign in righteousness and in judgment, with
wisdom and equity, protecting the good, and pun¬
ishing the bad : and those kings and princes Christ
owns as reigning by him, who decree justice; (Prov.
viii. 15.) such a King, such a Prince, Christ him¬
self is; he reigns by rule, and in righteousness will
he judge the world, ch. ix. 7 — 11. iv. 3. Thus they
shall be great blessings to the people, v. 2. A man,
that man, that king that reigns in righteousness,
shall be as a hiding-filace. When princes are as
they should be, people are as they would be. (1.)
They are sheltered and protected from many mis¬
chiefs; this good magistrate is a covert to the sub¬
ject from the tempest of injury and violence; he
defends the poor and fatherless, that they be not
made a prey of by the mighty. Whither should op¬
pressed innocency flee, when blasted by reproach,
or borne down by violence, but to the magistrate as
its hiding-place? To him it appeals, and by him it
is righted. (2.) They are refreshed and comforted
with many blessings; this good magistrate gives
such countenance to those that are poor, and in dis¬
tress, and such encouragement to every thing that
is praiseworthy, that he is as rivers of water in a
dry place, cooling and cherishing the earth, and
making it fruitful; and as the shadow of a great
rock, under which a poor traveller may shelter
himself from the scorching heat of the sun in a wea¬
ry land. It is a great reviving to a good man, who
makes conscience of doing his duty, in the midst of
contempt and contradiction, at length to be backed,
and favoured, and smiled upon, in it by a good ma¬
gistrate. All this, and much more, the Man Christ
Jesus is to all the willing, faithful, subjects of his
kingdom. When the greatest evils befall us, not
only the wind, but the tempest, when storms of
guilt and wrath beset us, and beat upon us, they
drive us to Christ, and in him we are not only safe,
but satisfied that we are so; in him we find ri¬
vers of water for them that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, all the refreshment and comfort that
a needy soul can desire, and the shadow, not cf a
tree, which sun or rain may beat through, but of a
rock, of a great rock, which reaches a great way
for the shelter of the traveller. Some observe here,
that as the covert, and the hiding-place, and the
rock, do themselves receive the battering of the
wind and storm, to save those from them that take
shelter in them, so Christ bore the storm himself, to
keep it off from us.
II. That subjects shall do their duty in their
places.
1. They shall be willing to be taught, and to un¬
derstand "things aright; they shall lay aside their
148
ISAIAH,
prejudices against their rulers and teachers, and
submit to the light and power of truth, v. 3. When
this blessed work of reformation is set on foot, and
men do their parts towards it, God will not be want¬
ing to do his: then the eyes of them that see, of the
prophets, the seers, shall not be dim; but God will
bless them with visions, to be by them communica¬
ted to the people; and those that read the word
written, shall no longer have a vail upon their
hearts, but shall see things clearly; then the ears
of them that hear the word preached, shall hearken
diligently, and readily receive what they hear; and
not be so dull of hearing as they have been. This
shall be done by the grace of God, especially gospel-
grace; for the hearing ear , and the seeing eye, the
Lord has made, has new-made, even both of them.
2. There shall be a wonderful change wrought in
them by that which is taught them, v. 4. (1.) They
shall have a clear head, and be able to discern things
that differ, and distinguish concerning them. The
heart of those that were hasty and rash, and could
not take time to digest and consider things, shall
now be cured of their precipitation, and shall un¬
derstand knowledge, for the Spirit of God will
open their understanding; this blessed work Christ
wrought in his disciples after his resurrection,
(Luke xxiv. 45.) as a specimen of what he would
do for all his, in giving them an understanding, 1
John v. 20. The pious designs of good princes are
then likely to take effect, when their subjects allow
themselves liberty to consider, and to think, so free¬
ly as to take things right. (2.) They shall have a
ready utterance; the tongue of the stammerers, that
used to blunder whenever they spake of the things
of God, shall now be ready to speak plainly, as those
that understand what they speak of, that believe,
and therefore speak. There shall be a great in¬
crease of such clear, distinct, and methodical know¬
ledge in the things of God, that those from whom
one would not have expected it, shall speak intelli¬
gently of those things, very much to the honour of
God, and the edification of others. Their hearts
being full of this good matter, their tongues shall be
as the pen of a ready writer, Ps. xlv. 1.
3. The differences between good and evil, virtue
and vice, shall be kept up, and no more confounded
by those who put darkness for light, and light for
darkness; (v. 5.) The vile shall no more be called
liberal; (1.) Bad men shall no more be preferred
by the prince. When a king reigns in justice, he
will not put those in places of honour and power
that are ill-natured, and of base and sordid spirits,
and care not what injury or mischief they do, so
they may but compass their own ends. Such are
vile persons; (as Antiochus is called, Dan. xi. 21.)
when they are advanced, they are called liberal and
bountiful, they are called benefactors, (Luke xxii.
25.) but it shall not always be thus; when the world
grows wiser, men shall be preferred according to
their merit; and honour (which was never thought
seemly for a fool, Prov. xxvi. 1.) shall no longer be
thrown away upon such. (2.) Bad men shall be no
more had in reputation among the people, nor vice
disguised with the colours of virtue. It shall no
more be said to Nabal, Thou art JVadib; (so the
words are;) such a covetous muckworm as Nabal
was, a fool but for his money, shall not be compli¬
mented with the title of a gentleman, or a prince;
nor shall they call a churl, that minds none but him¬
self, does no good with what he has, but is an un¬
profitable burthen of the earth. My lord; or, rather,
they shall not say of him, He is rich; for so the word
signifies: those only are to be reckoned rich, that
are rich in good works; not those that have abun¬
dance, but those that use it well. In short, it is well
with a people, when men are generally valued by
their virtue, and usefulness, and beneficence to man-
XXXII.
kind, and not by their wealth, or titles of honour.
Whether this was fulfilled in the reign of Heze-
kiah, and how far it refers to the kingdom of Christ,
(in which we are sure men are judged of by what
they are, not by what they have, nor is any man’s
character mistaken,) we will not say; but it pre¬
scribes an excellent rule both to prince and people,
to respect men according to their personal merit.
To enforce this rule, here is a description both of
the vile person and of the liberal; and by it we shall
see such a vast difference between them, that we
must quite forget ourselves if we pay that respect to
the vile person and the churl, which is due only to
the liberal.
[1.] A vile person and a churl will do mischief,
and the more if he be preferred, and have power
in his hand; his honours will make him worse and
not better, v. 6, 7. See the character of these base
ill-conditioned men. First, They are always plot¬
ting some unjust thing or other, designing ill either
to particular persons, or to the public, and contriv¬
ing how to bring it about; and so many silly piques
they have to gratify, and mean revenges, that there
appears not in them the least spark of generosity;
their hearts will be still working some iniquity or
other. Observe, There is the work of the heart, as
well as the work of the hands: as thoughts are
words to God, so designs are works in his account.
See what pains sinners take in sin; they labour at
it, their hearts are intent upon it, and with a great
deal of art and application they work iniquity.
They devise wicked devices with all the subtlety
of the old serpent, and a great deal of deliberation,
which makes the sin exceeding sinful; for the more
there is of plot and management in a sin, the more
there is of Satan in it. Secondly, They carry on
their plots by trick and dissimulation; when they
are meditating iniquity, they practise hypocrisy,
feign themselves just men, Luke xx. 20. The most
abominable mischiefs shall be disguised with the
most plausible pretences of devotion to God, regard
to man, and concern for some common good. Those
are the vilest of men, that intend the worst mis¬
chiefs when they speak fair. Thirdly, They speak
villany. When they are in a passion, you will see
what they are by the base ill language they give to
those about them, which no way becomes men of
rank and honour; or, in giving verdict or judgment,
they villanously put false colours upon things, to
pervert justice. Fourthly, They affront God, who is a
righteous God, and loves righteousness: they utter
error against the Lord, and therein they practise pro¬
faneness; for so the word signifies, which we trans¬
late hypocrisy. They give an unjust sentence, and
then profanely make use of the name of God for the
ratification of it; as if, because the judgment is God’s,
(Deut. i. 17.) therefore their false and unjust judg¬
ment was his; this is uttering error against the
Lord, under pretence of uttering truth and justice
for him: and nothing can be more impudently done
against God, than to patronize wickedness with his
name. Fifthly, They abuse mankind, those parti¬
cularly whom they are bound to protect and relieve.
1. Instead of supplying the wants of the poor, they
impoverish them, they make empty the souls of the
hungry; either taking away the food they have, or,
which is almost equivalent, denying the supply
which they want, and which they have to give.
And they cause the drink of the thirsty to fail; they
cut off the relief they used to have, though they
need it as much as ever. Those are vile persons
indeed, that rob the spital. 2. Instead of righting
the poor, when they appeal to their judgment, they
contrive to destroy the poor, to ruin them in their
courts of judicature with lying words in fav< ur of
the rich, to whom they are plainly partial: yea,
though the needy speak right, though the evidence
ISAIAH,
be ever so full for them to make out the equity of
their cause, it is the bribe that governs them, not
the right. Lastly, These churls and vile persons
have always bad instruments about them, that are
ready to serve their villanous purposes; All their
servants are wicked; there is no design so palpably
unjust, but there may be found those that would be
employed as tools to put it in execution. The in¬
struments of the churl are evil, and one cannot ex¬
pect otherwise; but this is our comfort, that they
can do no more mischief than God permits them.
[2.] One that is truly liberal, and deserves the
honour of being called so, makes it his business to
do good to every body, according as his sphei'e is,
v. 8. Observe, First, The care he takes, and the
contrivances he has, to do good. He devises liberal
things; as much as the churl or niggard projects
how to save and lay up what he has for himself
only, so much the good charitable man projects how
to use and lay out what he has in the best manner
for the good of others. Charity must be directed
by wisdom, and liberal things done prudently and
with device, that the good intention of them may be
answered, that it may not be charity misplaced.
The liberal man, when he has done all the liberal
things that are in his power, devises liberal things
for others to do according to their power, and puts
them upon doing them. Secondly, The comfort he
takes, and the advantage he has, in doing good; by
liberal things he shall stand, or be established. The
providence of God will reward him for his liberali¬
ty with a settled prosperity and an established re¬
putation. The grace of God will give him abun¬
dance of satisfaction and confirmed peace in his own
bosom; what disquiets others shall not disturb him;
his heart is fixed. This is the recompense of cha¬
rity, Ps. cxii. 5, 6. Some read it. The prince, or ho¬
nourable man, will take honourable courses; and by
such honourable or ingenuous courses he shall stand,
or be established. It is well with a land, when the
honourable of it are indeed men of honour, and
scorn to do a base thing; when its king is thus the
son of nobles.
9. Rise up, ye women that are at ease ;
hear my voice, ye careless daughters ; give
ear unto my speech. 1 0. Many days and
years shall ye be troubled, ye careless wo¬
men : for the vintage shall fail, the gather¬
ing shall not come. 1 1 . T remble, ye wo¬
men that are at ease ; be troubled, ye care¬
less ones : strip ye, and make ye bare, and
gird sackcloth upon your loins. 12. They
shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant
fields, for the fruitful vine. 13. Upon the
land of my people shall come up thorns and
briers, yea, upon all the houses of joy in the
joyous city : 1 4. Because the palaces shall
be forsaken ; the multitude of the city shall
be left; the forts and towers shall be for
dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture
of flocks; 15. Until the Spirit be poured
upon us from on high, and the wilderness
be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field
be counted for a forest. 16. Then judg¬
ment shall dwell in the wilderness, and
righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
1 7. And the work of righteousness '-hall be
peace ; and the effect of righteousness, quiet¬
ness and assurance for ever. 18. And my
, XXXII. HI/
people shall dwell in a peaceable habita¬
tion, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet
resting-places, 19. When it shall hail,
coming down on the forest ; and the city
shall be low in a low place. 20. Blessed
are ye that sow beside all waters, that send
forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
In these verses we have God rising up to judg¬
ment against vile persons, to punish them for their
villany; but, at length, returning in mercy to the li¬
beral, to reward them for their liberality.
I. When there was so great a corruption of man¬
ners, and so much provocation given to the holy God,
bad times might well be expected, and here is a
warning given of such times coming. The alarm is
sounded to the women that were at ease, (v. 9.) and
the careless daughters, to feed whose pride, vanity,
and luxury, their husbands and fathers were tempt¬
ed to starve the poor. Let them hear what the pro¬
phet has to say to them in God’s name; “ Rise up,
and hear with reverence and attention.”
1. Let them know that God was about to bring
wasting, desolating judgments upon the land in
which they lived in pleasure, and were wanton.
This seems to refer primarily to the desolations
made by Sennacherib's army, when he seized all
the fenced cities of Judah: but when those words,
many days and years, must be rendered, as the
margin reads them, days above a year, something
above a year shall this havock be in making; so
long it was from the first entrance of that army into
the land of Judah, to the overthrow of it. But it is
applicable to the wretched disappointment which
they will certainly meet with, first or last, that set
their hearts upon the world, and place their happi¬
ness in it; Ye shall be troubled, ye careless women. It
will not secure us from trouble to cast away care when
we are at ease; nay, to those who affect to live care¬
lessly, even little trouble will be great vexations, and
press hard upon them. They were careless and at
ease, because they had money enough and mirth
enough. But the prophet here tells them, ( 1. ) That
the country whence they had their rents and dainties,
should shortly be laid waste; the vintage should fail;
“And then what will ye do for wine to make merry
with? The gathering of-fruit shall not come, for
there shall none be gathered, and you will find the
want of them, v. 10. You will want the teats, the
good milk from the cows, the pleasant fields and
their productions; the useful fields that are service¬
able to human life, are the pleasant ones; you will
want the fruitful vine, and the grapes it used to yield
you.” The abuse of plenty is justly punished with
scarcity; and they deserve to be deprived of the
supports of life, who made them the food and fuel
of lust, and prepared them for Baal. (2. ) That the
cities too, the cities of Judah, where they lived at
ease, spent their rents and made themselves merry
with their dainties, should be laid waste too; (v. 13,
14.) Briers and thorns, the fruits of sin and the
curse, shall come up; not only upon the land of my
people, which shall lie uncultivated, but upon all
the houses of joy; the play-houses, the gaming¬
houses, the taverns in the joyous cities. When a
foreign army was ravaging the country, the houses
of joy, no doubt, became houses of mourning; then
the palaces, or noblemen’s houses, were forsaken
by their owners, who perhaps fled to Egypt for re¬
fuge; the multitude of the city were left by their
leaders to shift for themselves.' Then the stately
houses shall be for dens for ever, which had been as
forts and towers for strength and magnificence; they
shall be abandoned, the owners shall never return
to them, every body shall look upon them to be like
Jericho, an anathema; so that even when peace re-
150
ISAIAH,
turns, they shall not be rebuilt, but shall be thrown
,nto the waste; a joy of wild asses, and a pasture
of flocks. Thus is many a house brought to ruin
by sin; Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit ■ — Corn grows
on the site of Troy.
2. In the foresight of this, let them tremble, and
be troubled, strip them, and gird sackcloth upon
their loins, v. 11. This intimates not only that
when the calamity comes, they shall thus be made
ts tremble, and be forced to strip themselves, that
then God’s judgments would strip them, and make
them bare; but, (1.) That the best prevention of the
trouble would be to repent and humble themselves
for their sin?, and lie in the dust before God in true
remorse and godly sorrow, which would be the
lengthening out of their tranquillity. This is meet¬
ing God in the way of his judgments, and saving a
correction by correcting our own mistakes; those
only shall break that will not bend. (2.) That the
best preparation for the trouble would be to deny
themselves, and live a life of mortification, and to
sit loose to all the delights of sense. Those that
have already by a holy contempt of this world
stripped themselves, can easily bear to be stripped,
when trouble and death come.
II. While there was still a remnant that kept
their integrity, they had reason to hope for good
times at length, and such times the prophet here
gives them a pleasant prospect of. Such times they
saw in the latter end of the reign of Hezekiah; but
the prophecy may well be supposed to look further,
to the days of the Messiah, who is King of righte¬
ousness and King of peace, and to whom all the
prophets bear witness. Now observe,
1. How those blessed times shall be introduced;
by the pouring out of the Spirit from on high,
{y. 15.) which speaks not only of the good-will of
God towards us, but the good work of God in us;
f r then, and not till then, there will be good times,
when God by his grace gives men good hearts; and
therefore God’s ; giving his holy Spirit to them that
ask him, is, in effect, his giving them all good things,
as appears by comparing Luke xi. 13. with Matth.
vii. 11. This is the great thing that God’s people
comfort themselves with the hopes of, that the
Spirit shall be poured out upon them, that there
shall be a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit of
grace than formerly, according as the necessity of
the church, in. its desolate estate, calls for. This
comes from on high, and therefore they look up to
their Father in heaven for it. When God designs
favours for his church, he pours out his Spirit, both
to prepare his people to receive his favours, and to
qualify those whom he designs to employ as instru¬
ments of his favour, and give them success; for their
endeavours to repair the desolations of the church
are all fruitless, until the Spirit be poured out upon
them, and then the work is done suddenly. The
kingdom of the Messiah was brought in, and setup,
by ihe pouring out of the Spirit, (Acts ii.) and so it
is stdl kept up, and will be to the end.
2. Wh it a wonderfully happy change shall then
be made. That which was a wilderness, dry and
barren, shall become a fruitful field, and that which
we now reckon a fruitful field, in comparison with
what it shall be then, shall be counted for a forest;
Then shall the earth yield her increase. It is pro¬
mised, that in the days of the Messiah the fruit of
the earth shall shake like Lebanon. Ps. lxxii. 16.
Some apply this to the admission of the Gentiles
into the gospel-church, which made the wilderness
a fruitful field; and the rejection and exclusion of
tlie Jews, which made that a forest, which had been
a fruitful field. On the Gentiles was poured out a
spirit of life, but on the Jews a spirit of slumber.
See what is the evidence and effect of the pouring
nut of the Spirit upon any soul; it is thereby made
XXXII.
fruitful, and has its fruit unto holiness. Three
things go to make these times happy.
(1.) Judgment and righteousness, v. 16. When
the Spirit is poured out upon a land, then judgment
shall dwell in the wilderness, and turn it into a fruit¬
ful field; and righteousness shall remain in the
fruitful field, and make it yet more fruitful. Min¬
isters shall expound the law, and magistrates exe¬
cute it; and both so judiciously and faithfully, that
by both the bad shall be made good, and the good
made better; among all sorts of people, the poor
and low, and unlearned, that are neglected as the
wilderness, and the rich and great, and learned, that
are.valued as the fruitful field, there shall be right
thoughts of things, good principles commanding,
and conscience made of good and evil, sin and duty.
Or, in all parts of the land, both champaign and
enclosed, country and city, the ruder parts and those
that are more cultivated and refined, justice shall
be duly administered. The law of Christ introduces
a judgment or rule by which we must be governed,
and the gospel of Christ a righteousness by which
we must be saved; and wherever the Spirit is pour¬
ed out, both these dwell and remain as an ever¬
lasting righteousness.
(2. ) Peace and quietness, v. 17, 18. This is of
two kinds:
[1.] Inward peace, v. 17. This follows upon
the indwelling of righteousness, v. 16. Those in
whom that work is wrought shall experience this
blessed product of it. It is itself peace, and the
effect of it quietness and assurance for ever, a holy
serenity and security of mind, by which the soul
enjoys itself and its God, and it is not in the power
of this world to disturb it in those enjoyments.
Note, Peace and quietness, and everlasting assurance
may be expected, and shall be found, in the way
and work of righteousness. True satisfaction is to
be had only in true religion, and there it is to be had
without fail. Those are the quiet and peaceable
lives, that are spent in all godliness and honesty,
1 Tim. ii. 2. First, Even the work of righteousness
shall be peace; in the doing of our duty we shall
find abundance of true pleasure, a present great
reward of obedience in obedience. Though the
work of righteousness may be toilsome and costly,
and expose us to contempt, yet it is peace, such
peace as is sufficient to bear our charges. Secondly,
The effect of righteousness shall be quietness and
assurance, not only to the end of time, of our time,
and in the end, but to the endless ages of eternity.
Real holiness is real happiness, now, and shall be
perfect happiness, that is, perfect holiness, for ever.
[2.] Outward peace, v. 18. It is a great mercy
when those who by the grace of God have quiet
and peaceable spirits, are by the providence of God
made to dwell in quiet and peaceable habitations,
not disturbed in their houses or solemn assemblies.
When the terror of Sennacherib’s invasion was
over, the people, no doubt, were more sensible
than ever of the mercy of a quiet habitation; not
disturbed with the alarms of war. Let every
family study to keep itself quiet from strifes and
jars within; not two against three, and three against
two, in the house; and then put itself under God’s
protection to dwell safely, and to be quiet from the
fear of evil without. Jerusalem shall be a peace¬
able habitation; compare ch. xxxiii. 20. Even
when it shall hail, and there shall be a violent bat¬
tering storm coming down on the forest that lies
bleak, then shall Jerusalem be a quiet resting-place,
for the city shall be low in a low place; under the
wind, not exposed (as those cities are that stand
high) to the fury of the storm, but sheltered by the
mountains that are round about Jerusalem, Ps.
exxv. 2. The high forts and towers are brought
down; (v 14.) but the city that lies low shall oe 2
ISAIAH, XXX11I.
161
uiet resting-place. Those are most safe, and may
well most at ease, that are humble, and are willing
to dwell low, v. 19. Those that would dwell in a
peaceable habitation must be willing to dwell low,
and in a low place. Some think here is an allusion
to the preservation of the land of Goshen from the
plague of hail, which made great destruction in the
land of Egypt.
(3. ) Plenty and abundance. There shall be such
good crops gathered in every where, and every
year, that the husbandmen shall be commended
and thought happy, who sow deside all waters, (i>.
20.) who sow all the grounds that are fit for seed-
ness, who cast their bread, or bread-corn, upon the
waters, Eccl. xi. 1. God will give the increase,
but then the husbandman must be industrious, and
mind his business, and sow beside all waters; which
if he do, the corn shall come up so thick and rank,
that he shall turn in his cattl ’, even the ox and the
ass, to eat the tops of it, and keep it under. This
is applicable, [1.] To the preaching of the word.
Some think it points at the ministry of the apostles,
who, as husbandmen, went forth to sow their seed;
(Matth. xiii. 3.) and they sowed beside all waters,
they preached the gospel wherever they came.
Waters signify people, and they preached to multi¬
tudes. Wherever they found men’s hearts softened,
and moistened, and disposed to receive the word,
they cast in the good seed. And whereas, by the
law of Moses, the Jews were forbidden to plough
with an ox and an ass, (Deut. xxii. 10.)%vhich inti¬
mates that Jews and Gentiles should not intermix,
now that distinction shall be taken away, and both
the ox and the ass, both Jews and Gentiles, shall be
employed in, and enjoy the benefit of, the gospel-
hush indry. [2.] To works of charity; when God
sends these happy times, blessed are they that im¬
prove them in doing good with what they hav e,
that sow beside all waters, that embrace all oppor¬
tunities of relieving the necessitous; for in due sea¬
son they shall reap.
CHAP. XXXIII.
This chapter relates to the same events with that forego¬
ing: the distress of Judah and Jerusalem by Sennacherib’s
invasion, and their deliverance out of that distress by the
destruction of the Assyrian army. These are intermixed
in the prophecy, in the way of a pindaric. Observe, I.
The great distress that Judah and Jerusalem shall then
be brought into, v. 7.. 9. II. The particular frights
which the sinners in Zion should then be in, v 13, 14.
III. The prayers of good people to God in this distress,
v. 2. IV. The holy security which they should enjoy in
the midst of this trouble, v. 15, 16. V. The destruction
of the army of the Assyrians, (v. 1,3.) in which God
would be greatly glorified, v. 5, 10. . 12. VI. The en¬
riching of the Jews with the spoil of the Assyrian camp,
v. 4, 23, 24. VII. The happy settlement of Jerusalem,
and the Jewish state, upon this. Religion shall be up¬
permost, (v. 6.) and their civil state shall flourish, v.
17 . . 22. This was soon fulfilled, but is written for our
learning.
1 . AA70 to thee that spoilest, and thou
▼ ▼ wast not spoiled ; and dealest
treacherously, and they dealt not treacher¬
ously with thee ! when thou shalt cease to
spoil, thou shalt be spoiled ; and when thou
shalt make an end to deal treacherously,
they shall deal treacherously with thee. 2.
O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have
waited for thee; be thou their arm every
morning, our salvation also in the time of
trouble. 3. At the noise of the tumult the
oeople fled; at the lifting up of thyself the
nations were scattered. 4. And your spoil
shall be gathered like the gathering of the
caterpillar: as the running to and fro of
locusts shall he run upon them. 5. The
Lord is exalted ; for he dwelleth on high :
he hath filled Zion with judgment and
righteousness. 6. And wisdom and know¬
ledge shall be the stability of thy times, and
strength of salvation : the fear of the Lord
is his treasure. 7. Behold, their valiant
ones shall cry without ; the ambassadors of
peace shall weep bitterly. 8. The high¬
ways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth:
he hath broken the covenant, he hath de¬
spised the cities, he regardeth no man. 9.
The earth mourneth and languisheth ; Le¬
banon is ashamed and hewn down ; Sharon
is like a wilderness ; and Bashan and Carmel
shake off their fruits. 10. Now will I rise,
saith the Lord; now will I be exalted;
now will 1 lift up myself. 11. Ye shall
conceive chaff ; ye shall bring forth stubble :
your breath as fire shall devour you. 12.
And the people shall be as the burnings of
lime; as thorns cut up shall they be burned
in the fire.
Here we have,
I. The proud and false Assyrian justly reckoned
with for all his fraud and violence, and laid under a
wo, v. 1. Observe, 1. The sin which the enemy
had been guilty of; he had spoiled the people of God",
and made a prey of them, and herein had broken
his treaty of peace with them, and dealt treacher¬
ously. Truth and mercy are two such sacred things,
and have so much of God in them, that those cannot
but be under the wrath of God, that make con¬
science of neither, but are perfectly lost to both, that
care not what mischief they do, what spoil they
make, what dissimulations they are guilty of, nor
what solemn engagements they violate, to compass
their own wicked designs. Bloody #id deceitful
men are the worst of men. 2. The aggravation of
this sin; he spoiled those that had never done him
any injury, and that he had no pretence to quarrel
with; and dealt treacherously with those that had
always dealt faithfullv with him. Note, The 1< ss
provocation we have from men to do a wrong thii »,
the more provocation we give to God by it. 3. The
punishment he should fall under, for this sin. He
that spoiled the cities of Judah shall have his own
army destroyed by an angel, and his camp plunder¬
ed by those whom he had made a prey of. The
Chaldeans shall deal treacherously with the As¬
syrians, and revolt from them. T wo of Sennache¬
rib’s own sons shall deal treacherously with him,
and basely murder him at his devotions. Note, The
righteous God often pays sinners in their own coin.
He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity,
Rev. xiii. 10. — xviii. 6. 4. The time when he shall
be thus dealt with; when he shall make an end to
spoil, and to deal treacherously ; not by repentance
and reformation, that might prevent his ruin, (Dan.
iv. 27.) but when he shall have done his worst,
when he shall have gone as far as God would permit
him to go, to the utmost of his tether, then the cup
of trembling shall be put into his hand. When he
shall have arrived at his full stature in impiety,
shall have filled up the measure of his iniquity, then
all shall be called over again; when he has done,
God will begin, for his day is coming.
152
ISAIAH,
II. The praying people of God earnest at the
throne of grace for mercy for the land now in its
distress; (v. 2.) “ O Lord, be merciful to us: men
are cruel, be thou gracious; we have deserved thy
wrath, but we entreat thy favour; and if we may
find thee propitious to us, we are happy ; the trouble
we are in cannot hurt us, shall not ruin us. It is in
vain to expect relief from creatures, we have no
confidence in the Egyptians; but we have waited
for thee only, resolving to submit to thee, whatever
the issue of the trouble be, and hoping that it shall
be a comfortable issue.” Those that by faith
humbly wait for God, shall certainly find him
gracious to them. They pray, 1. For those that
were employed in military services for them; “ Be
thou their arm every morning. Hezekiah, and his
princes, and all the men of war, need continual sup¬
plies of strength and courage from thee; supply
their need, therefore, and be to them a God all-
sufficient. Every morning, when they go forth
upon the business of the day, and perhaps have new
work to do, and new difficulties to encounter, let
them be afresh animated and invigorated, and as
the day, so let the strength be.” In our spiritual
warfare, our own hands are not sufficient for us, nor
can we bring any thing to pass unless God not only
strengthen our arms, (Gen. xlix. 24. ) but be himself
Our Arm; so entirely do we depend upon him as our
Arm every morning, so constantly do we depend
upon his power, as well as his compassions, which
are new every morning, Lam. iii. 23. If God leaves
us to ourselves any morning, we are undone; we
must therefore every morning commit ourselves to
him, and go forth in his strength to do the work of
the day in its day. 2. For the body of the people;
“ Be thou our salvation also in the time of trouble;
ours who sit still, and do not venture into the high
places of the field.” They depend upon God not
only as their Saviour, to work deliverance for them,
but as their Salvation itself; for whatever becomes
of their secular interests, they will reckon them¬
selves safe and saved, if they have him for their
God. If he undertake to be their Saviour, he will
be their Salvation; for as for God, his work' is per¬
fect. Some read it thus; “ Thou who wast their
Arm every morning, who wast the continual
Strength and Help of our fathers before us; be thou
our Salvation also in time of trouble; help as thou
helpedst them; they looked unto thee, and were
lightened; (Ps. xxxiv. 5.) let us then not walk in
darkness. ”
III. The Assyrian army ruined, and their camp
made a rich but cheap and easy prey to Judah and
Jerusalem. No sooner is the prayer made, (r. 2.)
than it is answered, ( v . 3.) nay, it is outdone. They
prayed that God would save them from their ene¬
mies; but he does more than that; he gives them
victory over their enemies, and abundant cause to
triumph; for, 1. The strength of the Assyrian camp
is broken, (u. 3.) when the destroying angel slew so
many thousands of them; At the noise of the tumult,
or the shrieks of the dying men, who, we may sup¬
pose, did not die silently, the rest of the people fled,
and shifted every one for his own safety. When
God did thus lift up himself, the several nations, or
clans, of which the army was composed, were
scattered. It was time to stir, when such an un¬
precedented plague broke out among them. When
God arises, his enemies are scattered, Ps. lxviii. 1.
2. The spoil of the Assyrian camp is seized, by way
of reprisal, for all the desolations of the defenced ci¬
ties of Judah; ( v . 4.) Your spoil shall be gathered
by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, like the gathering
of the caterpillar, and as the running to and fro of
locusts; the spoilers shall as easily, and as quickly,
make themselves masters of the riches of the Assy¬
rians, as a host of caterpillars, or locusts, make a
XXXI11.
field, or a tree, bare. Thus the wealth of the sin¬
ner is laid up for the just, and Israel enriched with
the spoil of the Egyptians. Some make the Assy¬
rians to be the caterpillars and locusts, which, when
they are killed, are gathered together in heaps, as
the frogs of Egypt, and are run upon, and trodden
to dirt.
IV. God and his Israel glorified and exalted
hereby. When the spoil of the enemy is thus ga¬
thered, 1. God will have the praise of it; (v. 5.)
The Lord is exalted; it is his honour thus to abase
proud men, and hide them in the dust, together;
thus he magnifies his own name, and his people
give him the glory of it, as Israel when the Egyp-
tians were drowned, Exod. xv. 1, 2, 8cc. He is
exalted as one that dwells on high, out of the reach
of their blasphemies, and that has an overruling
power over them, and, wherein they deal proudly,
delights to show himself above them; that does
what he will, and they cannot resist him. 2. His
people will have the blessing of it. W hen God
lifts up himself to scatter the nations that are in
confederacy against Jerusalem, (t>. 3.) then, as a
preparativ e for that, or, as the fruit and product of
it, he has filed Zion with judgment and righteous¬
ness; not only with a sense of justice, but with a
zeal for it, and a universal care that it be duly ad
ministered. It shall again be called. The city of
righteousness, ch. i. 26. In this the grace of God
is exalted, as much as his providence was in the
destruction of the Assyrian army. We may con¬
clude God has mercy in store for a people, when
he fills them with judgment and righteousness,
when all sorts of people, and all their actions and
affairs, are governed by them, and they are so full
of them, that no other consideration can crowd in to
sway them against these. Hezekiah and his people
are encouraged ( v . 6. ) with an assurance that God
would stand by them in their distress. Here is, (1.)
A gracious promise of God for them to stay them¬
selves upon — Wisdom and knowledge shall be the
stability of thy times, and strength of salvation.
Here is a desirable end proposed, and that is, the
stability of our times; that things be not disturbed
and unhinged at home, and the strength of salva¬
tion, deliverance from, and success against, ene¬
mies abroad. The salvation that God ordains for
his people has strength in it; it is a horn of salva¬
tion. And here are the way and means for obtain¬
ing this end — wisdom and knowledge; not only piety
but prudence. That is it, which, by the blessing
of God, will be the stability of our times, and the
strength of salvation. That wisdom which is first
pure, then peaceable, and which sacrifices private
interests to a public good; such prudence as this
will establish truth and peace, and fortify the bul¬
warks, in defence of them. (2.) A pious maxim
of state for Hezekiah and his people to govern
themselves by — The fear of the Lord is his treasure.
It is God’s treasure in the world, from which he
receives his tribute; or, rather, it is the prince’s
treasure. A good prince accounts it so, that wis¬
dom is better than gold; and he shall find it so.
Note, True religion is the true treasure of any
prince or people; it denominates them rich. Those
places that have plenty of Bibles and ministers, and
serious good people, are really rich ; and it contri¬
butes to that which makes a nation rich in this
world; it is therefore the interest of a people to
support religion among them, and to take heed of
every thing that threatens to hinder it.
V. The great distress that Jerusalem was brought
into, described; that they who believed the prophet
might know beforehand what troubles were coming,
and might provide accordingly; and that when the
foregoing promise of their deliverance should have
its accomplishment, the remembrance of the ex-
ISA [AH, XXXIII.
153
t'vmitv of their case might help to magnify God in
ir, and make them the more thankful, v. 7 — 9. It
is here foretold, 1. That the enemy would be very
insolent and abusive, and there would be no dealing
with him; either by treaties of peace, for he has
broken the covenant, and never hesitated at it, as if
it were below him to be a servant to his word; or,
bv the preparations of war, for he has despised the
cities; lie scorns to take notice either of their ap¬
peals to justice, or of their petitions for mercy. He
makes himself master of them so easily, (though
they are called fenced cities,) and meets with so
little resistance, that he despises them; and has no
relentings, when he puts all to the sword, for he re¬
gards no man; has no pity or concern, no not for
those that he is under particular obligations to. He
neither fears God, nor regards man; but is haughty
and imperious to every one. There are those that
take a pride in trampling upon all mankind, and
have neither veneration for the honourable, nor
compassjon for the miserable. 2. That therefore
he would not be brought to any terms of reconcilia¬
tion; The valiant ones of Jerusalem, being unable
to make their parts good with him, must be con¬
tentedly run down with noise and insolence, which
will make them cry without, because they cannot
serve their country, as they might have done,
against a fair adversary. The ambassadors sent by
Hezekiah to treat of peace, finding him so haughty
and unmanageable, shall weep bitterly for vexation
at the disappointment they had met with in their
negotiations; they shall weep like children, as des¬
pairing to find out any expedient to pacify him. 3.
That the country should be made quite desolate for
a time by his army. (1.) No man durst travel the
roads; so that a stop was put to trade and com¬
merce, and (which was worse) no man could safely
fo up to Jerusalem, to keep the solemn feasts; The
ighways lie waste. While the fields lie waste,
trodden like the highways, the highways lie waste,
untrodden like the fields, for the traveller ceases.
(2.) No man had any profit from the grounds, v. 9.
The earth used to rejoice in its own productions for
the service of God’s Israel, but now the enemies of
Israel eat them up, or tread them down; it mourns
and languishes; the country looks melancholy, and
the country people have misery in their countenan¬
ces, wanting necessary food for themselves and their
families; the wonted joy of harvest is turned into
lamentation, so withering and uncertain are all
worldly joys. The desolation is universal. That
part of the country which belonged to the ten tribes,
was already laid waste; Lebanon famed for cedars,
Sharon for roses, Bashan for cattle, Carmel for
com, all very fruitful, are now become like wilder¬
nesses, are ashamed to be called by their old names,
they are so unlike what they were. They shake
off their fruits, before their time, into the hand of
the spoiler, which used to be gathered seasonably
by the hand of the owner.
" VI. God appearing, at length, in hi-s glory against
this proud invader, v. 10 — 12. When things are
brought thus to the last extremity, 1. God will mag¬
nify himself. He had seemed to sit by as an uncon¬
cerned Spectator; “ But now will I arise, saith the
Lord; now will I appear and act, and therein I will
be not only evidenced, but exalted.” He will not
only demonstrate that there is a God that judges in
the earth, but that he is God over all, and higher
than the highest. Now will I lift u/i myself will
prepare for action, will act vigorously, and will be
glorified in it. God’s time to appear for his people,
is, when their affairs are reduced to the lowest ebb;
when their strength is gone, and there is none shut
up or left, Deut. xxxii. 36. When all other helpers
fail, then is God’s time to help. 2. He will bring
down the Assyrian; “You, O Assyrians, are big
VoL. IV. — II
with hopes that you shall have all the wealth of Je¬
rusalem for ycur own, and are in pain till it be so;
but all ycur hopes shall come to nothing. You shall
conceive chaff, and bring forth stubble, which arc
not only worthless and good for nothing, but com¬
bustible and proper fuel for the fire, which tnev
cannot escape, when your own breath, as fire, shall
devour you. The breath of God’s wrath, provoked
against you by the breath of your sins; your malig¬
nant breath, the threatenings and slaughter you
breathe out against the people of God, this shall de¬
vour you, and your blasphemous breath against
God and his name. God would make their own
tongues to fall upon them, and their own breath to
blow the fire that should consume them. And then
no wonder that the people are, as the burnings of
lime in a lime-kiln, all on fire together; and as
thorns cut up, which are dried and withered, and
therefore easily take fire, and are soon burnt up.
Such was the destruction of the Assyrian army; it
was like the burning up of thorns which can well be
spared, or the burning of lime, which makes it good
for something. The burning of that army enlight¬
ened the world with the knowledge of God’s power,
and made his name shine bright.
13. Hear, ye that are far off, what I have
done ; and ye that are near, acknowledge
my might. 14. The sinners in Zion are
afraid ; fearfulness hath surprised the hypo¬
crites: Who among us shall dwell with the
devouring fire? who among us shall dwell
with everlasting burnings? 15. He that
walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly,
he that despiseth the gain of oppressions,
that shaketli his hands from holding of
bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing
of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing
evil; 16. He shall dwell on high: his place
of. defence shall be the munitions of rocks;
bread shall be given him, his waters shall be
sure. 17. Thine eyes shall see the king in
his beauty: they shall behold the land that
is very far off. 1 8. Thy heart shall medi¬
tate terror. Where is the scribe? where is
the receiver? where is he that counted the
towers? i 9. Thou shalt not see a fierce peo¬
ple ; a people of a deeper speech than thou
canst perceive; of a stammering tongue,
that thou canst not understand. 20. Look
upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine
eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation,
a tabernacle that shall not be taken down;
not one of the stakes thereof shall evt r be
removed, neither shall any of the cords
thereof be broken. 21. But there the glo¬
rious Lord will be unto us a place of broad
rivers and streams ; wherein shall go no gal¬
ley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass
thereby. 22. For the Lord is our. judge,
the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our
king; he will save us. 23. The tacklings
are loosed ; they could not well strengthen
their mast; they could not spread the sail:
then is the prey of a great spoil divided : the
lame take the prey. 24. And the inhabit-
I :>4
ISAIAH,
ants shall not say, I am sick : the people
that dwell therein shall be forgiven their ini¬
quity.
Here is a preface that commands attention; and
it is fit that all should attend, both near and far off,
to what God says and does; ( v . 13.) Hear, ye that
are far off, whether in place or time. Let distant
regions and future ages hear what God has done.
They do so; they will do so from the scripture, with
as much assurance as those that were near; the
neighbouring nations, and those that lived then. But
whoever hears what God has done, whether near
or afar off, let them acknowledge his might, that it
is irresistible, and that he can do every thing. Those
are very stupid who hear what God has done, and
yet will not acknowledge his might.
Now what is it that God has done, which we must
take notice of, and in which we must acknowledge
his might?
I. He has struck a terror upon the sinners in
Zion; (u. 14.) Fearfulness has surprised the hypo¬
crites. There are sinners in Zion, hypocrites, that
enjoy Zion’s privileges, and concur in Zion’s ser¬
vices, but their hearts are not right in the sight of
God: they keep up secret haunts of sin under the
cloak of a visible profession, which convicts them
of hypocrisy. Sinners in Zion will have a great
deal to answer for, above other sinners; and their
place in Zion will be so far from being their security,
that it will aggravate both their sin and punishment.
Now those sinners in Zion, though always subject to
secret frights and terrors, were struck with a more
than ordinary consternation, from the convictions of
their own consciences. 1. When they saw the As¬
syrian army besieging Jerusalem, and ready to set
fire to it, and lay it in ashes, and burn the wasps in
the nest, finding they could not make their escape
to Egypt, as some had done, and distrusting the
promises God had made by his prophets, that he
would deliver them, they were at their wits’ end,
and ran about like men distracted, crying, “ Who
among us shall dwell with devouring fire? Let us
therefore abandon the city, and shift for ourselves
elsewhere; one had as good live in everlasting burn¬
ings as live here.” Who will stand up for us
against this devouring fire? So some read it. See
here how the sinners m Zion are affected when the
judgments of God are aoroad; while they were only
threatened, they slighted them, and made nothing
of them; but when they come to be executed, they
run into the other extreme, then they magnify them,
and make the worst of them ; they call them de¬
vouring fire and everlasting burnings, and despair
of relief and succour. Those that rebel against the
commands of the word, cannot take the comforts of
it in a time of need. Or, rather, 2. When they
saw the Assyrian army destroyed; for the destruc¬
tion of that is the fire spoken of immediately before,
v. 11, 12. When the sinners in Zion saw what
dreadful execution the wrath of God made, they
were in a great fright, being conscious to themselves
that they had provoked this God by their secret
worshipping of other gods; and therefore they cry
out, Who among us shall dwell with this devouring
fire, before which so vast an army is as thorns?
Who among us shall dwell with these everlasting
burtiings, which have made the Assyrians as the
burnings of lime? v. 12. Thus they said, or should
have said. Note, God’s judgments upon the ene¬
mies of Zion should strike a terror upon the sinners
in Zion, nay, David himself trembles at them, Ps.
cxix. 120. God himself is this devouring Fire,
Heb. xii. 22. Who is able to stand before him?
1 Sam. vi. 20. His wrath will burn those everlast¬
ingly that have made themselves fuel for it: it is a
XXXIII.
fire that shall never be quenched, nor will ever go
out of itself; for it is the wrath of an everlasting
God preying upon the conscience of an immortal
soul. Nor can the most daring sinners bear up
against it, so as to bear either the execution of it, ( r
the fearful expectation of it. Let this awaken us all
to fly from the wrath to come, by flying to Christ as
our Refuge.
II. He has graciously provided for the security
of his people that trust in him ; Hear this, and ac¬
knowledge his power in making those that walk
righteously, and sp.eak uprightly, to dwell on high,
v. 15, 16. We have here,
1. The good man’s character, which he preserves
even in times of common iniquity; in divers in¬
stances. (1.) He walks righteously; in the whole
course of his conversation he acts by rules of equity,
and makes conscience of rendering to all their due;
to God his due, as well as to men theirs. His walk
is righteousness itself; he would not for a world wil¬
fully do an unjust thing. (2.) He speaks uprightly;
uprightness, so the word is; he speaks what is true
and right, and with an honest intention. He cannot
think one thing, and speak another; nor look one
way, and row another. His word is to him as sacred
as his oath, and is not yea and nay. (3.) He is so far
from coveting ill-gotten gain, that he despises it;
he thinks it a mean and sordid thing, and unbecom¬
ing a man of honour, to enrich himself by any
hardship put upon his neighbour. He scorns to do
a wrong thing, nay, to do a severe thing, though
he might get by it. He does not overvalue gain
itself, and therefore easily abhors the gain that is
not honestly come by. (4. ) If he have a bribe at
any time thrust into his hand, to pervert justice, he
shakes his hands from holding it, with the utmost
detestation, taking it as an affront to have it offered
him. (5.) He stops his ears from hearing any thing
that tends to cruelty or bloodshed, or any sugges¬
tions stirring him up to revenge, Job xxxi. 31. He
turns a deaf ear to these that delight in war, and
entice him to cast in his lot among them, Prov. i. 14,
16. (6. ) He shuts his eyes from seeing of evil. He
has such an abhorrence of sin, that he cannot bear
to see others commit it, and does himself watch
against all the occasions of it. Those that would
preserve the purity of their souls, must keep a strict
guard upon the senses of their bodies, must stop
their ears to temptations, and turn away their eyes
from beholding vanity.
2. The good man's comfort, which he may pre¬
serve even in times of common calamity, v. 16. (1.)
He shall be safe; he shall escape the devouring fire
and the everlasting burnings; he shall have ac¬
cess to, and communion with, that God who is a
Devouring Fire, but shall be to him a Rejoicing
Light. And as to present troubles, he shall dwell
on high, out of the reach of them, nay, out of the
hearing of the noise of them : he shall hot be really
harmed by them, nay, he shall not be greatly fright¬
ened at them ; The floods of great waters shall not
come nigh him; or, if they should attack him, his
place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks, strong
and impregnable, fortified by nature as well as art.
The divine power will keep him safe, and his faith
in that power will keep him easy. God, the Rock
of ages, will be his high Tower. (2.) He shall be
supplied; he shall want nothing that is necessary
for him; Bread shall be given him, even when the
siege is straitest, and provisions are cut off; and his
waters shall be sure, he shall be sure of the conti¬
nuance of them, so that he shall not drink his water
by measure, and with astonishment. They that
fear the Lord shall not want any thing that is good
for them.
III. He will protect Jerusalem, and deliver it our
of the hands of the invaders. This storm, that
ISAIAH, XXXIII.
threatened them, should blow over, and they should
enjoy a prosperous state again. Many instances are
here given of this:
1. Hezekiah shall put off his sackcloth, and all
the sadness of his countenance, and shall appear
publicly in his beauty, in his royal robes, and with
a pleasing aspect, (xo 17.) to the great joy of all his
loving subjects. Those that walk uprightly shall
not only have bread given them, and their water
sure, but they shall with an eye of faith see the
King of kings in his beauty, the beauty of holiness,
and that beauty shall be upon them.
2. The siege being raised, by which they were
'kept close within the walls of Jerusalem, they shall
now be at liberty to go abroad upon business or
pleasure, without danger of falling into the ene¬
my’s hand; and they shall behold the land that is
very far of, they shall visit the utmost corners of
the nation, and take a prospect of the adjacent
countries, which will be the more pleasant after so
long a confinement. Thus believers behold the
heavenly Canaan, that land that is very far off,
and comfort themselves with the prospect of it in
evil times.
3. The remembrance of the fright they were in
shall add to the pleasure of their deliverance; (y.
18.) Thine heart shall meditate terror, meditate it
with pleasure when it is over. Thou shalt think thou
still hearest the alarm in thine ears, when all the
crv was, “ Arm, arm, arm; every man to his post.
Where is the scribe, or secretary of war? Let him
appear, to draw up the muster-roll. Where is the
receiver, and paymaster of the army? Let him see
what he has in bank, to defray the charge of a de¬
fence. Where is he that counted the towers? Let
him bring in the account of them, that care may be
taken to put a competent number of men in each.”
Or, these words may be taken as Jerusalem’s tri¬
umph over the vanquished army of the Assyrians,
and the rather, because the apostle alludes to them
in his triumphs over the learning of this world,
when it was baffled by the gospel of Christ, 1 Cor.
i. 20. The virgin, the daughter of Zion, despises all
their military preparations. Where is the scribe,
or muster-master of the Assyrian army? Where is
their weigher, (or treasurer,) and where their en¬
gineers that counted the towers? They are all
either dead or fled. There is an end of them.
4. They shall no more be terrified with the sight
of the Assyrians, who were a fierce people na¬
turally, and were particularly fierce against the
people of the Jews, and were of a strange language,
that could understand neither their petitions nor
their complaints, and therefore had a pretence for
being deaf to them, nor could themselves be under¬
stood; “They are of a deeper speech than thou
const perceive, which will make them the more for¬
midable, v. 19. Thine eyes shall no more see them
thus fierce, but their countenances changed when
they are all become dead corpses.”
5. They shall no more be under apprehensions
of the danger of Jerusalem, Zion, and the temple
there; (x>. 20.) “Look upon Zion, the city of our
solemnities, the city where our solemn sacred feasts
are kept, where we used to meet to worship God in
religious assemblies.” The good people among
them, in the time of their distress, were most in
pain for Zion, upon this account, that it was the
city of their solemnities, that the conquerors would
burn their temple, and they should not have that to
keep their solemn feasts in any more. In times of
public danger our concern should be most about our
religion, and the cities of our solemnities should be
dearer to us than either our strong cities or our
store-cities. It is with an eye to this, that God will
work deliverance for Jerusalem, because it is the
citv of religious solemnities: let those be conscien¬
lii
tiously kept up, as the glory of a people, and we
may depend upon God to create a defence upon
that gloiy. Two things are here promised to Jeru¬
salem; (1.) A well-grounded security. It shall be
a quiet habitation for the people of God; they shall
not be molested and disturbed, as they have been,
by the alarms of the sword either of war or perse¬
cution, ch. xxix. 20. It shall be a quiet habitation,
as it is the city of our solemnities. It is desirable
to be quiet in our own houses, but much more so to
be quiet in God’s house, and have none to make us
afraid there. Thus it shall be with Jerusalem; and
thine eyes shall see it, which will be a great satisfac¬
tion to a good man; (Ps. cxxviii. 5, 6.) “Thou shall
see the good of Jerusalem, and peace upon Israel;
thou shalt live to see it, and share in it.” (2.) An
unmoved stability; Jerusalem, the city of our solem¬
nities, is indeed but a tabernacle, in comparison with
the New Jerusalem; the present manifestations of
the divine glory and grace are nothing in comparison
with those that are reserved for the future state; but
it is such a tabernacle as shall not be taken down.
After this trouble is over, Jerusalem shall long enjoy
a confirmed peace; and her sacred privileges, which
are the stakes and cords of her tabernacle, shall
not be removed from her, nor any disturbance given
to the course and circle of her religious services.
God’s church on earth is a tabernacle, which,
though it may be shifted from one place to another,
shall not be taken down while the world stands; for
in every age Christ will have a seed to serve him;
the promises of the covenant are its stakes, which
shall never be removed, and the ordinances and
institutions of the gospel are its cords, which shall
never be broken. They are things which cannot be
shaken, though heaven and earth be, but shall re¬
main.
6. God himself will be their Protector and Sa¬
viour, v. 21, 22. This is the principal ground of
their confidence; “ He that is himself the glorious
Lord, will display his glory, for us, and be a Gloiy
to us; such as shall eclipse the rival glory of the
enemy.” God, in being a gracious Lord, is a glori¬
ous Lord; for his goodness is his glory. God will
be the Saviour of Jerusalem, and her glorious Lord.
(1.) As a Guard against their adversaries abroad.
He will be a Place of broad rivers and streams.
Jerusalem had no considerable river running by it,
as most great cities have, nothing but the brook
Kidron, and so wanted one of the best natural for¬
tifications, as well as one of the greatest advantages
for trade and commerce, and upon this account
their enemies despised them, and doubted not but
to make an easy prey of them; but the presence
and power of God are sufficient at any time to
make up to us the deficiencies of the creature, and
of its strength and beauty. We have all in God,
all we need, or can desire. Many external advan-
vantages Jerusalem has not, which other places
have, but in God there is more than an equivalent.
But if there be broad rivers and streams about Je¬
rusalem, may not these yield an easy access to the
fleet of an invader? No; these are rivers and
streams in which go no galley with oars, no man of
war, or gallant ship. If God himself be the River,
it must needs be inaccessible to the enemy, they can
neither find nor force their way by it. ’ (2.) As a
Guide to their affairs at home; “ For the Lord is
our Judge, to whom we are accountable, to whose
judgment we refer ourselves, by whose judgment
we abide, and who therefore, (we hope,) wiH judge
for us; he is our Lawgiver, his word is a law to us,
and to him every thought within us is brought into
obedience; he is our King, to whom we pay homage
and tribute, and an inviolable allegiance, and there¬
fore he will save us.” For as protection draws al¬
legiance, so allegiance may expect protection, and
1.56
ISAIAH,
shall have it with God. By faith we take Christ
for our Prince and Saviour, and, as such, depend
upon him, and devote ourselves to him. • Observe
with what an air of triumph, and with what an em¬
phasis laid upon the glorious name of God, they
comfort themselves with this; Jehovah is our Judge,
Jehovah is our Lawgiver, Jehovah is our King,
who, being self-existent, is self-sufficient, and all-
sufficient to us.
7. The enemies shall be quite infatuated, and all
their powers and projects broken, like a ship at sea
in stress of weather, that cannot ride out the storm,
but, having her tackle torn, her masts split, and
nothing wherewithal to repair them, is given up for
a wreck, v. 2.5. The tacklings of the Assyrians
are loosed; they are like a ship whose tacklings are
loosed, or forsaken by the ship’s crew, when they
give it over for lost, finding that they cannot
strengthen the mast, but it will come down; they
thought themselves sure of Jerusalem, but when
they were just entering the port, as it were, and
thought all was their own, they were quite becalm¬
ed, and could not spread their sail, but lay wind-
bound till God poured the fury of his wrath upon
them. The enemies of God’s church are often dis¬
armed and unrigged then when they think they
have almost gained their point.
8. The wealth of their camp shall be a rich
booty for the Jews; Then is the prey of a great
spoil divided. When the greater part were slain,
the rest fled in confusion, and with such precipita¬
tion, that (like the Syrians) they left their tents as
they were, so that all the treasure in them fell into
the hands of the besieged, and even the lame take
the prey, they that tarried at home did divide the
spoil. It was so easy to come at, that not only the
strong man might make himself master of it, but
even the lame man, whose hands were lame, that he
could not fight, and his feet, that he could not pur¬
sue; as the victory shall cost them no peril, so the
prey shall cost them no toil. And there was such
abundance of it, that when those who were forward,
and came first, had carried off as much as they
would, even the lame, who came late, found suffi¬
cient. Thus God brought good out of evil, and not
only delivered Jerusalem, but enriched it, and abun¬
dantly recompensed the losses they had sustained.
Thus comfortably and well do the frights and dis¬
tresses of the people of God often end.
9. Both sickness and sin shall be taken away;
and then sickness is taken away in mercy, when this
is all the fruit of it, and the recovery from it, even
the taking away of sin.
(1.) The inhabitants shall not say, I am sick; as
the lame shall take the prey, so shall the sick, not¬
withstanding their weakness, make a shift to get
to the abandoned camp, and seize something for
themselves; or, there shall be such a universal
transport of joy upon this occasion, that even the
sick shall, for the present, forget their sickness and
the sorrows of it, and join with the public in its re¬
joicings; the deliverance of their city shall be tbeir
cure. Or, it intimates, that, whereas infectious
diseases are commonly the effect of long sieges, it
shall not be so with Jerusalem, but the inhabitants
of it, with their victory and peace shall have health
also, and there shall be no complaining upon the
account of sickness within their gates; or, those
that are sick shall bear their sickness without
complaining, as long as' they see it goes well with
Jerusalem. Our sense of private grievances should
oe drowned in our thanksgivings for public mercies.
(2.) The people that dwell therein shall be for¬
given their iniquity; not only the body of the na¬
tion forgiven their national guilt in the removing of
the national judgment, but particular persons that
dwell therein shall repent, and reform, and have
XXXIV.
their sins pardoned. And this is promised as that
which is at the bottom of all other favours; he will
do so and so for them, for he will be merciful to
their unrighteousness, Heb. \ iii. 12. Sin is the sick¬
ness of the soul; when God pardons the sin, he
heals the disease.; and when the diseases of sin are
healed by pardoning mercy, the sting of bodily sick¬
ness is taken out, and the cause of it removed; so
that either the inhabitants shall not be sick, or, at
least shall not say, lam sick. If iniquity be taken
away, we have little reason to complain of outward
affliction. Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are for¬
given thee.
CHAP. XXXIV.
In this chapter, we have the fatal doom of all the nations
that are enemies to God’s church and people, though
Edom only is mentioned, because of the old enmity of
Esau to Jacob, which was typical, as much as that more
ancient enmity of Cain to Abel, and flowed from the ori-
?inal enmity of the serpent to the seed of the woman,
t is probable that this prophecy had its accomplishment
in the great desolations made by the Assyrian army first,
or, rather, by Nebuchadnezzar’s army some time after,
among those nations that were neighbours to Israel, ana
had been some way or other injurious to them. That
mighty conqueror took a pride in shedding blood, and
laying countries waste, and therein, quite beyond his de¬
sign, he was fulfilling what God here threatened against
his and his people’s enemies: but we have reason to
think it is intended as a denunciation of the wrath of
God against all those who fight against the interests of his
kingdom among men, that it has its frequent accomplish¬
ment in the havoc made by the wars of the nations and
other desolating judgments, and will have its full accom¬
plishment in the final dissolution of all things at the day
of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Here is, I.
A demand of universal attention, v. 1. II. A direful
scene of blood and confusion presented, v . .7. III. The
reason given for these judgments, v. 8. IV. The conti¬
nuance of this desolation, the country being made like
the lake of Sodom, (v. 9, 10.) and the cities abandoned
to wild beasts and melancholy fowls, v. 11.. 15. V.
The solemn ratification of all this, v. 16, 17. Let us
hear, and fear.
1. d~ 1 0ME near, ye nations, to hear; and
vJ hearken, ye people; let the earth hear,
and all that is therein; the world, and all
things that come forth of it. 2. For the
indignation of the Lord is upon all nations,
and his fury upon all their armies: he hath
utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered
them to the slaughter. 3. Their slain also
shall be cast out, and their stink shall come
up out of their carcases, and the mountains
shall be melted with their blood. 4. And
all the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
and the heavens shall be rolled together as
a scroll : and all their hosts shall foil down,
as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as
a falling fig from the fig-tree. 5. For my
sword shall be bathed in heaven : behold, it
shall come down upon Idumea, and upon
the people of my curse, to judgment. 6.
The sword of the Lord is filled with hlood ;
it is made fat with fatness, and with the
blood of lambs and goats, with the fat o(
the kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a
sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in
the land of Idumea. 7. And the unicorns
shall come down with them, and the bul¬
locks with the bulls; and their land shall be
157
ISAIAH, XXXIV.
soaked with blood, and their dust made fat
with fatness. 8. For it is the day of the
Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recom¬
penses for the controversy of Zion.
Here we have a prophecy, as elsewhere we have
a history, of the wars of the Lord, which, we are
sure, are all both righteous and successful. This
world, as it is his creature, he does good to, but, as
it is in the interest of Satan, who is called the god, of
this world, he fights against it.
I. Here is the trumpet sounded, and the war pro¬
claimed; ( v . 1.) all nations must hear and hearken,
not only because what (tod is about to do is well
worthy their remark, (as ch. xxxiii. 13.) but be¬
cause they are all concerned in it; it is with them
that God has a quarrel, it is against them that God
is coining forth in wrath. Let them all take notice
that the great God is angry with them; his indigna¬
tion is upon all nations, and therefore let all nations
come near to hear. The trumpet is blown in the
city, (Amos iii. 6.) and the watchmen on the walls
cry. Hearken to the voice of the trumpet, Jer. vi.
17. Let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof, for
it is the Lord’s, (Ps. xxiv. 1. ) and ought to hearken
to its Maker and Master. The world must hear,
and all things that come forth of it, the children of
men, that are of the earth, earthy, come out of it,
and must return to it; or the inanimate products of
the earth are called to, as more likely to hearken
than sinners, whose hearts are hardened against the
calls of God. Hear, O ye mountains, the Lord’s
controversy , ,Mich. vi. 2. It is so just a controversy,
that all the world may be safely appealed to con¬
cerning the equity of it.
II. Here is the manifesto published, setting forth,
1. Whom he makes war against; (v. 2.) The in¬
dignation of the Lord is upon all nations; they are
all in confederacy against God and religion, all in
the interests of the devil, and therefore he is angry
with them all, even with all the nations that forget
him. He has long suffered all nations to walk in
their own ways, (Acts xiv. 16.) but now he will no
longer keep silence. As they have all had the
benefit of his patience, so they must all expect now
to feel his resentments. His fury is in a special
manner upon all their armies. (1.) Because with
them they have done mischief to the people of God ;
those are they that have made bloody work with
them, and therefore they must be sure to have blood
given them to drink. (2. ) Because with them they
hope to make their part good against the justice and
power of God; they trust to them as their defence,
and therefore on them, in the first place, God’s fury
will come. Armies before God’s fury are but as
dry stubble before a consuming fire, though ever so
numerous and courageous.
2. Whom he makes war for, and what are the
grounds and reasons of the war; ( v . 8.) It is the day
of the Lord’s vengeance, and he it is to whom ven¬
geance belongs, and who is never unrighteous in
taking vengeance, Rom. iii. 5. As there is a day
of the Lord’s patience, so there will be a day of his
vengeance; for though he bear long, he will not bear
always; it is the year of recompenses for the contro¬
versy of Zion. Zion is the holy city, the city of our
solemnities, a type and figure of the church of God
in the world. Zion has a just quarrel with her
neighbours for the wrongs they have done her, for
all their treacherous and barbarous usage of her,
profaning her holy things, laying waste her palaces,
and slaying her sons; she has left it to God to plead
her cause, and he will do it when the time, even the
set time, to favour Zion comes; then he will recom¬
pense to her persecutors and oppressors all the mis¬
chiefs they have done her. The controversy will
be decided, that Zion has been wronged, and there¬
in Zion’s God has been himself abused; judgment
will be given upon this decision, and execution done.
Note, There is a time prefixed in the divine coun¬
sels for the deliverance of the church, and the de¬
struction of her enemies, a year of the redeemed,
which will come, a year of recompenses for the con¬
troversy of Zion; and we must patiently wait till
then, and judge nothing before the time.
III. Here are the operations of the war, and the
methods of it, settled, with an infallible assurance
of success.
1. The sword of the Lord is bathed in heaven,
that is all the preparation here made for the war,
v. 5. It may, probably, allude to some custom they
had then of bathing their swords in some liquor or
other, to harden them or brighten them; it is the
same with the furbishing of it, that it may glitter,
Ezek. xxi. 9 — 11. God’s sword is bathed in hea¬
ven, in his counsel and decree, in his justice and
power, and then there is no standing before it.
2. It shall come down; what he has determined
shall, without fail, be put in execution, it shall come
down from heaven, and the higher the place is,
whence it cemes, the heavier will it fall; it will
come down upon Idumea, the people of God’s curse,
that lie under his curse, and are by it doomed to de¬
struction. Miserable, for ever miserable, are they
that have by their sins made themselves the peo¬
ple of God’s curse; for the sword of the Lord will
infallibly attend the curse of the Lord, and exe¬
cute the sentences of it; and those whom he curses
are cursed indeed. It shall come down to judgment,
to execute judgment upon sinners. Note, Gcd’s
sword of war is always a sword of justice. It is ob¬
served of him out of whose mouth goeth the sharp
sword, that in righteousness he doth judge, and make
war. Rev. xix. 11, 15.
3. The nations and their armies shall be given up
to the sword; (u. 2.) God has delivered them to the
slaughter, and then they cannot deliver themselves,
nor can all the friends they have deliver them from
it. Those only are slain, whom God delivers to
the slaughter, for the keys of death are in his hand;
and, in delivering them to the slaughter, he has ut¬
terly destroyed them ; their destruction is as sure,
when God has doomed them to it, as if they were
destroyed already, utterly destroyed. God has, in
effect, delivered all the cruel enemies of his church
to the slaughter by that word, (Rev. xiii. 10.) He
that kills with the sword, must be killed by the sword,
for the Lord is righteous.
4. Pursuant to the sentence, a terrible slaughter
shall be made among them, v. 6. The sword of
the Lord, when it comes down with commission,
does vast execution; it is filled, satiate', surfeited,
with blood, the blood of the slain, and made fat
with their fatness. When the day of God’s abused
mercy and patience is over, the sword of his justice
gives no quarter, spares none. Men have by sin lost
the honour of the human nature, and made them¬
selves like the beasts that perish ; they are therefore
justly denied the compassion and respect that are
owing to the human nature, and killed as beasts;
and no more is made of slaying an army of men than
of butchering a flock of lambs or goats, and feeding
on the fat of the kidneys of rams. Nay, the sword
of the Lord shall not only despatch the lambs and
goats, the infantry of their armies, the poor com¬
mon soldiers, but (u. 7.) the unicorns too shall be
made to come down with them, and the bullocks
with the bulls, though they are ever so proud, and
strong, and fierce, the great men, and the mighty
men, and the chief captains; (Rev. vi. 15.) the
sword of the Lord will make as easy a prey of them
as of the lambs and the goats. The greatest of men
are nothing before the wrath of the great God. See
what bloody work will be made; The land shall hi
158
ISAIAH,
soaked with blood , as with the rain that comes often
upon it, and in great abundance; and their dust,
their dry and barren land, shall be made fat with
the fatness of men slain in their full strength, as with
manure. Nay, even the mountains, which are hard
and rocky, shall be melted with their blood, v. 3.
These expressions are hyperbolical, (as St. John’s
vision of blood to the horse-bridles. Rev. xiv. 20. )
and are made use of because they sound very dread¬
ful to sense, (it makes us even shiver to think of
such abundance of human gore,) and are therefore
proper to express the terror of God’s wrath, which
is dreadful beyond conception and expression. See
what work sin and wrath make even in this world,
and think how much more terrible the wrath to
come is, which will bring down the unicorns them¬
selves to the bars of the pit.
5. This great slaughter will be a great sacrifice
to the justice of God; ( v . 6.) The Lord has a sacri¬
fice in Bozrah; there it is that the great Redeemer
has his garments dyed with blood, ch. lxiii. 1. Sa¬
crifices were intended for the honour of God, to
make it appear that he hates sin, and demands sa¬
tisfaction for it, and that nothing but blood will
make atonement; for these ends, this slaughter is
made, that in it the wrath of God may be revealed
from heaven against all the ungodliness and un¬
righteousness of men, especially their ungodly, un¬
righteous enmity to his people, which was the sin
that tlte Edomites were notoriously guilty of. In
great sacrifices, abundance of beasts were killed,
hecatombs offered, and their blood poured out be¬
fore the altar; and so will it be in this day of the
Lord’s vengeance. And thus had the whole earth
been soaked with the blood of sinners, if Jesus
Christ, the great Propitiation, had not shed his
blood for us; but those who reject him, and will not
make a covenant with God by that Sacrifice, will
themselves fall as victims to divine wrath. Damned
sinners are everlasting sacrifices, Mark ix. 49.
They that sacrifice not, (which is the character of
the ungodly, Eccl. ix. 2.) must be sacrificed.
6. These slain shall be detestable to mankind, and
shall be as much their loathing as ever they were
their terror; ( v . 3.) They shall be cast out, and none
shall pay them the respect of a decent burial; but
their stink shall come out of their carcases, that all
people by the odious smell, as well as by the ghastly
sight, may be made to conceive an indignation
against sin, and a dread of the wrath of God. They
lie unburied, that they may remain monuments of
divine justice.
7. The effect and consequence of this slaughter
shall be universal confusion and desolation, as if the
whole frame of nature were dissolved and melted
down; (n. 4.) all the host of heaven shall June and
waste away, so the word is; the sun shall be dark¬
ened, and the moon look black, or be turned into
blood; the heavens themselves shall be rolled to¬
gether as a scroll of parchment, when we have done
with it, and lay it by, or as when it is shrivelled up
by the heat of the fire. The stars shall fall as the
)e ives in autumn; all the beauty, joy, and comfort,
of the vanquished nation shall be lost and done
away, magistracy and government shall be abolish¬
ed, and all dominion and rule, but that of the sword
of war, shall fall. Conquerors, in those times, af¬
fected to lay waste the countries they conquered;
and such a complete desolation is here described by
such figurative expressions, as will yet have a lite¬
ral and full accomplishment in the dissolution of all
things at the end of time; of which last day of judg¬
ment the judgments which God does now sometimes
remarkably execute on sinful nations, are figures,
earnests, and forerunners; and by these we should
be awakened to think of that, for which reason
these expressions are used here, and Rev. vi. 12, I
, XXXIV.
13. But they are used without a metaphor, 2 Pet.
iii. 10. where we are told that the heavens shall / lass
away with a great noise, and the earth shall be
burnt up.
9. And the streams thereof shall be turn¬
ed into pitch, and the dust thereof into brim¬
stone, and the land thereof shall become,
burning pitch. 10. It shall not be quenched
night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go
up for ever: from generation to generation it
shall lie waste; none shall pass through it
for ever and ever : 11. The cormorant and
the bittern shall possess it; the owl also
and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall
stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and
the stones of emptiness. 12. They shall
call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but
none shall be there, and all her princes shall
be nothing. 13. And thorns shall come up
in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the
fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habita¬
tion of dragons, and a court for owls. 1 4.
The wild beasts of the desert shall also
meet with the wild beasts of the island, and
the satyr shall cry to his fellow ; the screech-
owl also shall rest there, and find for herself
a place of rest. 15. There shall ’the great
owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and
gather under her shadow ; there shall the
vultures also be gathered, every one with
her mate. 16. Seek ye out of the book of
the Lord, and read; no one of these shall
fail, none shall want her mate : for my
mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it
hath gathered them. 17. And he hath cast
the lot for them, and his hand hath divided
it unto them by line : they shall possess it
for ever, from generation to generation shall
they dwell therein.
This prophecy looks very black, but surely it
looks no further than upon Edom and Bozrah : 1.
It speaks the melancholy changes that are often
made by the divine providence, in countries, cities,
palaces, and families; places that have flourished,
and been much frequented, strangely go to decay.
We know not where to find the places where many
great towns, celebrated in history, once stood.
Fruitful countries, in process of time, are turned
into barrenness, and pompous, populous cities into
ruinous heaps. Old decayed castles look frightful,
and their ruins are almost as much dreaded as ev er
their garrisons were. 2. It speaks the destroying
judgments which are the effects of God’s wrath, and
the just punishment of those that are enemies to his
people, which God will inflict, -when the year of the
redeemed is come, and the year of recompenses for
the controversy of Zion. Those that aim to ruin
the church, can never do that, but will infallibly
ruin themselves. 3. It speaks the final desolation
of this wicked world, which is reseri’ed unto fire at
the day of judgment, 2 Pet. iii. 7. The earth itself,
when it, and all the works that are therein, shall be
burnt up, will (for aught I know) be turned into
a hell to all those that set their affections only on
earthly things: however, it shows us what will be
I the lot of the generation of God’s curse.
ISAIAH,
I. The country shall become like the lake of So¬
dom, v. 9, 10. The streams thereof, that both wa¬
tered the land, and pleased and refreshed the inha¬
bit mts, shall now be turned into pitch, shall be
congealed, shall look black, and shall move slowly,
or not at all. Their floods to lazy streams of flitch
shall turn; so Sir H. Blackmore. The dust thereof
shall be turned into brimstone; so combustible lias
sin made their land, that it shall take fire at the
first spark of God’s wrath struck upon it; and when
it has taken fire, it shall become burning pitch; the
fire shall be universal, not a house, or town, on fire,
but a whole country ; and it shall not be in the power
of any to suppress or extinguish it; it shall burn con¬
tinually, burn perpetually, and shall not be quenched
night or day. The torment of those in hell, or that
have a hell within them in their own consciences,
is without interruption; the smoke of this fire goes
ufi for ever. As long as there are provoking sin¬
ners on earth, from one generation to another, an
increase of sinful men, to augment the fierce anger
of the Lord, '(Numb, xxxii. 14.) there will be a
righteous God in heaven to punish them for it. And
as long as a. people keep up a succession of sinners,
God will have a succession of plagues for them; nor
will any that fall under the wrath of God, be ever
able to recover themselves. It will be found, how
light soever men make of it, that it is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living Goa. If the land
be doomed to destruction, none shall pass through
it, but travellers will choose rather to go a great
way about than come within the smell of it.
II. The cities shall become like old decayed
houses, which, being deserted by the owners, look
very frightful, being commonly possessed by beasts
of prey, or birds of ill omen. See how dismally the
palaces of the enemy look; the description is pecu¬
liarly elegant and fine.
1. God shall mark them for ruin and destruction ;
he shall stretch out upon Bozrah the line of confu¬
sion with the stones or plummets of emptiness, v.
11. This intimates the equity of the sentence passed
upon it; it is given according to the rules of justice,
and the exact agreeableness of the execution with
the sentence; the destruction is not wrought at ran¬
dom, but by line and level. The confusion and
emptiness that shall overspread the face of the
whole country, shall be like that of the whole earth
when it was Tohu and Bohn, the very words here
used, without form and void. Sin will soon turn a
paradise into a chaos, and sullies the beauty of the
whole creation, Gen. i. 2. When there is confu¬
sion there will soon be emptiness; but both are ap¬
pointed by the Governor of the world, and in exact
proportions.
2. Their great men shall be all cut off, and none
of them shall dare to appear; (n. 12.) They shall
call the nobles of the kingdom to take care of the
arduous affairs which lie before them, but none
shall be there to take this ruin under their hand,
and all her princes, having the sad tidings brought
them, shall be nothing, shall be at their wits’ end,
and not be able to stand them in stead, to shelter
them from destruction.
III. Even the houses of state, and those of strength,
shall become as wildernesses; ly. 13.) not only
grass shall grow, but thorns shall come ufi in her
flalaces, nettlesand brambles in the fortresses thereof,
and there shall be none to cut them up, or tread
them down. We sometimes see ruined buildings
thus overgrown with rubbish. It intimates that the
place shall not only be uninhabited and unfrequent¬
ed, where a full court used to be kept, but that it
shall be under the curse of God; for thorns and
thistles were the production of the curse, Gen.
iii. 18.
IV. They shall become the residence and ren- I
XXXIV. 15!/
dezvous of fearful, frightful beasts and birds, which
usually frequent such melancholy places, because
there they may be undisturbed; and when they are
frightened thither, they help to frighten men thence.
This circumstance of the desolation, being apt to
strike a horror upon the mind, is much enlarged
upon here, v. 11. The cormorant shall posse* it,
or the pelican, which affects to be solitary, (Ps. cii.
6. ) and the bittern, which makes a hideous noise
the owl, a melancholy bird, the raven, a bird of
prey, invited by the dead carcases, shall dwell
there, ( with all the ill-boding monsters of the air.
Sir R. B.) all the unclean birds, which were not
for the service of man, v. 13. It shall be a habi
ration for dragons, which are poisonous and hurtful
Anri in their lofty rooms of state,
Where cringing sycophants did wait,
Dragons slmll hiss, and hungry wolves shall howl.
In courts before by mighty lotds possest,
The serpent shall erert his speckled crest,
Or fold his circling spires to rest. Sir R. Blackmore.
That which was a court for princes, shall now be
a court for owls or ostriches; (n. 14.) The wild
beasts of the desert, the dry and sandy country, shall
meet, as it were by appointment, with the wild
beasts of the island, the wet marshy country, and
shall regale themselves with such a perfect desola¬
tion as they shall find there.
Leopards, and all the rav’ning brotherhoods,
That range the plains, or lurk in woods,
Each other shall invite to come,
And make this wilder place their home.
Fierce beasts of every frightful shape and size,
Shall settle here their bloody colonies.
Sir R. Blackmore.
The satyr shall cry to his fellow to go with him to
this desert place, or, being there, they shall please
themselves that they have found such an ag’ eeable
habitation. There shall the screech-owl rest, a
night-bird, and an ominous one; the great i wl shall
there make her nest, (i>. 15.) and lay and hatch;
the breed of them shall be kept up, to provide heirs
for this desolate place; the vultures, which feast on
carcases, shall be gathered there, every one with his
mate. Now, observe, 1. How the places which men
have deserted, and keep at a distance from, are
proper receptacles for other animals, which the
providence of God takes care of, and will not ne¬
glect. 2. Whom they resemble, that are morose,
unsociable, and unconversable, and affect a melan¬
choly retirement; they are like these solitary crea¬
tures, that take delight in desolations. 3. What a
dismal change sin makes; it turns a fruitful land
into barrenness, a frequented city into a wilderness.
V. Here is an assurance given of the full accom¬
plishment of this prediction, even to the most mi¬
nute circumstance of it; (y. 16, 17.) “ Seek ye out
of the book of the Lord, and read. When this de¬
struction comes, compare the event with the pre¬
diction, and you will find it to answer exactly.
Note, The book of the prophets is the book of the
Lord, (and we ought to consult it, and converse
with it,) that has the authority of a divine origin:
we must not only read it, but seek out of it, search
into it, turn first to one text, and then to another, and
compare them together. Abundance of useful know¬
ledge might thus be extracted, by a diligent search,
out of the scriptures, which cannot be got by a su¬
perficial reading of them. When you have read
the prediction out of the book of the Lord, then
observe, 1. That according to what vou have read,
so you see; not one of these shall fail, either beast
or fowl: and it being foretold that they shall possess
it from generation to generation, in order to that,
that the species may be propagated, none shall want
her mate; these marks of desolation shall be fruit¬
ful, and multiply, and replenish the land. 2. That
God’s mouth having commanded this direful mus-
1G0 ISAIAH,
ter, his S/iirit shall gather them, as the creatures
by instinct were gathered to Adam to be named,
and to Noah to be housed. What God’s word has
appointed, his Spirit will effect and bring about, for
no’ .word of God shall fall to the ground. The word
of God’s promise shall in like manner be accom¬
plished by the operations of the Spirit. 3. That
there is an exact order and proportion observed in
the accomplishment of this threatening; he has cast
the lot for these birds and beasts, so that each one
shall know his place, as readily as if it were marked
by line. See the like, Joel ii. 7, 8. They shall not
break their ranks, neither shall one thrust another.
The soothsayers among the heathen foretold events
by the flight of birds, as if the fate of men depended
on them. But here we find that the flight of birds
is under the direction of the God of Israel; he has
cast the lot for them. 4. That the desolation shall
be perpetual; They shall fiossess it for ever. God’s
Jerusalem may be laid in ruins; but Jerusalem of
old recovered itself out of its ruins, till it gave place
to the gospel-Jerusalem, which may be brought
low, but shall be rebuilt, and shall continue till it
give place to the heavenly Jerusalem. But the ene¬
mies of the church shall be for ever desolate, shall
be punished with an everlasting destruction.
CHAP. XXXV.
As after the predictions of God’s judgments upon the
world, (ch. xxiv. ) follows a promise of great mercy to be
had in store for his church, (ch. xxv.) so, here, after a
black and dreadful scene of confusion in the foregoing
chapter, we have, in this, a bright and pleasant one,
which though it foretells the flourishing estate of Heze-
kiah’s kingdom in the latter part of his reign, yet surely
looks as far beyond that as the prophecy in the foregoing
chapter does beyond the destruction of the Edomites;
both were typical, and it concerns us most to look at those
things which they were typical of, the kingdom of Christ,
and the kingdom of heaven. When the world, which
lies in wickedness, shall be laid in ruins, and the Jewish
church, which persisted in infidelity, shall become a
desolation, then the gospel-church shall be set up, and
made to flourish. I. The Gentiles shall be brought into
it, v. 1, 2, 7. II. The well-wishers to it, who were weak
and timorous, shall be encouraged, v. 3, 4. III. Miracles
shall be wrought both on the souls and on the bodies of
men, v. 5, 6. IV. The gospel-church shall be conducted
in the way of holiness, v. 8, 9. V. It shall be brought
at last to endless joys, v. 10. Thus do we find more of
Christ, and heaven, in this chapter, than one would have
expected in the Old Testament.
1. nnHE wilderness, and the solitary place,
JL shall be glad for them ; and the de¬
sert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.
2. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice
even with joy and singing; the glory of Le¬
banon shall be given unto it, the excellency
of Carmel and Sharon ; they shall see the
glory of the Lord, and the excellency of
our God. 3. Strengthen ye the weak hands,
and confirm the feeble knees. 4. Say to
them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong,
fear not ; behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompense ;
he will come and save you.
In these verses, we have,
1. The desert land blooming. In the chapter be¬
fore, we had a populous and fruitful country turned
into a horrid wilderness; here we have, in lieu of
that, a wilderness turned into a good land. When
the land of Judah was freed from the Assyrian army,
those parts of the country that had been made as a
wilderness by the ravages and outrages they com¬
mitted, began to recover themselves, and to look
XXXV.
pleasantly again, and to blossom as the rose. WheD
the Gentile nations, that had been long as a wilder¬
ness, bringing forth no fruit to God, received the
gospel, joy came with it to them, Ps. lxvii. 3, 4. —
xcvi. 11, 12. When Christ was preached in Sa¬
maria, there was great joy in that city, (Acts viii.
8.) they that sat in darkness saw a great and joyful
light. And then they that blossomed, gave hope's of
abundance of fruit; for that was it which the preach¬
ers of the gospel aimed at, (John xv. 16.) to go, and
bring forth fruit, Horn. i. 13. Col. i. 16. Though
blossoms are not fruit, and often miscarry and come
to nothing, yet they are in order to fruit. Convert¬
ing grace makes the soul that was a wilderness to
rejoice with joy and singing, and to blossom abun¬
dantly. This flourishing desert shall have all the
glory of Lebanon given to it, which consisted in the
strength and stateliness of its cedars, together with
the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, which con¬
sisted in corn and cattle. Whatever is valuable in
any institution, is brought into the gospel. All the
beauty of the Jewish church was admitted into the
Christian church, and appeared in its perfection, as
the apostle shows at large in his epistle to the He¬
brews; whatever was excellent and desirable in
the Mosaic economy, is translated into the evangel¬
ical institutes.
2. The glory of God shining forth; They shall
see the glory of the Lord; God will manifest him¬
self more than ever in his grace and love to man¬
kind, (for that is his glory and excellency,) and he
shall give them eyes to see it, and hearts to be duly
affected with it. This is that which will make the
desert blossom. The more we see by faith of the
glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God,
the more joyful and the more fruitful shall we be.
3. The feeble and faint-hearted encouraged, v.
3, 4. God’s prophets and ministers are in a spe¬
cial manner charged, by virtue of their office, to
strengthen the weak hands, to comfort those who
could not yet recover the fright they had been put
into by the Assyrian army, with an assurance that
God would now return in mercy to them. This is
the design of the gospel; (1.) To strengthen those
that are weak, and to confirm them; the weak
hands, which are unable either to work or fight,
and can hardly be lifted up in prayer, and the fee¬
ble knees, which are unable either to stand or walk,
and unfit for the race set before us. The gospel
furnishes us with strengthening considerations, and
shows us where strength is laid up for us. Among
true Christians there are many that have weak
hands and feeble knees, that are yet but babes in
Christ; but it is our duty to strengthen our brethren,
(Luke xxii. 32.) not only to bear with the weak,
but to do what we can to confirm them, Rom. xv.
1. 1 Thess. v. 14. It is our duty also to strengthen
ourselves, to lift up the hands which hang down,
(Heb. xii. 12.) improving the strength God has
given us, and exerting it. (2.) To hearten those
that are timorous and discouraged; Say to them that
are of a fearful heart, because of their own weak¬
ness, and the strength of their enemies, that are
hasty, (so the word is,) that are for betaking them¬
selves to flight, upon the first alarm, and giving up
the cause, that say, in their haste, “We are cut
off and undone;” (Ps. xxxi. 22.) there is enough in
the gospel to silence these fears; it says to them, and
let them say it to themselves, and one to another,
Be strong, fear not. Fear is weakening; the more
we strive against it, the stronger we are both for
doing and suffering; and, for our encouragement to
strive, he that says to us, Be strong, has laid help
for us upon One that is mighty.
4. Assurance given of the approach of a Saviour;
“ Your God will come with vengeance. God will
appear for you against your enemies, he will recom
161
ISAIAH, XXXV.
pciise both their injuries and your losses.” The
Messiah will come, in the fulness of time, to take
vengeance on the powers of darkness, to spoil them,
and make a show of them openly, to recompense
those that mourn in Zion with abundant comforts;
He will come and save us: with the hopes of this,
the Old Testament saints strengthened their weak
hands. He will come again at the end of time, will
come in flaming fire, to recompense tribulation to
those who have troubled his people, and to those
who were troubled, rest, such a rest as will be not
only a final period to, but a full reward of, all their
troubles, 2 Thess. i. 6, 7. They whose hearts trem¬
ble for the ark of God, and are under a concern for
his church in the world, may silence their fears
with this, God will take the work into his own
hands. Your God will come, who pleads your
cause, and owns your interest, even God himself,
who is God alone.
5. Then the eyes of the blind shall be
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped : 6. Then shall the lame man
leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb
sing: for in the wilderness shall waters
break out, and streams in the desert. 7.
And the parched ground shall become a pool,
and the thirsty land springs of water : in the
habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall
be grass, with reeds and rushes. 8. And a
highway shall be there, and a way, and it
shall be called, The way of holiness; the
unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall
be for those: the wayfaring men, though
fools, shall not err therein. 9. No lion shall
be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up
thereon, it shall not be found there: but the
redeemed shall walk there. 10. And the
ransomed of the Lord shall return, and
come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy
and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall
flee away.
“Then when your God shall come, even Christ,
to set up his kingdom in the world, to which all the
prophets bare witness, especially toward the con¬
clusion of their prophecies of the temporal deliver¬
ances of the church, and this evangelical prophet
especially — then look for great things.”
I. Wonders shall be wrought in the kingdoms
both of nature and grace, wonders of mercy wrought
upon the children of men, sufficient to evince that
it is no less than a God that comes to us.
1. Wonders shall be wrought on men’s bodies;
( v . 5, 6.) The eyes of the blind shall be opened; this
was often done by our Lord Jesus, when he was
here upon earth, with a word’s speaking, and one
he gave sight to, that was born blind, Matth. ix.
27. — xii. 22. — xx. 30. John ix. 6. By his power the
ea. s of the deaf also were unstopped ; with one word,
Ephphatha — Be opened, Mark vii. 34. Many that
were Line had the use of their limbs restored so
perfectly, that they could not only go, but leap, and
with so much joy to them, that they could not for¬
bear leaping for joy, as that impotent man, Acts
iii. 8. The dumb also were enabled to speak, and
then no marvel that they were disposed to sing for
joy, Matth. ix. 32, 33. These miracles Christ
wrought, to prove that he was sent of God, (John
iii. 2. ) nay, working them by his own power, and
Vol. IV. — X
in his own name, he proved that he was Gr.ci, tin:
same who at first made man’s mouth, the hearing
ear, and the seeing eye. When he would prove to
John’s disciples his divine mission, he did it by mira¬
cles of this kind, in which this scripture was fulfill¬
ed. 2. Wonders, greater wonders, shall be wrr ught
on men’s souls. By the word and Spirit of Christ,
those that were spiritually blind were enlightened,
(Acts xxvi. 18.) those that were deaf to the calls of
God, were made to hear them readily, as Lydia,
whose heart the Lord opened, so that she attended.
Acts xvi. 14. Those that were impotent to every
thing that is good, by divine grace are made not
onl)' able for it, but active in it, and run the way of
God’s commandments. Those alsothat were dumb,
and knew not how to speak of God, or to God, hav¬
ing their understandings opened to know him, shall
thereby have their lips opened to show forth his
praise. The tongue of the dumb shall sing for joy,
the joy of God’s salvation. Praise shall be perfected
out of the mouth of babes and sucklings.
II. The Spirit shall be poured out from on high.
There shall be waters and streams, rivers of living
water; when our Saviour spake of these, as the ful¬
filling of the scripture, and, most probably, of this
scripture, the evangelist tells us. He spake of the
Spirit, (John vii. 38, 39.) as does also this prophet;
( ch . xxxii. 15.) so here, (o. 6.) in the wilderness,
where one would least expect it, shall waters break
out. This was fulfilled when the Holy Ghost fell
upon the Gentiles that heard the word; (Acts x.
44.) then were the fountains of life opened, whence
streams flowed, that watered the earth abundantly.
These waters are said to break out, which denotes
a pleasing surprise to the Gentile world, such as
brought them, as it were, into a new world.
The blessed effect of this shall be, that the parch¬
ed ground shall become a pool, v. 7. They that la¬
boured, and were heavy-laden, under the burthen
of guilt, and were scorched with the sense of divine
wrath, found rest, and refreshment, and abundant
comforts, in the gospel. In the thirsty land, where no
water was, no ordinances, (Ps. lxiil. 1.) there shall
be springs of water, a gospel-ministry, and by that
the administration of all gospel-ordinances in their
purity and plenty, which are the river that makes
glad the city of our God, Ps. xlvi. 4. In the habita¬
tion of dragons, who chose to dwell in the parched,
scorched ground, (ch. xxxiv. 9, 13.) these waters
shall flow, and dispossess them, so that, where each
lay, shall be grass, with reeds and rushes, great
plenty of useful productions. Thus it was when
Christian churches were planted, and flourished
greatly, in the cities of the Gentiles, which, for many
ages, had been habitations of dragons, or devils
rather, as Babylon; (Rev. xviii. 2.) when the pro¬
perty of the idols’ temples was altered, and they
were converted to the service of Christianity, then
the habitations of dragons became fruitful fields.
III. The way of religion and godliness shall be
laid open : it is here called the way of holiness, (v. 8. )
the way both of holy worship and a holy conversa¬
tion. Holiness is the rectitude of the human nature
and will, in conformity to the divine nature and will
The way of holiness is that course of religious duties
in which men ought to walk and press forward,
with an eye to the glory of God, and their own feli¬
city in the enjoyment of him. “ When our God
shall come to save us, he shall chalk out to us this
way by his gospel, so as it had never been before
described.”
1. It shall be an appointed way; not a way rf suf¬
ferance, but a highway, and a way into which we
are directed by a divine authority, and in which we
are protected by a divine warrant. It is the King’s
highway, the King of king’s highway, in which,
though we may be way-laid, we cannot be stopped.
162
ISAIAH, XXXVI.
The way of holiness is the way cf God’s command- j
merits, it is (as highways are') the good old way,
Jer. vi. 16.
2. It shall be an appropriated way; the way in
which God will bring his own chosen to himselt, |
but the unclean shall not pass over it, either to defile
it, cr to disturb those that walk in it. It is a way
by itself, distinguished from the way of the world,
for it is a way of separation from, and nonconformity
to, this world; it shall be for those whom the Lord
has set ajiart for himself, (Ps. iv. 3.) shall be re¬
served for them, the redeemed shall walk there, and
the satisfaction they take in these ways of pleasant¬
ness shall be out of the reach of molestation from an
evil world. The unclean shall not pass over it, for
it shall be a fair way; those that walk in it are the
undefiled in the way, who escape the pollution that
is in the world.
3. It shall be a straight way ; The wayfaring men,
who choose to travel in it, though fools, of weak ca¬
pacity in other things, shall have such plain direc¬
tions from the word and Spirit ot God, in this way,
that they shall not err therein; not that they shall be
infallible in their own conduct, or that they shall in
nothing mistake; but they shall not be guilty of any
fatal misconduct, shall not so miss their way, but
that they shall recover it again, and get well to their
journey’s end. 1 hey that are in the narrow way,
though some may fall into one path, and others into
another, not all equally right, but all meeting at last
in the same end, shall yet never fall into the broad
way again; the Spirit ot truth shall lead them into all
truth that is necessary tor them. Note, 1 he way to
heaven is a plain way, and easy to hit. God has
chosen the foolish things of the world, and made
them wise to salvation. Knowledge is easy to him
that understands.
4. It shall be a safe way; JVo lion shall be there,
nor any ravenous beast, {y. 9.) none to hurt and
destroy; they that keep close to this way keep out
of the reach of Satan, the roaring lion, that wicked
one touches them not. They that walk in the way
of holiness may proceed with a holy security and
serenity of mind, knowing that nothing can do them
any real hurt; they shall be quiet from the fear of
evil. It was in Hezekiah’s days, some time after
the captivity of the ten tribes, that God, being dis¬
pleased with the colonies settled there, sent lions
among them, 2 Kings xvii. 25. But Judah keeps
her integrity, and therefore no lion shall be there.
Those that walk in the way of holiness must sepa¬
rate themselves from the unclean and the ravenous,
must save themselves from an untoward generation;
hoping that they themselves are of the redeemed,
let them walk with the redeemed, which shall walk
there.
IV. The end of this way shall be everlasting joy,
v. 10. This precious promise of peace now, will
end shortly in endless joys and rest for the soul.
Here is good news for the citizens of Zion, rest to
the weary; The ransomed of the Lord, who there¬
fore ought to follow him wherever he goes, (Rev.
xiv. 4.) shall return and come to Zion; 1. 1 o serve
and worship God in the church militant; they shall
deliver themselves out of Babylon, (Zech. ii. 7.)
shall ask the way to Zion, (Jer. 1. 5. ) and shall_/fnrf
the way, ch. lii. 12. God will open them a door of
escape out of their captivity, and it shall be an effec¬
tual door, though there be many adversaries. They
shall join themselves to the gospel-church, that
mount Zion, that city of the living God, Heb. xii.
22. They shall come with songs of joy and praise
for their deliverance out of Babylon, where they
wept upon evety remembrance of Zion, Ps. cxxxvii.
1. They that by faith are made citizens of the gos-
pel-Zion, may go on their way rejoicing; (Acts viii.
39. ) they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, and be
still praising him; they rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
the sorrows and sighs of their convictions are
made to flee away by the power of divine consola¬
tions. They that mourn are blessed, for they shall
be comforted. 2. To see and enjoy God in the
church triumphant; they that walk in the way of ho¬
liness, under the conduct of their Redeemer, shall
come to Zion at last, to the heavenly Zion, shall
come m a body, shall all lie presented togetln r,
faultless, at the coming of Christ’s glory with e.r-
ceeding joy; (Jude 24. Rev. vii. 17.) they shall
come with songs. When God’s people returned rut
of Babylon to Zion, they came weeping; (Jer. 1. 4.)
but they shall come to heaven singing a new song,
which no man can learn, Rev. xiv. 3. When they
shall enter into the joy of their Lord, it shall be
what the joys of this world never could be, ever-
lastingjoy, without mixture, interruption, or period;
it shall not only fill their hearts, to their own perfect
and perpetual satisfaction, but it shall be upon their
heads, as an ornament of grace, and a crown of
glory, as a garland worn in token of victory; their
joy shall be visible, and no longer a secret thing, as
it is here in this world; it shall be proclaimed, to the
glory of God, and their mutual encouragement;
they shall then obtain the joy and gladness which
they could never expect on this side heaven; and
sorrow and sighing shall flee away for ever, as the
shadows of the night before the rising sun. Thus
these prophecies which relate tq the Assyrian inva¬
sion, conclude, for the support of the people of God
under that calamity, and to direct their joy, in their
deliverance from it, to something higher. Our joy¬
ful hopes and prospects of eternal life should swal¬
low up both all the sorrows, and all the joys, of this
present time.
CHAP. XXXVI.
The prophet Isaiah is, in this and the three following chap¬
ters, an historian; for the scripture-history, as welT as the
scripture prophecy, is given by inspiration of God, and
was dictated to holy men. Many of the prophecies of
the foregoing chapters had their accomplishment in Sen¬
nacherib’s invading of Judah, and besieging of Jerusa¬
lem, arid the miraculous defeat he met with there: and
therefore the story of this is here inserted, both for the
explication and for the confirmation of the prophecy. The
key of prophecy is to be found in history; and here, that
' we might have the readier entrance, it is, as it were,
hung at the door. The exact fulfilling of this prophecy
might serve to confirm the faith of God’s people in the
other prophecies, the accomplishment of which was at a
greater distance. Whether this story was taken from
the book of the Kings , and added here, or whether it was
first written by Isaiah here, and from hence taken into
the book of Kings, it is not material. But the story is
the same almost verbatim; and it was so memorable an
event, that it was well worthy to be twice recorded, 2
Kings xviii. and xix. and here; and on abridgment of it
likewise, 2 Chron. xxxii. We shall be but snort in our
observations upon this story here, having largely ex¬
plained it there. In this chapter, we have, I. The de¬
scent which the king of Assyria made upon Judah, and
his success against all the defenced cities, v. I. II. The
conference he desired to have with Hezekiah, and the
managers on both sides, 2, 3. III. Rabshakeh’s railing
blasphemous speech, with which he designed to frighten
Hezekiah into a submission, and persuade him to sur¬
render at discretion, v. 4. . 10 IV. His appeal to the
people, and his attempt to persuade them to desert Heze¬
kiah, and so force him to surrender, v. 11.. 20. V.
The report of this made to Hezekiah by his agents, v.
21,22.
l.XTOW it came to pass in the four-
teenth year of king Hezekiah, that
Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against
all the defenced cities of Judah, and took
them. 2. And the king of Assyria sent
Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, unto
ISAIAH,
king Hezekiali, with a great army: and lie
stood by the conduit of the upper pool, in
the highway of the fuller’s field. 3. Then
came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’sson,
which was over the house, and Shebna the
scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder.
4. And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye
now to Hezekiali, Thus saith the great king,
the king of Assyria, What confidence is this
wherein thou trustest ? 5. 1 say, smjest t/iou,
(hut they are but vain words,) 1 have counsel
and strength for war: now, on whom dost
thou trust, that thou rebellest against me ?
6. Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken
reed, on Egypt ; whereon if a man lean, it
will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is
Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in
him. 7. But if thou say to me, We trust
in the Loro our God: is it not he whose
high places and whose altars Plezekiah hath
taken away, and said to Judah and to Jeru¬
salem, Ye shall worship before this altar '?
8. Now, therefore, give pledges, I pray thee,
to my master the king of Assyria, and I will
give thee two thousand horses, if thou be
able on thy part to set riders upon them. 9.
How then wilt thou turn away the face of
one captain of the least of my master’s ser¬
vants, and put thy trust on Egypt for cha¬
riots and for horsemen ? 10. And am I now
come up without the Lord against this
land to destroy it? The Lord said unto
me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
We shall here only observe some practical les¬
sons from hence;
1. That a people may be in the way of their duty,
and yet meet with trouble and distress. Hezekiali
was reforming, and his people in some measure re¬
formed; and yet their country is at that time in¬
vaded, and a great part of it laid waste. Perhaps
they began to grow remiss and cool in the work of
reformation; were doing it by halves, and ready to
sit down short of a thorough reformation; and then
God visited them with this judgment, to put life
into them, and that good cduse. We must not won¬
der, if, when we are doing well, God sends afflic¬
tions to quicken us to do better, to do our best, and
to press forward toward perfection.
2. That we must never be secure of the continu¬
ance of our peace in this world, nor think our moun¬
tain stands so strong, that it cannot be moved. Heze-
kiah was not only a pious king, but prudent, both in
his administration at home, and in his treaties
abroad. His affairs were in a good posture, and he
seemed particularly to be upon good terms with the
king of Assyria, for he had lately made his peace
with him by a rich present; (2 Kings xviii. 14. ) and
yet that perfidious prince pours an army into his
country all of a sudden, and lays it waste. It is
good for us, therefore, always to keep up an expec¬
tation of trouble, that, when it comes, it may be no
suiprise to us, and then it will be the less a terror.
3. That God sometimes permits the enemies of
his people, even those that are most impious and
treacherous, to prevail far against them. The king
of Assyria took all, or most, of the defenced cities
of Judah, and then the country would of course be
XXXVI. 163
an easy prey to him. Wickedness may prosper
awhile, but cannot prosper always.
4. Proud men love to talk big, to boast of what
they are and have, and have done, nay and of what
they will do, to insult over others, and set all man¬
kind at defiance; though thereby they l ender them¬
selves ridiculous to all wise men, and obnoxious
to the wrath of that God who resists the proud.
Hut thus they think to make themselves feared,
though they make themselves hated, and to carry
their [joint by great swelling words of vanity,
Jude 16.
5. The enemies of God’s people endeavour to
conquer them by frightening them, especially by
frightening them from their confidence in God.
Thus Rabshakeh here, with noise and banter, nans
down Hezekiali as utterly unable to cope with his
master, or in the least to make head against him.
It concerns us therefore, that we may keep our
ground against the enemies of our souls, to keep up
our spirits by keeping up cur hope in God.
6. It is acknowledged on all hands, that those
who forsake God’s service, forfeit his protection.
If that had been true, which Rabshakeh alleged,
that Hezekiah had thrown down God’s altars, he
might justly infer, that he could not with any as¬
surance trust in him for succour and relief, v. 7.
We may say thus to presuming sinners, who say
that they trust in the Lord and in his mercy; Is not
this he whose commandments they have lived in the
contempt of, whose name they have dishonoured,
and whose ordinances they have slighted? How
then can they expect to find favour with him.
7. It is an easy thing, and very common, for those
that persecute the church and people of God, to
pretend a commission from him tor so doing. Rab¬
shakeh could say, Am I now come u/i without the
Lord? when really he was come up against the
Lord, ch. xxxvii. 28. They that kill the servants
of the Lord think they do him service, and say, Let
the Lord be glorified. But, sooner or later, they
will be made to know their error to their cost, to
their confusion.
1 1. Then said Eliakim, and Shebna, and
Joah, unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee,
unto thy servants in the Syrian language;
for we understand it: and speak not to us in
the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people
that are on the wall. 1 2. But Rabshakeh
said, Hath my master sent me to thy master
and to thee, to speak these words? hath he
not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall,
that they may eat their own dung and drink
their own piss with you? 13. Then Rab¬
shakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice
in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear ye the
words of the great king, the king of Assyria :
14. Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah
deceive you ; for he shall not be able to de¬
liver you. 15. Neither let Hezekiah make
you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord
will surely deliver us : this city shall not be
delivered into the hand of the king of As¬
syria. 16. Hearken not to Hezekiah; for
thus saith the king of Assyria, Makers
agreement with me by a present, and come
out to me : and eat ye every one of his vine,
and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye
every one the waters of his own cistern;
164
ISAIAH, XXXVII.
17. Until I come and take you away to a
land like your own land, a land of corn and
wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18.
Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, say¬
ing, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any
of the gods of the nations delivered his land
out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19.
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?
where are tire gods of Sepharvaim ! and have
they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
20. Who are they among all the gods of
these lands that have delivered their land
out of my hand, that the Loan should de¬
liver Jerusalem out of my hand? 21. But
they held their peace, and answered him not
a word: for the king’s commandment was,
saying, Answer him not. 22. Then came
Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, that was over
the household, and Shebna the scribe, and
Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, to
Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told
him the words of Rabshakeh.
We may hence learn these lessons:
1. That, while princes and counsellors have pub¬
lic matters under debate, it is not fair to appeal to
the people. It was a reasonable motion which He-
zekiah’s plenipotentiaries made, that this parley
should be held in a language which the people did
not understand, (y. 11.) because reasons of state
are secret things, and ought to be kept secret, the
vulgar being incompetent judges of them. It is
therefore an unfair practice, and not doing as men
would be done by, to incense subjects against their
rulers by base insinuations.
2. Proud and haughty scomers, the fairer they
are spoken to, commonly speak the fouler. No¬
thing could be said more mildly and respectfully
than that which Hezekiah’s agents said to Rabsha¬
keh. Beside that the thing itself was just, which
they desired, they called themselves his servants,
they petitioned for it, Speak, me pray thee; but
this made him the more spiteful and imperious.
To give rough answers to those who give us soft
answers, is one way of rendering evil for good; and
those are wicked indeed, and it is to be feared, in¬
curably, with whom that which usually turns away
wrath does but make bad worse.
3. When Satan would tempt men from trusting
in God, and cleaving to him, he does it by insinuat¬
ing, that, in yielding to him, they may better their
condition; but it is a false suggestion, and grossly
absurd, and therefore to be rejected with the ut¬
most abhorrence. When the world and the flesh
say to us, “ Make an agreement with us, and come
out to us, submit to our dominion, and come into
our interests, and you shall eat every one of his own
vine;’’ they do but deceive us, promising liberty
then when they would lead us into the basest cap¬
tivity and slavery. One might as well take Rab-
shakeh’s word as theirs, for kind usage and fair
quarter; therefore, when they speak fair, believe
them not. Let them say what they will, there is no
land like the land of promise, the holy land.
4. Nothing can be more absurd in itself, nor a
greater affront to the true and living God, than to
compare him with the gods of the heathen; as if he
could do no more for the protection of his worship¬
pers than they can for the protection of theirs;
and as if the God of Israel could as easily be mas¬
tered as the gods of Hamath and Arpad. Where¬
as they are vanity and a lie, they are nothing; he
is the great I AM: they are the creatures of men’s
fancy, and the works of men’s hands; he is the
Creator of all things.
5. Presumptuous sinners are ready to think, that,
because they have been too hard tor their fellcw-
creatures, they are therefore a matcli for their
Creator. This and the other nation they have sub¬
dued, and therefore the Lord himself shall not de¬
liver Jerusalem out of their hand. But though the
potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the
earth, let them not strive with the Potter.
6. it is sometimes prudent not to answer a fool
according to his folly. Hezekiah’s command was,
“Answer him not; it will but provoke him to rail
and blaspheme yet more and more; leave it to Gcd
to stop his mouth, for you cannot.” They had rea¬
son enough on their side, but it would be hard to
speak it to such an unreasonable adversary without
a mixture of passion ; and if they should fall a rail¬
ing like him, Rabshakeh would be too hard for
them at that weapon.
7. It becomes the people of Gcd to lay to heart
the dishonour done to God by the blasphemies of
wicked men, though they do not think it prudence
to reply to those blasphemies. Though they an¬
swered him not a word, yet they rent their clothes,
in a holy zeal for the glory of God’s name, and a
holy indignation at the contempt put upon it. They
tore their garments, when they heard blasphemy,
as taking no pleasure in their own ornaments, when
God’s honour suffered.
CHAP. XXXVII.
In this chapter we have a further repetition of the story
which we had before in the book of Kings, concerning
Sennacherib. In the chapter before, we had him conquer¬
ing, and threatening to conquer. In this chapter, we have
him falling, and, at last, fallen, in answer to prayer, and
in performance of many of the prophecies which we
have met with in the foregoing chapters. Here we
have, I. Hezekiah’s pious resentment of Rabshakeh’s
impious discourse, v. 1. II. The gracious message he
sent to Isaiah to desire his prayers, v. 2 . . 5. III. The
encouraging answer jvhich Isaiah sent him from God,
assuring him that God would plead his cause against
the king of Assyria, v. 6, 7. IV. An abusive letter
which the king of Assyria sent to Hezekiah, to the same
purport with Rabshakeh’s speech, v. 8 . . 13. V. Heze¬
kiah’s humble prayer to God upon the receipt of this
letter, v. 14 . . 20. VI. The further full answer which
God sent him by Isaiah, promising him that his affairs
should shortly take a happy turn, that the storm should
blow over, and every thing should appear bright and se¬
rene, v. 21 . . 35. V\l. The immediate accomplishment
of this prophecy in the ruin of his army, (v. 36.) and the
murder of himself, v. 37, 38. All which was largely
opened 2 Kings 19.
1. A ND it came to pass, when king He-
zekiali heard it, that he rent his
clothes, and covered himself with sack¬
cloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
2. And he sent Eliakim, who teas over the
household, and Shebna the scribe, and the
elders of the priests covered with sack¬
cloth, unto Isaiah the prophet, the son of
Amoz. 3. And they said unto him, Thus
saith Hezekiah, This is a day of trouble,
and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the
children are come to the birth, and there
j is not strength to bring forth. 4. It maybe
the Lord thy God will hear the words of
Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his
master hath sent to reproach the living
I God, and will reprove- the words which the
165
ISAIAH, XXXVII.
Lord thy God hath heard : wherefore lift
up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.
5. So the servants of king Hezekiah came
to Isaiah. 6. And Isaiah said unto them,
Tlius shall ye say unto your master, Thus
saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words
that thou hast heard, wherewith the ser¬
vants of the king of Assyria have blasphem¬
ed me. 7. Behold, I will send a blast upon
him; and he shall hear a rumour, and re¬
turn to his own land: and 1 will cause him
to fall by the sword in his own land.
We may observe here,
1. That the best way to baffle the malicious de¬
signs of our enemies against us, is, to be driven by
them to God and to our duty, and so to fetch meat
out of the eater. Rabshakeh intended to frighten
Hezekiah from the Lord, but it proves that he
frightens him to the Lord. The wind, instead of
forcing the traveller’s coat from him, makes him
wrap it the closer about him. The more Rabsha¬
keh reproaches God, the more Hezekiah studies to
honour him, by rending his clothes for the disho¬
nour done to him, and attending in his sanctuary to
know his mind.
2. That it well becomes great men to desire the
prayers of good men and good ministers. Hezeki¬
ah sent messengers, and honourable ones, those of
the first rank, to Isaiah, to desire his prayers, re¬
membering how much his prophecies of late had
plainly looked toward the events of the present
day; in dependence upon which, it is probable, he
doubted not but that the issue would be comforta¬
ble, yet lie would have it to be so in answer to
prayer; This is a day of trouble, therefore let it be
a day of prayer.
3. When we are most at a plunge, we should be
most earnest in prayer; Now that the children are
brought to the birth, but there is not strength to
bring forth, now let prayer come, and help at a
dead lift; when pains are most strong, let prayers
be most lively; and when we meet with the great¬
est difficulties, then is a time to stir up not ourselves
only, but others also, to take hold on God. Prayer
is the midwife of mercy, that helps to bring it forth.
4. It is an encouragement to pray, though we
have but some hopes of mercy; (i>. 4.) It may be,
the Lord thy God will hear; who knows but he
will return and refient? The ‘ it may be ’ of the
prospect of the haven of blessings, should quicken
us with double diligence to ply the oar of prayer.
5. When there is a remnant left, and but a rem¬
nant, it concerns us to lift up a prayer for that rem¬
nant, v. 4. The prayer that reaches heaven must
be lifted up by a strong faitb, earnest desires, and
a direct intention to the glory of God: all which
should be quickened when we come to the last stake.
6. Those that have made God their Enemy, we
have no reason to be afraid of, for they are marked
for ruin; and though they may hiss, they cannot
hurt. Rabshakeh has blasphemed God, and there¬
fore let not Hezekiah be afraid of him, v. 6. He
has made God a Party to the cause by his invec¬
tives. and therefore judgment will certainly be
givei against him. God will certainly plead his
own cause.
7. Sinners’ fears are but prefaces to their falls;
he shall hear the rumour of the slaughter of his
army, which shall oblige him to retire to his own
land, and there he shall be slain, v. 7. The ter¬
rors that pursue him shall bring him at last to the
king of terrors. Job xviii. 11, 14. The curses that
come upon sinners shall overtake them.
8. So Rabshakeh returned, and found
the king of Assyria warring against Lib
nab : for lie had heard that lie was depart
ed from Lachish. 9. And he heard say
concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He
is come forth to make war with thee: and
when he heard it, he sent messengers to
Hezekiah, saying, 10. Thus shall ye speak
to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not
thy God in whom thou trustest deceive
thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given
into the hand ol the king of Assyria. 1 1
Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of
Assyria have done to all lands, by destroy¬
ing them utterly; and shalt thou be deli¬
vered ? . 12. Have the gods of the nations
delivered them which my fathers have de¬
stroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Re-
zepli, and the children of Eden which were
in Telassar? 13. Where is the king of
Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the
king of the city of Sepharvaiin, Hena, and
Ivah? 14. And Hezekiah received the
lettep from the hand of the messengers, and
read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the
house of the Lord, and spread it before
the Lord. 15. And Hezekiah prayed unto
the Lord, saying, 1G. O Lord of hosts,
God of Israel, that dwellest between the
cherubims, thou art the God, even thou
alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth;
thou hast made heaven and earth. 1 7. In¬
cline thine ear, O Lord, and hear ; open
thine eyes, O Lord, and see ; and hear all
the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent
to reproach the living God. 18. Of a truth,
Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste
all the nations, and their countries, 19.
And have cast their gods into the fire; for
they were no gods, but the work of men’s
hands, wood and stone ; therefore they have
destroyed them. 20. Now, therefore, O
Lord our God, save us from his hand, that
all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that thou art the Lord, even thou only.
We may observe here,
1. That if God gives us inward satisfaction in the
promise, this may confirm us in our silent bearing
of reproaches. God answered Hezekiah, but it
does not appear that he, after deliberation, sent any
answer to Rabshakeh; but God having taken the
work into his own hands, he quietly left the mattei
with him. So Rabshakeh returned to the king his
master for fresh instructions.
2. Those that delight in war shall have enough
of it. Sennacherib, without provocation given to
him, or warning given by him, went forth against
Judah; and now with as little ceremony the king
of Ethiopia goes forth to war against him, v. 9.
They that are quarrelsome may expect to be quar¬
relled with; and God sometimes checks the rage of
his enemies by giving it a powerful diversion.
3. It is bad to talk proudly and profanely, but it
1 06 ISAIAH,
is worse to write so, for that argues more delibera¬
tion and design, and what is written spreads fur¬
ther, lasts longer, and does the more mischief; athe¬
ism and irreligion, written, will certainly be rec¬
koned for another day.
4. Great successes often harden sinners’ hearts
in their sinful ways, and make them the more
daring. Because the kings of Assyria have de¬
stroyed all lands, (though, in fact, they were but a
few that fell within their reach,) therefore they
doubt not but to destroy God’s land; because the
gods of the nations were unable to help, they con¬
clude the God of Israel is so; because the idola¬
trous kings of Hamath and Arpad became an
easy prey to them, therefore the religious reform¬
ing king of Judah must needs be so too. Thus is
the proud man ripened for ruin by the sunshine of
prosperity.
5. Liberty of access to the throne of grace, and
liberty of speech there, are the unspeakable privi¬
leges of the Lord’s people at all times, especially in
times of distress and danger. Hezekiah took Sen¬
nacherib’s letter, and spread it before the Lord; not
designing to make any complaints against him, but
those grounded upon his own hand-writing. Let
the thing speak itself, here it is in black and white;
Often thine eyes, O Lord , and see. God allows his
praying people to be humbly free with him, to utter
all their words, as Jephthah did, before him, to
spread the letter, whether of a friend or an enemy,
before him, and leave the contents, the concern of
it, with him.
6. The great fundamental principles of our reli¬
gion, applied by faith, and improved in prayer, will
be of sovereign use to us in our particular exigences
and distresses, whatever they are; to them there¬
fore we must have recourse, and abide by them ; so
Hezekiah did here. He encouraged himself with
this, that the God of Israel is the Lord of hosts, of
all hosts; of the hosts of Israel, to animate them;
of the hosts of their enemies, to dispirit and restrain
them; that he is God alone, and there is none that
can stand in competition with him; that he is the
God of all the kingdoms of the earth, and disposes
of them all as he pleases, for he made heaven and
earth; and therefore both can do any thing, and
does every thing.
7. When we are afraid of men that are great de¬
stroyers, we may with humble boldness appeal to
God as the great Saviour. They have indeed de¬
stroyed the nations, who had thrown themselves out
of the protection of the true God by worshipping
false gods; but the Lord, the God alone, is our God,
our King, our Lawgiver, and he will save us, who
is the Saviour of, them that believe.
8. We have enough to take hold of, in our wrestling
with God by prayer, if we can but plead that his
glory is interested in our case; that his name will
be profaned if we are run down, and glorified if
we are relieved. Thence therefore will our most
prevailing pleas be drawn; Do it for thy glory’s
sake.
21. Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent
unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Loro
God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to
me against Sennacherib king of Assyria:
22. This is the word which the Lord hatli
spoken concerning him, The virgin, the
daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and
laughed thee to scorn ; the daughter of Je¬
rusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 23.
Whom hast thou reproached and blas¬
phemed? and against whom hast thou ex-
XXXVII.
alted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on
high ? Even against the Holy One of Israel.
24. By thy servants hast thou reproached
the Loro, and hast said, By the multitude
of my chariots am 1 come up to the height
of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon;
and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof,
and the choice fir-trees thereof: and 1 will
enter into the height of his border, and the
forest of his Carmel. 25. I have digged,
and drunk water; and with the sole of my
feet have I dried up all the rivers of the be¬
sieged places. 26. Hast thou not heard
long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient
times that I have formed it? now have I
brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to
lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
27. Therefore their inhabitants were of small
power, they were dismayed and confounded:
they were as the grass of the field, and as
the green herb; as the grass on the house¬
tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown
up. 28. But I know thy abode, and thy
going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage
against me. 29. Because thy rage against
me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine
ears; therefore will 1 put my hook in thy
nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will
turn thee back by the way which thou earn¬
est. 30. And this shall be a sign unto thee,
Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of
itself; and the second year that which spring-
eth of the same ; and in the third year sow
ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat
the fruit thereof. 31. And the remnant that
is escaped of the house of Judah shall again
take root downward, and bear fruit upward :
32. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a
remnant, and they that escape out of mount
Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall
do this. 33. Therefore thus saith the Lord
concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not
come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there,
nor come before it with shields, nor cast a
bank against it. 34. By the way that he
came, by the same shall he return, and shall
not come into this city, saith the Lord.
35. For I will defend this city to save it,
for mine own sake, and for my servant Da
vid’s sake. 36. Then the angel of the Lord
went forth, and smote in the camp of the
Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five
thousand: and when they arose early in the
morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
37. So Sennacherib king of Assyria depart¬
ed, and went and returned, and dwelt at
Nineveh. 38. And it came to pass, as he
was worshipping in the house of Nisroch
his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer
his sons smote him with the sword; and
ISAIAH,
they escaped into the land of Armenia: and
Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.
We may here observe,
1. That those who receive messages of terror from
men with patience, and send messages of faith to
God by prayer, may expect messages of grace and
peace from God for their comfort, then when they
are most cast down. Isaiah sent a long answer to
Hezekiah’s prayer, in God’s name, sent it in writ¬
ing, (for it was too long to be sent by word of mouth, )
and sent it by way of return to his prayer, relation
being thereunto had; “ Whereas thou hast forayed
to me , know, for thy comfort, that thy prayer is
heard.” Isaiah might have referred him to the pro¬
phecies he had delivered, (particularly that, ch. 10. )
and bid him pick out an answer from thence; but,
that he might have abundant consolation, a message
is sent him on purpose. The correspondence be¬
tween earth and heaven is never let fall on God’s
side.
2. Those who magnify themselves, especially
who magnify themselves against God and his peo¬
ple, do really vilify themselves, and make them¬
selves contemptible in the eyes of all wise men; The
virgin, the daughter of Zion, has desfoised Senna¬
cherib, and all his impotent malice and menaces;
she knows that, while she preserves her integrity,
she is sure of the divine protection, and that, though
the enemy may bark, he cannot bite. All his threats
are a jest, it is all but brutum fulmen — a mere fash.
3. Those who abuse the people of God, affront
God himself; and he takes what is said and done
against them, as said and done against himself;
“ Jl'hom hast thou reforoached ? Even the Holy One
of Israel; whom thou hast therefore reproached,
because he is a Holy One.” And it aggravated the
indignity Sennacherib did to God, that he not only
reproached him himself, but set his servants on to
doit; By thy servants, the abjects, thou hast re¬
foroached me.
4. Those who boast of themselves and their own
achievements, reflect upon God and his providence;
“ Thou hast said, I have digged, and drunk water.
I have done mighty feats, and will do more;” and
wilt not own that I have done it, r. 24, 26. The
most active men are no more than God makes
them, and God makes them no more than of old he
designed to make them; “ What I have formed of
ancient times, in an eternal counsel, now have I
brought to foass,” (for God does all according to
the counsel of his will,) “ that thou shouldest be
to waste defenced cities; it is therefore intolerable
arrogance to make it thine own doing.”
5. All the malice, and all the motions and projects,
of the church’s enemies, are under the cognizance
and check of the church’s God. Sennacherib was
active and quick, here, and there, and every where,
but God knew his going out and coming in, and had
always an eye upon him, t>. 28. And that was not
all; he had a hand upon him too, a strict hand, a
strong hand, a hook in his nose, and a bridle in his
lifts, with which, though he was very headstrong
and unruly, he could and would turn him back by
the way he came, v. 29. Hitherto he shall come,
and no further. God had signed Sennacherib’s
commission against Judah, (r/;. x. 6.) here he su¬
persedes it ; he has frightened them but he must
not hurt them, and therefore is discharged from
going any further; nay, his commitment is here
signed, by which he is clapped up, to answer for
what he had done beyond his commission.
6. God is his people’s bountiful Benefactor, as
well as their powerful Protector; both a Sun and a
Shield to those who trust in him. Jerusalem shall
be defended, (i>. 35.) the besiegers shall not come
into it, no, nor come before it, with any regular at-
XXXVIII. ig:
i tack, but they shall be routed before they begin the
siege, v. 33. But this is not all; God will return in
mercy to his people, and will do them good. Their
land shall be more than ordinarily fruitful, so that
their losses shall be abundantly repaired; they shall
not feel any of the ill effects either of the enemy’s
wasting the country, or of their own being taken off
from husbandry. But the earth, as at first, sh ill
bring forth of itself, and they shall live, and live
plentifully, upon its spontaneous productions. The
blessing of the Lord can, when he pleases, make
rich without the hand of the diligent. And let them
not think that the desolations of their country would
excuse them from observing the sabbatical year,
which happened (as it should seem) the year after,
and when they were not to plough or sow; no,
though they had not now their usual stock before¬
hand for that year, yet they must religiously ob¬
serve it, and depend upon God to provide for them.
God must be trusted in the way of duty.
7. There is no standing before the judgments of
God, when they come with commission. (1.) The
greatest numbers cannot stand before them; cne
ungel shall, in one night, lay a vast army of men
dead upon the spot, when God commissions him so
to do, v. 36. Here are 185,000 brave soldiers in an
instant turned into so many dead corpses. Many
think the 76th Psalm was penned upon occasion of
this defeat; where, from the sfooiling of the stout-
heafted, and sending them to sleep their long sleep,
(*’• 5. ) it is inferred that God is more glorious and
excellent than the mountains of forex/, (i>. 4.) and
that he, even he, is to be feared, v. 7. Angels are
employed, more than we are aware of, as ministers
of God’s justice, to punish the pride, and break the
power, of wicked men. (2.) The greatest men
cannot stand before them. The great king, the king
of Assyria, looks very little, when he is forced to
return, not only with shame, because he cannot ac¬
complish what he had projected with so much as¬
surance, but with terror and fear, lest the angel that
had destroyed his army should destrov him; vet he
is made to look less, when his own sons, who should
have guarded him, sacrificed him to his idol, whose
protection he sought, v. 37, 38. God can quickly
stop their breath, who breathe out threatening s
and slaughter against his people, and will do it,
when they have filled up the measure of their ini¬
quity; and the I .or cl is known by these judgments
which he executes, known to be a God that resists
the proud. Manv prophecies were fulfilled in this
providence; which should encourage us, as far as
they look further, and are designed as common and
general assurances of the safety of the church and
of all that tnist in God, to depend upon God for the
accomplishment of them. He that has delivered,
doth and will. Lord, forgive our enemies; but, so
let all thine enemies foerish, O Lord.
CHAP. XXXVIII.
This chanter proceeds in the history of Hezekiah. Here
is, 1. His sickness, and the sentence of death he received
within himself, v. 1. II. His praver in his sickness, v.
2, 3. III. The answer of peace which God gave to that
prayer, assuring him that he should recover, that he
should live 15 years vet. that Jerusalem should be deli¬
vered from the king of Assyria, and that, for a sign to
confirm his faith herein, the sun should go back ten de¬
grees, v. 4. .3. And this we read and opened before,
2 Kings xx. I, &c. But, IV. Here is Hezekiah’s thanks¬
giving for his recoverv, which we had not before, v. 9. .
20. To which are added, the means used, (v. 21.) and
the end the good man aimed at in desiring to recover, v.
22. This is a chapter which will entertain the thoughts,
direct the devotions, and encourage the faith and hones,
of those that are confined by bodily distempers. It visits
those that are visited with sickness.
1. TN those days was Hezekiah sick unto
JL death. And Isaiah the prophet, the
168
ISAIAH, XXXVIII.
son of Amoz, came unto him, and said unto
him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thy house in
order : for thou shalt die, and not live. 2.
Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the
wall, and prayed unto the Lord, 3. And
said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech
thee, how I have walked before thee in
truth, and with a perfect heart, and have
done that which is good in thy sight: and
Hezekiah wept sore. 4. Then came the
word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, 5. Go
and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord,
the God of David thy father, I have heard
thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold,
I will add unto thy days fifteen years. 6.
And I will deliver thee and this city out of
the hand of the king of Assyria: and l will
defend this city. 7. And this shall be a sign
unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord
will do this thing that he hath spoken; 8.
Behold, I will bring again the shadow of
the degrees, which is gone down in the sun¬
dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the
sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees
it was gone down.
We may hence observe, among others, these good
lessons:
1. That neither men’s greatness nor their good¬
ness will exempt them from the arrests of sickness
and death. Hezekiah, a mighty potentate on earth,
and a mighty favourite of Heaven, is struck with a
disease, which, without a miracle, will certainly be
mortal; and this, in the midst of his days, his com¬
forts, and usefulness. Lord, behold, he whom thou
/ovest is sick. It should seem, this sickness seized
him when he was in the midst of his triumphs over
the ruined army of the Assyrians, to teach us al¬
ways to rejoice with trembling.
2. It concerns us to prepare, when we see death
approaching; “ Set thy house in order, and thy heart
especially; put both thine affections and thine af¬
fairs into the best posture thou canst, that, when
thy Lord comes, thou mayest be found of him in
peace with God, with thy own conscience, and with
all men, and mayest have nothing else to do but to
die.” Our being ready for death will make it come
never the sooner, but much the more easily : and
those that are fit to die are most fit to live.
3. Is any afflicted with sickness? Let him pray,
James v. 13. Prayer is a salve for every sore, per¬
sonal or public; when Hezekiah was distressed by
his enemies, he prayed; now that he was sick, he
prayed. Whither should the child go, when any
thing ails him, but to his Father? Afflictions are
sent to bring us to our Bibles and to our knees.
When Hezekiah was in health, he went up to the
house of the Lord, to pray, for that was then the
house of prayer. When he was sick in bed, he
turned his face toward the wall; probably, toward
the temple, which was a type of Christ, to whom
we must look by faith in every prayer.
4. The testimony of our consciences for us, that
by the grace of God we have lived a good life, and
have walked closely and humbly with God, will be
a great support and comfort to us when we come to
look death in the face. And though we mav not
depend upon it as our righteousness, by which to be
justified before God, yet we may humbly plead it
as an evidence of our interest in the righteousness of
the Mediator. Hezekiah does not demand a reward
from God for his good services, but modestly begs
that God would remember, not how he had re¬
formed the kingdom, taken away the high-places,
cleansed the temple, and revived neglected ordi¬
nances; but, which was better than all burnt-offer¬
ings and sacrifices, how he had approved himself
to God with a single eye and an honest heart, net
only in these eminent performances, but in an even
regular course of holy living; I have walked before
thee in truth and sincerity, and with a perfect, that
is, an upright, heart; for uprightness is our gospel-
perfection.
5. God has a gracious ear open to the prayers of
his afflicted people. The same prophet that was
sent to Hezekiah with warning to prepare for death,
is sent to him with a promise that he shall not only
recover, or be restored to a confirmed state of healtl i .
but live fifteen years yet. As Jerusalem was dis
tressed, so Hezekiah was diseased, that God might
have the glory of the deliverance of both, and that
prayer too might have the honour of being instru¬
mental in the deliverance. When we pray in our
sickness, though God send not to us such an answer
as he here sent to Hezekiah, yet, if by his Spirit he
bids us be of good cheer, assures us that our sins are
forgiven us, that his grace shall be sufficient for us,
and that, whether we live or die, we shall be his,
we have no reason to say that we pray in vain. God
answers us, if he strengthen us with strength in our
souls, though not with bodily strength, Ps. cxxxviii. 3.
6. A good man cannot take much comfort in his
own health and prosperity, unless withal he see the
welfare and prosperity of the church of God.
Therefore God, knowing what lay near Hezekiah’s
heart, promised him not only that he should live,
but that he should see the good of Jerusalem all the
days of his life, (Ps. cxxviii. 5.) otherwise he can¬
not live comfortably. Jerusalem, which is now de¬
livered, shall still be defended from the Assyrians,
who perhaps threatened to rally again, and renew
the attack. Thus does God graciously provide to
make Hezekiah upon all accounts easy.
7. God is willing to show to the heirs of promise
the immutability of his counsel, that they may have
an unshaken faith in it, and therewith a strong con¬
solation. God has given Hezekiah repeated assu¬
rances of his favour; and yet, as if all were thought
too little, that he might expect from him uncommon
favours, a sign is given him, an uncommon sign —
none that we know of having had an absolute pro¬
mise of living a certain number of years to come, as
Hezekiah had. God thought fit to confirm this un¬
precedented favour with a miracle. The sign was
the going back of the shadow upon the sun-dial: the
sun is a faithful measurer of time, and rejoices as a
strong man to run a race; but he that set that clock
agoing can set it back, when he pleases, and make
it to return; for the Father of all lights is the Direc¬
tion of them.
9. The writing of Hezekiah kingof Judah,
when he had been sick, and was recovered
of his sickness: 10. 1 said, in the cutting off
of my days, I shall go to the gates of the
grave: I am deprived of the residue of my
years. 11.1 said, I shall not see the Lord,
even the Lord, in the land of the living: I
shall behold man no more with the inhabi¬
tants of the world. 12. Mine age is depart¬
ed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s
tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life,
he will cut me off with pining sickness:
! from day even to night wilt thou make an
ISAIAH, XXXVIII. 1C«J
*rnl of me. 13. I reckoned till morning,
.hat, as a lion, so will he break all my
bones: from day even to night wilt thou
make an end of me. 1 4. Like a crane, or
a swallow, so did I chatter; I did mourn as
a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward :
O Loan, I am oppressed; undertake for
me. 15. What shall I say? he hath both
spoken unto me, and himself hath done it:
I shall go softly all my years in the bitter¬
ness of my soul. 16. O I.ord, by these
things men live, and in all these things is the
life of my spirit : so wilt thou recover me,
and make me to live. 1 7. Behold, for peace
I had great bitterness; but thou hast in love
to my soul delivered it from the pit of cor¬
ruption: for thou hast cast all my sins be¬
hind thy back. 18. For the grave cannot
praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee:
they that go down into the pit cannot hope
for thy truth. 19. The living, the living, he
shall praise thee, as I do this day; the father
to the children shall make known thy truth.
20. The Lord was ready to save me: there¬
fore we will sing my songs to the stringed
instruments, all the days of our life, in the
house of the Lord. 21. For Isaiah had
said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay
it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall
recover. 22. Hezekiah also had said, What
is the sign that I shall go up to the house of
the Lord?
We have here Hezekiah’s thanksgiving-song,
which he penned, by divine direction, after his re¬
covery. He might have taken some of the psalms
of his father David, and have made use of them for
his purpose ; he might have found many very perti¬
nent ones. He appointed the Levites to praise the
Lord with the words of David, 2 Chron. xxix. 30.
But the occasion here was extraordinary, and, his
heart being full of devout affections, he would not
confine himself to the compositions he had, though
of divine inspiration, but would offer up his affec¬
tions in his own words, which is most natural and
genuine. He put this thanksgiving in writing, that
lie might review it himself afterward, for the re¬
viving of the good impressions made upon him by
this providence, and that it might be recommended
to others also for their use upon the like occasion.
Note, There are writings which it is proper for us
to draw up after we have been sick and are re¬
covered. It is good to write a memorial of the af¬
fliction, and of the frame of our hearts under it; to
keep a record of the thoughts we had of things when
we were sick, the affections that were then working
in us; to write a memorial of the mercies of a sick
bed, and of our release from it, that they may never
be forgotten; to write a thanksgiving to God, write
a sure covenant with him, and seal it; give it under
our hands, that we will never return again to folly.
It is an excellent writing which Hezekiah here left,
upon his recovery; and yet we find (2 Chron. xxxii.
25.) that he rendered not again according to the
benefit done to him. The impressions, one would
have thought, should never have worn off, and yet,
it seems, they did. Thanksgiving is good, but
thank s/nv'yy is better.
Vol. iv. — Y
Now, in this writing, he preserves upon record,
L The deplorable condition he was in when his
disease prevailed, and his despair of recovery, v.
10 — 13. He tells us what his thoughts were of him¬
self, when he was at the worst; and these he keeps
in remembrance; 1. As blaming himself for his
despondency, and that he gave up himself for gone;
whereas, while there is life, there is hope, and room
for our prayer and God’s mercy. Though it is good
to consider sickness as a summons to' the grave, so
as thereby to be quickened in our preparation for
another world, yet we ought not to make the worst
of our case, nor to think that every sick man must
needs be quickly a dead man. He that brings low,
can raise up. Or, 2. As reminding himself of the
apprehensions he had of death approaching, that he
might always know and consider his own frailty and
mortality, and that, though he had a reprieve for
fifteen years, it was but a reprieve, and the fatal
stroke he had now such a dread of would certainly
come at last. Or, 3. As magnifying the power of
God in recovering him when his case was desperate,
and his goodness in being so much better to him
than his own fears. Thus David sometimes, when
he was delivered out of trouble, reflected upon the
black and melancholy conclusions he had made upon
his own case when he was in trouble, and what he
had then said in his haste, as Ps. xxxi. 22. — lxxvii.
7—9.
Let us see what Hezekiah’s thoughts of himself
were :
(1.) He reckoned that the number of his months
was cut off in the midst: he was now about thirty-
nine or forty years of age, and when he had a fair
prospect of many years and happy ones, very happy,
very many, before him. This distemper that sud¬
denly seized him, he concluded would be the cut-
ting off his days; that he should now be deprived
of the residue of his years, which, in a course of na¬
ture, he might have lived; not which he could com¬
mand as a debt due to him, but which he had rea¬
son to expect, considering the strength of his consti¬
tution: and with them he should be deprived not
only of the comforts of life, but of all the oppor¬
tunities he had of serving God and his generation.
To the same purport, (i>. 12.) “ Mine age is de¬
parted and gone, and is removed from me as a shep¬
herd’s tent, out of which I am forcibly dislodged by
the pulling of it down in an instant.” Our present
residence is but like that of a shepherd in his tent,
a poor, mean, and cold lodging, where we are upon
duty, and with a trust committed to our charge, as
the shepherd has, of which we must give an ac¬
count, and which will easily be taken down by the
drawing of one pin or two. But observe. It is not
the final period of our age, but only the removal of
it to another world, where the tents of Kedar that
are taken down, coarse, black, and weather-beaten,
shall be set up again in the New Jerusalem, comely
as the curtains of Solomon. He adds another simili¬
tude; I have cutoff, like a weaver, my life. Not
that he did by any act of his own cut off the thread
of his life; but, being told that he must needs die,
he was forced to cut off all his designs and projects,
his purposes were broken off, even the thoughts of
his heart, as Job’s were, ch. xvii. 11. Our days are
compared to the weaver’s shuttle, (Job vii. 6.)
passing and repassing very swiftly, every throw leav¬
ing a thread behind it; and when they are finished,
the thread is cut off, and the piece taken out of the
loom, and showed to our Master, to be judged of
whether it be well woven or no, that we may re¬
ceive according to the things done in the body. But,
as the weaver, when he has cut off his threads, has
done his work, and the toil is over, so a good man,
when his life is cut oft', his cares and fatigues are
cut off with it, and he rests from his labours. But
170 ISAIAH, XXXV11I.
did I sav, I have cut off my life? No, my times are
not in mine own hand, they are in God’s hand, and
it is he that will cut me off from the thrum; so the
margin reads it; he has appointed what shall be the
length of the piece, and, when it comes to that
length, he will cut it off.
(2.) He reckoned that he should go to the gates
of the grave; to the grave, the gates of which are
always open; for it is still crying, Give, give. The
grave is here put not only for the sepulchres of his
fathers, in which his body would be deposited with
a great deal of pomp and magnificence, (for he was
buried in the chief of the sepulchres of the kings,
and all Judah did him honour at his death, 2 Chron.
xxxii. 33. ) which yet he himself took no care of, nor
gave any order about, when he was sick; but for the
state of the dead, that is the sheol, the hades, the
invisible world, to which he saw his soul going.
(3. ) He reckoned that he was deprived of all the
opportunities he might have had of worshipping
God, and doing good, in the world; ( v . 11.) “2
said,” [1.] “ I shall not see the Lord, as he mani¬
fests himself in his temple, in his oracles and ordi¬
nances, even the Lord here in the land of the living. ”
He hopes to see him on the other side death, but he
despairs of seeing him any more on this side death,
as he had seen him in the sanctuary, Ps. lxiii. 2.
He shall no more see, (serve) the Lord in the land
of the living, the land of conflict between his king¬
dom and the kingdom of Satan, this seat of war.
He dwells much upon this; I shall no more see the
Lord, even the Lord; for a good man wishes not to
live for any other end than that he may serve God,
and have communion with him. [2. J I shall see
man no more. He shall see his subjects no more,
whom he may protect, and administer justice to;
shall see no more objects of charity, whom he
may relieve; shall see his friends no more, who
were often sharpened by his countenance, as iron
is by iron. Death puts an end to conversation,
and removes our acquaintance into darkness, Ps.
lxxxviii. 18.
(4. ) He reckoned that the agonies of death would
be very sharp and severe; “ He will cut me off with
pining sickness, which will waste me, and wear me
off, quickly.” The distemper increased so fast,
without intermission or remission, either day or
night, morning or evening, that he concluded it
would soon come to a crisis, and make an end of
him — that God, whose servants all diseases are,
would by them, as a lion, break all his bones with
grinding pain, v. 13. He thought that next morn¬
ing was the utmost he could expect to live in such
pain and misery; when he had outlived the first
day’s illness, the second day he repeated his fears,
and concluded that this must needs be his last night;
From day even to night wilt thou make an aid of
me. When we are sick, we are very apt to be thus
calculating our time, and, after all, we are still at
uncertainty. It should be more our care how we
shall get safe to another world, than how long we
are likely to live in this world.
II. The complaints he made in this condition; ( v .
14.) “ Like a crane, or swallow, so did I chatter;
I made a noise as those birds do when they are
frightened.” See what a change sickness makes in
a little time; he that, but the other day, spake with
so much freedom and majesty, now, through the
extremity of pain, or deficiency of spirits, chatters
like a crane, or swallow. Some think he refers to
his praying in his affliction; it was so broken and in¬
terrupted with groanings which could not be utter¬
ed, that it was more like the chattering of a crane,
or a swallow, than what it used to be. Such mean
thoughts had he of his own prayers, which were yet
acceptable to God, and successful. He mourned
like a dove, sadly, but silently and patiently. He I
had found God so ready to answer his prayers at
other times, that he could not but look upward, in
expectation of some relief now; but in vain, his eyes
failed, and he saw no hopeful symptom, nor felt any
abatement of his distemper; and therefore he prays,
“lam oppressed, quite overpowered, and ready to
sink; Lord, undertake for me, bail me cut of the
hands of the serjeant that has arrested me; be Surety
for thy servant for good, Ps. cxix. 122. Come be¬
tween me and the gates of the grave, to which I am
ready to be hurried.” When we recover from sick¬
ness, the divine pity does, as it were, beg a day for
us, and undertakes we shall be forthcoming another
time, and answer the debt in full. And when we
receive the sentence of death within ourselves, we
are undone, if the divine grace do not undertake for
us to carry us through the valley of the shadow of
death, and to preserve us blameless to the heavenly
kingdom on the other side of it — if Christ do not un¬
dertake for us, to bring us off in the judgment, and
present us to his Father, and to do all that for us,
which we need, and cannot do for ourselves, lam
oppressed, ease me; so some read it; fer when we
are agitated by a sense of guilt, and the fear of
wrath, nothing will make us easy but Christ’s un¬
dertaking for us.
III. The grateful acknowledgment he makes of
God’s goodness to him in his recovery. He begins
this part of writing as one at a stand how to express
himself; (i». 15.) “ What shall Isay? Why should
I say so much by way of complaint, when this is
enough to silence all my complaints — He hasspiken
unto me, he has sent his prophet to tell me that I
shall recover, and live fifteen years yet; and him¬
self has done it, it is as sure to be done as if it were
done already; what God has spoken he will himself
do, for no word of his shall fall to the ground.” Gi d
having spoken it, he is sure of it; ( v . 16.) “ Thou
wilt recover me, and make me to live; not only
recover me from this illness, but make me to lic e
through the years assigned me.” And having this
hope,
1. He promises himself always to retain the im¬
pressions of his affliction; (v. 15.) “ I will go softly
all my years in the bitterness of my soul; as one in
sorrow for my sinful distrusts and murmurings un¬
der my affliction; as one in care to make suitable
returns for God’s favour to me, and to make it ap-
ear that I have got good by the providences I have
een under. I will go softly, gravely, and consi¬
derately, and with thought and deliberation, net
as many, who, when they are recovered, live as
carelessly, and as much at large, as ever.” Or,
“I will go pleasantly; (so some understand it:)
“ when God has delivered me, I will walk cheer¬
fully with him in all holy conversation, as having
tasted that he is gracious. Or, “ I will go softly,’
that is, “mournfully, in the bitterness of my soul
for my sins.” Or, “I will go softly, even after
the bitterness of my soul;” (so it may be read;)
“ when the trouble is over, I will endeavour to re¬
tain the impression of it, and to have the same
thoughts of things that I had then.”
2. He will encourage himself, and others, with
the experiences he had had of the goodness of God;
(y. 16.) “ By these things which thou hast done for
me, they live, the kingdom lives;” (for the life of
such a king was the life of the kingdom ;) “ all that
hear of it shall live and be comforted; by the same
power and goodness that have recovered me, all
men have their souls held in life, and they ought to
acknowledge it. In all these things is the life of
my spirit, my spiritual life, that is supported and
maintained by what God has done for the preser¬
vation of my natural life.” The more we taste of
the loving-kindness of God in every providence,
the more will our hearts be enlarged to love him.
1 7 i
ISAIAH, XXXVIII.
and live to him, and that will be the life of our
spirit. Thus our souls live, and they shall praise
him.
3. He magnifies the mercy of his recovery, on
several accounts.
( 1. ) That he was raised up from great extremity;
(v. 17.) Behold, for fieace I had great bitterness.
When upon the defeat of Sennacherib, he expected
nothing but an uninterrupted peace to himself and
his government, he was suddenly seized with sick¬
ness, which imbittered all his comforts to him, and
went to that height, that it seemed to be the bitter¬
ness of death itself, bitterness, bitterness, nothing
but gall and wormwood. This was his condition,
when God sent him seasonable relief.
(2.) That it came from the love of God, from
love to his soul. Some are spared, and reprieved,
in wrath, that they may be reserved for some
greater judgment when they have filled up the
measure of their iniquities; but temporal mercies
are then sweet indeed to us, when we can taste the
love of God in them; he delivered me because he
delighted in me; (Ps. xviii. 19.) and the word here
signifies a very affectionate love; Thou hast loved
jny soul from the pit of corruption; so it runs in
the original. God’s love is sufficient to bring a soul
from tlie pit of corruption. This is applicable to
our redemption by Christ; it was in love to our
souls, our poor perishing souls, that he delivered
them from the bottomless pit, snatched them as
brands out of everlasting burnings. In his love,
and in his pity he redeemed us; and the preserva¬
tion of our bodies, and the provision made for
them, are then doubly comfortable, when it is in
love to our souls; when God repairs the house be¬
cause he has a kindness for the inhabitant.
(3.) That it was the effect of the pardon of sin;
“Tor thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back,
and thereby hast delivered my soul from the pit of
corruption, in love to it. Note, [1.] When God
pardons sin, he casts it behind his back, as not de¬
signing to look upon it with an eye of justice and
jealousy; he remembers it no more, to visit for it;
the pardon does not make the sin not to have been,
or not to have been sin, but not to be punished as it
deserves. When we cast our sins behind our back,
and take no care to repent of them, God sets them
before his face, and is ready to reckon for them; but
when we set them before our face in true repent¬
ance, as David did when his sin was ever before
him, God casts them behind his back. [2.] When
God*pardons sins, he pardons all, casts them all be¬
hind his back, though they have been as scarlet
and crimson. [3.] The pardoning of the sin is the
delivering of the soul from the pit of corruption.
[4.] It is then pleasant to think of recoveries from
sickness, when we see them flowing from the re¬
mission of sin; then the cause is removed, and then
it is in love to the soul.
(4.) That it was the lengthening out of his oppor¬
tunity to glorify God in this world; which he made
the business and pleasure and end of life.
[1.] If this sickness had been his death, it had
put a period to that course of service for the glory
of God, and the good of the church, which he now
was pursuing, v. 18. Heaven indeed praises God,
and the souls of the faithful, when at death they re¬
move thither, do that work of heaven as angels,
and with the angels, there; but what is this world
the better for that? What does that contribute to
the support and advancement of God’s kingdom
among men in this state of struggle? The grave can¬
not praise God, nor the dead bodies that lie there;
death cannot celebrate him, cannot proclaim his
perfections and favours, to invite others into his
service. They mho go damn to the pit, being no
longer in a state of probation, nor living by faith in
his promises, cannot give him honour by hoping for
his truth. They that lie rotting in the grave, as
they are not capable of receivingany further mercy
from God, so neither are they capable of offering
any more praises to him, till they shall be raised at
the last day, and then they shall both receive and
give glory.
[2.] Being recovered from it, he resolves not
only to proceed, but to abound, in praising and serv¬
ing God; (v. 19.) The living, the living, he shall
praise thee. They may do it, they have an oppor¬
tunity of praising God: and that is the main thing
that makes life valuable and desirable to a good man.
Hezekiah was therefore glad to live, not that he
might continue to enjoy Ins royal dignity, and the
honour and pleasure of his late successes, but that
he might continue to praise God. The living must
praise God; they live in vain, if they do not. They
that have been dying, and yet are living, whose
life is from the dead, are in a special manner obliged
to praise God, as being most sensibly affected with
his goodness. Hezekiah for his part, being recover¬
ed from this sickness, will make it his business to
praise God; “ I do it this day, let others do it in
like manner.” They that give good exhortations
should set good examples, and do themselves what
they expect from others; “For my part,” says
Hezekiah, “ the Lord mas ready to' save me; he
not only did save me, but he was ready to do it,
just then when I was in the greatest extremity;
his help came in seasonably; he showed himself wil¬
ling and forward to save me; the Lord mas to save
me; was at hand to do it, saved me at the first word;
and therefore,”
First, “I will publish and proclaim his praise. I
and my family, I and my friends, I and my peo¬
ple, will have a concert of praise to his glory ; me
mill sing my song to the stringed instruments, that
others may attend to them, and be affected with
them, when they are in the most devout and seri¬
ous frame in the house of the Lord.” It is for the
honour of God, and the edification of his church,
that special mercies should be acknowledged in
public praises, especially mercies to public persons,
Ps. cxvi. 18, 19.
Secondly, “I will proceed and persevere in his
raises.” We should do it all the days of our life,
ecause every day of our life is itself a fresh mercy,
and brings many fresh mercies along with it; and as
renewed mercies call for renewed praises, so for¬
mer eminent mercies call for repeated praises. It
is by the mercy of God that we live, and therefore
as long as we live, we must continue to praise him,
while we have breath, nay while we have being.
Thirdly, “ I will propagate and perpetuate his
praises.” We should not only do it all the days of
our life, but the father to the children should make
knomn his truth, that the ages to come may give
God the glory of his truth by trusting to it. It is
the duty of parents to possess their children with a
confidence in the truth of God, which will go far
toward keeping them close to the ways of God.
Hezekiah, doubtless, did this himself, and yet Ma-
nasseh his son walked not in his steps. Parents
may give their children many good things, good
instructions, good examples, good books, but they
cannot give them grace.
In the two last verses of this chapter, we have
two passages relating to this story, which were
omitted in the narrative of it here, but which we
had, 2 Kings xx. and therefore shall here only ob
serve two lessons from them.
1. That God’s promises are intended not to su¬
persede, but to quicken and encourage, the use of
means; Hezekiah is sure to recover, and yet he
must take a lump of Jigs, and lay it on the boil, v.
21. We do not trust God, but tempt him, if, when
172
ISAIAH,
we pray to him for help, we do not second our
prayers with our endeavours. We must not put
physicians, or physic, in the place of God, but
make use of them in subordination to God and
to his providence; help thyself, and God will help
thee.
2. That the chief end we should aim at, in de¬
siring life and health, is, that we may glorify God,
and do good, and improve ourselves in knowledge,
and grace, and meetness for heaven. Hezekiah,
when he meant, What is the sign that I shall reco¬
ver? asked, What is the sign that I shall go u/i to
the house of the Lord, there to honour God, to keep
up acquaintance and communion with him, and to
encourage others to serve him, v. 22. It is taken
for granted that if God would restore him to health,
he would immediately go up to the temple with his
thank-offerings; there Christ found the impotent
man whom he had healed, John v. 14. The exer¬
cises of religion are so much the business and de¬
light of a good man, that to be restrained from
them is the greatest grievance of his afflictions,
and to be restored to them is the greatest comfort
of his deliverances. Let my soul live, and it shall
praise thee.
CHAP. XXXIX.
The story of this chapter likewise we had before, 2 Kings
xx. 12, &c. It is here repeated, not only as a very me-
morable and improvable passage, but because it con¬
cludes with a prophecy of the captivity in Babylon;
and as the former part of the prophecy of this book
frequently referred to Sennacherib’s invasion and the
defeat of that, to which therefore the history of that was
very fitly subjoined, so the latter part of this book speaks
much of the Jews’ captivity in Babylon and their de¬
liverance out of that, to which therefore the first predic¬
tion of it, with the occasion thereof, is very filly
prefixed. We have here, I. The pride and folly of
Hezekiah, in showing his treasures to the king of
Babylon’s ambassadors that were sent to congratulate
him on his recovery, v. 1, 2. II. Isaiah’s examination
of him, concerning it, in God’s name, and his confession
of it, v. 3, 4. III. The sentence passed upon him for
it, that all his treasures should, in process of time, be
carried to Babylon, v. 5 - . 7. IV. Hezekiah’s peni¬
tent and patient submission to this sentence, v. 8.
I. i T that time Merodach-baladaa, the
/Y son of Baladan king of Babylon,
sent letters and a present to Hezekiah :
for he had heard that he had been sick, and
was recovered. 2. And Hezekiah was
glad of them, and showed them the house
of his precious things, the silver, and the
gold, and the spices, and the precious oint¬
ment, and all the house of his armour, and
all that was found in his treasures: there
was nothing in his house, nor in all his do¬
minion, that Hezekiah showed them not.
3. Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king
Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said
these men? and from whence came they unto
thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come
from a far country unto me, even from Ba¬
bylon. 4. Then said he, What have they
seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answer¬
ed, All that is in my house have they seen ;
there is nothing among my treasures that
I have not showed them.
Hence we may leam these lessons,
1. That humanity and common civility teach us
XXXIX.
j to rejoice with our friends and neighbours when
they rejoice, and to congratulate them on their de
liveranccs, and particularly their recoveries from
sickness. The king of Babylon, having heard that
Hezekiah had been sick, and was recovered,
sent to compliment him upon the occasion. If
Christians be unneighbourly, heathens will shame
them.
2. It becomes us to give honour to those whom
our God puts honour upon. The sun was the Ba¬
bylonians’ god; and when they understood that it
was with a respect to Hezekiah that the sun, to
their great surprise, went back ten degrees, on
such a day, they thought themselves obliged to do
Hezekiah all the honour they could. Will all peo¬
ple thus walk in the name of their God, and shall
not we?
3. Those that do not value good men for their
goodness, may yet be brought to pay them great
respect by other inducements, and for the sake cf
their secular interests. The king of Babylon made
his court to Hezekiah here, not because he was
pious, but because he was prosperous; as the Philis¬
tines coveted an alliance with Isaac, because they
saw the Lord was with him, Gen. xxvi. 28. The
king of Babylon was an enemy to the king cf Assy¬
ria, and therefore was fond of Hezekiah, because
the Assyrians were so much weakened by the pow¬
er of his God.
4. It is a hard matter to keep the spirit low in
the midst of great advancements. Hezekiah is an
instance of it: he was a wise and good man; but
when one miracle after another was wrought in his
favour, he found it hard to keep his heart from
being lifted up, nay a little thing then drew them
into the snare of pride. Blessed Paul himself nc til¬
ed a thorn in the flesh, to keep him from being lift¬
ed u/i with the abundance of revelations.
5. We have need to watch over our own spirits,
when we are showing cur friends our possessions,
what we have done, and what we have got, that we
be not proud of them, as if our might or our merit
had purchased and procured us this wealth. When
we look upon our enjoyments, and have occasion to
speak of them, it must bewith humbleacknowledg-
ments of our own unworthiness, and thankful ac¬
knowledgments of God’s goodness, with a just
value for the achievements of others, and with an
expectation of losses and changes; not dreaming
that our mountain stands so strong but that it may
soon be moved.
6. It is a great weakness for good men to value
themselves much upon the civil respects that are
paid them (yea, though there be something parti¬
cular and uncommon in them,) by the children cf
this world, and to be fond of their acquaintance.
What a poor thing was it for Hezekiah, whom God
had so dignified, to be thus over-proud of the re¬
spect paid him by a heathen prince, as if those added
any thing to him! We ought to return the cour¬
tesies of such with interest, but not to be preud of
them.
7. We must expect to be called to an account for
the workings of our pride, though they are secret,
and in such instances as we thought there was no
harm in; and therefore we ought to call ourselves
to an account for them; and when we have had
company with us, that have paid us respect, and
been pleased with their entertainment, and com¬
mended every thing, we ought to be jealous over our¬
selves, with a godly jealousy, lest our hearts have
been lifted up. As far as we see cause to expect
that this sly and subtle sin of pride has insinuated
itself into our breasts, and mingled itself with our
conversation, let us be ashamed of it, and as Heze
kiah here, ingenuously confess it, and take shame
to ourselves for it.
173
ISAIAH, XL.
5. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear
the word of the Lord of hosts ; 6. Behold,
the days come, that all that is in thy house,
and that which thy fathers have laid up in
store until this day, shall be carried to
Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the
Lord. 7. And of thy sons that shall issue
from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they
take away ; and they shall be eunuchs in
the palace of the king of Babylon. 3. Then
said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word
of the Lord which thou hast spoken : he
said moreover, For there shall be peace
and truth in my days.
Hence let us observe,
1. That if God love us, he will humble us, and
will find some way or other to pull down our spirits
when they are lifted up above measure. A morti¬
fying message is sent to Hezekiah, that tie might be
humbled for the pride of his heart, and be con¬
vinced of the folly of it; for though God may suffer
his people to fall into sin, as he did Hezekiah here,
to prove him , that he might know all that was in his
heart, yet he will not suffer them to lie still in it.
2. It is just with God to take that from us, which
we make the matter of our pride, and on which we
build a carnal confidence. When David was proud
of the numbers of his people, God took a course to
make them fewer; and when Hezekiah boasts of his
treasures, and looks upon them with too great a
complacency, he is told that he acts like the foolish
traveller, who shows his money and gold to one
that proves a thief, and is thereby tempted to rob
Rim.
3. If we could but see things that will be, we
should be ashamed of our thoughts of things that
are. If Hezekiah had known that the seed and
successors of this king of Babylon would hereafter
be the ruin of his family and kingdom, he would not
have complimented his ambassadors as he did.
And when the prophet told him that he would be
so, we may well imagine how he was vexed at him¬
self for what he had done. We cannot certainly
foresee what will be, but are told, in general, Alt is
■vanity, and therefore it is vanity for us to take com¬
placency, and put confidence, in any thing that
goes under that character.
4. Those that are fond of an acquaintance and
alliance with irreligious men, first or last will have
enough of it, and will have cause to repent it.
Hezekiah thought himself happy in the friendship
of Babylon, though it was the mother of harlots
and idolatries; but Babylon, who now courted
Jerusalem, in process of time conquered her, and
carried her captive. Leagues with sinners, and
leagues with sin too, will end thus; it is therefore
our wisdom to keep at a distance from them.
5. Those that truly repent of their sins will take
it well to be reproved for them, and will be willing
to be told of their faults. Hezekiah reckoned that
word of the Lord good, which discovered sin to
him, and made him sensible that he had done amiss,
which before he was not aware of. The language
of true penitents is, Let the righteous smite me, it
shall be a kindness; and the law is therefore good,
because, being spiritual, in it sin appears sin, and
exceeding sinful.
6. T rue penitents will quietly submit, not only to
the reproofs of the word, but to the rebukes of
Providence, for their sins. When Hezekiah was
told of the punishment of his iniquity, he said, Good
is the word of the Lord, not only the mitigation of
the sentence, but the sentence itself; he has nothing
to object against the equity of it, but says, Amen,
to the threatening. They that see the evil of sin,
and what it deserves, will justify God in all that is
brought upon them for it, and own that he punishes
them less than their iniquities deserve.
7. Though we must not be regardless of those
that come after us, yet we must reckon ourselves
well done for, if there be peace and truth in our
days, and better than we had reason to expect; If
a storm be coming, we must reckon it a favour to
get into the harbour before it comes, and be gather¬
ed to the grave in peace; yet we can never be
secure of this, but must prepare for changes in our
own time, that we may stand complete in all the
will of God, and bid it welcome, whatever it is.
CHAP. XL.
At this chapter begins the latter part of the prophecy of
this book, which is not only divided from the former by
the historical chapters that come between, but seems to
be distinguished from it in the scope and style of it. In
the former part, the name of the prophet was frequently
prefixed to the particular sermons, beside the general
title; (as ch, ii. 1. ch. vii. 3. ch. xiii. 1.) but this is all
one continued discourse, and the prophet not so much
as once named. That consisted of many burthens,
many woes; this of many blessings. There, the distress
which the people of God were in by the Assyrian, and
their deliverance out of that, were chiefly prophesied of;
but that is here spoken of as a thing past, (ch. lii. 4.) and
the captivity in Babylon, and their deliverance out of
that, which were much greater events, of more extensive
and abiding concern, are here largely foretold. Before
God sent bis people into captivity, he furnished them
with precious promises for their support and comfort in
their trouble; and we may well imagine of what great
use to them the glorious, gracious light of this prophecy
was, in that cloudy and dark day, and how much it
helped to dry up their tears by the rivers of Babylon
But it looks further yet, and to greater things; much of
Christ and gospel-grace we meet with in the foregoing
part of this book, but in this latter part we shah find
much more; and as if it were designed for a prophetic
summary of the New Testament, it begins with that
which begins the gospels, The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, (ch. xl. 3.) and concludes with I hat which
concludes the book of the Revelation, The new heavens
and the new earth, ch. lxvi. 22. Even Mr. White ac¬
knowledges, that as all the mercies of God to the Jewish
nation bore some resemblance to those glorious things
performed by our Saviour for man’s redemption, so they
are by the spirit of God expressed in such terms as show
plainly, that while the prophet is speaking of the re¬
demption of the Jews, he had in his thoughts a more
glorious deliverance. And we need not look for any
further accomplishment of these prophecies vet to conn;
for if Jesus be He, and his kingdom be It, 'that shou'd
come, we are to look for no other, but the carrvini' on
and completing of the same blessed work which was
begun in the first preaching and planting of Christianity
in the world.
In this. chapter, we have, I. Orders given to preach and
publish the glad tidings of redemption, v. 1,2. II. These
glad tidings introduced by a voice in the wilderness,
which gives assurance that all obstructions shall be re¬
moved; (v. 3.. 5.) and that though all creatures fail
and fade, the word of God shall be established and ac¬
complished, v. 6 . . 8. III. A joyful prospect given to
the people of God of the happiness which this redemp¬
tion should bring along with it, v. 9.. 11. IV. The
sovereignty and power of that God magnified, who un¬
dertakes to work out this redemption, v 12.. 17. V.
Idols therefore triumphed over, and idolaters upbraided
with their folly, v. 18. . 26. VI. A reproof given to the
people of God. for their fears and despondencies, and
enough said, in a few words, to silence those fears,
v. 27. .31. And we, through patience and comfort of
this scripture, may have hope.
L f OMFORT ye, comfort ye my peo-
pie, saith your God. 2. Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her
that her warfare is accomplished, that her
174
i* AT AH, XL.
I
iniquity is pardoned : for she hath received
of the Lord’s hand doubie for all her sins.
We have here the commission and instructions
given not to this prophet only, but, with him, to all
the Lord’s prophets, nay and to all Christ’s minis¬
ters, to proclaim comfort to God’s people. 1. This
did not only warrant, but enjoin this prophet him¬
self to encourage the good people who lived in his
own time, who could not but have very melancholy
apprehensions of things, when they saw Judah and
Jerusalem by their daring impieties ripening apace
for ruin, and God in his providence hastening ruin
upon them. Let them be sure that, for ali this,
God had mercy in store for them. 2. It was
especially a direction to the prophets that should
live in the time of the captivity, when Jerusalem
was in ruins; they must encourage the captives to
hope for enlargement in due time. 3. Gospel-
ministers, being employed by the blessed Spirit as
comforters, and as helpers of the joy of Christians,
are here put in mind of their business. Here we
have,
(1.) Comfortable words directed to God’s people
in general, v. 1. The prophets have instructions
from their God (for he is the Lord God of Che holy
prophets. Rev. xxii. 26.) to comfort the people of
God; and the charge is doubled, Comfort ye, com¬
fort ye — not because the prophets are unwilling to
do it, (no, it is the most pleasant part of their work,)
but because sometimes the souls of God’s people
refuse to be comforted, and their comforters must
repeat things again and again, ere they can fasten
any thing upon them. Observe here, [1.] There
are a people in the world, that are God’s people.
[2.] It is the will of God that his people should be
a comforted people, even in the worst of times.
[3.] It is the work and business of ministers to do
what they can for the comfort of God’s people. [4. ]
Words of conviction, such as we had in the former
part of this book, must be followed with words of
comfort, such as we have here; for he that has torn
will heal us.
(2.) Comfortable words directed to Jerusalem in
particular; “ Speak to the heart of Jerusalem; (v.
2.) speak that which will revive her heart, and be
a cordial to her, and to all that belong to her and
wish her well. Do not whisper it, but cry unto
her: cry aloud, to show saints their comforts as well
as to show sinners their transgressions; make her
hear it:” [1.] “That the days of her trouble are
numbered and finished; her warfare is accomplish¬
ed, the set time of her servitude; the campaign is
now at an end, and she shall retire into quarters of
refreshment.” Human life is a warfare, (Job vii. 1.)
the Christian life much more; but the struggle will
not last always, the warfare will be accomplished,
and then the good soldiers shall not only enter into
rest, but be sure of their pay. [2.] “That the
cause of her trouble is removed, and, when that is
taken away, the effect will cease. Tell her that
her iniquity is pardoned, God is reconciled to her,
and she shall no longer be treated as one guilty be¬
fore him.” Nothing can be spoken more com¬
fortably than this, Son, be of good cheer, thy sins
are forgiven thee. Troubles are then removed in
love, when sin is pardoned. [3.] “That the end
of her trouble is answered; She has received of the
Lord double for the cure of all her sins, sufficient,
and more than sufficient, to part between her and
her idols,” the worship of which was the great sin
for which God had a controversy with them, and
from which he designed to reclaim them by their
captivity in Babylon; and it had that effect upon
them, it begat in them a rooted antipathy to idolatry,
and was physic doubly strong for the purging out
of that iniquity. Or, it may be taken as the lan¬
guage of the divine compassion ; His soul teas
grieved for the misery of Israel, (Judges x. 16.)
and, like a tender father, since he spake against
them, he earnestly remembered them, (Jcr. xxxi.
20.) and was ready to say that he had given them
too much correction. They, being very penitent,
acknowledged that God had punished them less
than their iniquities deserved; but he, being very
pitiful, owned, in a manner, that he had punished
them more than they deserved. True penitents
have indeed, in Christ and his sufferings, received
of the Lord's hand double for alt their sins; for the
satisfaction Christ made by his death was of such
an infinite value, that it was more than double to
the demerits of sin; for God spared not his own Son.
3. The voice of him that crieth in the wil¬
derness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for
our God. 4. Every valley shall he exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made
low : and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough places plain : 5. And the
glory of the Lord shall he revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of
the Lord hath spoken it. 6. The voice
said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry?
All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field: 7. The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth ; because
the Spirit of the Lord blovveth upon it :
surely the people is grass. 3. The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word
of our God shall stand for ever.
The time to favour Zion, yea, the set time, being
come, the people of God must be prepared, by re¬
pentance and faith, for the favours designed them;
and, in order to call them to both these, we have
here the voice of one crying in the wilderness; which
may be applied to those prophets who were with
the captives in their wilderness-state, and who,
when they saw the day of their deliverance dawn,
called earnestly upon them to prepare for it, and
assured them that all the difficulties which stood
in the way of their deliverance should be got over.
It is a good sign that mercy is preparing for us, if
we find God’s grace preparing us for it, Ps. x. 17.
But it must be applied to John the Baptist; for
though God was the Speaker, he was the voice of
one crying in the wilderness, and his business was,
to prepare the way of the Lord, to dispose men’s
minds for the reception and entertainment of the
gospel of Christ. The way of the Lord is prepared,
I. By repentance for sin; that was it which John
Baptist preached to all Judah and Jerusalem, (Matt
iii. 2, 5.) and thereby made ready a people pre¬
pared for the Lord, Luke i. 17.' The alarm is
given, let all take notice of it at their peril; God is
coming in a way of mercy, and we must prepare
for him, v. 3 — 5. If we apply it to their captivity,
it may be taken as a promise, that, whatever diffi¬
culties lie in their way, when they return they shall
be removed. This voice in the wilderness (divine
power going along with it) sets pioneers on work to
level the roads. But it may be taken as a call to
dutv, and it is the same duty that we are called to,
in preparation for Christ’s entrance into our souls.
1. We must get into such a frame of spirit as will
dispose us to receive Christ and his gospel; “ Pre¬
pare ye the way of the Lord; prepare yourselves
for him, and let all that be suppressed which would
be an obstruction to his entrance; make room ti r
174
ISAIAH, XL.
Christ; A fake straight a highway for him.” If he
prepare the end for us, we ought surely to prepare
the way for him. Prepare for the Saviour; lift u/i
your heads , 0 ye gates, Ps xxiv. 7, 8. Prepare for
the salvation, the great salvation, and other lesser
deliverances. Let us get to be fit for them, and
then God will work them out. Let us not stand in
our own light, nor put a bar in our own door, but
find, or make, a highway for him, even in that
which was desert ground. This is that for which
he waits to be gracious.
2. We must get our hearts levelled by divine
•ace. Those that were hindered from comfort in
hrist by their dejections and despondencies, are
the valleys that must be exalted. Those that are
hindered from comfort in Christ by a proud conceit
of their own merit and worth, are the mountains
and hills that must be made low. Those that have
entertained prejudices against the word and ways
of God, that are intractable, and disposed to thwart
and contradict even that which is plain and easy,
because it agrees not with their corrupt inclinations
and secular interests, are the crooked that must be
made straight, and the rough places that must be
made plain. Let but the gospel of Christ have a
fair hearing, and it cannot fail of acceptance. This
prepares the way of the Lord; and thus God will by
his grace prepare his own way in all the vessels of
mercy, whose heart he opens as he did Lydia’s.
And when this is done, the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed, v. 5. (1.) When the captives
are prepared for deliverance, Cyrus shall proclaim
it, and they shall have the benefit of it, and they
only, whose hearts the Lord shall stir up with cou¬
rage and resolution to break through the discourage¬
ments that lay in their way, and to make nothing
of the hills, and valleys, and all the rough places.
(2.) When John Baptist has for some time preached
repentance, mortification, and reformation, and so
made ready a people prepared for the J ord, (Luke
i. 17.) then the Messiah himself shall be revealed
in his glory, working miracles, which John did not;
and by his grace, which is his glory, binding up
and healing with consolations those whom John had
wounded with convictions. And this revelation of
divine glory shall be a light to lighten the Gentiles;
All Jles/i shall see it together, and not the Jews only;
they shall see and admire it, see it, and bid it wel¬
come; as the return out of captivity was taken notice
of by the neighbouring nations, Ps. cxxvi. 3. And
it shall be the accomplishment of the word of God,
not one iota, or tittle of which shall fall to the
ground; The mouth of the Lord hath sfioken it, and
therefore the hand of the Lord will effect it.
II. By confidence in the word of the Lord, and
not in any creature: the mouth of the Lord having
spoken it, the voice has this further to cry, (he that
has ears to hear, let him hear it,) The word of our
God shall stand for ever, v. 8.
1. By this accomplishment of the prophecies and
promises of salvation, and the performance of them
to the utmost in due time, it appears that the word
of the Lord is sure, and what may be safely relied
on. Then we are prepared for deliverance, when
we depend entirely upon the word of God, build our
hopes on that, with an assurance that it will not
make us ashamed: in a dependence upon this word,
we must be brought to own that all flesh is grass,
withering and fading. (1.) The power of man,
when it does appear against the deliverance, is not
to be feared; for it shall be as grass before the
word of the Lord, it shall wither and be trodden
down : the insulting Babylonians, who promise them¬
selves that the desolations of Jerusalem shall be per-
Eetual, are but as grass which the Spirit of the
ord blows upon, makes nothing of, but blasts all
•ts glory; for the word of the Lord, which promises
their deliverance, shall stand for ever, and it is not
in the power of their enemies to hinder the execu¬
tion of it. (2. ) The power of man, when it would
appear for the deliverance, is not to be trusted to;
for it is but as grass in comparison with the word r.f
the Lord, which is the only firm foundation for us
to build our hope upon. When God is about to
work salvation for his people, he will take them off
from depending upon creatures, and looking for it
from hills and mountains; they shall fail them, and
their expectations from them shall be frustrated,
the Spirit of the Lord shall blow upon them; for
God will have no creature to be a rival with him for
the hope and confidence of his people; and as it is
his word only that shall stand tor ever, so in that
word only our faith must stand. When we are
brought to this, then, and not till then, we are fit
for mercy.
2. The word of our God, that glory of the Lord,
which is now to be revealed, the gi spel, and that
grace which is brought with it to us, and wrought
by it in us, shall stand for ever; and this is the satis¬
faction of all believers, when they find all their crea¬
ture-comforts withering and fading like grass. Thus
the apostle applies it to the word which by the gos¬
pel is preached unto us, and which lives and abides
for ever as the incorruptible seed by which we are
born again, 1 Pet. i. 23—25. To prepare the way
of the Lord we must be convinced, ( 1. ) Of the vani¬
ty of the creature; that all flesh is grass, weak and
withered; we ourselves are so, and therefore cannot
save ourselves; all our friends are so, and therefore
are unable to save us. All the beauty of the crea¬
ture, which might render it amiable, is but as the
flower of grass, soon blasted, and therefore cannot
recommend us to God and to his acceptance. We
are dying creatures, all our comforts in this world
are dying comforts, and therefore cannot be the fe¬
licity of our immortal souls; we must look further
for a salvation, look further for a portion. (2.) Of
the validity of the promise of God; we must be con¬
vinced that the word of the Lord can do that for us,
which all flesh cannot; that forasmuch as it stands
for ever, it will furnish us with a happiness that
will run parallel with the duration of < ur souls,
which must live for ever; for the things which are
not seen, but must be believed, are eternal.
9. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get
thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem,
that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice
with strength : lift it up, be not afraid ; say
unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10. Behold, the Lord God will come with
strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him:
behold, his reward is with him, and his work
before him. 11. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd; he shall gather the lamhs with
his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and
shall gently lead those that are with young.
It was promised, (?'. 5.) that the glory of the
Lord shall be revealed; that is it, with' the hopes
of which God’s people must be comforted. Now
here we are told,
I. How it shall be revealed, v. 9. 1. It shall be
revealed to Zion and Jerusalem; notice shall be
fiven of it to the remnant that are left in Zion and
erusalem, the poor of the land, who were vine¬
dressers and husbandmen; it shall be told them that
their brethren shall return to them; this shall be
told also to the captives who belonged to Zion and
Jerusalem, and retained their affection for them;
Zion is said to dwell with the daughter of Babylon,
176
ISAIAH, XL.
Zech.ii. 7. Anti there she receives notice of Cyrus’s
gracious proclamation ; and so the margin reads it, O
thou that tel/est good tidings to Zion, &c. meaning
the persons who were employed in publishing that
proclamation; let them do it with a good will, let
them make the country ring of it, and let them tell
it to the sons of Zion in their own language, Suying
to them, Behold your God. 2. It shall be published
by Zion and Jerusalem; so the text reads it; they
that remain there, or that were already returned,
when they find the deliverance proceeding toward
lerfection, let them proclaim it in the most pub¬
ic places, whence they may be best heard by
all the cities of Judah; let them proclaim it us loud
as they can, let them lift u/i their voice with strength,
and not be afraid of overstraining themselves; let
them not be afraid lest the enemy should hear it,
and quarrel with them, or lest it should not prove
true, or not such good tidings as at first it appeared;
let them say to the cities of Judah, and all the in¬
habitants of the country. Behold your God. When
God is going on with the salvation of his people, let
them industriously spread the news among their
friends, let them tell them that it is God that has
done it; whoever were the instruments, God was
the Author; it is their God, a God in covenant with
them, and he does it as theirs, and they will reap
the benefit and comfort of it. “ Behold him, take
notice of his hand in it, and look above second
causes; behold, the God you have long looked for,
is come at last; {ch. xxv. 9.) This is our God, we
have waited for him.” This may refer to the invi¬
tation which was sent forth from Jerusalem to the
cities of Judah, as soon as they had set up an altar,
immediately upon their return out of captivity, to
come and join with them in their sacrifices, Ezra iii.
2 — 4. “ When the worship of God is set up again,
send notice of it to all your brethren, that they may
share with vou in the comfort of it.” But this was
to have its full accomplishment in the apostles’ pub¬
lic and undaunted preaching of the gospel to all na¬
tions, beginning at Jerusalem. The voice crying in
the wilderness gave notice that he was coming; but
now notice is given that he is come. Behold the
Lamb of God; take a full view of your Redeemer.
Behold your King, behold your God.
II. What that glory is, which shall be revealed.
Your God will come, will show himself,
1. With the power and greatness of a Prince; (x'.
10.) He will come with strong hand, too strong to
be obstructed, though it may be opposed. His
strong hand shall subdue his people to himself, and
shall restrain and conquer his and their enemies, j
He will come, who is strong enough to break
through all the difficulties that lie in his way. Our
Lord Jesus was full of power, a mighty Saviour.
Some read it, He will come against the mighty one,
and overpower him, overcome him. Satan is the
strong man armed ; but our Lord Jesus is stronger ]
than he; and he shall make it to appear that he is i
so, for, ( 1. ) He shall reign, in defiance of all oppo¬
sition; his arm shall rule, shall overrale, for him, 1
for the fulfilling of his counsels, to his own glory; for !
he is his own End. (2. ) He shall recompense to
all according to their works, as a righteous Judge;
his reward is with him; he brings along with him,
as a returning Prince, punishments for the rebels,
and preferments for his loyal subjects. (3.) He
shall proceed and accomplish his purposes; his work
is before him, he knows perfectly well what he has
to do, which way to go about it, and how to com¬
pass it; he himself knows what he will do.
2. With the pity and tenderness of a Shepherd,
v. 11. God is the Shepherd of Israel; (Ps. lxxx. 1.)
Christ is the good Shepherd, John x. 11. The same
that rules with the strong hand of a Prince, leads
and feeds with the kind hand of a Shepherd. (1.)
He takes care of all his flock, the little flock; he.
shall feed his Jlock like a shefiherd. His word is
food tor his flock to feed on, his ordinances fields for
them to feed in; his ministers are under-shepherds
that are appointed to attend them. (2.) He takes
particular care of those that most need his care; the
lambs that are weak, and cannot help themselves,
and are unaccustomed to hardship; and those that
are with young, that are therefore heavy, and, it
any harm be done them, are in danger of casting
their young. He particularly takes care for a suc¬
cession, that they may not fail or be cut rtf. The
good Shepherd has a tender care for children, that
are towardly and hopeful; for young converts, that
are setting out in the way to heaven; for weak be¬
lievers, and those that are of a si rrowful spirit.
These are the lambs of his flock, that shall be sure
to want nothing that their case requires. [1.] H°
will gather them in the arms -of his power; his
strength shall be made perfect in their weakness, 2
Cor. xii. 9. He will gather them in when they
wander, gather them up when they fall, gather
them together when they are dispersed, and gather
them home to himself at last; and all this, with his
own arm, out of which none shall be able to pluck
them, J ahn x. 28. [2.] He will carry them in the
bosom of his love, and cherish them there. When
they tire or are weary, are sick and faint, when
I they meet with foul ways, he will carry them on,
! and" take care they be not left behind. [3.] He
| will gently lead them. By his word he requires no
more service, and by his providence he inflicts no
more trouble, than he will enable them for; for he
i considers their frame.
12. Who hath measured the waters in
j the hollow of his hand, and meted out hea¬
ven with tilt; span, and comprehended the
dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed
the mountains in settles, and the hills in a
balance? 13. Who hath directed the Spirit
of the Lord, or, being his counsellor, hath
taught him? 14. With whom took he coun
sel, and who instructed him, and taught him
in the path of judgment, and taught him
knowledge, and showed to him the way of
understanding? 15. Behold, the nations are
as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as
the small dust of the balance: behold, he
taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
16. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-
offering. 1 7. All nations before him are as
nothing; and they are counted to him less
than nothing and vanity.
The scope of these verses is to show what a great
and glorious being the Lord Jehovah is, who is Is¬
rael’s God and Saviour. It comes in here, (1.) To
encourage his people that were captives in Babylon
to hope in him, and to depend upon him for deliver¬
ance, though they were ever so weak, and their op¬
pressors ever so strong. (2.) To engage them to
cleave to him, and not to turn aside after other
gods; for there are none to be compared with him.
(3.) To possess all those who receive the glad tid¬
ings of redemption by Christ, with a holy awe and
reverence of God. Though it was said, (x>. 9. ) Be¬
hold your God, and (x>. 11.) that he shall feed his
Jlock like a shepherd; yet these condescensions of his
grace must not be thought of with any diminution
177
ISAIAH, X]..
to the transcendencies of his glory. Let us see how
great our God is, and fear before him, for,
1. His power is unlimited, and what no creature
sail compare with, much less contend with, v. 12. i
(1.) He has a vast reach; view the celestial globe,
and you are astonished at the extent of it; but the
great God metes the heavens with a s/ian; to him
they are but a hand-breadth, so large-handed is he.
View the terraqueous globe, and he has the com¬
mand of that too; all the waters in the world he can
measure in the hollow of his hand, where we can
hold but a little water; and the dry land he easily
manages, for he comprehends the dust o f the earth in
a measure; or with his three fingers; it is no more
to him than a pugil, or that which we take up be¬
tween our thumb and two fingers. (2.) He has a
vast strength, and can as easily move mountains and
hills as the tradesman heaves his goods into the
scales and out of them again; he poises them with
his hand as exactly as if he weighed them in a pair
of balances. This may refer to the work of crea¬
tion, when the heavens were stretched out as ex¬
actly as that which is spanned; and the earth and
waters put together in just proportion, as if they had
been measured; and the mountains made of such a
weight ns to serve for ballast to the globe, and no
more. Or, it may refer to the work of providence,
(which is a continued creation,) and the consistency
of all the creatures with each other.
2. His wisdom is unsearchable, and what no
creature can give either information or direction to,
v. 13, 14. As none can do what God has done, and
does, so none can assist him in the doing of it, or
suggest any thing to hint which he thought not of.
When the Lord by his Spirit made the world, (Job
xxvi. 13.) there was none that directed his Spirit,
or gave him any advice, either what to do, or how
to do it. Nor does he need any counsellor to direct
him in the government of the world, nor is there
any with whom he consults, as the wisest kings do
with them that know law and judgment, Esther i.
13. God needs not to be told what is done, for he
knows it perfectly; nor needs he be advised con¬
cerning what is to be done, for he knows both the
right end and the proper means. This is much in¬
sisted upon here, because the poor captives had no
politicians among them to manage their concerns at
court, or to put them in a way of gaining their liberty;
“ No matter,” says the prophet, “you have a God
to act for you, who needs not the assistance of states¬
men. ” In the great work of our redemption by
Christ, matters were concerted before the world,
when there were none to teach Goa in the path of
judgment, 1 Cor. ii. 7.
3. The nations of the world are nothing in com¬
parison of him, v. 15, 17. Take them all together,
all the great and mighty nations of the earth, kings
the most pompous, kingdoms the most populous,
both the most wealthy; take the isles, the multi¬
tude of them, the isles of the Gentiles — before him,
when they stand in competition with him, or in op¬
position to him, they are as a drop of the bucket
compared with the vast ocean, or the small dust of
the balance, which does not serve to turn it, and
therefore is not regarded, it is so small in compari¬
son with all the dust of the earth. He takes them
up, and throws them away from him, as a very lit¬
tle thing, not worth speaking of. They are all in
his eye as nothing, as if they had no being at all;
for they add nothing to his perfection and all-suffi¬
ciency; they are counted by him, and are to be
counted by us, in comparison of him, less than no¬
thing, and vanity; when he pleases, he can as easily
bring them all into nothing as at first he brought
them out of nothing. When God has work to do,
he values not either the assistance or the resistance
of any creature. They are all vanity; the word
Vol. IV.— Z
that is used for the chaos, (Gen. i. 2.) to which
they will at last be reduced. Let this beget in us
high thoughts of God, and low thoughts of this
world, and engage us to make God, and net man,
both our Fear and our Hope. This magnifies God's
love to the world, that, though it is of such small
account and value with him, yet, for the redemp
tion of it, he gave his only-begotten Son, John iii. 16.
4. The services of the church can make no addi¬
tion to him, nor do they bear any proportion to his
infinite perfections; (x». 16.) Lebanon is not suffi¬
cient to burn: not the wood of it to be for the fuel
of the altar, though it be so well stocked with ce¬
dars; nor the beasts of it to be for sacrifices, though
it be so well stocked with cattle, v. 16. Whatever
we honour God with, it falls infinitely short of the
merit of his perfection; for he is exalted far above
all blessing and praise all burnt-offerings and
sacrifices.
1 8. To whom then will ye liken God? or
what likeness will ye compare unto him?
1 9. The workman melteth a graven image,
and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with
gold, and casteth silver chains. 20. He
that is so impoverished, that he hath no obla¬
tion, chooseth a tree that will not rot: he
seeketh unto him a cunning workman to
prepare a graven image, that shall not be
moved. 21. Have ye not known? have ye
not heard ? hath it not been told you from the
beginning? have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? 22. It is he that
sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers ; that
stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and
spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in ; 23.
That bringeth the princes to nothing: he
maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
24. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea,
they shall not be sown: yea, their stock
shall not take root in the earth : and he shall
also blow upon them, and they shall wither,
and the whirlwind shall take them away as
stubble. 25. To whom then will ye liken
me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
26. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold
who hath created these things , that bringeth
out their host by number : he calleth them
all by names, by the greatness of his might,
for that he is strong in power; not one
faileth.
The prophet here reproves those, 1. Who re¬
presented God by creatures, and so changed his
truth into a lie, and his glory into shame; who made
images, and then said that they resembled God, and
paid their homage to them accordingly. 2. Who
put creatures in the place of God, who feared them
more than God, as if they were a match for him, or
loved them more than God, as if they were fit to be
rivals with him. Twice the challenge is here made.
To whom will ye liken God ? v. 18. and again, v.
25. The Holy One himself says. To whom will ye
liken me? This shows the folly and absurdity, (1.)
Of corporal idolatry, making visible images of him
who is invisible, imagining the image to be animated
by the Deity, and the Deity to be presentiated by
178
ISAIAH, XL.
the image; which, as it was an instance of the cor¬
ruption of the human nature, so it was an intolera¬
ble injury to the honour of the divine nature. (2.)
Of spiritual idolatry, making creatures equal with
God in our affections. Proud people make them¬
selves equal with God; covetous people make their
money equal with God; and, whatever we esteem
or love, fear or hope in, more than God, that crea¬
ture we equal with God, which is the highest af¬
front imaginable to him who is God over all.
Now, to show the absurdity of this;
I. The prophet describes idols as despicable
things; and worthy of the greatest contempt; (v. 19,
20.) “ Look upon the better sort of them, which
rich people set up, and worship; they are made of
some base metal, cast into what shape the founder
pleases, and that is gilded, or overlaid with plates
of gold, that it may pass for a golden image. It is
a creature; for the workman made it, ( therefore it
is riot God, Hos. viii. 6.) it depended upon his will
whether it should be a god at all, and of what shape
it should be. It is a cheat; for it is gold on the out¬
side, but within it is lead or copper; in this indeed
representing the deities, that they were not what
they seemed to be, and deceived their admirers.
How despicable then are the worst sort of them —
the poor men’s gods! He that is so impoverished,
that he has scarcely a sacrifice to offer to his god
when he has made him, will yet not be without an
enshrined deity of his own. And though he cannot
procure one of brass or stone, he will have a wooden
one rather than none, and for that purpose chooses
a tree that will not soon rot, and of that he will have
his graven image made; both agree to have their
image well fastened, that they may not Ire robbed
of it. Tlie better sort have silver chains to fix
theirs with; and though it be but a wooden image,
care is taken that it shall not be moved.” Let us
pause a little, and see, 1. How these idolaters shame
themselves, and what a reproach they put upon
their own reason, in dreaming that gods of their
own making, N'ehushtans, pieces of brass, or logs
of wood, should be able to do them any kindness.
Titus vain were they in their imaginations; and how
was their foolish heart darkened ! 2. See how these
idolaters shame us, who worship the only living and
true God; they spared no cost upon their idols, we
grudge that as waste which is spent in the service
of our God; they took care they should not be mov¬
ed, we wilfully provoke our God to depart from us.
II. He describes God as infinitely great, and
worthy of the highest veneration; so that between
him and idols, whatever competition there may be,
there is no comparison. To prove the greatness of
God, he appeals,
I. To what they had heard of him by the hearing
of the ear, and the consent of all ages and nations
concerning him; (u. 21.) “Have ye not known by
the very light of nature? Has it not been told you by
your fathers and teachers, according to the constant
tradition received from their ancestors and prede¬
cessors, even from the beginning?” (Those notices
of God are as ancient as the world.) “ Have ye
not understood it as always acknowledged from the
foundation of the earth, that God is a great God,
and a great King above all gods?” It has been a
truth universally admitted, that there is an Infinite
Being, who is the Fountain of all being. This is
understood not only ever since the beginning of the
world, but from and by the origin of the universe;
it is founded upon the foundation of the earth ; the
invisible things of God are clearly seen from the
creation of the world, Rom. i. 20. Thou mayest not
only ask thy father, and he shall tell thee this, and
thine elders; (l)eut. xxxii. 7.) but ask them that go
by the way, (Job xxi. 29.) ask the first man you
meet, and he will say the same. Some read it.
Will ye not know? Will ye not hear ? For, those
that are ignorant of this are willingly ignorant; the
light shines in their faces, but they shut their eyes
against it.
Now that which is here said of God, is,
(1.) That he has the command of all the crea¬
tures; the heaven and the earth themselves are un¬
der his management; he sits upon the circle, or
globe of the earth, v. 22. He that has the special
residence of his glory in the upper world, maintains
a dominion over this lower world, gives law to it,
and directs all the motions of it to his own glory; he
sits undisturbed upon the earth, and so establishes
it. He is still stretching out the heavens, his powei
and providence keep them still stretched out, and
will do so till the day comes that they shall be roll¬
ed together like a scroll. He spreads them out as
easily as we draw a curtain to and fro, opening these
curtains in the morning, and drawing them close
again at night. And the heaven is to this earth as
a tent to dwell in; it is a canopy drawn over our
heads, Et quod tegit omnia ccelum — It encircles all.
Ovid. Ps. civ. 2.
(2. ) That the children of men, even the greatest
and mightiest, are as nothing before him. The nu¬
merous inhabitants of this earth are, in his eye, as
grasshoppers in ours, so little and inconsiderable,
of such small value, and of such little use, and so
easly crushed. Proud men lifting up themselves is
but like the grasshopper’s leap; in an instant they
must down to the earth again. If the spies thought
themselves grasshoppers before the sons of Anak,
(Numb. xiii. 38.) what are we before the greal
God? Grasshoppers live but awhile, and live care
lesslv, not like the ant; so do the most of men.
(3.) That those who appear and act against him,
how formidable soever they may be to their fellow-
creatures, will certainly be humbled and brought
down by the mighty hand of God, v. 23, 24. Princes
and judges, who have great authority, and abuse it
to the support of oppression and injustice, make
nothing of those about them; as for all their enemies,
they puff at them; (Ps. x. 5. — xii. 5.) but when the
great God takes them to task, he brings them to
nothing; he humbles them, and tames them, and
makes them as vanity; little regarded, neither fear¬
ed nor loved. He makes them utterly unable to
stand before his judgments; which shall either, [1.]
Prevent their settlement in their authority; They
shall not be planted, they shall not be sown; and
those are the two ways of propagating plants, either
by seed or slips. Nay, if they should gain a little
interest, and so be planted or sown, yet their stock
shall not take root in the earth, they shall not con¬
tinue long in power. Eliphaz saw the foolish taking
root, but suddenly cursed their habitation. And
then how soon is the fig-tree withered away ! Or,
[2.] He will blast them when they think they are
settled; he does but blow upon them, and then they
shall wither, and come to nothing, and the whirl¬
wind shall take them away as stubble. For God’s
wrath, though it seem, at first, to blow slightly upon
them, will soon become a mightv whirlwind; when
God judges, he will overcome. Those that will not
bow before him cannot stand before him.
2. He appeals to what their eyes saw of him; (z>.
26.) “ Lift up your eyes on high; be not always
poring on this earth,” ( O curvx in terras animte el
cedestium inanesl — Degenerate minds, that can
bend so toward the earth , having nothing celestial in
them!) “ but sometimes look up,” (Os homini su
blimededit, ccetumque tueri jussit — Heaven gave to
man an erect countenance, and bade him gaze on
the stars,) “behold the glorious lights of heaven,
consider who has created them. They neither made
nor marshalled themselves, doubtless, therefore,
there is a God that gave them their being, power
17!)
ISAIAH, XL.
and motion.” What we see of the creature should
lead us to the Creator. The idolaters, when they
lifted up their eyes, and beheld the hosts of heaven,
being wholly im merged in sense, looked no further,
but worshipped them, Deut. iv. xix. Job xxxi. 26.
Therefore the prophet here directs us to make use
of our reason as well as our senses, and to consider
who created them, and to pay our homage to him.
Give him the glory of his sovereignty over them;
he bring. s out their host by number, as a general
draws out the squadrons and battalions of his army;
of the knowledge he has of them; he calls them all
by names, proper names, according as their place
and influence are; (Ps. cxlvii. 4.) and of the use he
makes of them; when he calls them out to any ser¬
vice, so obsequious are they, that, by the greatness
of his might, not one of them fails, but as when the
stars in their courses fought ugainst Uisera, every
one does that to which he is appointed. To m ike
these creatures therefore rivals with God, which
are such ready servants to him, is an injury to them
as well as an affront to him.
27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the
Lord, and my judgment is passed over from
my God ? 23. Hast thou not known, hast
thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the
Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth,
faiuteth not, neither is weary? there is no
searching of his understanding. 29. He
giveth power to the faint; and to them that
face no might he increaseth strength. 30.
E\ en the youths shall faint and he weary,
and the young men shall utterly fall: 31.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall re¬
new their strength; they shall mount up
with wings as eagles; they shall run and not
be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.
Here,
I. The prophet reproves the people of God, who
are now supposed to be captives in Babylon, for
their unbelief and distrust of God, and the dejec¬
tions and despondencies of their spirit under their
affliction; (v. 27.) “ IV hy sayest thou, 0 Jacob, to
thyself, and to those about thee, My way is hid from
the Lord? Why dost thou make hard and melan¬
choly conclusions concerning thyself, and thy pre¬
sent case, as if the latter were desperate?” 1. The
titles he here gives them were enough to shame
them out of their distrusts; O Jacob, O Israel! Let
them remember whence they took those names —
from one who had found God faithful to him, and
kind in all his straits; and why they bore these
names — as God’s professing people, a people in co¬
venant with him. 2. The way of reproving them
is by reasoning with them; “Why? Consider
whether thou hast any ground to say so.” Many
of our foolish frets, and foolish fears, would vanish
before a strict inquiry into the causes of them. 3.
That which they are reproved for, is, an ill-natured,
ill-favoured word they spake of God, as if he had
cast them off. There seems to be an emphasis laid
upon their saying it; Why sayest thou, and speakest
thou? It is bad to have evil thoughts rise in our mind,
but it is worse to put an imprimatur to them, and
turn them into evil words. David reflects with re¬
gret upon what he said in his haste, when he was in
distress. 4. The ill word they said was a word of
despair concerning their present calamitous condi¬
tion. They were ready to conclude, (1.) That God
would net heed them; “ My may is hid from the
Lord; He takes no notice of our straits, nor con¬
cerns himself any more in our concernments. There
are such difficulties in our case, that even divine
wisdom and power will be nonplussed.” A man
•whose may is hid, is one whom God has hedged in.
Job iii. 23. (2.) That God could not help them;
“My judgment is passed over front my God; my
case is past relief, so far past it, that God himself
cannot redress the grievances of it: our bones are
dried, Ezek. xxxvii. 11.
II. He reminds them of that which, if duly con¬
sidered, was sufficient to silence all those fears and
distrusts: for their conviction, as before for the con¬
viction of idolaters, (v. 21.) he appeals to what they
had known, and what they had heard. Jacob and
Israel were a knowing people, or might have been,
and their knowledge came by hearing, for Wisdom
cried in their chief places of concourse. Now,
among other things, they had heard that God had
spoken once, twice, yea many a time they had heard
it. That power belongs unto God, Ps. lxii. 11.
That is,
1. He is himself an almighty God. He must
needs be so, for he is the everlasting God, even Je¬
hovah. He was from eternity, he will be to eter¬
nity; and therefore with him there is no deficiency,
no decay. He has his being of himself, and there¬
fore all his perfections must needs be boundless. He
is without beginning of days or end of life, and
therefore with him there is no change. He is also
the Creator of the ends of the earth, of the whole
earth, and all th .t is in it from end to end. He
therefore is the rightful Owner and Ruler of all, and
must be concluded to have an absolute power over
all, and an all-sufficiency to help his people in their
great straits. Doubtless, he is still as able to save
his church as he was at first to make the world:
(I.) He has wisdom to contrive the salvation, and
that wisdom is never at a loss; There is no searching
out of his understanding, so as to countermine the
counsels of it, and defeat its intentions; no, nor so as
to determine what he will do, for he has ways by
himself, ways in the sea. None can say, “Thus
far God’s wisdom can go, and no further; for, when
we know not what to do, he knows. (2.) He has
power to bring about the salvation, and that power
is never exhausted; He faints not, nor is weary; he
upholds the whole creation, and governs all the
creatures, and is neither tired nor toiled; and there¬
fore, no doubt, he has power to relieve his church,
when it is brought ever so low, without weakness or
weariness.
2. He gives strength and power to his people, and
helps them, by enabling them to help themselves.
He that is the strong God, is the Strength of Israel.
(1. ) He can help the weak, v. 29. Many a time
he gives power to the faint; to them that are ready
to faint away, and to them that have no might, he
not only gives, but increases strength, as there is
more and more occasion for it. Many out of bodily
weakness are wonderfully recovered, and made
strong, by the providence of God: and many that
are feeble in spirit, timorous and faint-hearted,
unable for services and sufferings, are yet strength¬
ened by the grace of God with all might in the in¬
ward man. To them who are sensible of their
weakness, and ready to acknowledge they have no
might, God does in a special manner increase
strength; tor, when we are weak in ourselves, then
are we strong in the Lord.
(2.) Ho will help the willing; will help those who,
in a humble dependence upon him, help themselves,
and will do well for those who do their best, v. 30,
31. Those who trust to their own sufficiency, and
are so confident of that, that they neither exert
themselves to the utmost, nor seek unto God for his
grace, are the youths, and the young men, who are
ISO
ISAIAH, XLl.
strong, but are apt to think themselves stronger
than they are. And they shall faint and be weary,
yea they shall utterly fail in their services, in then-
conflicts, and under their burthens; they shall soon
be made to see the folly of trusting to themselves.
But they who wait on the Lord, who make con¬
science of their duty to him, and by faith rely upon
him, and commit themselves to his guidance; they
who do so, God will not fail them. [1.] They shall
have grace sufficient for them: they shall renew
their strength as their work is renewed, as there is
new occasion; they shall be anointed, and their
lamps supplied, with fresh oil; Gcd will be their
arm every morning-, c/i. xxxiii. 2. If at any time
they have been foiled and weakened, they shall re¬
cover themselves, and so renew their strength.
Heb. They shall change their strength, as their
work is changed; doing work, suffering work; they
shall have strength to labour, strength to wrestle,
strength to resist, strength to bear. As the day, so
shall the strength be. [2.] They shall use this
grace for the best purposes. Being strengthened,
First, They shall soar upward, upward toward
God; They shall mount u/i with wings like eagles;
so strongly, so swiftly, high and heaven-ward. In
the strength of divine grace, their souls shall ascend
above the world, and even enter into the holiest.
Pious and devout affections are the eagles’ wings,
on which gracious souls mount u/i, Ps. xxv. i. Se¬
condly, They shall press forward, forward toward
heaven; they shall walk, they shall run, the way of
God’s commandments, cheerfully and with alacrity,
they shall not be weary; constantly and with per¬
severance, they shall not faint; and therefore in due
season they shall reap. Let Jacob and Israel there¬
fore, in their greatest distresses, continue waiting
upon God, and not despair of timely and effectual
relief and succour from him.
CHAP. XLI.
This chapter? as the former, is intended both for the con¬
viction of idolaters, and for the consolation of all God’s
faithful worshippers; for the Spirit is sent, and ministers
are employed by him, both to convince and to comfort.
And however this might be primarily intended for the
conviction of Babylonians, and the comfort of Israelites,
or for the conviction of those in Israel that were addict¬
ed to idolatry, as multitudes were, and the comfort of
those that kept their integrity, doubtless it was intended
both for admonition and encouragement to us; admoni¬
tion to keep ourselves from idols, and encouragement to
trust in God. Here, I. God by the prophet shows the
folly of those that worshipped idols, especially that
thought their idols able to contest with him, and control
him, v. 1..9. II. He encourages his faithful ones to
trust in him, with an assurance that he would take their
part against their enemies, make them victorious over
them, and bring about a happy change of their affairs, v.
10. . 20. III. He challenges the idols, that were rivals
with him for men’s adoration, to vie with him either for
knowledge or power; either to show things to come, or
to do good or evil, v. 21 . . 29. So that the chapter may be
summed up in those words of Elijah, If Jehovah be God,
then follow him ; but if Baal be God, then follow him:
and in the people’s acknowledgment, upon the issue of
the trial, Jehovah he is the God , Jehovah he is the God.
1 . AT' EEP silence before me, O islands ;
and let the people renew their
strength: let them come near, then let
them speak ; let us come near together to
judgment. 2. Who raised up the righte¬
ous man from the east, called him to his
loot, gave the nations before, him, and made
him rule over kings? he gave them as the
dust to his sword, and as driven stubble
to his bow. 3. He pursued them, and
passed safely; even by the way that he. had
not gone with his feet. 4. Who hath
wrought and done it , calling the genera¬
tions from the beginning? I the Lord, the
first, and with the last; I am he. 5. The
isles saw it, and feared ; the ends of the
earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
6. They helped every one his neighbour;
and every one said to his brother, Be of good
courage. 7. So the carpenter encouraged
the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with
the hammer, hifn that smote the anvil, say¬
ing, It is ready for the sodering: and he
fastened it with nails, that it should not be
moved. 8. But thou, Israel, art my ser¬
vant, Jacob whom 1 have chosen, the seed
of Abraham my friend. 9. Thou whom I
have taken from the ends of the earth, and
called thee from the chief men thereof, and
said unto thee, Thou art my servant, 1 have
chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
That particular instance of God’s cave for Iris
people Israel, in raising up Cyrus to be their deli¬
verer, is here insisted upon as a great proof both of
his sovereignty above all idols, and of his power to
protect his people. Here is,
I. A general challenge to the worshippers and
admirers of idols, to make good their pretensions,
in competition with God, and opposition to him, v.
1. It is renewed, (u. 21. ) Produce your cause. The
court is set, summonses are sent to the islands that
lay most remote, but not out of God’s jurisdiction, fo;
he is the Creator and Possessor of the ends of the
earth , to make their appearance and give their atten¬
dance. Silence (as usual) is proclaimed while the
cause is in trying; “ Keep silence before me, and
judge nothing before the time;” while the cause is in
tijing between the kingdom of God and the kingdr m
of Satan, it becomes all people silently to expect the
issue; not to object against God’s proceedings, but to
be confident that he will carry the day. The defend¬
ers of idolatry are called to say what they can in de¬
fence of it; “Let them renew their strength, in opposi¬
tion to God, and see whether it be equal to the strength
which they renew that wait upon him; {ch. xl. 31.)
let them try their utmost efforts, whether by force of
arms, or force of argument. Let them come near;
they shall not complain that God’s dread makes them
afraid, (Job. xiii. 21.) so that they cannot say what
they have to say, in vindication and honour of their
idols; no, let them s/ieak freely, let us come near to¬
gether to judgment.” Note, 1. The cause of God
and his kingdom is not afraid of a fair trial; if the
case be but fairly stated, it will be surely cari-ied in
favour of religion. 2. The enemies of God’s church
and his holy religion may safely lie challenged to
say and do their worst for the support of their un
righteous cause. He that sits in heaven, laughs at
them, and the daughter of Zion despises them, for
great is the truth, and will prevail.
II. He particularly challenges the idols to do that
for their worshippers, and against his, which he
had done, and would do, for his worshippers, and
against theirs. Different senses are given of v. '2.
concerning the righteous man raised up from the
east; and since we cannot determine which is the
true, we will make use of each as good. That
which is to be proved, is, 1. That the Lord is God
alone, the first, and with the last, (t\ 4.) that he is
infinite, eternal, and unchangeable; that he govern
ed the world from the beginning, and will to the
end of time. He has reigned of old, and will reign
181 *
ISAIAH, XL1.
for ever; the counsels of his kingdom were from
eternity, and the continuance of it will be to eter¬
nity. 2. That Israel is his servant, (n. 8.) whom
he owns and protects, and employs, and in whom
lie is, and will be, glorified. As there is a God in
heaven, so there is a church on earth, that is his
particular care. Elijah prays, (1 Kings xviii. 36.)
Let it be known that thou art God, and that I am
thy servant. Now, to prove this, he shows,
(1.) That it was he who called Abraham, the fa¬
ther of this despised nation, out of an idolatrous
country, and by many instances of his favour made
his name great, Gen. xii. 2. He is the righteous
man whom God raised up. from the east. Of him
the Chaldee Paraphrase expressly understands it,
who brought Abraham publicly from the east? To
maintain the honour of the people of Israel, it was
very proper to show what a figure this great ances¬
tor of theirs made in his day; and v. 8. seems to be
the explication of it, where God calls Israel the
seed of Abraham my friend; and v. 4. he calls the
generations, namely, the generations of Israel, from
the beginning. Also, to put contempt upon idolatry,
and particularly the Chaldean idolatry, it was pro¬
per to show how Abraham was called from serving
other gods; (Josh. xxiv. 2, 3, &c.) so that an early
testimony was borne against that idolatry which
blasted so much of its antiquity. Also, to encour¬
age the captives in Babylon to hope that God would
find a way for their return to their own land, it was
proper to remind them how at first he brought their
father Abraham out of the same country into this
land, to give it him for an inheritance, Gen. xv. 7.
Now observe what is here said concerning him;
[1.] That he was a righteous man, or righteous¬
ness, a man of righteousness, that believed God, and
it was counted to him for righteousness; and so he
became the father of all those who by faith in Christ
are made the righteousness of God through him,
Rom. iv. 3, 11. 2 Cor. v. 21. He was a great ex¬
ample of righteousne ,s in his day, and taught his
household to do judgment and justice, Gen. xviii.
19. [2. ] That God raised him up from the east,
from Ur first, and afterward from Haran, which
lay east from Canaan. God would not let hint set¬
tle in either of those places, but did by him as the
eagle by her young, when she stirs up her nest: he
raised him out of iniquity, and made him pious; out
of obscurity, and made him famous. [3.] He called
him to his foot, to follow him with an implicit faith;
for he went out, rot knowing whither he went, but
whom he followed, Heb. xi. 8. Those whom God
effectually calls, he calls to his foot; to be subject
to him, to attend him, and follow the Lamb whi¬
thersoever he goes: and we must all either come to
his foot, or be made his footstool. [4.] He gave na¬
tions before him, the nations of Canaan, which he
promised to make him master of; and thus far gave
him an interest in, that the Hittites acknowledged
him a mighty prince among them, Gen. xxiii. 6.
He made him rule over those kings whom he con¬
quered for the rescue of his brother Lot, Gen. xiv.
And when God gave them as dust to his sword, and
as driven stubble to his bow, that is, made them an
easy prey to his catechised servants, he then pur¬
sued them, and passed safely, or in peace, under the
divine protection, though it was in a way he was al¬
together unacquainted with; and so considerable
was this victory, that Melchizedec. himself appear¬
ed to celebrate it. Now who did this but the great
Jehovah ? Can any of the gods of the heathen do so?
(2.) That it is he who will, ere long, raise up Cy¬
rus from the east. It is spoken of according to the
language of prophecy as a thing past, because as
sure to be done in its season as if it were already
done. God will raise him up in righteousness; so
it may be read; ( ch . xlv. 13.) will call him to his
foot; make what use cf him he pleases, make him
victorious over the nations that oppose his coming
to the crown, and give him success in all his wars;
and he shall be a type of Christ, who is Righteous¬
ness itself, the Lord our Righteousness, whom God
will, in the fulness of time, raise up, and make vic¬
torious over tlie powers of darkness; so that he slul’
spoil them, and make a show of them openly.
III. He exposes the folly of idolaters, wiio, not
withstanding the convincing proofs which the G< d
of Israel had given of his being God alone, obsti
nately persisted in their idolatry, nay, were so much
the more hardened in it; (v. S j The isles of the
Gentiles saw this; not only what God did for Abra¬
ham himself, but what he did for his seed, for hi‘
sake; how he brought them out of Egypt, and made
them rule over kings, and they feared, Excd. xv.
14. — 16. They were afraid, and, according to the
summons, (v. i.) they drew near, and came; they
could not avoid taking notice of what God did for
Abraham and his seed; but, instead of helping to
reason one another out of their sottish idolatries,
they helped to confirm one another in them, v. 6,
7. 1. They looked upon it as a dangerous design
upon their religion, which they were jealous for the
honour of, and were resolved, right or wrong, to ad¬
here to, and therefore were alarmed to appear vi¬
gorously for the support of it, as the Ephesians for
their Diana. When God, by liis wonderful appear¬
ances on the behalf of his people, went about to
wrest their idols from them, they held them so
much the faster, and said one to another, “ Be of
good courage, let us unanimously agree to keep up
the reputation of our gods.” Though Dagon fell be¬
fore the ark, he shall be set up again in his place;
one tradesman encourages another to come into a
confederacy for the keeping up the noble craft of
god-making. Thus men’s convictions often exaspe¬
rate their corruptions, and they are made worse both
by the word and the works of God, which should
make them better. 2. They looked upon it as a dan¬
gerous design upon themselves; they thought them¬
selves in danger from the growing greatness both of
Abraham that was a convert from idolatry, and of
the people of Israel that were separatists from it; and
therefore they not only had recourse to their old
gods for protection, but made new ones, Deut.
xxxii. 17. So the carpenter, having done his par*
to the timber- work, encouraged the goldsmith to dc
his part in gilding or overlaying it; and when it
came into the goldsmith’s hand, he that smooths
with the hammer, that polishes it, or beats it thin,
quickened him that smote the anvil, bade him be
expeditious, and told him it was ready for the sc-
dering; which perhaps was the last operation about
it, and then it is fastened with nails, and you have
a god of it presently. Do sinners thus hearten and
quicken one another in the ways of sin? And shall
not the servants of the living God both stir up one
another to, and strengthen one another in, his ser¬
vice? Some read all this ironically, and by way of
permission; Let them help every one his neighbour,
let the carpenter encourage the goldsmith; but all in
vain, idols shall fall for all this.
IV. He encourages his own people to trust in him ;
(t>. 8, 9.) “But thou, Israel, art my servant. They
know me not, but thou knowest me, and knowest
better than to join with such ignorant besotted peo¬
ple as these;” (for it is intended fora warning to the
people of God not to walk in the way of the hea¬
then ;) “they put themselves under the protection
of these impotent deities, but thou art under my
protection: they that make them are like unto them,
and so is every one that trusts in them; but thou,
O Israel, art the servant of a better Master. ” Ob¬
serve what is suggested here for the encouragemenl
of God’s people, when they are threatened and in
182
ISAIAH, XLI.
suite J over. 1. They are God’s servants, and he
will not see them abused, especially for what they
do in his service; Thou art my servant, (n. 8.) and
“ I have said unto thee. Thou art tny servant; and
I will not go back from mv word.” 2. He has cho¬
sen them to be a peculiar people to himself; they
were not forced upon him, but of his own good will
he set them apart. 3. They were the seed of Abra¬
ham his friend; it was the honour of Abraham that
he was called the friend of Cod, (James ii. 23.)
whom God covenanted and conversed with as a
friend, and the man of his counsel; and this honour
have all the saints, John xv. 15. And for the fa¬
ther’s sake the people of Israel were beloved. God
was pleased to look upon them as the posterity of an
old friend of his, and therefore to be kind to them;
for the covenant of friendship was made with Abra¬
ham and his seed. 4. He had sometimes, when
they had been scattered among the heathen, fetch¬
ed them from the ends of the earth, and taken them
out of the hands of the chief ones thereof, and there¬
fore he would not now abandon them. Abraham
their father was fetched from a place at a great dis¬
tance, and they in his loins; and those who had been
thus far-fetched and dear-bought, he could not easi¬
ly part with. 5. He had not yet cast them away,
though they had often provoked him, and therefore
he would not now abandon them. What God has
done for his people, and what he has further en¬
gaged to do, should encourage them to trust in him
at all times.
10. Fear thou not; for I am with thee;
be not dismayed, for I am thy God : I will
strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee ; yea,
I wilt uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness. 1 1. Behold, all they that were
incensed against thee shall be ashamed and
confounded : they shall be as nothing ; and
they that strive with thee shall perish. 1 2.
Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them,
even them that contended with thee : they that
war against thee shall be as nothing, and as
a thing of naught. 13. For I the Lord thy
God will hold thy right hand, saying unto
thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 14. Fear
not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel ;
1 will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15.
Behold, I will make thee a new sharp
threshing instrument having teeth : thou
shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them
small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. 16.
Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall
carry them away, and the whirlwind shall
scatter them : and thou shalt rejoice in the
Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of
Israel. 1 7. fVhen the poor and needy seek
water, and there is none, and their tongue
faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them,
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
1 8. I will open rivers in high places, and
fountains in the midst of the valleys : I will
make the wilderness a pool of water, and
the dry land springs of water. 1 9. I will
plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shit-
lah-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree ; I
will set in the desert the fir-tree, and the
pine, and the box-tree together ; 20. That
they may see and know, and consider, and
understand together, that the hand of the
Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of
Israel hath created it.
The scope of these verses is to silence the fears,
and encourage the faith, of the servants of Gi d in
their distresses; perhaps it is intended, in the first
place, for the support of God’s Israel, in captivity;
but all that faithfully serve Gnd, through patience
and comfort of the scripture, may have hope. And
it is addressed to Israel as a single person, that it
might the more easily and readily be accommodated
and applied by every Israelite indeed to himself
That is a word of caution, counsel, and comfort,
which is so often repeated, Fear thou not; and
again, (x>. 13.) Fear not, and (v. 14.) “ Fear not,
thou worm Jacob; fear not the threatenings cf the
enemy, doubt not the promises of thy God; fear not
that thou shalt perish in thine affliction, or that the
promise of thy deliverance shall fail.” It is against
the mind of God, that his people should be a timor¬
ous people.
For the suppressing of fear, he assures them,
I. That they may depend upon his presence with
them as their God, and a God all-sufficient for them
in the worst of times. Observe with what tender¬
ness God speaks, and how willing he is to let the
heirs of promise know the immutabilitv of his
counsel, and how desirous to make them easy,
“ Fear thou not, for lam with thee; not only within
call, but present with thee; be not dismayed at the
power of those that are against thee, for I am thy
God, and engaged for thee. Art thou weak? I will
strengthen thee. Art thou destitute of friends? 1
will help thee in the time cf need. Art thou ready
to sink, ready to fall? I will uphold thee with the
right hand of my righteousness, that right hand
which is full of righteousness, in dispersing rewards
and punishments,” Ps. xlviii. 10. And again, (v.
13.) it is promised, 1. That God will strengthen
their hands — will help them; “/ will hold thy
right hand, go hand in hand with thee:” so some":
he will take us by the hand as our Guide, to lead
us in our way, will help us up when we are fallen,
or prevent our falls; when we are weak, he will
hold us up, wavering, he will fix us, trembling, he
will encourage us, and so hold us by the right hand,
Ps. lxxiii. 23. 2. That he will silence their fears,
saying unto thee. Fear not. He has said it again and
again in his word, and has there provided sovereign
antidotes against fear; but he will go further, he
will by his Spirit say it to their hearts, and make
them to hear it, and so will help them.
II. That though their enemies be now very for¬
midable, insolent, and severe, yet the day is coming
when God will reckon with them, and tlfey shall
triumph over them. There are those that are in¬
censed against God’s people, that strive with them,
(v. 11.) that war against them, (v. 12.) that hate
them, that seek their ruin, and are continually pick¬
ing quarrels with them. But let not God’s pec pie
be incensed at them, nor strive with them, nor ren¬
der evil for evil; but wait God’s time, and believe,
1. That thev shall be convinced of the folly, at
least, if not of the sin, of striving with God’s people;
and, finding it to no purpose, they shall be ashamed
and confounded, which might bring them to repont-
ance, hut will rather fill them with rage. 2. That
they shall be quite ruined and undone; (v. 11.)
They shall be as nothing before the justice anti
power of God. When God comes to deal with his
proud enemies, he makes nothing of them; or, they
shall be brought to nothing, shall be as if they hail
183
ISAIAH, XL1.
never been. This is repeated; ( v . 12.) they shall
i>e as nothing, and as a thing of naught; or, as that
which is gone and has failed. They that were for¬
midable shall become despicable; that fancied they
could do any tiling, shall be able to bring nothing to
p iss; that made a figure in the world, and a mighty
noise, shall become mere ciphers, and be buried in
silence; they shall perish, not only lie nothing, but
be miserable. Thou shall seek them; shalt inquire
what is become of them, that they do not appear
as usual, but thou shalt not find them, as David,
(Ps. xxxvii. 36.) I sought him, but he could not be
found.
III. That they themselves should become a ter¬
ror to those who were now a terror to them, and
victory sin uld turn on their side, v. 14. — 16. See
here, 1. How Jacob and Israel arc reduced, and
brought very low. It is the worm Jacob; so little,
so weak, and so defenceless, despised and trampled
on by every body, forced to creep even into the earth
for safety; and we must not wonder that Jacob is be¬
come a worm, when even Jacob’s King calls him¬
self a Worm, and no man, Ps. xxii. 6. God’s
people are sometimes as worms in their humble
thoughts of themselves, and their enemies’ haughty
thoughts of them ; worms, but not vipers, as their
enemies are — not of the serpent’s seed. God re¬
gards Jacob’s low estate, and says, “Fear not, thou
worm Jacob; fear not that thou shalt be crushed;
and ye men of Israel,” ( ye few men, so some read
it, ye dead men, so others,) “do not give up your¬
selves for gone notwithstanding.” Note, The grace
of God will silence fears, even then when there
seems to be the greatest cause for them; perplexed,
but not in despair. 2. How Jacob and Israql are
adv need from this low estate, and made as formi¬
dable as ever they had been despicable. But by
whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small? We are
here told, I will help thee, saith the Lord: and it is
the honour of God to help the weak. He will help
them, for he is their Redeemer, who is wont to re¬
deem them, who has undertaken to do it. Christ
is tile Redeemer, from him is our help found. He
will help them, for he is the Holy One of Israel,
worshipped among them in the beauty of holiness,
and engaged by promise to them. The Lord will
help them by enabling them to help themselves,
and making Jacob to become a threshing instrument.
Observe, He is but an instrument, a tool in God’s
hand, that he is pleased to make use of; and he is
an instrument of God’s making, and is no more than
God makes him. But if God make him a threshing
instrument, he will make use of him, and therefore
will make him fit for use, new and sharp, and hav¬
ing teeth, or sharp spikes; and then, by divine di¬
rection and strength, thou shalt thresh the moun¬
tains, the highest and strongest and most stubborn
of thine enemies; thou shalt not only beat them,
but beat them small; they shall not be as corn
threshed out, which is valuable, and is carefully
preserved, (such God’s people are when they are
under the flail, ( ch . xxi. 10.) 0 my threshing, vet
the corn of my floor, that shall not be lost,) f>ut
these are made as chaff, which is good for nothing,
and which the husbandman is glad to get rid of. He
pursues the metaphor, v. 16. Having threshed
them, thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall
scatter them. This perhaps had its accomplish¬
ment, in part, in the victories of the Jews over their
enemies in the times of the Maccabees; but it seems
in general designed to read the final doom of all the
implacable enemies of the church of God, and to
have its accomplishment likewise in the triumphs
of the cross of Christ, the gospel of Christ, and all
the faithful followers of Christ, over the powers of
darkness, which, fir-stor last, shall all be dissipated,
and in Christ all believers shall be more than con¬
querors, and he that overcomes shall have power
over the nations, Rev. ii. 26.
IV. That, hereupon, they shall have abundance
of comfort in Gcd, and God shall have abundance
of honour from them; Thou shalt rejoice in the
i Lord, v. 16. When we are freed from that \\ Licit
j hindered our joy, and are blessed with that which is
tiie matter of it, we ought to remember that God is
our exceeding Joy, and in him all our joys terminate.
When we rejoice over our enemies, we must rep ice
in the Lord, for to him alone we owe our liberties
and victories. “Then shalt also glory in the Holy
One of Israel, in thine interest in him, and relation
to him, and what he has done for thee.” And if
thus we make God our Praise and Glory, we be¬
come to him for a praise and a glory.
V. That they shall have seasonable and suitable
supplies of every thing that is proper for them in
the time of need; and if there be occasion, God will
again do for them as he did for Israel in their march
from Egypt to Canaan, v. 17. — 19. When the cap¬
tives, either in Babylon, or in their return thence,
arc in distress for want of water or shelter, God
will take care of them, and one way or other, make
their journey, even through a wilderness, comforta¬
ble to them. But, doubtless, this promise has mere
than, such a private interpretation. Their return
out of Babylon was typical of our redemption by
Christ; and so the contents of these promises, 1.
Were provided by the gospel of Christ. That glo¬
rious discovery of his lor e has given full assurance
to all those who hear this joyful sound, that God has
provided inestimable comforts for them, sufficient
for the supply of all their wants, the balancing of
all their griefs, and the answering cf all their pray¬
ers. 2. They are applied by the grace and Spirit
of Christ to ail believers; that they may have strong
consolation in their way, and a complete happiness
in their end. Our way to heaven lies through the
wilderness of this world: Now, '3
(1.) It is here supposed, that the people of God,
in their passage through this world, are often in
straits; The poor and needy seek water , and there
is none; the poor in spirit hunger and thirst after
righteousness. The soul of man, finding itself enipiV
and necessitous, seeks for satisfaction somewhei.
but soon despairs of finding it in the world, that hi
nothing in it to make it easy: creatures are brokt
cisterns that can hold no water; so that their tong,
fails for thirst, they are weary of seeking that sa
tisfaction in the world, which is not to be had in it.
Their sorrow makes them thirsty; so does their toil.
(2.) It is here promised, that, one way or other,
all their grievances shall be redressed, and they
I shall be made easy.
[1.] God himself will be nigh unto them in all
that which they call upon him for. Let all the
praying people of God take notice of this, and take
comfort of it; he has said, “I the Lord will hear
them, will answer them, I the God of Israel will
not forsake them; I will be with them, as I have
always been, in their distresses. ” While we are in
the wilderness of this world, this promise is to us
what the pillar of cloud and fire was to Israel, an
assurance of God’s gracious presence.
[2.] They shall have a constant supply of fresh
water, as Israel had in the wilderness, even there,
where one would least expect it; (y. 18.) I will
open rivers in high places; rivers of grace, rivers
of pleasure, rivers of living water, which he spake
of the Spirit, (John vii. 38, 39.) that Spirit which
should be poured out upon the Gentiles, who had been
as high places, dry and barren, and lifted up in their
own conceit above the necessity of that gift. And
there shall be fountains in the midst of the valleys,
the valleys of Baca, (Ps. lxxxiv. 6.) that are sandy
and wearisome; or among the Jews who had been
184
ISAIAH, XLI.
as fruitful valleys in comparison with the Gentile jj
mountains. The preaching of the gospel to the world
turned that wilderness into a pool of water; yielding i
fruit to the Owner of it, and relief to the travellers
through it.
[3.] They shall have a pleasant shade to screen
them from the scorching heat of the sun, as Israel,
when they pitched at Elim, where they had not
onlv wells of water, but palm- trees; (Exod. xv.
37.) “I mill plant in the wilderness the cedar; (u.
19.) 1 will turn the wilderness into an orchard or
garden, such as used to be planted with these plea¬
sant trees, so that they shall pass through the wil¬
derness with as mucli ease and delight as a man
walks in his grove. These trees shall be to them
then what the pillar of cloud was to Israel in the
wilderness, a shelter from the heat.” Christ and
his grace are so to believers, as the shadow of a
great rock, ch. xxxii. 2. When God sets up his
church in the Gentile wilderness, there shall be as
great a change made by it in men’s characters, as
if thorns and briers were turned into cedars, and fir-
trees, and myrtles; and by this a blessed change is
described, ch. lv. 13.
[4.] They shall see and acknowledge the hand
of God, his power and his favour in this, v. 20.
God will do these strange and surprising things, on
purpose to awaken them to a conviction and consi¬
deration of his hand in all; that they may see this
wonderful change, and, knowing that it is above the
ordinary course and power of nature, may consider
that therefore it comes from a superior power; and,
comparing notes upon it, may understand together,
and concur in the acknowledgment of it, that the
hand of the Lord, that mighty hand of his which is
stretched out for his people, and stretched out to
them, has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has
created it, made it anew, made it out of nothing,
made it for the comfort of his people. Mote, God
does great things for his people, that he may be
taken notice of.
2 1 . Produce your cause, saith the Lord ;
bring forth your strong reasons, saitli the
King of Jacob. 22. Let them bring them
forth, and show us what shall happen: let
them show the former things what they be
that we may consider them, and know the
latter end of them; or declare us things for
to come. 23. Show the things that are to
come hereafter, that we may know that ye
are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we
may be dismayed, and behold it together.
24. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your
work of naught : and abomination is he that
chooseth you. 25. I have raised up one
from the north, and he shall come : from the
rising of the sun shall he call upon my name;
and he shall come upon princes as upon
mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay. 26.
, Who hath declared from the beginning, that
we may know? and before-time, that we
may say, He is righteous ? yea, there is none
that showeth; yea, there is none that de-
clareth; yea, there is none that heareth
your words. 27. The first shall say to Zion,
Behold, behold them: and I will give to
Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
28. For I beheld, and there was no man;
even among them, and there was no coun¬
sellor, that, when I asked of them, could
answer a word. 29. Behold, they are all
vanity; their works are nothing: their mol¬
ten images are wind and confusion.
The Lord, by the prophet, here repeats the chal¬
lenge to idolaters, to make out the pretensions of
their idols; “ Produce your cause, (x>. 21.) and
make your best of it; bring forth the strongest rea¬
sons you have, to prove that vour idols are gods,
and worthy your adoration.” Note, There needs
no more to show the absurdity of sin, than to pro¬
duce the reasons that are given in defence of it, for
they carry with them their own confutation.
I. The idols are here challenged to bring proofs
of their knowledge and power. Let us see what
they can inform us of, and what they can do: un¬
derstanding and active power are the accomplish¬
ments of a man; whoever pretends to be a god,
must have these in perfection. And have the idols
made it to appear that they have? No; 1. “ They
can tell us nothing that we did not know before, sc
ignorant are they. We challenge them to infr rm
us,” (1.) “What has been formerly; let them show
the former things, and raise them out of the oblivion
in which they were buried;” (God inspired Moses
to write such a history of the creation as the g' ds
of the heathen could never have dictated to any of
their enthusiasts;) or, “ let the defenders of idols
tell us what mighty achievements they can boast of,
as performed by their gods in former times. What
did they ever do that was worth taking notice <f?
Let them specify any thing, and it shall be consi¬
dered, its due weight shall be given it, and it shall
be compared with the latter end of it; and if, in the
issue, it prove to be as great as it pretended to be,
they shall have the credit of it.” (2.) “We chal¬
lenge them to tell us what shall happen, to declare
to us things to come, (x>. 22.) anti again, (r. 23.)
show the things that are to come herea fter. Give this
evidence of your omniscience, that nothing can be
hid from you, and of your sovereignty and domi¬
nion; make it to appear that you have the doing of
all, by letting us know beforehand what you design
to do. Do this kindness to the world ; let them know
what is to come that they may provide accordingly.
Do this, and we will own that you are gods above
us, and gods to us, and worthy of our adorations.”
No creature can foretell things to come, otherwise
than by divine information, with any certainty
2. “ Thev can do nothing that we cannot do our¬
selves, so impotent are they.” He challenges them
to do either good or evil, good to their friends or evil
to their enemies; “Let them do, if they can, any
thing extraordinary, that people will admire and be
affected with. Let them either bless or curse with
power. Let us see them either inflict such plagues
as God brought on Egypt, or bestow such blessings
as God bestowed on Israel. Let them do seme great
thing, and we shall be amazed when we see it. and
frightened into a veneration of them, as many have
been into a veneration of the true God.”
That which is charged upon these idols, and let
them disprove it if they can, is, that they are cf
nothing, v. 24. Their claims have no foundation
at all, nor is there any ground or reason, in the
least, for men’s paying' them the respect they do;
there is nothing in them worthy our regard. “ They
are less than nothing, worse than nothing;” so some
read it. “The work they do is of naught, and so is
the ado that is made about them; there is no pre¬
tence or colour for it; it is all a jest, it is all a sham
put upon the world; and therefore he that chooses
you, and so gives you your deity, and” (as some read
it) “that delights in you, is an abomination to God
185
ISAIAH, XLTI.
and al'. wise and good men. He that chooses you,
chooses an abomination',” so some take it. A ser¬
vant is at liberty to choose his master, but a man is
not at liberty to choose his god. He that chooses
any other than the true God, chooses an abomina-
'ion ; his choosing it makes it so.
11. God here produces proofs that he is the true
God, and none besides. Let him produce his strong
reasons:
1. He has an irresistible power. This he will
shortly make to appear in the raising up of Cyrus,
and making him a type of Christ; (k. 25.) He will
raise him ufi from the north and from the rising of
the sun. Cyrus, by his father, was a Mode, by his
mother, a Persian; and his army consisted of Medes,
whose country lay north, and Persians, whose coun¬
try lay east, from Babylon. God will raise him up
to great power, and he shall come against Babylon,
with ends of his own to serve. But, (1.) He shall
f iroclaim God’s name; so it may be read. He shall
publish the honour of the God of Israel; so he did
remarkably, when, in his proclamation for the re¬
lease of the Jews out of their captivity, he acknow¬
ledged that the Lord God of Israel was the Lord
God of heaven, and the God: and he might be said
to call on his name, when he encouraged the build¬
ing of his temple, and, very probably, did himself
call upon him, and pray to him, Ezra i. 2, 3. (2.)
All opposition shall fall before him; he shall co me
upon the princes of Babylon, and all others that
stood in his way, as' mortar, and trample upon them,
as the potter treads clay, to serve his own purposes
with it. Christ, as Man, was raised up from the
north, for N azareth lay in the northern parts of Ca¬
naan; as the Angel of the covenant, he ascends
from the east. He maintained the honour of hea¬
ven; ( he shall call upon my name;) and brake the
powers of hell, came upon the prince of darkness
as mortar, and trod him down.
2. He has an infallible foresight. He would not
only do this, but he did now, by his prophet, fore¬
tell it. Now the false gods not only could not do it,
but they could not foresee it. (1.) He challenges
them to produce any of their pretended deities, or
their diviners, that had given notice of this, or could,
v. 26. “Who has declared from the beginning
any thing of this kind, or has told it beforetimer
Tell us if there by any that we know of, for we
know not any; if there be any, we will say, He is
righteous, he is true, his cause is just, his claims are
proved, and he is in the right, in demanding to be
worshipped.” This agrees with v. 22, 23. (1.)
He challenges to himself the sole honour of doing
it, and foretelling it;(n. 27.) Iam the first (so it may
be read) that will say to Zion, Behold, behold them;
that will let the people of Israel know their deliverers
are at hand ; for there were those who understood by
books, God’s books, the approach of the time, Dan.
ix. 2. And I am he that will give to Jerusalem one
that brings good tidings, these good tidings of their
enlargement. This is applicable to the work of re¬
demption, in which the Lord showed himself much
more than in the release of the Jews out of Babylon:
■ie it was that contrived our salvation, and he
•irought it about, and he has given to us the glad tid-
'ngs of reconciliation.
Lastly, Judgment is here given upon this trial:
1. None of all the idols had foretold, or could
foresee, this work ot wonder. Other nations be¬
side the Jews were released out of captivity in Ba¬
bylon by Cyrus, or, at least, were greatly concerned
in the revolution of the monarchy, and the trans¬
ferring of it to the Persians; and yet none of them
had any intelligence given them of it beforehand,
by any of tlv ir gods or prophets; “ There is none
that shows, (v. 26.) none that declares; none that
gives the least intimation of it; there is none of the
Vol. iv. — 2 A
nations that hears vour words, that can pretend to
have heard from their gods such words as you, O
Israelites, have heard from your God, by your pro¬
phets,” l’s. cxlvii. 20. None of all the gods of the
nations have showed tlfcir worshippers the way of
salvation, which God will show by the Messiah.
The good tidings which the Lord will send in the
gospel, is a mystery hid from ages and generations,
Horn. xvi. 25, 26.
2. None of those who pleaded for them could pro¬
duce any instance of their knowledge or power, that
had in it any colour of proof that they were gods:
all their advocates were struck dumb with this
challenge, ( v . 28.) “I beheld, and there was no
man that could give evidence for them, even among
them that were their most zealous admirers, and
there was no counsellor, there were none that could
offer any thing for the support of their cause. Even
among the idols themselves there was none fit to
give counsel in the most trivial matters, and yet
there were those that asked counsel of them in the
most important and difficult affairs. When I asked
them what they had to say for themselves, they
stood mute; the case was so plain against them,
there was none that could answer a word.” Judg¬
ment must therefore be given against the defendant
upon Arihil dicit — he is mute: he has nothing to say
for himself; he was speechless, Matth. xxii. 12.
3. Sentence is therefore given according to the
charge exhibited against them; (v. 24.) “Behold,
they are all vanity, (v. 29.) they are a lie and a
cheat, they are not in themselves what they pre¬
tend to be, nor will their worshippers find that in
them which they promise themselves. Their works
are nothing, of no force, of no worth; their enemies
need fear no hurt from them, their worshippers can
hope for no good from them. Their molten images,
and indeed all their images, are wind and confusion,
vanity and vexation; those that worship them will
be deceived in them, and will reflect upon their
own folly with the greatest bitterness. Therefore,
dearly beloved, flee from idolatry,” 1 Cor. x. 14.
CHAP. XLII.
The prophet seems here to launch out vet further into the
prophecy of the Messiah and his kingdom, under the type
of Cyrus; and, having the great work of man’s salvation
by him yet more in view, he almost forgets the occasion
that led him into it, and drops the return out of Babylon;
for indeetj the prospect of this would be a greater com¬
fort and support to the believing pious Jews, in their
captivity, than the hope of that. And (as Mr. Gataker
well observesj in this, and similar prophecies of Christ,
that are coucned in types, as of David and Solomon,
some passages agree to the type and not to the truth,
others to the truth and not to the type, and many to the
type in one sense, and the truth in another. Here is, I.
A prophecy of the Messiah’s coming with meekness, and
ret with power, to do the Redeemer’s work, v. 1 . . 4.
I. His commission opened, which he received from the
Father, v. 5 . . 9. III. The joy and rejoicing with which
the glad tidings of this should be received v. 10 . . 12.
IV. The wonderful success of the gospel, for the over¬
throw of the devil’s kingdom, v. 13 . . 17. V. The rejec¬
tion and ruin of the Jews for their unbelief, v. 18 . . 2 5.
l.TBEHOLD my servant, whom I up-
J IS hold; mine elect, in whom my soul
delighteth: I have put my Spirit upon him;
he shall bring forth judgment to the (ien-
tiles. 2. He shall not cry, nor lift up, noi
cause his voice to he heard in the street. 3.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the
smoking flax shall he not quench : he shall
bring forth judgment unto truth. 4. He shall
not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set
186
ISAIAH, XLjI.
judgment in the earth : and the isles shall
wait for his law.
We are sure that these verses are to be under¬
stood of Christ, for the evangelist tells us expressly
that in him this prophecy was fulfilled, Matth. xii.
17. — 21. Behold with an eye of faith; behold, and
observe; behold, and admire, my Servant whom I
uphold. Let the Old Testament saints behold, and
expect him; let the New Testament saints behold,
and remember him. Now what must we behold
and consider concerning him?
1. The Father’s concern for him, and relation to
him; the confidence he put, and the complacency
he took, in him. This put an honour upon him,
and made him remarkable, above any other cir¬
cumstance, v. 1. (1.) God owns him as one em¬
ployed for him; He is my Servant. Though he
.vas a Son, yet, as a Mediator, he took upon him the
form of a servant; learned obedience to the will of
God, and practised it, and laid out himself to ad¬
vance the interests of God’s kingdom, and so he was
God’s servant. (2.) As one chosen by him; He is
mine elect: he did not thrust himself into the service,
but was called of God, and pitched upon as the fit¬
test person for it. Infinite Wisdom made the choice,
and then avowed it. (3.) As one he put a confi¬
dence in; He is my servant on whom I lean; so some
read it. The Father put a confidence in him, that
he would go through with his undertaking, and, in
that confidence, brought many sons to glory. It
was a great trust which the Father reposed in the
Son, but he knew him to be par negolia — equal to
it, both able and faithful. (4.) As one he took care
of; He is my servant whom I uphold; so we read it.
'File Father bore him up, and bore him out, in his
undertaking: both were included in his upholding
of him; he stood by him, and strengthened him.
(5.) As one whom he took an entire complacency
in; Mine elect, in whom my soul delights. His de¬
light was in him from eternity, when he was by him
as one brought up with him, Prov. viii. 30. He
had a particular satisfaction in his undertaking; he
declared himself well pleased in him, (Matth. iii.
ir. — xvii. 5.) and therefore loved him, because he
laid down his life for the sheep. Let our souls de¬
light in Christ, rely on him, and rejoice in him; and
thus let us be united to him, and then, for his sake,
the Father will be well pleased with us.
2. The qualification of him for his office; I have
put my Spirit upon him, to enable him to go
through his undertaking, ch. lxi. 1. The Spirit did
not only come,' but rest, upon him, (ch. xi. 2.) not
by measure, as on others of God’s servants, but
without measure. Those whom God employs as
his servants, as he will uphold them, and be well
pleased with them, so he will put his Spirit upon
them.
3. The work to which he is appointed; it is to
bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, that is, in
infinite wisdom, holiness, and equity, to set up a
religion in the world, under the bonds of which the
Gentiles should come, and the blessings of which
they should enjoy. The judgments of the Lord,
which had been hid from the Gentiles, (Ps. cxlvii.
20.) he came to bring forth to the Gentiles, for he
was to be a Light to lighten them.
4. The mildness and tenderness with which he
should pursue this undertaking, v. 2, 3. He shall
carry it on, (1.) In silence, and without noise; He
shall not strive, nor cry. It shall not be proclaim¬
ed, Lo, here is Christ; or, Lo, he is there; as when
great princes ride in progress, or make a public
entry. He shall have no trumpet sounded before
him, nor any noisy retinue to follow him. The op-
osition he meets with, he shall not strive against,
ut patiently endure the contradiction of sinners
against himself; his kingdom is spiritual, and there
fore its weapons are not carnal, nor its appearance
pompous; it comes not with observation. (2. )
Gently, and without rigour. Those that are wicked
he will be patient with; when he has begun to crush
them, so that they are as bruised reeds, lie will give
them space to repent, and not immediately break
them; though they are very offensive, as smoking
flax, (ch. lxv. 5. ) yet lie will bear with them, as he
did with Jerusalem. Those that are weak he will
be tender of; those that have but a little life, a little
heat, that are weak as a reed, oppressed with
doubts and fears, as a bruised reed, that are as
smoking flax, as the wick of a candle newly lighted,
which is ready to go cut again, he will not despise
them, will not plead against them with his great
power, nor lay upon them more work, or mere suf¬
fering, than they can bear, which would break and
! quench them, but will graciously consider their
frame. More is implied than is expressed; he will
I not break the braised reed, but will strengthen it,
that it may become as a cedar in the courts of our
God. He will not quench the smoking flax, but
blow it up into a flame. Note, Jesus Christ is
very tender toward those that have true grace,
though they are but wtak in it, and accepts the
willingness of the spirit, pardoning and passing by
the weakness of the flesh.
5. The courage and constancy with which he
should persevere in this undertaking, so as to carry
his point at last; (v. 4.) He shall not fail, nor be
discouraged; though he meets with hard service,
and much opposition, and foresees how ungrateful
the world will be, yet he goes on with his part of the
work, till he is able to say, It is finished; and he
enables his apostles and ministers to go on with
theirs too, and not to fail or be discouraged, till
they also have finished their testimony. And thus
he accomplishes wh t he undertook; (l.)He brings
forth judgment unto truth; by a leng course of
miracles, and his resurrection at last, he shall fully
evince the truth of his doctrine, and the divine
original and authority of that holy religion which
he came to establish. (2.) He sets judgment in the
earth; he erects his government in the world, a
church for himself among men; reforms the world,
and by the power of his gospel and grace fixes such
principles in the minds of men, as tend to make
them wise and just. (3.) The isles of the Gentiles
wait for his law, wait tor his gospel; bid it welcome
as if it had been a thing they had long waited for.
They shall become his disciples, shall sit at his feet,
and be ready to receive the law from his meuth.
What wilt thou have us to do?
5. Thus saith God the Lord, he that
created the heavens, and stretched them
out: he that spread forth the earth, and that
which cometh out of it ; he that giveth breath
unto the people upon it, and spirit to them
that walk therein; 6. 1 the Lord have r ill
ed thee in righteousness, and will hold thy
hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for
a covenant of the people, for a light of the
Gentiles; 7. To open the blind eyes, to
bring out the prisoners from the prison, and
them that sit in darkness out of the prison-
house. 8. 1 am the Lord; that is my name:
and my glory will I not give to another,
neither my praise to graven images. 9 Be¬
hold, the former things are come to pass,
and new things do I declare: before thev
187
ISAIAH,
spring forth 1 tell you of them. 10. Sing
unto the Lord a new song, and his praise
from the end of the earth, ye that go down
to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles,
and the inhabitants thereof. 11. Let the
wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their
voice , the villages that Kedar doth inhabit:
let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them
shout from the top of the mountains. 12.
Let them give glory unto the Lord, and
declare his praise in the islands.
Here is,
I. The covenant God made with, and the com¬
mission he gave to, the Messiah, v. 5. — 7. which
are an exposition of v. 1. Behold my Servant,
•whom I uphold.
1. The royal titles by which the great God here
makes himself known, and distinguishes himself
from all pretenders, speak very much his glory;
(y. 5.) Thus saith God the Lord: and who art
thou, Lord? He is the Fountain of all being, and
therefore the Fountain of all power. He is the
Fountain of being, (1.) In the upper world; for he
created the heavens, and stretched them out, ( ch .
xl. 22.) and keeps the vast expanse still upon the
stretch. (2.) In the lower world; for he spread
f nth the earth, and made it a capacious habitation,
alul that which comes out of it is produced by his
power. (3.) In the world of mankind; He gives
breath to the fieofile upon it, not only air to breathe
in, but the breath of life itself, and organs to breathe
with; nay, he gives spirit, the powers and faculties
of a rational soul, to them that walk therein. Now
this is prefixed to God’s covenant with the Mes¬
siah, and the commission given him, not only to
show that he has authority to make such a covenant,
and give such, a commission, and had power suffi¬
cient to bear him out, but that the design of the
work of redemption was to maintain the honour of
the Creator, and to reduce man to the allegiance he
owes to God as his Maker.
2. The assurances which he gives to the Mes¬
siah of his presence with him in all he did pursuant
to his undertaking, speak much encouragement to
him, v. 6. (1.) God owns that the Messiah did
not t ike the nonour of being Mediator to himself,
but was called of God; that he was no Intruder,
no Usurper, but was fairly brought to it; (Heb. v.
4.) I have called thee in righteousness. God not
only did him no wrong in calling him to this hard
service, he having voluntarily offered himself to it,
but did himself right in providing for his own ho¬
nour, and performing the word which he had spoken.
(2.) He promises to stand by him and strengthen
him in it; to hold his hand, not only to his work,
but in it; to hold his hand, that it might not shake,
that it might not fail, and so to keep him. When
an angel was sent from heaven to strengthen him
in his agonies, and the Father himself was with him,
then this promise was fulfilled. Note, Those whom
God calls, he will own and help, and will hold their
hands.
3. The great intentions of this commission speak
abundance of comfort to the children of men: he
was given for a Covenant of the people, for a Medi¬
ator, or Guarantee, of the covenant of grace, which
is all summed up in him. God, in giving us Christ,
nas with him freely given us all the blessings of the
new covenant. Two glorious blessings, Christ, in
his gospel, brings with him to the Gentile world;
light, and liberty. (1.) He is given for a Light
to the Gentiles, not only to reveal to them what
they were concerned to know, and which otherwise
LXIL
they could not have known, but to open the blind
eyes, that they might know it: by his Spirit in the
word he presents the object, by his Spirit in the
heart he prepares the organ. When the gospel
came, light came, a great light to them that sat in
darkness, Matth. iv. 16. John iii. 19. And St. Paul
was sent to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, Acts
xxvi. 18. Christ is the Light of the world. (2.)
He is sent to proclaim liberty to the captives, as
Cyrus did, to bring out the prisoners; not only to
open the prison doors, and give them leave to go
out, which was all that Cyrus could do, but to bring
them out, to induce and enable them to make use
of their liberty, which none did but those whose
spirits God stirred up. This Christ does by his
grace.
II. The ratification and confirmation of this grant-
that we may be assured of the validity of it, con¬
sider,
1. The authority of him that makes the promise,
(n. 8.) 1 am the Lord, Jehovah, that is my name,
and that was the name by which he made himself
known when he began to perform the promise made
to the patriarchs; whereas, before, he manifested
himself by the name of God Almighty, Exod. vi. 3.
If he is the Lord that gives being and birth to all
things, he will give being and birth to this promise.
If his name be Jehovah, which speaks him God
alone, we may be sure his name is Jealous, and he
•will not give his glory to another, whoever it is that
stands in competition with him, especially not to
graven images. Therefore he will send the Mes¬
siah to open men’s eyes, that so he may turn them
from the service of dumb idols to serve the living
God; because, though he has long winked at the
times of ignorance, he will now maintain his prero¬
gative, and will not give his glory to graven images.
Therefore he will perform his word, because he
will not lose the honour of being true to it, nor be
ever charged with falsehood by the worshippers of
false gods. Therefore he will deliver his people
from under the power of idolaters, because it looks
as if he had given his praise to graven images, when
he gives up his own worshippers to be worshippers
of images.
2. The accomplishment of the promises he had
formerly made concerning his church, which are
proofs of the truth of his word, and the kindness he
bears to his people; (x\ 9.) “ Behold , the former
things are come to pass; hitherto the Lord has
helped his church, has supported her under for¬
mer burthens, relieved her in former straits. And
this, in performance of the promises made to the
fathers; there has not failed one word, 1 Kings viii.
56. And now new things do I declare; now I will
make new promises, which shall as certainly be
fulfilled in their season as old ones were; now I
will bestow new favours, such as have not been con¬
ferred formerly. Old Testament blessings you have
had abundantly, now I declare New Testament
blessings; not a fruitful country, and dominion over
your neighbours, but spiritual blessings in heavenly
things. Before they spring forth in the preaching
of the gospel, I tell you of them, under the type
and figure of the former things.” Note, The re¬
ceipt of former mercies may encourage us to hope
for further mercies; for God is constant in his care
for his people, and his compassions are still new.
III. The song of joy and praise which should be
sung hereupon, to the glory of God; (v. 10.) Sing
unto the Lord a new song, a New Testament song.
The giving of Christ for a Light to the Gentiles,
(v. 6.) was a new thing, and very surprising; the
apostle speaks of it as a mystery which, in other
ages, was not made known, as it is now revealed,
that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, Eph. iii,
5, 6. Now this being the new thing which God de
i«j8 ISAIAH, XLI1.
dares, the newness of the song which is to be sung
on this occasion is this; that whereas, before, the
songs of the Lord were very much confined to
the temple at Jerusalem, (David’s psalms were in
the language of the Jews only, and sung by them,
and in their own country only; for when they were
in a strange land, they hung their harps on the wil¬
low trees, and could not sing the Lord’s song, as we
find, Ps. cxxxvii. 2. — 4.) now, the songs of holy
joy and praise shall be sung all the wond over; the
Gentile nations shall share equally with the Jews in
New Testament blessings, and therefore shall join
in New Testament praises and acts of worship.
There shall be churches set up in Gentile nations,
and they shall sing a new song. The conversion of
the Gentiles is often foretold under this notion, as
appears, Rom. xv. 9. — 11.
ft is here promised that the praises of God’s grace
shall be sung with joy and thankfulness; 1. By those
that live in the end of the earth, in countries that
lie most remote from Jerusalem; From the utter¬
most parts of the earth have we heard songs, ch.
xxiv. 16. This was fulfilled when Christianity was
planted in our land. 2. By mariners and merchants,
and those that go down to the sea, that do business
in great waters, and suck the riches of the sea,
and so make themselves masters of the fulness
thereof, and all that is therein, with which they
shall praise God, and justly, for it is his, Ps. xxiv.
1. — xcv. 5. The Jews traded little at sea; if there¬
fore God’s praises be sung by them that go down
to the sea, it must be by Gentiles: seafaring men
are called upon to praise God, Ps. evii. 23. 3. By
the islands and the inhabitants thereof, (v. 10. ) and
again, v. 12. Let them declare his praise in the
islands, the isles of the Gentiles; probably referring
to the islands of Greece. 4. By the wilderness and
the cities thereof, and the villages of Kedar. These
lay east from Jerusalem, as the islands lay west, so
that the gospel-songs should be sung from the rising
of the sun to the going down of the same. The
whole Gentile world had been like an island, cut
off from communication with God’s church, and like
a wilderness uncultivated, and bringing forth no
fruit to God; but now the islands and the wilderness
shall praise God. 5. By the inhabitants of the rock,
and those that dwell on the tops of the mountains,
not only the Gentiles, but the poorest and meanest
and most despicable; they that dwell in cottages, as
well as those that inhabit cities and villages. The
rude and most barbarous, as the mountaineers com¬
monly are, shall be civilized by the gospel. Or, by
the inhabitants of the rock may be meant the inha¬
bitants of that part of Arabia which is called Pe¬
trosa — the rocky. Perhaps the neighbouring coun¬
tries shared in the joy of the Israelites when they
returned out of Babylon, and some of them came
and joined with them in their praises. But we find
not that it was to any such degree as might fully
answer this illustrious prophecy, and must conclude
that it reaches further, and was fulfilled in that
which many ether prophecies of the joy of the na¬
tions are said in the New Testament to be fulfilled
in, the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of
Christ: when they are brought into the church,
they are brought to give glory to the Lord; then
they are to him for a praise and a name, and they
make it their business to praise him. He is glorified
in them, and by them.
1 3. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty
man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of
war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall pre¬
vail against his enemies. 14. I have long
lime holden my peace; I have been still,
and refrained myself: now will I cry like a
travailing woman; I will destroy and de¬
vour at once. 15. 1 will make waste moun¬
tains and hills, and dry up all their herbs ,
and 1 will make the rivers islands, and
I will dry up the pools. 16. And I will
bring the blind by a way that they knew
not; I will lead them in paths that they
have not known: I will make darkness light
before them, and crooked things straight.
These things will I do unto them, and not
forsake them. 17. They shall be turned
back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that
trust in graven images, that say to the mol¬
ten images, Ye are our gods.
It comes all to one, whether we make these verses
(as some do) the song itself that is to be sung by the
Gentile world, or a prophecy of what God will do
to make way for the singing of that song, that evan¬
gelical new song.
1. He will appear in his power and glory more
than ever; so he did in the preaching of his gospel,
in the divine power and energy which went along
with it, and in the wonderful success it had in the
pulling down of Satan’s strong holds, v. 13, 14.
He had long holden his peace, and been still, and
refrained himself while he winked at the times of
the ignorance op the Gentile world, (Acts xvii. 30.)
and suffered all nations to walk on in their own
ways; (Acts xiv. 16. ) but now he shall go forth as
a mighty man, as a man of war, to attack the de¬
vil’s kingdom, and give it a fatal blow. The going
forth of the gospel is thus represented, Rev. vi. 2.
Christ, in it, went forth conquering and to conquer.
The ministry of the apostles is called their warfare;
and they were the soldiers of Jesus Christ. He shall
stir up jealousy, shall appear more jealous than ever
for the glory of his own name, and against idolatry.
(1.) He shall cry, in the preaching of his word.
cry like a travailing woman; for the ministers of
Christ preached as men in earnest, and that tra¬
vailed in birth again till they saw Christ formed in
the souls of the people, Gal. iv. 19. He shall cry,
yea, roar, in the gospel-woes, which are more ter¬
rible than the roaring of a lion, and which must be
preached along with gospel-biessings to awaken a
sleeping world. (2.) He shall conquer by the power
of his Spirit; He shall prevail against his enemies,
shall prevail to make them friends, Col. i. 21. Those
that contradict and blaspheme his gospel, he shall
prevail to put them to silence and shame. He will
destroy and devour at once all the oppositions of the
powers of darkness; Satan shall fall as lightning
from heaven, and he that had the power of death
shall be destroyed. As a type and figure of this, to
make wav for the redemption of the Jews out of
Babylon, God will humble the pride, and break the
power, of their oppressors, and will at once destroy
and devour the Babylonian monarchy. In accom¬
plishing this destruction of Babylon by the Persian
army under the command of Cyrus, he will make
waste mountains and hills, level the country, and
dry up all their herbs; the army, as usual, shall eitlu r
carry off the forage or destroy it, and by laying
bridges of boats over rivers shall turn them into
islands, and so drain the fens and low grounds, to
make way for the march of their army, that the
pools shall be dried up. Thus, when the gospel
shall be preached, it shall have a free course, and
that which hinders the progress of it shall be takeu
out of the way.
2. He will manifest his favour and grace toward
I those whose spirits he had stirred up to follow him,
189
ISAIAH, XLII.
ns Ezra i. 5. Those who ask the way to Zion he
will show the way, and lead in it, v. 16. Those
who by nature were blind, and those who, being
under convictions of sin and wrath, are quite at a
loss, and know not what to do with themselves, God
will lead by a way that they knew not, will show
them the way to life and happiness by Jesus Christ,
who is the Way, and will conduct and carry them
on in that way, which before they were strangers
to. Thus, in the conversion of Paul, he was struck
Dlind first, and then God revealed his Son in him,
and made the scales to fall from his eyes. 1 hey are
weak in knowledge, and the truths of God at first
seem unintelligible; but God will make darkness
light before them, and knowledge shall be easy to
them. They are weak in duty, the commands of
God seem impracticable, and insuperable difficul¬
ties are in the way of their obedience; but God will
make crooked things straight, their way shall be
lain, and their yoke easy. Those whom God
rings into the right way, he will guide in it. As a
type of this, he will lead the Jews, when they re¬
turn out of captivity, in a ready road to their own
land again, and nothing shall occur to perplex or
embarrass them in their journey. These are great
things, and kind things, very great and very kind;
but lest any should say, “They are too great, too
kind, to be expected from God by such an unde¬
serving people as that of the Jews, such an unde¬
serving world as that of the Gentiles,” he adds,
These things will I do unto them, take my word for
it I will, and I will not forsake them; he that be¬
gins to show this great mercy will go on to do them
good.
3. He will particularly put those to confusion who
adhere to idols, notwithstanding the attempts made
by the preaching of the gospel to turn them from
idols; (v. 17. ) They shall be turned back, and greatly
ashamed, that trust in graven images. The Baby¬
lonians shall, when they see how the Jews, who des¬
pise their images, are owned and delivered by the
God they worship without images; and the Gentiles,
when thev see how idolatry falls before the preach¬
ing of the gospel, is scattered like darkness before
the light of the sun, and melts like snow before its
heat, thev shall be ashamed that ever they said to
these molten images, Ye are our gods; for how can
they help their worshippers, who cannot help them¬
selves, nor save themselves from falling into con¬
tempt? In times of reformation, when many turn
from iniquity, and sin, being generally deserted, be¬
comes unfashionable, it may be hoped that those
who will not otherwise be reclaimed, will be wrought
upon by that consideration to be ashamed of it.
18. Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind,
that ye may see. 19. Who is blind, but
my servant ? or deaf, as my messenger that
I sent ? who is blind as he that is perfect,
and blind as the Lord’s servant ? 20.
Seeing many things, but thou observest
not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.
21. The Lord is well pleased for his right¬
eousness’ sake; he will magnify the law,
and make it honourable. 22. But this is
a people robbed and spoiled ; they are all
of them snared in holes, and they are hid
in prison-houses : they are for a prey, and
none delivereth ; for a spoil, and none
saith, Restore. 23. Who among you will
give ear to this ? who will hearken, and
hear for the time to come ? 24. Who gave
Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the rob¬
bers? did not the Loud, lie against whom
we have sinned ? for they would not walk
in his ways, neither were they obedient
unto his law. 2b. Therefore he hath pour¬
ed upon him the fury of his anger, and the
strength of battle: and it hath set him on
fire round about, yet lie knew not ; and it
burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
The prophet having spoken by way cf ccmfcrt
and encouragement to the bi lieving Jews who
waited for the consolation of Israel, here turns
himself to those among them who were unbeliev¬
ing, for their conviction and humiliation. Among
those who were captivated in Babylon, there were
some who were as the evil figs in Jeremiah’s vi¬
sion, who were sent thither/or their hurt, to be re¬
moved into alt the kingdoms of the earth, for a
reproach and a proverb, Jer. xxiv. 9. In them
there was a type of the Jt-ws who rejected Christ,
and were rejected by him, and then fell more than
ever under the curse, when those who believed
were inheriting the blessing; for they were broken
and ruined, and remain dispersed unto this day.
Observe,
I. The call that is given to this people: (y. 18.)
“ Hear, ye deaf, and attend to the joyful sound, and
look, ye blind, that ye may see the joyful light.”
There is no absurdity in this command, nor is it
unbecoming the wisdom and goodness of God to call
us to do that good which yet of ourselves we are
not sufficient for; for those have natural powers,
which they may employ so as to do better than they
do, and may have supernatural grace if it be not
their own fault, who yet labour under a moral im-
potency to that which is good. This call to the
deaf to hear, and the blind to see, is like the com¬
mand given to the man that had the withered hand,
to stretch it forth; though he could not do this, be¬
cause it was withered, yet, if he had ne t attempted
to do it, he had not been healed, and his being
healed thereupon was owing, not to his act, but to
the divine power.
II. The character that is given of them; (r.
19, 20.) Who is blind, but my servant, or deaf
as my messenger? The people of the Jews we re
in profession, God’s servants, and their priests
and elders his messengers; (Mai. ii. 7.) but
they were deaf and blind. The verse before may
be understood as spoken to the Gentile idolaters,
whom he calls deaf and blind, because they wor¬
shipped gods that were so. “ But,” says he, “no
wonder ye are deaf and blind, when my own people
are as bad as you, and many of them as much set
upon idolatry.” He complains of their sottishness,
They are blind; and of their stubbornness, They
are deaf. They were even worse than the Gentiles
themselves. Corruptio optimi est pessima — What
is best, becomes, when corrupted , the worst. Who
is so wilfully, so scandalously, blind and deaf as my
servant and my messenger, as Jacob who is my
servant, (cA. xli. 8.) and as their prophets and
teachers who are my messengers? Who is blind
as he that, in profession and pretension, is perfect,
that should come nearer to perfection than other
people, their priests and prophets? The one pro¬
phesies falsely, and the other bears rule by their
means; and who so blind as they that will not see
when they have the light shining in their faces?
Note, 1. It is a common thing, but a very sad thing,
for those that, in profession, are God’s servants and
messengers, to be themselves blind and deaf in spi¬
ritual things; ignorant, erroneous, and very care¬
less. 2. Blindness and deafness in spiritual things
190 ISAIAH, XLII1.
arc worse in those that profess themselves to be
(loti’s servants and messengers than in others. It
is in them the greater sin and shame, the greater
dishonour to God, and to themselves a greater
damnation.
The prophet goes on (t>. 20.) to describe the
blindness and obstinacy of the Jewish nation, just as
our Saviour describes it in his time; (Matth. xiii.
14, 15.) Seeing many things, but thou observest
not. Multitudes are ruined fur want of observing that
which they cannot but see; the)- perish not through
ignorance," but mere carelessness. The Jews, in
our Saviour’s time, saw many proofs of his divine
mission, but they did not observe them; they
seemed to open their ears to him, but they did not
hear, they did not heed, did not understand, or be¬
lieve or obey, and then it was all one as if they had
not heard.
III. The care God will take of the honour of his
own name, notwithstanding their blindness and
deafness, especially of his word, which he has mag¬
nified above all his name. Shall the unbetiej and
obstinacy of men make tha promise of God of no
effect? God forbid, Rom. iii. 3. No, though they
are blind and deaf, God will be no loser in his glory;
(v. 21. ) The Lord is well pleased for his righteous¬
ness’ sake; not well pleased with their sin, but well
pleased in the manifestation of his own righteous¬
ness, in rejecting them for rejecting the great salva¬
tion. He speaks as one well pleased; (ch. i. 24.)
Ah, I mill ease me of mine adversaries; and (Ezek.
v. 13.) he will be comforted. The scripture was j
fulfilled in the casting off the Jews as well as in the
calling in of the Gentiles, and therein the Lord will
be well pleased. He mill magnify the lam, divine
revelation in all the parts of it, and will make it ho¬
nourable. The law is truly honourable, and the
things of it are great things; if men will not magm- I
fy it by their obedience to it, God will magnify it
himself bv punishing them for their disobedience.
He will magnify the law by accomplishing what is
written in it, will magnify its authority, its efficacy,
its equity: he will do it at last, when all men shall
be judged by the law of liberty, James ii. 12. He
is doing it every day. What is it that God is doing
in the world, but magnifying the law, and making
it honourable.
IV. The calamities God will bring upon the Jew¬
ish nation for their wilful blindness and deafness,
v. 22. They are robbed and spoiled. Those that
were impenitent and unrefnrmed in Babylon, were
sentenced to perpetual captivity. It was for their
sins that they were spoiled of all their possessions,
not only in their own land, but in the land of their
enemies. They were some of them snared in holes,
and others hidden in prison-houses; they cannot
help themselves, for they are snared; their friends
cannot help them, for they are hidden; and their
enemies have forgotten them in their prisons.
They, and all they have, are for a prey and for a
spoil: and there is none that delivers either by
force or ransom; nor any that dares say to the proud
oppressors, Restore. There they lie, and there
they are likely to lie. This had its full accomplish¬
ment in the final destruction of the Jewish nation
by the Romans, which God brought upon them for
rejecting the gospel of Christ.
V. The counsel given them in order to their re¬
lief; for, though their case be sad, it is not despe¬
rate. The generality of them are deaf, they would
not hearken to the voice of God’s word; he will
therefore try his rod, and see mho among them mill
give ear to that, v. 23. We must not despair con¬
cerning those who have been long reasoned with
in vain; some of them may, at length, give ear
and hearken: if one method do not take effect,
another may, and sinners shall be left inexcusa¬
ble. Observe, 1. We may all of us, if we will,
hear the voice ot God, and we are called and in¬
vited to hear it. 2. It is worth while to inquire
who they are, that perceive God speaking to them,
and are willing to hear him. 3. Of the many that
hear the voice of God, there are very few tha*.
hearken to it or heed it, that hear it with atten¬
tion and application. 4. In hearing the word, wo
must have an eye to the time to come. We must
hear for hereafter, for what may occur betwixt u
and the grave; we must especially hear fur cter
nity. We must hear the word with another world
in our eye. The counsel is,
(1.) To acknowledge the hand of God in their
afflictions, and, whoever were the instruments, to
have an eye to him as the principal Agent; (v. 24. )
“ Who gave Jacob and Israel, that people that
used to have such an interest in heaven, and such
a dominion on earth, who gave them for a spoil to
the robbers, as they are now to the Babylonians
and to the Romans? Did not the Lord? You
know he did; consider it then, and hear his voic ;
in these judgments.”
(2.) To acknowledge that they had provoked
God thus to abandon them, and had brought all
these calamities upon themselves. [1.] These
punishments were first inflicted on them for their
disobedience to the laws of God; it is he against
mhom me have sinned; the prophet puts himself
into the number of the sinners, as Dan ix. 7 , 8.
“ We have shined, we have all brought fuel to the
fire; and there are those among us that have wilful¬
ly refused to walk in his ways.” Jacob and Israel
had never been giv on up to the robbers, if they had
not bv their iniquities sold themselves. Therefore
it is, because they have violated the commands of
the law, that God has brought upon them the
curses of the law; he has not dropped, but poured
upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength
of battle, all "the desolations of war, which have
set him on fire round about; for God surrounds the
wicked with his judgments, as he does the right
eous with his favours. See the power of God’s an
ger; there is no resisting it, no escaping it. See the
mischief that sin makes; it provokes God to anger
against a people, and so kindles an universal con
flagration, sets all on fire. [2.] These judgments
were continued upon them for their senselessness
and incorrigibleness under the rod of God. The
fire of God’s wrath kindled upon him, and he knew
it not, was not aware of it, took no notice of the
judgments, at least not of the hand of God in them
Nay, it burned him, and though he could not then
but know it, and feel it, yet he laid it not to heart,
was not awakened by the fiery rebukes he was un¬
der, nor at all affected with them. Those who
are not humbled by lesser judgments must expect
greater; for when God judges, he will overcome.
CHAP. XL111.
The contents of this chapter are much the same with those
of the foregoing chapter, looking at the release of the
Jews out of their captivity; but looking through that,
and beyond that, to the great work of man’s redemption
by Jesus Christ, and the grace of the gospel, which,
through him, believers partake of. Here are, I. Pre¬
cious promises made to God’s people in their affliction,
of his presence with them, for their support under it,
and their deliverance out of it, v. 1 . . 7. II. A chal¬
lenge to idols to vie with the omniscience and omnipo¬
tence of God, v. 8 . . 13. III. Encouragement given to
the people of God to hope for 1 heir deliverance out of
Babylon, from the consideration of what God did for
their fathers when he brought them out of Egypt, v.
14.. 21. IV'. A method taken to prepare the people
for their deliverance, by putting them in mind of their
sins, by which they had provoked God to send them into
captivity, and continue them there, that they migl t re¬
pent, and seek to God for pardoning mercy, v 22 . . 2?.
ISAIAH, XLIll. i9i
1. "OUT now, thus sailh the Lord that
Ji created thee, O Jacob, and he that
formed thee, O Israel, Fear not ; for I have
redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy
name ; thou art mine. 2. When thou
passest through the waters, I will be with
thee; and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee : when thou walkest through
the fire thou shalt not be burnt; neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee. 3. For I
am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of
Israel, thy Saviour . I gave Egypt for
thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
4. Since thou wast precious in my sight
thou hast been honourable, and I have
loved thee : therefore will I give men for
thee, and people for thy life. 5. Fear
not ; for I am with thee : I will bring thy
seed from the east, and gather thee from
the west ; 6. I will say to the north, Give
up ; and to the south, Keep not back :
bring my sons from far, and my daughters
from the ends of the earth; 7. Even
every one that is called by my name : for I
have created him for my glory, I have form¬
ed him ; yea, I have made him.
This chapter has a plain connexion with the
close of the foregoing chapter, but a very surpris¬
ing one. It was there said that Jacob and Israel
would not walk in God’s ways, and that when he
corrected them for their disobedience, they were
stubborn, and laid it not to heart; and now one
would think it should have followed, that God
would utterly abandon and destroy them; no, the
next words are, But now, fear not, O Jacob, 0 Is¬
rael; I have redeemed thee, and thou art mine.
Though many among them were untractable and
incorrigible, yet God would continue his love and
care for his people, and the body of that nation should
still be reserved for mercy. God’s goodness takes
occasion from man’s badness to appear so much
the more illustrious; where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound, (Rom. v. 20.) and mercy
rejoices against judgment, as having prevailed and
carried the day, Jam. ii. 13.
Now the sun, breaking out thus of a sudden from be¬
hind a thick and dark cloud, shines the brighter, and
with a pleasing surprise. The expressions of God’s
f ivour and good will to his people here, are very high,
and speak abundance of comfort to all the spiritual
seed of upright Jacob and praying Israel; for to us is
this gos/iel fxreached as well as unto them that were
captives in Babylon, Heb.iv. 2. Here we have,
I. The grounds of God’s care and concern for his
people, and the interests of his church and king¬
dom among men. Jacob and Israel, though in a
sinful, miserable condition, shall be looked after;
for, 1. They are God’s workmanship, created by
him unto good works, Eph. ii. 10. He has created
them and formed them, not only given them a be¬
ing, but this being, formed them into a people, con¬
stituted their government, and incorporated them
by the charter of his covenant. The new creature,
wherever it is, is of God’s forming, and he will not
forsake the work of his own hands. 2. They are
the people of his purchase; he has redeemed them;
out of the land of Egypt he first redeemed them,
and out of many another bondage, in his love and
in his t lity , ( ch . lxiii. 9.) much more will he take
care of those who are redeemed with the blood of
his Son. 3. They are his peculiar people, whom
he has distinguished from others, and set apart
for himself; he has called them by name, as those
he has a particular intimacy with and concern for,
and they are' his, appropriated to him, and that
he has a special interest in. 4. He is their God in
covenant; (v. 3.) / am the Lord thy God, wor¬
shipped by thee, and engaged by promise to thee;
the Holy One of Israel, the God of Israel; for the
true God is a holy One, and holiness becomes his
house. And upon all these accounts he might just¬
ly say, Fear not, v. 1. and again, v. 5. Fear not.
Those that have God for them, need net fear who
or what can be against them.
II. The former instances of this care. 1. God
had purchased them dear; I gave Egypt for thy
ransom; for Egypt was quite laid waste by one
plague after another, all their first-bom slain, and all
their men of war drowned; and all this to force a
way for Israel’s deliverance from them. Egypt
shall be sacrificed rather than Israel shall be con¬
tinued in slavery, when the time is come for their
release. ' The Ethiopians had invaded them in
Asa’s time; but they shall be destroyed rather than
Israel shall be disturbed. And if this was reckon¬
ed so great a thing, to give Egypt for their ransom,
what reason have we to admire God’s love to us in
giving his own Son to be a Ransom for us! 1 John
iv. 10. What are Ethiopia and Seba, all their lives
and all their treasures, compared with the blood of
Christ? 2. He had prized them accordingly, and
they were very dear to him; (v. 4.) Since thou hast
been precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable.
Note, True believers arc precious in God’s sight,
they are his jewels, his peculiar treasure, (Exod.
xix. 5.) he loves them, his delight is in them, above
any people; his church is his vineyard. And this
makes God’s people truly honourable, and their
name great: for men are really what they are in
God’s eve. When the forces of Sennacherib, that
they might be diverted from falling upon Israel,
were directed by Providence to fall upon Egypt,
Ethiopia, and Seba, then God gave those countries
for Israel, and showed how precious his people
were in his sight. So some understand it.
III. The further instances God would vet give
them of his care and kindness:
1. He would be present with them in their great¬
est difficulties and dangers: (v. 2.) “ IVhen thou
passest through the waters and the rivers, through
the fire and the flame, I will be with thee, and that
shall be thy security; when dangers are verv immi¬
nent and threatening, thou shalt be delivered out of
them.” Did they, in their journey, pass through
deep waters? They should not perish in them; The
rivers shall not overflow thee. Should they by their
persecutors be cast into a fiery furnace, for their
constant adherence to their God? Yet then the
flame should not kindle upon them; which was ful¬
filled in the letter, in the wonderful preservation of
the three children, Dan. iii. Though they went
through fire and water, which would be to them as
the valley of the shadow of death; yet, while they
had God with them, they need fear no evil, they
should be borne up, and brought out into a wealthy
place, Ps. lxvi. 12.
2. He would still, when there was occasion, make
all the interests of the children of men give way to
the interests of his own children ; “ I will give men
for thee, great men, mighty men, and men of war,
and people, men by wholesale, for thv life. Nations
shall be sacrificed to thv welfare.” All shall be cut
off rather than God’s Israel shall, so precious are
they in his sight. The affairs of the world shall all
be ordered and directed so as to be most for the good
of the church, 2 Chron. xvi. 9.
192
ISAIAH
3. Those of them that were scattered and dis¬
persed in other nations, should all be gathered in,
and share in the blessings of the public, v. 5 — 7.
Some of the seed of Israel were dispersed into all
countries, east, west, north, and south, or into all
the parts of the country of Babylon; but those whose
spirits God stirred up to go to Jerusalem, should be
fetched in from all parts; divine grace should reach
those that lay most remote, and at the greatest dis¬
tance from each other; and when the time was
come, nothing should prevent their coming together
to return in a body; in answer to that prayer, (Ps.
cvi. 47.) Gather us from among the heathen, and
in performance of that promise, (Deut. xxx. 4 .) If
any of thine be driven to the utmost parts of hea¬
ven, thence will the Lord thy God gather thee;
which we find pleaded on behalf of the children of
the captivity, Neh. i. 9. But who are the seed of
Israel, that shall be thus carefully gathered in? He
tells us, (r. 7.) they are such as God has marked
for mercy; for, (1.) They are called by his name;
they make profession of religion, and are dis¬
tinguished from the rest of the world by their cove¬
nant-relation to God, and denomination from him.
(2.) They are created for his glory; the spirit of Is¬
raelites is created in them, and they are formed ac¬
cording to the will of God, and these shall be ga¬
thered in. Note, Those only are fit to be called by
the name of God, that are created by his grace for
his glory; and those whom God has created and
called shall be gathered in now to Christ as their
Head, and hereafter to heaven as their home. He
shall gather in his elect from the four winds. This
promise points at the gathering in of the dispersed
of the Gentiles, and the strangers scattered by the
gospel of Christ, who died to gather together in one
the children of God that were scattered abroad ; for
the promise was to all that were afar off, even as
many as the Lord our God shall call and create.
God is with the church, and therefore let her not
fear; none that belong to her shall be lost.
8. Bring forth the blind people that have
eyes, and the deaf that have ears. 9. Let
all the nations be gathered together, and let
the people be assembled: who among them
ran declare this, and show us former things?
let them bring forth their witnesses, that they
may be justified: or let them hear, and say,
ft is truth. 10. Ye are my witnesses, saith
the Lord, and my servant whom I have
chosen; that ye may know and believe me,
and understand that I am he : before me
there was no God formed, neither shall there
be after me. 11. I, even I am the Lord;
and besides me there is no Saviour. 12. I
have declared, and have saved, and I have
showed, when there teas no strange god
among you : therefore ye are my witnesses,
saith the Lord, that I am God. 13. Yea,
before the day was I am he ; and there is
none that can deliver out of my hand : I will
work, and who shall let it ?
God here challenges the worshippers of idols to
produce such proofs of the divinity of their false
gods as even this very instance (to go no further) of
the redemption of the Jews out of Babylon furnished
the people of Israel with, to prove that their God is
the true and the living God, and he only.
I. The patrons of idolatry are here called to ap¬
pear, and say what they have to say in defence of
., XL1IL
their idols, v. 8, 9. Their gods have eyes, and see
not, ears, and hear not, and they that make them,
and trust in them, are like unto them ; so David had
said, (Ps. cxv. 8.) to which the prophet set ms here
to refer, when he calls idolaters blind people that
have eyes, and deaf people that have cars. They
have the shape, capacities, and faculties, < f men;
■but they are, in i fleet, destitute of reason and com¬
mon sense, or thev would never worship gods of
their own making; “Let all the nations therefore
be gathered together, let them help one anc ther,
and with a combined force plead the cause of their
dunghill gods. And if they have nothing to say in
their own justification, let them hear what the God
of Israel has to say for their conviction and confu¬
tation.”
II. God’s witnesses are subpoenaed, or summoned
to appear, and give in evidence for him; {y. 10.)
“ Ye, O Israelites, all ye that are called by my name,
ye arc all my witnesses, and so is my Servant whom
I have chosen.” It was Christ himself that was so
described, {ch. xlii. 1.) My Servant, and mine
Elect. All the prophets that testified to Christ, and
Christ himself, the great Prophet, are here appeal¬
ed to as God’s witnesses. 1. God’s people are wit¬
nesses for him, and can attest, upon their own
knowledge and experience, concerning the power
of his grace, the sweetness cf his comforts, the ten¬
derness of his providence, and the truth of his pro¬
mise. They will be forward to witness for him that
he is gracious, and that no word of his has fallen to
the ground. 2. His prophets are in a particular
manner witnesses for him, with whom his secret is,
and who know more of him than others do. But
the Messiah especially is given to be a Witness for
him to the people; having lain in his bosom from
eternity, he has declared him. Now,
(1.) Let us see what the point is, which these
witnesses are called to prove; (y. 12.) Ye are my
•witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. Note,
Those who do themselves acknowledge that the
Lord is God, should be ready to testify what they
know of him to others, that they also may lie brought
to the acknowledgment of it; I believed, therefore
have I spoken. Particularly, “ Since you cannot
but know, and believe, and understand, you must be
ready to bear record, [1.] That I am he, the only
true God; that I am a Being, self-existent, and self-
sufficient; I am he whom you are to fear, and wor¬
ship, and trust in. Nay, (v. 13.) before the day
was, before the first day of time, before the crea¬
tion of the light, and, consequently, from eternity, 1
am he.” The idols were but cf yesterday, new gods
that came newly up, (Deut. xxxii. 17.) but the God
of Israel was from everlasting. [2.] That there was
no God formed before me, nor shall be after me.
The idols were gods formed, (Dii facti — made
gods, or rather /? ctitii— fictitious,) by nature they
were no gods, Gal. iv. 8. But God had a being
from eternity, yea, and a religion in this world, be¬
fore there were either idols or idolaters; truth is
more ancient than error; and he will have a being
to eternity, and will be worshipped and glorified
when idols are famished and abolished, and idolatry
shall be no more. True religion will keep its
ground, and survive all opposition and competition;
great is the truth, and will prevail. [3.] That I,
even I, am the Lord, the great Jehovah, who is,
and was, and is to come; and beside me there is no
Saviour, v. 11. See what it is that the great God
glories in, not so much that he is the only Ruler, as
that he is the only Saviour; for he delights to do
good, he is the Saviour of all men, 1 Tim. iv. 10.
(2.) Let us see what the proofs are, which are
produced for the confirmation of this point. It ap¬
pears.
[ 1. ] That the Lord is God, by two proofs. First,
ISAIAH, XLJ 11.
He has an infinite and infallible knowledge, as is
evident from the /iredictions of his word; (v. 1J.)
“ I have declared, and I have showed, that which
has without fail come to pass; nay, I never declared
or showed any thing, but it has been accomplished;
I showed when there was no strange god among you,
when you pretended not to consult any oracles but
mine, or to have any prophets but mine.” It is said,
when they came out of Egypt, that the Lord alone
did lead him, and there was no strange god with
him. Secondly, He has an infinite and irresistible
power, as is ev ident from the performances of his
jrovidence. He pleads not only, I have showed,
>ut, I have saved, not only foretold what none else
con 11 foresee, but done what none else could do;
for, (v. 13.) “ Amt can deliver out of my hand
those whom I will punish; not only no man can, but
none of all the gods of the heathen can protect.” It
is therefore a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God, because there is no getting out of
them again. “ I will work what I have designed,
both in mercy and judgment, and who shall either
oppose or retard it?”
[2.] That the gods of the heathen, who are rivals
with him, arc not only inferior to him, but no gods
at all; which is proved (y. 9.) by a challenge, Who
among them can declare this that I now declare?
Who can foretell things to come? Nay, which of
them can show us former things? ch. xli. 22. They
cannot so much as inspire an historian, much less a
prophet. They are challenged to join issue upon
this; Let them bring forth their witnesses, to prove
their omniscience and omnipotence. And, First, If
they do prove them, they shall be justified, the idols
m demanding homage, and the idolaters in paying
It. Secondly, If they do not prove them, let them
say. It is truth; let them own the true God, and re¬
ceive the truth concerning him, that he is God
alone. The cause of God is not afraid to stand a
fair trial; but it may reasonably be expected that
those who cannot justify themselves in their irreli-
gion, should submit to the power of the truth and
true godliness.
1 4. Tims saith the LoRD,yoiir Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I
have sent to Babylon, and have brought
down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans,
whose cry is in the ships. 15. I am the
Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Is¬
rael, your King. 16. Thus saith the Lord,
which niaketh a way in the sea, and a path
in the mighty waters; 17. Which bringeth
forth the chariot and horse, the army, and
the power; they shall lie down together,
they shall not rise: they are extinct, they
are quenched as tow. 18. Remember ye
not the former things, neither consider the
things of old. 1 9. Behold, I will do a new
thing: now it shall spring forth; shall ye not
know it? I will even make a way in the
wilderness, and rivers in the desert. 20.
The beast of the field shall honour me, the
dragons and the owls: because I give waters
in the wilderness, and livers in the desert, to
give drink to my people, my chosen. 21.
This people have I formed for myself; they
shall show forth my praise.
To so low an ebb were the faith and hope of God’s
people in Babylon brought, that there needed line
VOL. IV. 2 B
193
upon line to assure them that they should be re¬
leased out of their captivity; and therefore that
they might have strong consolation, the assurances
of it arc often repeated, and here very expressly
and encouragingly.
1. God here takes to himself such titles of his
honour as were very encouraging to them; he is the
Lord their Redeetner; not only that will redeem
them, but will take it upon him as his office, and
make it his business. If he be their God, he wiii
be all that to them which they need, and therefore,
when they are in bondage, he will be their Re¬
deemer; he is the Holy One of Israel; and again,
(v. 15.) their Holy One, and therefore will make
good every word he has spoken to them. He is the
Creator of Israel, that made them a people out of
nothing, (for that is creation,) nay, worse than no¬
thing; and he is their King, that owns them as his
people, and presides among them.
2. He assures them he will find out a way to
break the power of their oppressors that held them
captives, and. filled up the measure of their own
iniquity by their resolution never to let them go, ch.
xiv. 17. God will take care to send a victorious
prince and army to Babylon, that shall bring down
all their nobles, and lay their honour in the dust,
and all their people too' even the Chaldeans, whose
cry is in the shifts, (for seamen are apt to be noisy,)
or whose cry is to the ships as their refuge when
the city is taken, that they may escape by the bene¬
fit of their great river. Note, The des’truction of
Babylon must make way for the enlargement of
God’s people. And in the prediction of the fall of
the New Testament Babylon, we meet with, the
cries and lamentations of the sailors, Rev. xviii. 17.
And observe, It is for Israel’s sake that Babylon is
ruined, to make way for their deliverance.
3. He reminds them of the great things he did for
their fathers when he brought them out of the land
of Egypt; for so it may be read, (t’. 16, 17.) “ Thus
saith the Lord, which did make a way in the sea, the
Red sea, and did bring forth Pharaoh’s chariot and
horse, that they might lie down together in the bot
tom of the sea, and never rise, but be extinct; He
that did this, can, if he pleases, make a way for veu
in the sea, when you return out of Babylon, and will
do it rather than leave vou there.” Note, For the
encouragement of our faith and hope, it is goed for
us often to remember what God has done formerly
for his people against his and their enemies. Think
particularly what he did at the Red sea, how he
made it, (1.) A road to his people, a straight way,
a near way; nay, a refuge to them, into which they
fled and were safe, the waters being a wall unto
them. (2.) A grave to his enemies. The charict
and horse were drawn out by him who is Lord of
all hosts, on purpose that they might fall together;
howbeit, they meant not so, Mic. iv. 11, 12.
4. He promises to do yet greater things for them
than he had done in the days of old; so that they
should not have reason to ask, in a way of complaint,
as Gideon did, Where are all the wonders that, our
fathers told us of? For they should see them re¬
peated, nay, they should see them outdone; (v. 18. )
“ Remember not the former things, from them to
take occasion, as some do, to undervalue the present
things, as if the former days were better than these;
no, you may, if you will, comparatively forget them,
and yet know enough by the events of your own (lay
to convince you that the Lord is God alone; for, be¬
hold, the Lord will do a new thing, no way inferior,
both for the wonder and the worth of the mercy, to
the things of old.” The best exposition of this is,
Jer. xvi. 14, 15. — xxiii. 7, 8. It shall no more be
said, the Lord liveth, that brought uji the children
of Israel out of the land of Egyfit; that is an old
thing, the remembrance of which will be in a man-
ISAIAH, XLIII.
194
ner lost in the new thing, in the new proof tint the
Lord liveth, for he brought ufi the children of Israel
out of the land of the north. Though former mer¬
cies must not be forgotten, fresh mercies must in a
special manner be improved. Now it springs forth,
as it were, a surprise upon you; you are like them
that dream, Shall you not know it? And will ye not
own God’s hand in it?
5. He promises not only to deliver them out of
Babylon, but to conduct them safely and comforta¬
bly to their own land; (t>. 19, 20.) I will make a
way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert; for,
it seems, the way from Babylon to Canaan, as well
as from Egypt, lay through a desert land, which
while the returning captives passed through, God
would provide for them, that their camp should be
both well victualled and under a good conduct. The
same power that made a way in the sea, (v. 16.)
can make a way in the wilderness, and will force its
passage through the greatest difficulties. And he
that made dry land in the waters, can produce wa¬
ters in the driest land, in such abundance, as not
only to give drink to his fieofile, his chosen, but to
the beasts of the field, also the dragons and the os¬
triches, who are therefore said to honour God for it;
it is such a sensible refreshment, and yields them so
much satisfaction, that, if they were capable of do¬
ing it, they would praise God for it, and shame man,
who is made capable of praising his Benefactor, and
does not. Now, (1.) This looks back to what God
did for Israel, when he led them through the wil¬
derness from Egypt to Canaan, and fetched water
out of a rock to follow them ; what God did for them
formerly, he would do again, for he is still the same.
And though we do not find that the miracle was re¬
peated in their return out of Babylon, yet the mercy
was in the common course of providence, for which
it became them to be no less thankful to God. (2. )
It looks forward, not only to all the instances of
God’s care of the Jewish church in the latter ages
of it, betwixt their return from Babylon and the
coming of Christ, but to the grace of the gospel, es¬
pecially as it is manifested to the Gentile world, by
which a way is opened in the wilderness, and rivers
in the desert; the world, which lay like a desert, in
ignorance and unfruitfulness, was blessed with di-
vine direction and divine comforts, and, in order to
both, with a plentiful effusion of the Spirit. The
sinners of the Gentiles, who had been as the beasts
of the field, running wild, fierce as the dragons, stu¬
pid as the owls or ostriches, shall be brought to
honour God for the extent of his grace to his chosen
among them.
6. He runs up all these promised blessings to
their great original, the purposes and designs of his
own glory; (d. 21.) This fieofile have I formed for
myself, and therefore I do all this for them, that
they may show forth my firaise. Note, (1.) The
church is of God’s forming, and so are all the living
members of it. The new heavens, the new earth,
the new man, are the work of God’s hand, and are
no more, no better, than he makes them; they are
fashioned according to his will. (2.) He forms it
for himself; he that is the first Cause, is the highest
End, both of the first and of the new creation. The
I.ord has made all things for himself, his Israel es¬
pecially, to be to him for a fieofile, and for a name,
and for a firaise ; and no otherwise can they be for
him, or serviceable to him, than as his grace is glo¬
rified in them, Jer. xiii. 11. Eph. i. 6, 12, 14. (3.)
It is therefore our duty to show forth his praise, not
only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our¬
selves to his service; as he formed us, so he feeds
us, and keeps us, and leads us, and all for himself;
for every instance therefore of his goodness we must
praise him, else we answer not the end of the beings
and blessings we have. !
22. But thou hast not called upon me, O
Jacob ; but thou hast been weary of me, O
Israel. 23. Thou hast not brought me the
small cattle of thy burnt-offerings, neither
hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices :
I have not caused thee to serve with an of¬
fering, nor wearied thee with incense. 24.
Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with
money, neither hast thou filled me with the
fat of thy sacrifices ; but thou hast made me
to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me
with thine iniquities. 25. I, even I, am he
that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine
own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
26. Put me in remembrance : let us plead
together : declare thou, that thou mayest be
justified. 27. Thy first father hath sinned,
and thy teachers have transgressed against
me. 28. Therefore I have profaned the
princes of the sanctuary, and have given
Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
This charge (and a high charge it is, which is
here exhibited against Jacob and Israel, God’s pro¬
fessing people,) comes in here; 1. To clear God’s
justice in bringing them into captivity, and to vindi¬
cate that. Were they not in covenant with him?
Had they not his sanctuary among them? Why then
did the Lord deal thus with the land ? Deut. xxix.
24. Here is a good reason given; they had neglect¬
ed God and had cast him off, and therefore he justly
rejected them, and gave them to the curse; {v. 28.)
and they must be brought to own this before they
are prepared for deliverance; and they did so, Dan.
ix. 5. Neh. ix. 33. 2. To advance God’s mercy
in their deliverance, and to make that appear more
glorious. Many things are before observed to mag¬
nify the flower of God in it; but this magnifies his
goodness, that he should do such great and kind
things for a people that had been so very provoking
to him, and were now suffering the just punishment
of their iniquity. The pardoning of their sin was
as great an instance of God’s power (for so Moses
reckons it, Numb. xiv. 17.) as the breaking of the
yoke of their captivity. Now observe here,
I. What the sins are which they are here charged
with;
1. Omissions of the good which God had com¬
manded; and this part of the charge is here much
insisted upon. And observe how it comes in with a
hut; comparer'. 21. where God tells them what fa¬
vours he had bestowed upon them, and what his
just expectations were from them; he had formed
them for himself, intending they should show forth
his praise. But they had not done so; they had frus¬
trated God’s expectations from them, and made
very ill returns to him for his favours. For, (1.)
They had cast off prayer; thou hast not called u/ion
me, O Jacob. Jacob was a man famous for prayer;
(Hosea xii. 4.) his seed bore his name, but did not
tread in his steps, and therefore are justly upbraided
with it. God takes it ill when children degenerate
from the virtue and devotion of their pious ances¬
tors. To boast of the name of Jacob, and yet live
without prayer, is to mock God, and deceive our¬
selves. If Jacob does not call upon Gcd, who will?
(2.) Thev were grown weary of their religion;
“Thou art Israel, the seed not only of a praying but
of a prevailing father, that was a prince with God;
and yet, not valuing his experiences any more than
his example, thou hast been weary of me.” Thev
195
ISAIAH.
had been in relation to God, employed in his ser¬
vice, and in communion with him; but they begun
to snuff at it, and to say, Behold, what a weariness
is it! Note, Those who neglect to call upon God, do
in effect tell him they are weary of him, and have
a mind to change their Master. (3.) They grudged
the expense of their devotion, and were niggardly
and penurious in it; they were for a cheap religion;
and in those acts of devotion that were costly they
desired to be excused: they had not brought, no not
their small cattle, the lambs and kids, which God
required for burnt-offerings, (v. 23.) much less did
they bring their greater cattle; pretending they
could not spare them, they must have them for the
maintenance of their families. So little sense had
they of the greatness of God and their obligations to
him, that they cuald not find in their hearts to part
with a lamb out of their flock for his honour, though
he called for it and would graciously accept it.
Sweet cane, or calamus, was used for the holy oil,
incense, and perfume; but they were not willing to
beat the charge of that; ( v . 24.) what they had
must serve; though it was old and good for nothing,
they would not buy fresh. Perhaps it was usual for
devout pious persons to bring free-will incense, as
well as other tree-will offerings; but they were not
so generous, nor did they fill the altar of God, nor
moisten it abundantly, as they should have done,
with the fat of their sacrifices; what sacrifices they
did bring were of the lean and refuse of their cattle,
that had no fat in them to regale the altar with.
(4.) What sacrifices they did offer they did not
honour God with them, and so they were, in effect,
as no sacrifices; (n. 23. ) Neither hast thou honour¬
ed me with thy sacrijices. Some of them offered
their sacrifices to false gods; others, who offered
them to the true God, were either careless in the
manner of it, or hypocritical in their intentions; so
that they might be truly said not to honour God
with them, but rather to dishonour him.
And that which aggravated their neglect of sa¬
crificing, was, that, as God had appointed it, it was
no burthensome thing; it was not a service that they
had any reason at all to complain of; “ I have not
caused thee to serve with an offering; I have not
made it a task and drudgery to you, whatever you,
through the corruption of your natures, have made
it yourselves. I have not wearied thee with in¬
cense.” None of God’s commandments are grievous,
no, not those concerning sacrifice and incense. They
were not more costly than might be afforded by
them that lived in such a plentiful country; nor did
their attendance on them require any more time
than they could well spare. But that which espe¬
cially forbade them to call it a wearisome service,
was, that they were required to be cheerful and
pleasant, and to rejoice before God in all their ap¬
proaches to him, Deut. xii. 12. They had many
feasts and good days; but only one day in all the
year in which they were to afflict their souls. The
ordinances of the ceremonial law, though, in com¬
parison with Christ’s easy yoke, they are spoken of
as heavy, (Acts xv. 10. ) yet, in comparison with the
service that idolaters did to their false gods, they
were light, and not to be called services, or found
fault with as wearisome. God did not require them
to sacrifice their children, as Moloch did.
2. Commissions of the evil which God had for¬
bidden; and omissions commonly make way for com¬
missions; Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins.
When we m ike God’s gifts the food and fuel of our
.usts, and his providence the patron of our wicked
projects, especially when we encourage ourselves to
continue in sin, because grace has abounded, then
we m ike God to serve with our sins: or, it may de¬
note what a grief and burthen sin is to God; it not
>nly wearies men and makes the creation groan, but
, XL1II.
it wearies my God also, {ch. vii. 13.) and makes the
Creator complain that he in grieved, (Ps. xcv. 10.)
that he is broken, (Ezck. vi. 9.) that he is pressed
with sinners as a cart is /tressed that is full of
sheaves, (Amos ii. 13.) and to cry out. Ah, I will
ease me of mine adversaries, ch. i. 24. The anti¬
thesis is observable; God has not made them to serve
with their sacrifices, but they had made him to
serve with their sins. The master had not tired
the sen ants with his commands, but they had tired
him with their disobedience. Those are wicked
servants indeed, that carry it 'so ill to so good a Mas¬
ter. God is tender of cur comfort, but we are care¬
less of his honour. Le t this engage us to keep close
to our duty, that it is easy and reasonable, and no
disparagement to us, nor too hard for us.
II. What were the aggravations of their sin, v.
27. 1. That they were children of disobedience;
for their first father, their forefathers, had sinned;
and they had not only sinned in their loins, but sin¬
ned like them. Ezra confesses this; Since the days
of our fathers have we been in a great trespass, ch.
ix. 7. But their forefathers are called their first
father, to put us in mind of the apostacy and rebel¬
lion of our first father Adam, to which corrupt foun¬
tain we must trace up the streams of all our trans¬
gressions.
2. That they were scholars of disobedience too,
for their teachers had transgressed against God;
were guilty of gross, scandalous sins, and the people,
no doubt, would leant to do as they did. It is ill
with a people when their leaders cause them to err,
and their teachers, who should reform them, cor¬
rupt them.
III. What were the tokens of God’s displeasure
against them for their sins, v. 28. He brought ruin
both upon church and state: 1. The honour of their
church was laid in the dust and trampled on; I have
profaned the princes of the sanctuary, the priests
and Levites who presided with great dignity and
power in the temple-service; they profaned them¬
selves, and made themselves vile, by their enor¬
mities; and then God profaned them, and made
them vile, by their calamities and the contempt
they fell into, Mai. ii. 9. 2. The honour of their
state was ruined likewise; “ I have given Jacob
to the curse, to be cursed, and hated, and abused,
by all their neighbours; and Israel to reproach, to
be insulted, ridiculed, and triumphed over, by their
enemies.” They reproached them perhaps for that
in them that was good, they mocked at their sab¬
baths; (Lam. i. 7.) but God gave them up to re¬
proach, to correct them for what was amiss. Note,
The dishonour which men at any time do us, should
humble us for the dishonour we have done to God;
and therefore we must bear it patiently, because we
suffer it justly ; and must acknowledge that to us be¬
longs confusion.
IV. What were the riches of God’s merev to¬
ward them notwithstanding; (v. 25.) I, et ten 1, am
he who yet blotteth out thy transgressions. This gra¬
cious declaration of God’s readiness to pardon sin
comes in very strangely: the charge ran very high,
Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities, v. 24.
Now one would think it should follow, “ I, even I,
am he that will destroy thee, and burthen myself no
longer with care about thee.” No, I, even I, am
he that will forgive thee; as if the great God would
teach us, that forgiving injuries is the best way to
make ourselves easy, and to keep ourselves from be¬
ing wearied with them. This comes in here, to
encourage them to repent, because there is forgive¬
ness with God, and to show the freeness of divine
mercy; where sin has been exceeding sinful, grace
appears exceeding gracious. Apply this, 1. To the
forgiving of the sins of Israel, as a people in their
national capacity: when God stopped the course of
ISAIAH, XL1V.
threatening judgments, and saved them from utter
ruin, even then when he had them under severe re¬
bukes, then he might be said to blot out their trans¬
gressions; though he corrected them, he was re¬
conciled to them again, and did not cut them off
from being a people. This he did many a time, till
they reiected Christ and his gospel, which was a
sin against the remedy, and then he would forgive
them no more as a nation, but utterly destroyed
them. 2. To the forgiving of the sins of every par¬
ticular believing penitent; transgressions and sins,
infirmities though ever so numerous, backslidings
though ever so heinous. Observe here, (1.) How
the pardon is expressed; he will blot them out, as a
cloud is blotted out by the beams of the sun; ( ch .
xliv. 22.) as a debt is blotted out, not to appear
against the debtor; the book is crossed as if the debt
were paid, because it is pardoned, upon the pay¬
ment which the surety has made; or as a sentence
is blotted out when it’ is reversed; as the curse was
blotted out with the waters of jealousy, which made
it of no effect to the innocent, Numb. v. 23. He
will not remember the sin; which intimates not only
that he will remit the punishment of what is past,
but that it shall be no diminution to his love for the
future. When God forgives, he forgets. (2.) \\ hat
is the ground and reason of the pardon. It is not
for the sake of any thing in us, but for his own sake;
for his mercies’ sake, his promise sake, and espe¬
cially for his Son’s sake, and that he may himself
be glorified in it. (3.) How God glories in it; /,
even I, am he: he glories in it as his prerogative;
none can forgive sin but God only, and he will do it,
it is his settled resolution, he will do it willingly and
with delight; it is his pleasure, it is his honour; so
he is pleased to reckon it.
Those words, (r. 26.) put me in remembrance,
may be understood either, [1.] As a rebuke to a
proud Pharisee, that stands upon his own justifica¬
tion before God, and expects to find favour for his
merits, and not to be beholden to free grace; “ If
vou have any thing to say in your own justification,
any thing to offer tor the sake of which you should
be pardoned, and not for my sake, put me in re¬
membrance of it; I will give you leave to plead your
own cause with me, declare what your merits are,
that you may be justified by them:” but those who
are thus challenged will be speechless. Or, [2.]
As a direction and encouragement to a penitent pub¬
lican. Is God thus ready to pardon sin, and, when
he pardons it, will he remember it no mere? Let us
then put him in remembrance, mention before him
those sins which he has forgiven; for they must be
ever before us, to humble us, though they are par¬
doned, Ps. li. 3. Put him in remembrance of the
promises he has made to the penitent, and the satis¬
faction his Son has made for them. Plead these
with him in wrestling for pardon, and declare these
things, in order that thou mayest be justified freely
by his grace. This is the only way, and it is a sure
way, to peace; only acknowledge thy transgression.
CHAP. XLIV.
God by the prophet, goes on, in this chapter, as before, I.
To encourage his people with the assurance of great
blessings he had in store for them at their return out of
captivity, and those typical of much greater, which the
gospel-church, his spiritual Israel, should partake of in
the days of the Messiah: and hereby he proves himself
to be God alone against all pretenders, v. 1 . .8. II. To
expose the sottishness and amazing folly of idol-makers,
and idol- worshipers, v. 9 '• ,20. 111. To ratify and confirm
I he assurances he had given to his people of those great
blessings, and to raise their joyful and believing expecta¬
tions of them, v. 21. .28.
YET now hear, O Jacob my servant;
and Israel, whom I have chosen :
2. Thus saith the Lord that made thse,
and formed thee from the womb, which will
help thee; Fear not, O Jacob iny servant ;
and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
3. For I will pour water upon him that is
thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground ; I
will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my
blessing upon thine offspring : 4. And they
shall spring up as among the glass, as wil¬
lows by the water-courses. 5. One shall
say, I am the Lord’s ; and another shall call
himself by the name of Jacob; and another
shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord,
and surname himself by the name oi Israel.
6. Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am
the first, and I am the last; and besides me
there is no God. 7. And who, as 1, shall
call, and shall declare it, and set it in order
for me, since I appointed the ancient peo¬
ple? and the things that are coming, and
shall come, let them show unto them. 8.
Fear ye not, neither be afraid; have not I
told thee from that time, and have declared
it? ye are even my w itnesses. Is there a
God besides me? yea, there is no God; I
knowr not any.
Two great truths are abundantly made out in
these verses:
I. That the people of God are a happy pec pie,
especially upon account of the covenant that is be¬
tween them and God. The people of Israel were
so as a figure of the gospel-Israel.
Three things complete their happiness:
1. The covenant-relations wherein they stand to
God, v. 1, 2. Israel is here called Jesurun — the
upright one; for those only, like Nathanael, are Is¬
raelites indeed, in whom is no guile; and those only
shall have the everlasting benefit of these promises.
Jacob and Israel had been represented, in the close
of the foregoing chapter, as very provoking and
obnoxious to God’s wrath, and already given to the
curse and to reproaches: but, as if God’s bowels
yeanied toward him, and his repentings were kin¬
dled together, mercy steps in with a non-obstante —
notwithstanding, to' all these quarrels; Yet now
hear, O Jacob my servant ; thou and I will be friends
again for all this. God had said, (ch. xliii. 25.) I
am he that blotteth out all thy transgression, which
is the only thing that creates this distance; and
when that is taken away, the streams of mercy run
again in their former channel. The pardon of sin
is the inlet of all the other blessings of the covenant;
So and so I will do for them, says God, (Heb. \ iii.
12.) for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness:
therefore hear, O Jacob; hear these comfortable
words; therefore fear not, O Jacob; fear not thy sins,
for they are pardoned; fear not thy troubles, for by
the pardon of sin the property of them too is altered.
Now the relations wherein they stand to him are
very encouraging. (1.) They are his servants; and
those that serve him he will own and stand by, and
see that they be not wronged. (2.) They are his
chosen, and he will abide by his choice; he knows
them that are his, and whom he has chosen he takes
under special protection. (3.) They are his crea¬
tures; lie made them, and brought them into being;
he formed them, and cast them into shape; he began
betimes with them, f'rhe formed them front the
ISAIAH
womb; and therefore he will help them over their
difficulties, and help them in their services.
2. The covenant-blessings which he has secured
to them and theirs, v. 3, 4. (1.) They that are
sensible of their spiritual wants, and the insuffi-
ciencv of the creature to supply them, shall have
abundant satisfaction in God; I will pour water
upon him that is thirsty, that thirsts after righteous¬
ness; he shall be filled. Water shall be poured out
to those who truly desire spiritual blessings above
all the delights of sense. (2.) They that are bar¬
ren as the dry ground shall be watered with the
grace of God, with floods of that grace, and God (
will himself give the increase. If the ground be
ever so dry, God has floods of grace to water it
with. (3.) The water Gad will pour out is, his
Spirit, (John vii. 39.) whrch God will pour out
without measure upon the Seed, that is, Christ,
(Gal. iii. 16.) and by measure upon all the seed of
the faithful, upon all the praying, wrestling seed of
Jacob, Luke xi. 13. This is the great New Testa¬
ment promise, that God, having sent his Servant
Christ, and upheld him, will send his Spirit to up¬
hold us. (4.) This gift of the Holy Ghost is the
great blessing God had reserved the plentiful effu¬
sion of for the latter days; I will pour my Spirit,
my blessing; for where God gives his Spirit, he will
give all other blessings. (5.) This is reserved for
the seed and off spring of the church ; for so the co¬
venant of grace runs, I will be a God to thee, and
to thy seed. T o all who are thus made to partake
of the privileges of adoption, God will give the
spirit of adoption. (6.) Hereby there shall be a
great increase of the church; thus it shall be spread
to distant places. Thus it shall be propagated and
perpetuated to after-times; they shall spring up,
and grow as last as willows by the water-courses,
and in every thing that is virtuous and praiseworthy
shall be eminent, and excel all about them, as the
willows overtop the grass among which they grow,
v. 4. Note, It is a great happiness to the church,
and a great pleasure to good men, to see the rising
generation hopeful and promising. And it will be
so if God pour his Spirit upon them, that blessing,
that blessing of blessings.
3. The consent they cheerfully give to their part .
of the covenant, v. 5. When the Jews returned
out of captivity, they renewed their covenant with
God, (Jer. 1. 5.) particularly that they would have
no more to do with idols, Hos. xiv. 2, 3, 8. Back¬
sliders must thus repent, and do their first works.
Many of those that were without, did at that time
join themselves to them, invited by that glorious
appearance of God for them, Zec.h. viii. 23. Esth.
viii. 17. And they say, JVe are the Lord’s, and call
themselves by the 7iame of Jacob; for there was one
law, one covenant, for the stranger and for those
that were born in the land. And doubtless it looks
further vet, to the conversion of the Gentiles, and
the multitudes of them who, upon the effusion of
the Spirit, after Christ’s ascension, should be joined
to the Lord, and added to the church. These con¬
verts are one and another, very many, of different
ranks and nations, and all welcome to God, Col.
iii. 1 1. When one does it, another shall by his ex¬
ample be invited to do it, and then another; thus
the zeal of one may provoke many. (1.) They
shall resign themselves to God: not one in the name
of the rest, but every one for himself shall say, “I
am the Lord’s; he has an incontestable right to
rule me, and I submit to him, to all his commands,
to all his disposals. I am, and will be, his only, his
wholly, his for ever; will be for his interests, will
be for his praise; living and dying I will be his.”
(9.) They shall incorporate themselves with the
people of God, call themselves by the name of Ja-
i ob, forgetting their own people and their father’s
, XLIV. 197
house, and d sirous to wear the character and livery
of God’s family. They shall love all God’s people,
shall associate with them, give them the right hand
of fellowship, espouse their cause, seek the goodie f
the church in general, and of all the particular
members of it, and be willing to take their lot with
them in all conditions. (3.) They shall do this very
solemnly; some of them shall subscribe with their
hand unto the Lord, as, for the confirming of a bar¬
gain, a man sets his hand to it, and delivers it as his
act and deed. The more express we are in our cove¬
nanting with God, the better; Exod. xxiv. 7. Josh,
xxiv. 26, 27. Nell. ix. 38. Fast bind, fast find.
II. That, as the Israel of God are a happy peo¬
ple, so the God of Israel is a great God, and he is God
alone. This also, as the former, speaks abundant
satisfaction to all that .trust in him, v. 6. — 8. Observe
here, to God’s glory and our comfort,
1. That, the God we trust in is a God of incon¬
testable sovereignty and irresistible power. He is
the Lord, Jehovah, self-existent and self-sufficient;
and he is the Lord of hosts, of all the hosts of hea¬
ven and earth, of angels and men.
2. That he stands in relation to, and has a parti¬
cular concern for, his church. He is the King of
Israel and his Redeemer; therefore his Redeemer,
because his King; and those that take God for their
King shall have him for their Redeemer. When
God would assert himself God alone, he proclaims
himself Israel’s God, that his people may be en¬
couraged both to adhere to him and to triumph in
him.
3. That he is eternal; the first and the last. He
is God from everlasting, before the worlds were,
and will be so to everlasting, when the world shall
be no more. If there were not a God to create, no¬
thing had ever been; and if there were not a Gcd
to uphold, all would soon come to nothing again.
He is all in all; is the first Cause, from whom are
all things, and the last End, to and for whom are .
all things; (Rom. xi. 36.) the Alpha and the Omega,
Rev. i. 11.
4. That he is God alone; (v. 6.) Beside me there
is no God. Is there a God beside me? v. 8. We
will appeal to the greatest scholars. Did they ever
in all their reading meet with any other? To those
that have the largest acquaintance with the world:
did they ever meet with any other? There are
gods many, (1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.) called gods, and coun¬
terfeit gods; but is there any, beside our God, that
is infinite and eternal; any, beside him, that is the
Creator of the world, and the Protector and Bene¬
factor of the whole creation; any, beside him, that
can do that for their worshippers which he can
and will do for his? “ Ye are my witnesses. I have
been a Nonsuch to you. You have tried other gods;
have you found any of them all-sufficient to you, or
any of them like me? Yea, there is no god;” no
rock, so the word is; none besides that can be a rock
fora foundation to build on, a rock for shelter to flee
to. God is the Rock, and their rock is not as ours,
Deut. xxxii. 4, 31. I know not any; as if he had
said, “ I never met with any that offered to stand in
competition with me, or that durst bring their pre¬
tensions to a fair trial; if I did know of any that
could befriend you better than I can, I would re¬
commend you to them; but I know not any.” There .
is no God beside Jehovah ^he is infinite, and there¬
fore there can be no other; he is all-sufficient, and
therefore there needs no other. This is designed
for the confirming of the hopes of God’s people in
the promise of their deliverance out of Babylon,
and, in order to that, for the curing them of their
idolatry; when the affliction had done its work, it
should be removed. They are reminded of the
first and great article of their creed, that the J.ord
their God is one Lord, Deut. vi. 4. And therefore.
198
ISAIAH, XL IV.
(1.) They needed not to hope in any other god;
those on whom the sun shines, need neither moon
nor stars, nor the light of their own fire. (2. ) They
needed not to fear any other god; their own God was
more able to do them good than all the false and coun¬
terfeit gods of their enemies were to do them hurt.
5. That none besides could foretell these things
to come, which God now by his prophet gave notice
of to the world, above two hundred years before
they came to pass; (v. 7.) “ Who, as /, shall call,
shall call Cyrus to Babylon, shall call Israel out
of Babylon? Is there any but God that can call
effectually, and has every creature, every heart,
at his beck? Who shall declare it, how it shall
be, and by whom, as I do?” Nay, God goes fur¬
ther; he not only sees it in order, as having the
fore-knowledge of it, but sets it in order, as hav¬
ing the sole management and direction of it. Can
any other pretend to this? He has always set
things in order according to the counsel of his own
will, ever since he appointed the ancient people,
the people of Israel, who could give a truer and
fuller account of the antiquities of their own nation
than any kingdom in the world could. Ever since
lie appointed that people to be his peculiar people,
his providence was particularly conversant about
them, and he told them beforehand the events th it
should occur respecting them — their bondage in
Egypt, their deliverance, and their settlement in
Canaan. All was set in order in the divine predic¬
tions as well as in the divine purposes. Could any
other have done so? W ould any other have been
so far concerned for them? He challenges the pre¬
tenders to show the things that shall come hereaf¬
ter; “ Let them, if they can, tell us the name of
the man that shall destroy Babylon, and deliver Is¬
rael? Nay, if they cannot pretend to tell us the
things that shall come hereafter, let them tell us the
things that are coming, that are nigh at hand, and
•at the door; let them tell us what shall come to
pass to-morrow; but they cannot do that; fear them
not therefore, nor be afraid of them. What harm
can they do you? What hinderance can they give
to your deliverance, when 1 have told thee it shall
be accomplished in its season, and I have solemnly
declared it?” Note, Those who have the word of
God’s promise to depend upon, need not to be afraid
of any adverse powers or policies whatsoever.
9. They that make a graven image are
all of them vanity; and their delectable
things shall not profit: and they are their
own witnesses; they see not, nor know;
that they may be ashamed. 10. Who hath
formed a god, or molten a graven image
that is profitable for nothing? 11. Behold,
all his fellows shall be ashamed; and the !
workmen, they are of men: let them all be !
gathered together, let them stand up ; yet
they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed
together. 1 2. The smith with the tongs both
worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with
hammers, and worketh it with the strength
of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his
strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and
is faint. 13. The carpenter stretcheth out
his rule, he marketh it out with a line, he
fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it I
out with the compass, and maketh it af¬
ter the figure of a man, according to the '
beauty of a man; that it may remain in die I
house. 1 4. He heweth him down cedars,
and taketh the cypress and the oak, which
he strengtheneth for himself among the trees
of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the
rain doth nourish it. 15. Then shall it be
for a man to burn : for he will take thereof
and warm himself; yea, he kindleln it, and
baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and
vvorshippeth it: he maketh it a graven
image, and faileth down thereto. 16. He
burneth part thereof in the fire: with part
thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast,
and is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself,
and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the
fire: 1 7. And the residue thereof he maketh
a god, even his graven image: he faileth
down unto it, and worshippeth it, and pray-
eth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou
art my god. 1 8. They have not known nor
understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that
they cannot see; and their hearts, that they
cannot understand. 19. And none consider¬
ed) in his heart, neither is there knowledge
nor understanding to say, I have burnt part
of it in the fire ; yea, also 1 have baked bread
upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh,
and eaten it; and shall I make the residue
thereof an abomination? shall I fall down
to the stock of a tree? 20. He feedeth on
ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him
aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor
say, Is there not a lie in my right hand ?
Often before, God, by the prophet, had mention¬
ed the folly and strange sottishness of idolaters; but
here he enlarges upon that head, and very fully and
articularly exposes it to contempt and ridicule.
'his discourse is intended, 1. To arm the people
of Israel against the strong temptation they would
be in to worship idols, when they were captives in
Babylon, in compliance with the custom of the
country, (they being far from the city of their own
solemnities,) and to humour those who were now
their lords and masters. 2. To cure them of their
inclination to idolatry, which was the sin that did
most easily beset them, and to reform them from
which they were sent into Babylon. As tbe rod of
God is of use to enforce tbe word, so the word of
God is of use to ex/ilain the rod, that the voice of
both together may be heard and answered. .7. To
furnish them with something to say to their Chal¬
dean task-masters. When they insulted over them,
when they asked, Where is your God? they might
from hence ask them, What are your Gods? 4. To
take off their fear of the gods of their enemies, and to
encourage their hope in their own God, that he would
certainly appear against those who set up such scan¬
dalous competitors as these with him for the throne.
Now here, for the conviction of idolaters, we have,
I. A challenge given to them to clear themselves,
if they can, from the imputation of the most shame¬
ful folly and senselessness imaginable, v. 9. — 11.
They set their wits on work to contrive, and their
hands on work to frame, graven images, and they
call them their delectable things; extremely fond
they are of them, and mighty things they expect
from them. Note, Through the corruption of men’s
nature, those things which should be detestable tn
ISAIAH, XLJV.
199
them are desirable and delectable; but those are far
gone in a distemper, to whom that which is the
Food and fuel of it is most agreeable. Now, 1. We
tell them that they that do so arc all vanity, they
deceive themselves and one another, and put a great
cheat upon those for whom they make these images.
2. We tell them that their delectable things shall
not /irofit them, nor make them any return for the
plsasure they take in them; they can neither supply
them with good, nor protect them from evil. The
graven images are profitable for nothing at all, nor
will they ever get any thing by the devoirs they
pay to them. 3. We appeal to themselves, whe¬
ther it be not a silly, sottish thing to expect any
good from gods of their own making; they are their
own rjitnessess, witnesses against themselves, if they
would but give their own consciences leave to deal
faithfully with them, that they are blind and igno¬
rant in doing thus; they see not nor know, and let
them own it, that they may be ashamed. If men
would but be true to their own convictions, ordina¬
rily we might be sure of their conversion, particu¬
larly idolaters; for who has formed a god? Who
but a madman, or one out of his wits, would think
of forming a god, of making that which, if he made
it a god, he must suppose- to be his maker? 4. We
challenge them to plead their own cause with any
confidence or assurance. If any one has the front
to say that he has formed a god, when all his fellows
come together to declare what each of them has
done toward the making of this god, they will all be
ashamed of the cheat they have put upon them¬
selves, and laugh in their sleeves at those whom
they have imposed upon; for the workmen that
formed this god are of men, weak and impotent,
and therefore cannot possibly make a being that
shall be omnipotent, nor can they, without blushing,
pretend to it; let them all be gathered together, as
Demetrius and the craftsmen were, to support their
sinking trade, let them stand up to plead their own
cause, and make the best they can of it, with hand
joined in hand; yet they shall fear to undertake it,
when it comes to the setting to, as conscious to
themselves of the weakness and badness of their
cause; and they shall be ashamed of it, not only
when they appear singly, but when by appearing
together they hope to keep one another in counte¬
nance. Note, Idolatry and impiety are things
which men may justly both tremble and blush to
appear in the defence of.
II. A particular narrative of the whole proceed¬
ing in making a god; and there needs no more to
expose it than to describe it, and tell the story of it.
1. The persons employed about it are handicraft
tradesmen, the meanest of them, the very same
that you would employ in making the common
utensils of your husbandry, a cart or a plough. You
must have a smith, ' a blacksmith, who with the
tongs works in the coals; and it is hard work, for he
works with the strength of his arms, till he is
hungry, and his strength fails, so eager is he, and
so hasty are those who set him at the work, to get
it despatched. He cannot allow himself time to
eat or drink, for he drinks no water, and therefore
is faint, v. 12. Perhaps it was a piece of supersti¬
tion among them, for the workman not to eat or
drink while he was making a god. The plates
with which the smith was to cover the image, or
whatever iron-work was to be done about it, he
fashioned it with hammers, and made it all very
exact, according to the model given him. Then
comes the carpenter, and he takes as much care
and pains about the timber-work, te 13. He brings
his box of tools, for he has occasion for them all;
he stretches out his rule upon the piece of wood,
marks it with a line, where it must be sawed or cut
off; he fits it, or polishes it, with planes, the grea er
| first, and then the less; he marks out with the com¬
pass what must be the size and shape cf it; and it is
just what he pleases.
2. The form in which it is made, is that of a
man, a poor, weak, dving creature; but it is the
noblest form and figure that he is acquainted with,
and, being his own, he has a peculiar fondness for
it, and is willing to put all the reputation he can
upon it. He makes it according to the beauty of a
man, in comely proportion, with those limbs and
lineaments that are the beauty of a man, but are
altogether unfit to represent the beauty of the Lord
God put a great honour upon man, when, in respect
of the powers and faculties of his soul, he made
him after the image of God; but man does a great
dishonour to God, when he makes him, in respect
of bodily parts and members, after the image of
man. Nor will it at all atone for the affront, so far
to compliment his god, as to take the fairest of the
children of men for his original, whence to take his
copy, and to give him all the beauty of a man that
he can think cf; for all the beauty of the body of a
man, when pretended to be put upon him who is an
infinite Spirit, is a deformity and diminution to him.
And when the goodly piece is finished, it must re¬
main in the house, in the temple or shrine prepared
for it, or perhaps in the dwelling-house, if it be one
of the lares or fienates — the household gods.
3. The matter of which it is mostly made is sorry
stuff to make a god of; it is the stock of a tree.
(1.) The tree itself was fetched out of the forest,
where it grew among other trees, of no more virtue
or value than its neighbours. It was a cedar, it may
be, or a cypress, or an oak; (y. 14. ) perhaps he had
an eye upon it some time before for this use, and
strengthened it for himself, used some art or other
to make it stronger and better grown than other
trees were. Or, as some read it, which hath
strengthened or lift up itself among the trees of the
forest, the tallest and strongest he can pick out.
Or, it may be, it pleases his fancy better to take an
ash, which is of a quicker growth, and which was
of his own planting, for this use, and which has been
nourished with rain from heaven. See what a
fallacy he puts upon himself, in making that his
refuge, which was of his own planting, and which
he not only gave the form to, but prepared the
matter for. And what an affront he puts upon the
God of heaven, in setting up that as a rival with him,
which was nourished by his rain, that rain which
falls upon the just and unjust.
(2. ) The boughs of this tree were good for nothing
but for fuel; to that use were they put, and so were
the chips that were cut off from it in the working
of it; they are for a man to bum, v. 15, 16. And
to show that that tree has no innate virtue in it for
its own protection, it is as capable of being burnt as
any other tree; and to show that he who chose it
had no more antecedent value for it than for any
other tree, he makes no difficulty of throwing pari
of it into the fire as common rubbish, asking no
question for conscience-sake. [1.] It serves him
for his parlour-fire; he will take thereof, and warm
himself, (y. 15.) and he finds the comfort of it, and
is so far from having any regret in his mind for it,
that he saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the
,/ire; and certainly that part of the tree which
served him for fuel, the use for which God and na¬
ture designed it, does him a much greater kindness,
and yields him more satisfaction, than ever that will
which he makes a god of. [2.] It serves him for
his kitchen-fire; he eats flesh with it, that is, he
dresses the flesh with it, which he is to eat, he
roasteth roast, and is satisfied that he has not done
amiss to put it to this use. Nay, [3.] It serves
him to heat the oven with, in which we use that
fuel which is of least value; he kindles it, and bakes
‘200
ISAIAH, XLIV.
bread with the heat of it, and none charges nim
with doing wrong.
(3.) Yet, after all, the stock or body, of the tree
shall serve to make a god ot, when it might as well
have served to make a bench, as cneol themselves,
even a poet of their own, upbraids them, Horat.
Sat. i. 8.
dim truncus cram ficulnuB, inutile lignum,
Quum tuber, inccrtus scamnum faceretne Pria^um,
Maluit esse deuiu ; deus inde ego -
In days of yore our godship stood
A very worthless log of wood,
The jojher, doubting or to shape us
Into a stool, or a Priapns,
At length resolv’d, for reasons wise,
Into a god to bid me rise. Francis.
And another of them threatens the idol to whom lie
had committed the custody of his woods, that if he
did not preserve them to be fuel for his fire, he
should himself be made use of for that purpose:
Furaces moneo mantis repellas,
Ft silvam domini focis reserves,
Si tlefecerit h®c, et ipse lignum es. Martial.
Drive the plunderers away, and preserve the wood for thy master’s
hearth, or thou thyself shalt be converted into fuel.
When the besotted idolater has thus served the
meanest purposes with part of his tree, and the rest
has had time to season, (he makes that a god in his im¬
agination, whilethat is inthedoing, and worships it,)
he makes it a graven image, and falls down thereto,
\v. 15.) that is, ( v . IT.) The residue thereof he
makes a god, even his graven image, according to
his fancy and intention; he falls down to it, and
worships it, gives divine honours to it, prostrates
himself before it in the most humble, reverent pos¬
ture, as a servant, as a supplicant; he prays to it,
as having a dependence upon it, and great expecta¬
tions from it; he saith, Deliver me, for thou art my
god. There where he pays his homage and allegi¬
ance, he justly looks for protection and deliverance.
What a strange infatuation is this, to expect help
from gods that cannot help themselves! But it is
this praying to them that makes them gods, not
what the smith or the carpenter did at them.
What we place our confidence in for deliverance,
that we make a god of.
Qui fingit sacros, auro vel marinore, vulius,
Non tacit ille deos ; qui rogat, ille facit. Martial.
He who supplicates the figure, whether it be of gold or of marble,
makes it a god, and not he who merely constructs it.
III. Here is judgment given upon this whole mat¬
ter, v. 18. — 20. In short, it is the effect and evi¬
dence of the greatest stupidity and sottishness that
one could ever imagine rational beings to be guilty
of, and shows that man is become worse than the
beasts that perish; for they act according to the dic¬
tates of sense; but man acts not according to the
dictates of reason; (v. 18.) They have not known
nor understood common sense; men that act ration¬
ally in other tilings, in this act most absurdly.
Though they have some knowledge and understand¬
ing, yet they are strangers to, nay they are rebels
against, the great law of consideration; (y. 19.) None
considers in his heart, nor has so much application
ol mind as to reason thus with himself, which one
would think he might easily do, though there were
none to reason with him; “1 have burnt part of this
tree in the fire, for baking and roasting; and now
shall l make the residue thereof an abomination —
an idol?” (For that is an abomination to God, and
all wise and good men.) “Shall I ungratefully
choose to do, or presumptuously dare to do, what
the Lord hates? Shall I be such a fool as to fall
down to the stock of a tree — a senseless, lifeless,
helpless thing? Shall I so far disparage myself, and
make mvself like that I bow down to?” A growing
*ree may be a beautiful, stately thing, but the stock
of a tree has lost its glory, and he has lost his that
gives glory to it.
' Upon the whole, the sad character given of these
idolaters, (y. 20.) is, 1. That they put a cheat upon
themselves; they feed on ashes; they feed them¬
selves with hopes i f advantage by worshipping these
idols; but they will be disappointed as much as a
man that would expect nourishment by feeding cn
ashes. Feeding on ashes is an evidence of a de¬
praved appetite and a distempered body; and it is
a sign that the soul is overpowered by very bad
habits, when men, in their worship, go no further
than the sight of their eyes will carry them. They
are wretchedly deluded, and it is their own fault;
a deceived heart of their own, more than the de¬
ceiving tongue of others, has turned them aside from
the faith and worship of the living God to dumb
idols. They are drawn away of their own lusts,
and enticed. The apostacy of sinners fre m God is
owing entirely to themselves, and to the evil heart
of unbelief that is in their own bosom. A revolting
and rebellious heart is a deceived heart. 2. That
they wilfully persist in their self-delusion, and will
not be undeceived. There is none of them that can
be persuaded so far to suspect himself as to say,
Is there not a lie in my right hand? and so to think
of delivering his soul. Note, (1.) Idolaters have a
lie in their l ight hand; for an idol is a lie, is not what
it pretends, performs not what it promises, and it is
a teacher oj lies, Hab. ii. 18. (2.) It highly con¬
cerns those that are secure in an evil way, seriously
to consider whether there be not a lie in their right
hand. Is not that a lie which with complacency
we hold fast as our chief good? Are our hearts set
upon the wealth of the world, and the pleasures of
sense? They will certainly prove a lie in our right
hand. And is not that a lie which with confidence
we hold fast by, as the ground on which we build
our hopes of heaven? If we trust to our external
professions and performances, as if those would save
us, we deceive ourselves with a lie in our light
hand, with a house built on the sand. (3.) Self¬
suspicion is the first step toward self-deliverance.
We cannot be faithful to ourselves, unless we are
jealous of ourselves. He that would deliver his
soul must begin with the putting of this question to
his own conscience, Is there not a lie in my right
hand? (4. ) Those that are given up to believe a
lie, are under the power of strong delusions, which
it is hard to get clear of, 2 Thess. ii. 11.
21. Remember these, O Jacob and Is¬
rael ; for thou art my servant : I have formed
thee ; thou art my servant : O Israel, thou
shalt not he forgotten of me. 22. [ have
blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy trans¬
gressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins : return
unto me; for I have redeemed thee. 23.
Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath
done it : shout, ye lower parts of the earth :
break forth into singing, ye mountains, O
Torest, and every tree therein ; for the Lord
hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself
in Israel. 24. Thus saith the Lord, thy
Redeemer, and he that formed thee from
the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all
things ; that stretcheth forth the heavens
alone ; that spreadeth abroad the earth by
myself ; 25. That frustrateth the tokens
of the liars, and maketh diviners mad ; that
! turneth wise men backward, and maketh
201
ISAIAH, XLIV.
i h« ir knowledge foolish; 26. That con-
lirmeth the word of his servant, anrl per-
fomielh the counsel of his messengers, that
saitii to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited;
and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built,
and I will raise up the decayed places
thereof: 27. That saith to the deep, Be
dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: 28. That
saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and
shall perform all my pleasure: even saying
to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to
the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
In these verses we have,
I. The duty which Jacob and Israel, now in cap¬
tivity, are called to, that they might be qualified
and prepared for the deliverance designed them.
Our first care must be to get good by our afflictions,
and then we may hope to get out of them. The
duty is expressed in two words, Remember and Re¬
turn, as in the counsel to Ephesus, Rev. ii. 4, 5.
1. “Remember these, O Jacob; remember what
thou hast been told of the folly of idolatry, and let
the convictions thou art now under be ready to thee
whenever thou art tempted to that sin. Remember
that thou art my servant, and therefore must not
serve other masters.” 2. Return unto me, v. 22.
It is the great concern of those who have back¬
slidden from God, to hasten their return to him;
and this is that which he calls them to, when they
are in affliction, and when he is returning to them
in a wav of mercy.
II. The favours which Jacob and Israel, now in
captivity, are assured of; and what is here promis¬
ed to them upon their remembering and returning
to God, is in a spiritual sense promised to all that in
like manner return to God. It is a very comforta¬
ble word, for more is implied in it than is expressed;
( y . 21.) “ 0 Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of
me, though for the present thou seem to be so.”
When we begin to remember God, he will begin to
remember us, nay, it is he that remembers us first.
Now observe here,
1. The grounds upon which God’s favourable in-1
tentions to his people were built, and on which they
might build their expectations from him. He will
deliver them out of captivity; for, (1.) They are his
servants, and therefore he has a just quarrel with
those that detain them; Let my fieo/ile go, that they
may serve me. The servants of the King of kings
are under special protection. (2.) He formed them
into a people, formed them from the womb, v. 24.
From the first beginning of their increase into a na¬
tion, they were under his particular care and govern¬
ment, more than any other people; their national
constitution was of his framing, and his covenant
with them was the charter by which they were in¬
corporated. They are his, and he will save them.
(3.) He has redeemed them formerly, has many a
time redeemed them out of great distress, and he is
still the same, in the same relation to them, has the
same concern for them. “ Therefore return unto
me, for I have redeemed thee, v, 22. Whither
wilt thou go, but to me?” Having redeemed them
as well as formed them, he has acquired a further
title to them, and property in them, which is a good
reason why they should dutifully return to him, and
why he will graciously return to them. The Lord
has redeemed Jacob, he is about to do it, (v. 24. ) he
h is determined to do it; for he is the Lord their Re¬
deemer, v. 24. Note, The work of redemption
which God has by his Son wrought for us, encou
r igesus to hope for all promised blessings from him.
He that has redeemed us at so vast an expense, will
Vol. IV.— 2 C
| not lose Iris purchase. (4.) He has glorified himself
I in them, {v. 23.) and therefi re will do so still, John
xii. 28. It is matter of comfort to us to see God’s
glory interested in the deliverances of the church;
tor therefore he will certainly redeem Jacob, be¬
cause thus he will glorify himself. And this as¬
sures _us that he will perfect the redemption of
his saints by Jesus. Christ, because there is a day set
when he will be glorified and admired in them all.
(5.) He has pardoned their sins, which were the
cause ot their calamity, and the only obstruction to
their deliverance, v. 22. Therefore he will break
the yoke of captivity from off their necks, because
he has blotted out, as a thick • cloud, their transgres¬
sions. Note, [1.] Our transgressions and our sins
are as a cloud, a thick cloud; they interpose between
heaven and earth, and lor a time suspend and inter¬
cept the correspondence between the upper and
lower world; (sin se/iarates between us ana God, ch.
lix. 1.) they threaten a.storm, a deluge of wrath, as
thick clouds do, which God will rain upon sinners,
Rs. xi. 6. [2.] When God pardons sin, he blots
out this cloud, this thick cloud, so that the inter¬
course with heaven is laid open again. God looks
down upon the soul with favour, the soul looks up
to him with pleasure. The cloud is scattered by the
influence of the Sun of righteousness. It is "only
through Christ that sin is pardoned. When sin is
pardoned, like a cloud that is scattered, it appears
no more, it is quite gone: the iniquity of Jucob shall
be sought for, and not found, Jer. 1. 20. And the
comforts that flow into the soul when sin is pardon¬
ed, are like clear shining after clouds and rain.
2. The universal jo;- which the deliverance of
God’s people should bring along with it; (v. 23.)
Sing, 0 ye heavens. This intimates, (1.) That the
whole creation shall have cause for joy and rejoicing
in the redemption of God’s people; to that it is
owing, that it subsists, (that it is rescued from
the curse which the sin of man brought upon the
ground,) and that it is again put into a capacity of
answering the ends of its being, and is assured, that
though now it groans, being burthened, it shall at
last be delivered from the bondage of corruption.
The greatest establishment of the world isthe king¬
dom of God in it, Ps. xevi. 11, 13. — xcviii. 7, 9.
(2.) That the angels shall rejoice in it, and the in¬
habitants of the upper world. The heavens shall
sing, for the Lord has done it. And there is joy in
heaven when God and man are reconciled, (Luke
xv. 7.) and when Babylon falls, Rev. xviii. 20.
(3.) That those who lay at the greatest distance,
even the inhabitants of the Gentile world, should
join in these praises, as sharing in these joys. The
lower fiarts of the earth, the forest and the trees
there, shall bring in the tribute of thanksgiving for
the redemption of Israel.
3. The encouragement we have to hope, that,
though great difficulties, and such as have been
thought insuperable, lie in the way of the church’s
deliverance, yet, when the time for it is come, they
shall all be got over with ease, for thus saith Israel’s
Redeemer, I am the Lord that maketh all things,
did make them at first, and am still making them;
for providence is a continued creation; all being,
power, life, motion, and perfection, are frem him.
He stretched forth the heavens alone, has no help,
nor needs any; and the earth too he s/ireads abroad
by himself, and by his own power. Man was not by
him when h“ did it, (Job xxxviii. 4. ) nor did any
creature advise or assist; only his own eternal Wis¬
dom and Word was by him then as one brought ufi
with him, Prov. viii. 30. His stretching out the
heavens by himself speaks the boundless extent rf
his power. The strongest man, if he be to stretch
a thing out, must get somebody or other to lend a
hand; but God stretched out the vast expanse, and
202 ISAIAH, XLIV.
keeps it still upon the stretch himself, by his own
power. Let not Israel be discouraged then; nothing
is too hard for him to do that made the world, Ps.
cxxiv. 8. And, having made all, he can make
what use he pleases of all, and has it in his power to
serve his own purposes by them.
4. The confusion which this would put upon the
oracles of Babylon, by the confutation it would give
them, v. 25. God, by delivering his people out of
Babylon, would frustrate the tokens of the liars, of
all the lying prophets, that said the Babylonian mo¬
narchy had many ages yet to live, and pretended to
ground their predictions upon some token, some
sign or other, which, according to the rules of their
ait, foreboded its prosperity. How mad will these
conjurers grow with vexation, when they see that
their skill fails them, and that the contrary happens
to that which they so coveted, and were so confident
of. Nor would it only baffle their pretended pro¬
phets, but their celebrated politicians too; he turns
the wise men backward: finding they cannot go on
with their projects, they are forced to quit them;
and so he makes the judges fools, and makes their
knowledge foolish. Those that are made acquaint¬
ed with Christ, see all the knowledge they had be¬
fore to be foolishness in comparison with the know¬
ledge of him. And those that are adversaries to
him, will find all their counsels, like Ahithophel’s,
turned into foolishness, and themselves taken in their
own craftiness , 1 Cor. iii. 19.
5. The confirmation which this would give to the
oracles of God, which the Jews had distrusted, and
their enemies despised; God confirms the word of
his servant; (z>. 26.) he confirms it by accomplish¬
ing it in its season, and performs the counsel of the
messengers whom he hath many a time sent to his
people, to, tell them what great blessings he had in
store for them. Note, The exact fulfilling of the
prophecies of scripture is a confirmation of the truth
of the whole book, and an incontestable evidence of
its di\ ine original and authority.
6. The particular favours God designed for his
people, that were now in captivity, v. 26. — 28. These
were foretold long before they went into captivity,
that they might see reason to expect a correction,
but no reason to fear a final destruction.
(1. ) It is here supposed that Jerusalem, and the
cities of Judah, shall for a time lie in ruins, dispeo¬
pled and uninhabited; but it is promised that they
shall be rebuilt and repeopled. When Isaiah lived,
Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, were full of in¬
habitants; but they will be emptied, burnt, and de¬
stroyed; it was then hard to believe that concern¬
ing such strong and populous cities. But the justice
of God will do that; and when that is done, it will
be hard to believe that ever they will recover them¬
selves again, and yet the zeal of the Lord of hosts
will do that too. God has said to Jerusalem, Thou
shalt be inhabited; for, while the world stands, God
will have a church in it; and therefore he will raise
up those who shall say to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be
built; for, if it be not built, it cannot be inhabited,
Ps. Ixix. 35, 36. When God’s time is come for the
building up of his church, let him alone to find both
houses for his people, for they shall not lie exposed,
and people for his houses, for they shall not stand
empty. The cities of Judah too shall again be built.
The Assyrian army under Sennacherib only took
them, and then, upon the defeat of that army, they
returned undamaged to the right owners; but the
ChaWean army demolished them, and by carrying
away the inhabitants left them to go to decay of
themselves; for if lesser judgments prevail not to
humble and reform men, God will send greater;
yet these desolations shall not be perpetual, God
will raise up the wastes and decayed places thereof;
for he will not contend for ever! The city of stran¬
gers, when it is ruined, shall never be built ; ( rh. xx'
2.) but the city of God’s own children is out dis¬
continued for a time.
(2.) It is here supposed that the temple too should
be destroyed, and lie fora time razed to the founda¬
tions; but it is promised that the foundation of it
shall again be laid, and no doubt built upon. As
the desolation of the sanctuary was to all the pious
Jews the most mournful part of the destruction, so
the restoration and re-establishment of it would be
the most joyful part of the deliverance. What joy
can they have in the rebuilding of Jerusalem, if the
temple there be not rebuilt; for that is it that make*
it a holy city, and truly beautiful. This therefore
was the chief thing that the Jews had at heart, and
had in view, in their return; therefore they would
go back to Jerusalem, to build the house of the Lord
God of Israel there, Ezra i. 3.
(3.) It is here supposed that very great difficul¬
ties would lie in the way of this deliverance, which
it would be impossible for them to wade through;
but it is promised that by a divine power they
should all be removed; (v. 27.) God saith to the
deefi, Be dry; so he did when he brought Israel out
of Egypt; and so he will again when he brings them
out of Babylon, if there be occasion. Who art thou,
O great mountain? Dost thou stand in the way?
Before Zerubbabel, the commander-in-chief of the
returning captives, thou shall become a plain, Zech.
iv. 7. So, Who art thou, O great deep? Dost thou
retard their passage, and think to block it up?
Thou shalt be dry, and thy rivers that supply thee
shall be dried up. When Cyrus took Babylon by
draining the river Euphrates into many channels,
and so making it passable for his army, this was
fulfilled. Note, Whatever obstructions lie in the
way of Israel’s redemption, God can remove them
with a word’s speaking.
(4.) It is here supposed that none of the Jews
themselves would be able by might and power to
force their way out of Babylon; but it is promised
that God will raise up a stranger from afar off, that
shall fairly open the way for them, and now at
length he names the very man, many scores of
years before he was bom or thought of; (x\ 28.)
That saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd. Israel is
his people, and the sheep of his pasture; these sheep
are now in the midst of wolves, in the hands of the
thief and robber; they are impounded for trespass.
Now Cyrus shall be his shepherd, employed by him
to release these sheep, and to take care of their re¬
turn to their own green pastures again. “ In this
he shall perform all my pleasure, shall bring about
what is putposed by me, and will be highly pleas¬
ing to me. ” Note, [1. ] The most contingent things
are certain to the divine prescience; he knew who
was the person, and what was his name, that should
be the deliverer of his people, and, when he pleas¬
ed, he could let his church know it, that, when they
heard of such a name beginning to be talked of in
the world, they might lift up their heads with jov,
knowing that their redemption drew nigh. [2.] It
is the greatest honour of the greatest men to be em¬
ployed for God as instruments of his favour to his
people. It was more the praise of Cyrus to be
God’s shepherd, than to be emperor of Persia.
[3.] God makes what use he pleases of men, of
mighty men, of those that act with the greatest
freedom; and, when they think to do as they please,
he can overrule them, and make them do as he
pleases. Nay, in those very things wherein they
are serving themselves, and look no further than
that, God is serving his own purposes by them, and
making them to perform all bis pleasure. Rich
princes shall do what poor prophets have f. retold.
IS AT AH, XLV. 203
CHAP. XLV.
Cyrus was nominated, in the foregoing chapter, to be
God’s shepherd: more is said to him, and more of him,
in this chapter, not only because he was to be instru¬
mental in the release of the Jews out of their captivity,
but because he was to be therein a type of the great
Redeemer, and that release was to be typical of the great
redemption from sin and death; for that was the salvation
of which all the prophets witnessed. We have here,
I. The great things which God would do for Cyrus, that
he might be put into a capacity to discharge God’s peo¬
ple, v. I . .4. II. The proof God would hereby give of
his eternal power and godhead, and his universal, incon¬
testable, sovereignty, v. 5. .7. 111. A prayer for the has¬
tening of this deliverance, v. 8. IV. A check to the
unbelieving Jews, who quarrelled with God for the
lengthening out of their captivity, v. 9, 10. V. Encou¬
ragement given to the believing Jews, who trusted in
God, and continued instant in prayer, assuring them that
God would in due time accomplish this work by the
hand of Cyrus, v. 11 . . 15. VI. A challenge given to
the worshippers of idols, and their doom read, and satis¬
faction given to the worshippers of the true God, and
their comfort secured, with an eye to the Mediator, who
is made of God to us both Righteousness and Sanctifica¬
tion, v. 16 .. 25. And here, as in other parts of this
prophecy, there is mufch of Christ, and gospel-grace.
1. r BSHUS saith the Lord to his anoint-
JL ed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I
have holden, to subdue nations before him ;
and I will loose the loins of kings, to open
before him the two-leaved gates; and tire
gates shall not be shut : 2. I will go before
thee, and make the crooked places straight ;
1 will break in pieces the gates of brass,
and cut in sunder the bars of iron : 3. And
I will give thee the treasures of darkness,
and hidden riches of secret places, that
thou niavest know that I the Lord which
call thee by thy name, am, the God of Is¬
rael. 4. For Jacob my servant’s sake, and
Israel mine elect, I have even called thee
by thy name : I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me.
Cyrus was a Merle, descended (as some say) from
Astyages king of Media; the pagan writers are not
agreed in their accounts of his original; some tell us
that in his infancy he was an outcast, left exposed,
and was saved from perishing by a herdsman’s wife.
However, it is agreed, that, being a man of an ac¬
tive genius, he soon made himself very considerable;
especially, when Croesus king of Lydia made a de¬
scent upon his country, which he not only repulsed,
but revenged, prosecuting the advantages he had
gained against Croesus with such vigour, that in a
little time he took Sardis, and made himself master
of the rich kingdom of Lydia, and the many pro¬
vinces that then belonged to it. This made him
very great, (for Croesus was rich to a proverb, ) and
enabled him to pursue his victories in many coun¬
tries; but it was near ten years after that, in con¬
junction with his uncle Darius, and with the forces
of Persia, that he made this famous attack upon
Babylon, which is here foretold, and which we have
the history of, Dan. v. Babylon was now grown
exorbitantly rich and strong; it was forty-five miles
in compass, some say more; the walls thirty-two
feet thick, and a hundred cubits high; some say,
they were so thick, that six chariots might drive
abreast upon them; some say, they were fifty cu¬
bits thick, and two hundred high. Cyrus seems to
have had a great ambition to make himself master
of this place, and to have projected it long; and =>t
last he performed it.
Now here, 110 years before it came to pass, we
are told,
I. What great things God would do for him, that
he might put it into his power to release his people;
in order to this, he shall be a mighty conqueror,
and a wealthy monarch, and nations shall become
tributaries to him, and help him both with men and
money. Now that which God here promised to do
for Cyrus, he could have done for Zerubbabel, or
some of the Jews themselves; but the wealth and
power of this world God has seldom seen fit to in¬
trust his own people with much of, so many are the
snares and temptations that attend it; but if there
has been occasion, for the good of the church, to
make use of it, God has been pleased rather to put
it into the hands of others, to be employed for them,
than to venture it in their own hands.
Cyrus is here called God’s anointed, because he
was both designed and qualified for this great ser¬
vice, by the counsel of God, and was to be herein a
type of the Messiah. God engages to hold his right
hand, not only to strengthen and sustain him, but to
direct his motions and intentions, as Elisha put his
hands upon the king’s hands, when he was to shoot
his arrow against Syria, 2 Kings xiii. 16. Being
under such direction,
1. He shall extend his conquests very far, and
shall make nothing of the opposition that will be
given him. Babylon is too strong a place for a young
hero to begin with, and, therefore, that he may be
able to deal with that, great additions shall be made
to his strength by other conquests. (1.) Populous
kingdoms shall yield to him; God will subdue na¬
tions before him; when he is in the full career of his
successes, he shall make nothing of a nation’s being
born to him at once: yet it is not he that subdues
them, it is God that subdues them for him; the bat¬
tle is his, and therefore his is the victory. (2.) Po¬
tent kings shall fall before him; I will loose the loins
of kings; either the girdle of their loins, divest
them of their power and dignity, or the strength of
their loins, and then it was literally fulfilled in Bel¬
shazzar, for when he was terrified by the hand¬
writing on the wall, the joints of his loins were
loosed, Dan. v. 6. (3.) Great cities shall surrender
themselves into his hands, without giving him oi
themselves any trouble. God will incline the keep¬
ers of the city, to often before him the two-leaved
gates, not treacherously, or timorously, but from a
full conviction that it is to no purpose to contend
with him; and therefore the gates shall not be shut
to keep him out as an enemy, but thrown open to
admit him as a friend. (4.) The longest and most
dangerous marches shall be made easy and ready
to him; I will go before thee, to clear the way, and
to conduct thee in it, and then the crooked places
shall be made straight; or, as some read it, the hilly
places shall be levelled and made even. Those will
find a ready road, that have God going before them.
(5.) No opposition shall stand before him; he that
gives him his commission will break in pieces the
gates of brass that are shut against him, and cut in
sunder the bars of iron, wherewith they are fas¬
tened. This was fulfilled in the letter, if that be
true which Herodotus reports, that the city of Baby¬
lon had a hundred gates all of brass, with posts and
hooks of the same metal.
2. He shall replenish his coffers very much; (x>. 3.)
/ will give thee the treasures of darkness; treasures
of gold and silver, that have been long kept close
under lock and key, and had not seen the light of
many years; or had been buried under ground oy
the inhabitants, in their fright, upon the taking of
the city. The riches of many nations had been
brought to Babylon, and Cyrus seized all together.
The hidden riches of secret filaces, which belonged
either tc ‘he crown or to private persons, shall al
ISAIAH, XLV.
be a prey to Cyrus. Thus God, designing him to
do a piece of service to his church, paid him richly
for it beforehand; and Cyrus very honestly owned
God’s goodness to him, and, in consideration of
that, released the captives; (Ezra i. 2.) God has
given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and thereby
has obliged me to build him an house at Jerusalem.
II. We are here told what God designed, in doing
all this for Cyrus. What Cyrus aimed at in under¬
taking his wars, we may easily guess; but what God
aimed at in giving him such wonderful success in his
wars, we are here told:
1, It was that the God of Israel might be glori¬
fied; “That thou mavest know by all this that I
the Lord am the God" of Israel; for I have called
thee by thy name, long before thou wast born.”
When "Cyrus had this prophecy of Isaiah showed
him, and’ there found his own name, and his own
achievements particularly described so long before,
he shall thereby be brought to acknowledge that
the God of Israel is the Lord Jehovah, the only living
and true God, and continues to own his Israel,
though now in captivity. It is well when thus men’s
prosperity brings them to the knowledge of God, for
too often "it makes them forget him.
2. It was that the Israel of God might be released,
v. 4. Cyrus knew not God, as the God of Israel;
having been trained up in the worship of idols, the
true Gad was to him an unknown God; but, though
he knew not God, God not only knew him when he
came into being, but foreknew him, and bespoke
him for his shepherd; he called him by his name,
Cyrus, nay, which was vet a greater honour, he
surnamed him, and called him his anointed. And
why did God do all this for Cyrus? Not for his own
sake, be it known to him; whether he was a man
of virtue or no, is questioned. Xenophon indeed,
when he would describe the heroic virtues of an
excellent prince, made use of Cyrus’s name, and
manv of the particulars of his story, in his Cyropie-
dia; but other historians represent him as haughty,
cruel, and bloodthirsty. The reason why God pre¬
ferred him, was, for Jacob his servant’s sake. Note,
(1.) In all the revolutions of states and kingdoms,
the sudden falls of the great and strong, and the
surprising advancements of the weak and obscure,
God is designing the good of his church. (2.) It is
therefore the wisdom of those to whom God has
given wealth and power, to use it for his glory, by
being kind with it to his people. Cyrus is prefer¬
red, that Israel may be released; he shall have a
kingdom, only that" God’s people may have their
liberty; for their kingdom is not of this world, it is
yet to come. In all this, Cyrus was a type of Christ,
who was made victorious over principalities and
powers, and intrusted with unsearchable riches, for
the use and benefit of God’s servants, his elect
When he ascended on high, he led captivity cap¬
tive, took those captives that had taken others cap¬
tives, and opened the prison to those that were
bound.
5. I ant the Lord, and there is none else,
there is no God besides me: I girded thee,
(hough thou hast not known me; 6. That
they may know from the rising of the sun,
and from the west, that there is none besides
me: f am the Lord, and there is none else.
7. I form the light, and create darkness; I
make peace, and create evil : I the Lord
do all these things. 8. Drop down, yc hea¬
vens, from above, and let the skies pom-
down righteousness: let the earth open, and
le them bring forth salvation, and let right-
| eousness spring up together. I the Lord
j have created it. 9. Wo unto him that stnv-
eth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive
with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the
clay say to him that fashioneth it, Wlial
makest thou? or thy work, He hath no
hands? 10. Wo unto him that saith unto
his father, What begettest thou? or to the
woman, What hast thou brought forth?
God here asserts his sole and sovereign dominion,
as that which he designed to prove and manifest to
the world, in all the great things he did for Cyrus,
and by him. Observe,
I. How this doctrine is here laid down, concern¬
ing the sovereignty of the great Jehovah, in two
things;
1. That he is God alone, and there is no God be¬
side him; this is here inculcated as a fundamental
truth, which, if it were firmly believed, would abo¬
lish idolatry out of the world. With what an awful,
commanding air of majesty and authority, bidding
defiance, as it were, to all pretenders, does the great
God here proclaim it to the world; I am the Lord,
I the Lord Jehovah, and there is none else, there is
no God beside me, no self-existent, self-sufficient
Being, none infinite and eternal. And again, {v. 6.)
There is none beside me; all that are set up in
competition with me are counterfeits, they are all
vanity, and a lie, for I am the Lord, and there is
none else. This is here said to Cyrus, not only to
cure him of the sin of his ancestors, which was,
worshipping idols, but lo prevent his falling into the
sin of some of his predecessors in victory and uni¬
versal monarchy, which was, setting up themselves
for gods, and being idolized; to which some attri¬
bute much of the origin of idolatry. Let Cyrus,
when he is become thus rich and great, renumber
that still he is but a man, and there is no God but
one.
2. That he is Lord of all, and there is nothing
done without him; (v. 7.) I form the light, which
is grateful and pleasing, and I create darkness,
which is grievous and unpleasing, I make peace.
put here for all good, and I create evil, not the evil
of sin, God is not the Author of that, but the evil of
punishment. I the Lord order and direct, and do
all these things. Observe, (1.) The very different
events that befall the children of men; light and
darkness, opposite to each other, and yet, in the
course of providence, sometimes intermixed, like
the morning and evening twilights, neither day nor
night; (Zech. xiv. 6.) a mixture of joys and sor¬
rows in the same cup, allays to each other; some¬
times they are counterchanged, as noonday light
and midnight darkness; in the revolution of every
day each takes its turn, and there are short transi¬
tions from the one to the other; witness Job’s case.
(2.) The self-same cause of both, and that is he
that is the first Cause of all; I the Lord, the Foun¬
tain of all being, am the Fountain of all power. He
who formed the natural light, (Gen. i. 3.) still forms
the providential light; he who at first made peace
among the jarring seeds and principles of nature,
makes peace in the affairs of men; he who allowed
the natural darkness, which was a mere privation,
creates the providential darkness, for concerning
troubles and afflictions he gives positive orders.
Note, The wise God has the ordering and disposing
of all our comforts and all our crosses in this world.
II. How this doctrine is here proved and pub¬
lished :
1. It is proved by that which God did for Cyrus;
"There is no God beside me, for (v. 5.) I girded
thee, though thou hast not known me. It was not
ISAI AH, XLV.
205
thine own idol, which thou didst know and worship,
that girded thee for this expedition, that gave thee
authority and ability for it. No, it was I that gird¬
ed thee, 1 whom thou didst not know, nor seek to.”
By this it appears that the God of Israel is the only
true God, that he manages and makes what use he
pleases, even of those that are strangers to him, and
pav their homage to other gods.
2. It is published to all the world by the word of
G >d, by lus providence, and by the testimony of the
suffering Jews in Babylon, that all may know from
the cast and from the west, sunrise and sunset,
that the Lord is God, and there is none else. The
wonderful deliverance of the Israel of God pro¬
claimed to all the world that there is none like unto
the Got I of Jeshurttn, that rides on the heavens for
their helix.
111. How this doctrine is here improved and ap¬
plied:
1. For the comfort of those that earnestly longed,
and yet quietly waited, for the redemption of Israel;
(v. 8.) Drofx down , ye heavens, from above. Some
take this as the saints’ prayer for the deliverance;
I rather take it as God’s precept concerning it, for
he is said to command deliverances, Ps. xliv. 4.
Now the precept is directed to heaven and earth,
and all the hosts of both, as royal precepts com¬
monly run, To all officers, civil anti military. All
the creatures shall be made in their places to con¬
tribute to the carrying on of this great work, when
God will have it done. If men will not be aiding
and assisting, God will produce it without them, as
he does the dews of heaven, and the grass of the
earth, which tarry not for man, nor wait for the
sons of men, Mic. v. 7. Observe, (1.) The method
of this great deliverance that is to be wrought for
Israel; righteousness must first be wrought in them,
they must be brought to repent of their sins, to re¬
nounce their idolatries, to return to God, and re¬
form their lives, and then the salvation shall be
wrought for them, and not till then. We must not
expect salvation without righteousness, they spring
up together, and together the Lord hath created
them; what he has joined together, let not us there¬
fore put asunder. See Ps. lxxxv. 9. — 11. Christ
died to save us from our sins, not in our sins, and is
made Redemption to us, by being made to us Righ¬
teousness and Sanctification. (2.) The means of this
great deliverance; rather than it shall fail, when the
set time for it is come, the heavens shall drofi down
righteousness, and the earth shall often to bring
forth salvation, and both concur to the reformation,
and so to the restoration of God’s Israel. It is from
heaven, from above the skies, that righteousness
drops down, for every grace and good gift is from
above; nay, since the more plentiful effusion of the
Spirit, it is now poured.down, and if our hearts be
open to receive it, the product will be the fruits cf
righteousness, and the great salvation.
2. For reproof to those of the church’s enemies
that opposed this salvation, or those of her friends,
that despaired of it; (v. 9.) Wo unto him that
strives with his Maker! God is the Maker of all
things, and therefore our Maker, which is a reason
why we should always submit to him, and never
contend with him. (1.) Let not the proud oppres¬
sors, in the elevation of their spirits, oppose God’s
designs concerning the deliverance of his people,
nor think to detain them any longer, when the time
is come for their release. Wo to the insulting Ba¬
bylonians that set God at defiance, as Pharaoh did,
and will not let his people go! (2.) Let not the poor
oppressed, in the dejection of their spirits, murmur
and puarrel with God for the prolonging of their
captivity, as if he dealt unjustly or unkindly with
them, oi- think to force their way before God’s time
ts come Note, Those will find themselves in a
woful condition, that strive with their Maker; for
none ever hardened his heart against G' <1, and pros¬
pered. Sinful man is indeed a qu.unlsome crea¬
ture; but let the fotsherds strive with the fotsherds
of the earth: men are but earthen pots, nay, they
are broken potsherds, and are made so very much
by their mutual c ntc ntions; they arc dashed in
pieces one against another; and if they are disposed
to strive, let them strive with one ; notlier, let them
meddle with their match; but let them not dare to
contend with him that is infinitely above them,
which is as senseless and absurd as, [1.] Fertile
clay to find fault with the potter; Stall the clay say
to him that forms it, “ What makes t thou? Whv
dost thru make me of this shape, and net that?”
Nay, it is as if the clay should be in such heat and
passion with the potter as to tell him that he has no
hands, or that he works as awkwardly as if he had
none. Shall the clay pretend to be wiser than the
potter, and therefore to advise him; or mightier
than the potter, and therefore to control him? He
that gave us being, that gave us this being, may de¬
sign concerning us, and dispose of us, as he pleases;
and it is impudent presumption for us to prescribe to
him. Shall we impeach God’s wisdom, or question
his power, who are ourselves so curiously, so won¬
derfully, made? Shall we say, He has no hands
whose hands made us, and in whose hands we are?
The doctrine cf God’s sovereignty has enough in it
to silence all our discontents and objections against
the methods of his providence and grace, Rom. ix.
20,21. [2.] It is as unnatural as for the child to
find fault with the parents; to say to the father,
What begettest thou? Or to the mother, “ What
hast thou brought forth? Why was I net begotten
and born an angel, exempt from the infirmities of
human nature, and the calamities of human life?”
Must not those who are children of men expect
to share in the common lot, and to fare as others
fare? If God is our Father, where is the honour
we owe to him by submitting to his will?
1 1 . Thus saith the Lord the Holy One
of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things
to come concerning my sons ; and concern¬
ing the work of my hands command ye
me. 12. I have made the earth, and created
man upon it : I, even my hands, have
stretched out the heavens, and all their
hosts have I eommanded. 13. I have raised
him up in righteousness, and I will direct all
his ways : he shall build my city, and he shall
let go my captives, not for price nor re¬
ward, saith the Lord of hosts. 14. Thus
saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and
merchandise of Ethiopia, and of theSabeans
men of stature, shall come over unto thee
and they shall be thine : they shall come af
ter thee ; in chains they shall come over
and they shall fall down unto thee, they
shall make supplication unto thee, say
ing, Surely God is in thee, and there i:
none else; there is no God. 15. Verily,
thou art. a God that hidest thyself, O God
of Israel, the Saviour. 16. They shall be
ashamed, and also confounded, all of them:
they shall go to confusion together that ore
makers of idols. 17. But Israel shall he
saved in the Lord with an everlasting sa'
206
ISAIAH, XLV.
vation : ye shall not be ashamed nor con¬
founded world without end. 18. For thus
saith the Lord that created the heavens,
God himself that formed the earth and
made it, he hath established it, he created
it not /n vain, he formed it to be inhabited ; I
am theLoRD, and there is none else. 19. I
have not spoken in secret, in a dark place
of the earth : I said not unto the seed of
Jacob, Seek ye me in vain. I the Lord
speak righteousness, I declare things that
are right.
The people of God in captivity, who reconciled
themselves to the will of God in their affliction, and
were content to wait his time for their deliverance,
are here assured that they should not wait in vain.
I. They are invited to inquire concerning the
issue of their troubles, v. 11. The Holy One of
Israel , and his Maker, though he does not allow
them to strive with him, yet encourages them, 1.
To consult his word; “Ask of me things to come;
have recourse to the prophets and their prophecies,
and see what they say concerning these things.
Ask the watchmen. What of the night? Ask them,
How long? Things to come, as far as they are re¬
vealed, belong to us and to our children, and we must
not be strangers to them. 2. To seek unto him by
prayer; “ Concerning my sons, and concerning the
work of my hands, which, as becomes them, sub¬
mit to the will of their Father, the will of their Pot¬
ter, command ye me; not by way of prescription,
but by way of petition. Be earnest in your requests,
and confident in your expectations, as far as both are
guided by, and grounded upon, the promise.” We
may not strive with our Maker by passionate com¬
plaints, but we may wrestle with him by faithful and
fervent prayer. My sons, and the work of my
hands, commend ye to me; so some read it; bring
them to me, and leave them with me. See the
power of prayer, and its prevalency with God;
Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am; what
would ye that I should do unto you? Some read it
with an interrogation, as carrying on the reproof,
(v. 9, 10.) Do it question me concerning things
Co come? And am I bound to give you an account?
And concerning my children, even concerning the
work of my hands, will you command me, or pre¬
scribe to me? Dare you do so? Shall any teach
God knowledge, or give law to him? Those that
complain of God, do in effect assume an authority
over him.
II. They are encouraged to depend upon the
power of God, when they were brought very low, and
were utterly incapable of helping themselves, v. 12.
Their help stands in the name of the Lord, who
made heaven and earth; which he mentions here,
not only for his own glory, but for their comfort.
The heavens and earth shall contribute, if he
pleases, to the deliverance of the church; (u. 8.)
tor he created both, and therefore has both at com¬
mand. 1. He made the earth, and created man
upon it, for it was intended to be a habitation for
man, Ps. cxv. 16. He has therefore not only au¬
thority, but wisdom, and power, sufficient to govern
man here on this earth, and to make what use he
leases of him. 2. His hands have stretched out the
eavens, and all their hosts he commanded into being
at first, and therefore still governs all their mo¬
tions and influences. It is good news to God’s Israel,
that their God is the Creator and Governor of the
world.
III. They are particularly told what God would
do for them, that they might know what to depend I
upon; and this shall lead them to expect a mote
glorious Redeemer, and redemption, of whom, and
of which, Cyrus, and their deliverance by him, were
types and figures.
1. Liberty shall be proclaimed to them, v. 13.
Cyrus is the man that shall do it; and, in order
hereunto, God will put power into his hands; I have
raised him up in righteousness, in pursuance and
performance of my promises, and to plead my peo¬
ple’s just but injured cause. He will give him suc¬
cess in all his enterprises, particularly that against
Babylon; I will direct alt his ways, and then it fol¬
lows, I will prosper him; for those must needs speed
well that are under a divine direction: and God will
make plain the wav of those whom he designs to
employ for him. Two things Cyrus must do for
Goa: (1.) Jerusalem is God’s city, but it is now in
ruins, and he must rebuild it, he must give orders
for the rebuilding of it, and give wherewithal to do
it. (2. ) Israel is God’s people, but they are now
captives, and he must release them freely and ge¬
nerously; not demanding any ransom, or compound¬
ing with them for price or reward. And Christ is
anointed to do that for poor captive souls, which
Cyrus was to do for the captive Jews, to proclaim
the opening of the prison to them that were bound,
( ch . lxi. 1. ) enlargement from a worse bondage than
that in Babylon.
2. Provision shall be made for them. They went
out poor, and unable to bear the expenses of their re¬
turn and re-establishment; and therefore it is promis¬
ed that the labour of Egypt and other nations should
come over to them, ana be theirs, v. 14. Cyrus,
having conquered those countries, out of their spoils
provided for the returning Jews; and he ordered his
subjects to furnish them with necessaries, (Ezra. i.
4. ) so that they did not go out empty from Babylon
any more than from Egypt. Those that are re¬
deemed by Christ, shall be not only provided for,
but enriched. Those whose spirits God stirs up to .
go to the heavenly Zion, may depend upon him to
bear their charges. The world is theirs as far as is
good for them.
3. Proselytes shall be brought over to them; Men
of stature shall come after thee in chains; they
shall fall down to thee, saying, Surely God is in
thee. This was in part fulfilled when many of the
people of the land became Jews, (Esther viii. 17.)
and said. We will go with you, humbly begging
leave to do so, for we have heard that God is with
you, Zech. viii. 23. The restoration would be a
means of the conviction of many, and the conversion
of some. Perhaps many of the Chaldeans who were
now themselves conquered by Cyrus, when they
saw the Jews going back in triumph, came, and
begged pardon for the affronts and abuses they had
given them, owned that God was among them, and
that he was God alone, and therefore desired to join
themselves to them. But this promise was to have its
full accomplishment in the gospel-church, when
the Gentiles should become obedient by word and
deed to the faith of Christ, (Rom. xv. 18.) as wil¬
ling captives to the church, (Ps. cx. 3.) glad to
wear her chains; when an infidel, beholding the
public worship of Christians, shall own himself con¬
vinced that God is with them of a truth, (1 Cor.
xiv. 24, 25.) and shall assay to join himself to them;
and when those that had been of the synagogue , of
Satan, shall come, and worship before the church’s
feet, and be made to know that God has loved her.
(Rev. iii. 9.) and the kings of the earth and the na
tions shall bring their glory into the gospel-Jerusa
lem, Rev. xxi. 24. Note, it is good to be with
those, though it be in chains, that have God with
them.
IV. They are taught to trust God further than
they can see him. The prophet puts this word inti.
207
ISAIAH, XLV.
their mouths, and goes before them in saying it; (y.
15.) Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself.
1. God hid himself when he brought them into tlie
trouble; hid himself and was wroth, ch. lvii. 1 7.
Note, Though God be his people’s God and Sa¬
viour, yet sometimes, when they provoke him, he
hides himself from them in displeasure, suspends
his favours, and lays them under his frowns: but let
them wait ufwn the Lord that hides his face, ch.
viii. 17. 2. He hid himself when he was bringing
them out of the trouble. Note, When God is acting
as Israel’s God and Saviour, commonly his way is
in the sea, Ps. lxxvii. 19. The salvation of the
church is carried on in a mysterious way, by the
Spirit of the Lord of hosts working on men’s spirits,
(Zech. iv. 6.) by weak and unlikely instruments,
small and accidental occurrences, and not wrought
till the last extremity: but this is our comfort, though
God hide himself, we are sure he is the God of Is¬
rael, the Saviour, Job xxxv. 14.
V. They are instructed to triumph over idolaters
and all the worshippers of other gods; (u. 16.)
They who are makers of idols, not only who frame
them, but who make gods of them by praying to
them, they shall be ashamed and confounded, when
they shall be convinced of their mistakes, and shall
be forced to acknowledge that the God of Israel is
the only true God, and when they shall be disap¬
pointed in their expectations from their idols, under
whose protection they had put themselves. They
shall go to confusion, when they shall find that they
can neither excuse the sin, nor escape the punish¬
ment of it, Ps. xcvii. 7. It is not here and there
one more timorous than the rest that shall thus
shrink, and give up the cause, but all of them; nay,
though they appear in a body, though hand join
in hand, and they do all they can to keep one an¬
other in countenance, yet they shall go to confu¬
sion together: bind them in bundles, to burn them.
VI. They are assured that those who trust in
God, shall never be made ashamed of their confi¬
dence in him, v. 17. Now that God was about to
deliver them out of Babylon, he directed them by
his prophet, 1. To look up to him as the Author of
their salvation; Israel shall be saved in the Lord.
Not only their salvation shall be wrought out by his
power, but it shall be treasured up for them in his
grace and promise, and so secured to them : they
shall be saved in him, for his name shall be their
strong tower, into which they shall run, and in
which they shall be safe. 2. To look beyond this
temporal deliverance, to that which is spiritual,
and has reference to another world; to think of that
salvation by the Messiah, which is an everlasting
salvation, the salvation of the soul, a rescue from
everlasting misery, and a restoration to everlasting
bliss; “ Give diligence to make that sure, for it may
be made sure, so sure, that ye shall not be ashamed
nor confounded world without end. Ye shall not
only be delivered from the everlasting shame and
contempt which will be the portion of idolaters,
(Dan. xii. 2.) but ye shall have everlasting honour
and glorv.” There is a world without end; and it
will be well or ill with us according as it will be with
us in that world. They who are saved with the
everlasting salvation, shall never be ashamed of
what they did, or suffered, in the hopes of it; for it
will so far outdo their expectations, as to be a more
abundant reimbursement. The returning captives
owned that to them did belong confusion of face,
(Dan. ix. 7, 8.) yet God tells them that they shall
not be confounded, but shall have assurance for ever.
They who ave confounded as penitents for their own
sin, shall not be confounded as believers in God’s
promise and power.
VII. They are engaged for ever to cleave to God,
and never to desert him, never to distrust him. What
had been often inculcated before, is here again
repeated, for the encouragement of his people to
continue faithful to him, and to hope that he would
be so to them ; lam the Lord, and there is none else.
That the Lord we serve and trust in is God alone,
appears by the two great lights; that of nature, and
that of revelation.
1. It appears by the light of nature; for he made
the world, and therefore may justly demand its
homage; {v. 18.) “ Thus saith the Lord, that cre¬
ated the heavens, and formed the earth, lam the
Lord; the sovereign Lord of all, and there is none
else.” The gods of the heathen did not do this,
nay, they did not' pretend to do it. He here men¬
tions the creation of the heavens, but t nlarges more
upon that of the earth, because that is the part of the
creation which we have the nearest view of, and
are most conversant with. It is here < bscrved, (1.)
That he formed it: it is not a rude and indigested
chaos, but cast into the most proper shape and size
by infinite wisdom. (2.) That he fixed it. When
he had made it, he established it , founded it on th •
seas, (Ps. xxiv. 2.) hung it on nothing, (Job. xxvi
7.) as at first he made it of nothing, and yet made it
substantial, and hung it fast; Ponderibus librata
suis — Poised by its weight. (3.) That he fitted it
for use, and for the service of man, to whom he
designed to give it. He ere ted it net in vain,
merely to be a proof of hispowei ; but he fi rmed it to
be inhabited by the children of men, and for that
end he drew the waters off it with which it was at
first covered, and made the dry land appear, Ps.
civ. 6, 7. Be it observed here, to the honour of
God’s wisdom, that he made nothing in vain; but
intended every thing for some end, and fitted it to
answer the intention. If any man prove to have
been made in vain, it is his own fault. It should
also be observed, to the honour of God’s goodness
and his favour to man, that he reckoned that not
made in vain, which serves for his use and benefit,
to be a habitation and maintenance for him.
2. It appears by the light of revelation: as the
works of God abundantly prove that he is God
alone, so does his word, and the discovery he has
made of himself and of his mind and will by it.
His oracles far exceed those of the Pagan deities,
as well as his operations, v. 19. The preference
is here placed in three things. All that God has
said, is plain, satisfactory, and just. (1.) In the
manner of the delivery of it, it is plain and open; I
have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the
earth. The Pagan deities delivered their oracles
out of dens and caverns, with a low and hollow
voice, and in ambiguous expressions; those that had
familiar spirits, whispered and muttered; (ch. viii.
19.) but God delivered his law from the top of
mount Sinai, before all the thousands of Israel, in
distinct, audible, and intelligible sounds; Wisdom
cries in the chief places of concourse, Prov. i. 20,
21. viii. 1. — 3. The vision is written, and made
plain, so that he who runs may read it ; if it be obscure
to any, they may thank themselves. Christ plead
ed in his own defence what God says here; In se¬
cret have I said nothing, John xviii. 20. (2.) In (he
use and benefit of it, it was highly satisfactory; I said
not unto the seed of Jacob, who consulted these ora¬
cles and governed themselves by them, Seek ye me
in vain, as the false gods did to their worshippers,
who sought for the living to the dead, ch. viii. 19.
This includes all the gracious answers that God
gave to those who consulted him, his word is to
them a faithful guide; and to those that prayed to him,
the seed of Jacob are a praying people, it is the ge¬
neration of them that seek him, Ps. xxiv. 6. And
as he has in his word invited them to seek him, so
he never denied their believing prayers, nor disap¬
pointed their believing expectations. He said not
208
ISAIAH, XLV.
to them, to any of them, Seek ye me in vain; tor if
he did not think fit to give them the particular thing
they prayed for, yet he gave them grace sufficient,
and’ the comf rt and satisfaction of soul which were
equivalent. What we say of winter, is true of prayer,
It never rots in the skies. God not only gives a
gracious answer to, but will be the bountiful Re-
warder of, those that diligently seek him. (3.) In
the matter of it,, it was incontestably just, and there
was no iniquity in it; I the Lord speak righteous¬
ness, I declare' things that are right, and consonant
to the eternal rules and reasons of good and evil.
The heathen deities dictated those things to their
worshippers, which were the reproach of human
nature, and tended to the extirpation of virtue: but
God speaks righteousness, dictates that which is
right in itself, and tends to make men righteous;
and therefore he is God, and there is none else.
20. Assemble yourselves and come; draw
near together, ye that arc escaped of the
nations: they have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image, and
pray unto a god that cannot save. 21. Tell
ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take
counsel together: who hath declared this
from ancient time? tvho hath told it from
that time? have not I the Lord? and there
is no God else besides me; a just God, and
a Saviour: there is none besides me. 22.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the
ends of die earth; for I am God, and there
is none else. 23. 1 have sworn by myself,
the word is gone out of my mouth in righ¬
teousness, and shall not return, That unto
me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall
swear. 24. Surely, shall one say, In the
Lord have I righteousness and strength:
even to him shall men come; and all that
are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel
be justified, and shall glory
What is here said is intended, as before,
I. For the conviction of idolaters, to show them
their follv in worshipping gods that cannot help them,
and neglecting a God that can. Let all that are es¬
caped of the nations, not only the people of the
Jews, lhit those of other nations that were by Cyrus
released out of captivity in Babylon, let them come,
and hear what is to be said against their worship¬
ping idols, that they may be cured of it as well as
the Jews; that Babylon, which had of old been the
womb of idolatry, might now become the grave of
it. Let the refugees assemble themselves, and
come together; God has something to say to them
for their own good, and it is this, that idolatry is a
foolish sottish thing, upon two accounts:
1. It is setting up a refuge of lies for themselves.
They set up the wood of their graven image, for that
is the substratum; though they overlay it with gold,
deck it with ornaments, and make a god of it, yet
still it is but wood. They pray to a god that can¬
not save; for he cannot hear, he cannot help, he
can do nothing; how do they disparage themselves,
who give honour to that as a god, which cannot, as
a god, give good to them! How do they deceive
themselves, who pray for relief to that which is in
no capacity at all to relieve them ! Certainly they
have no knowledge, or are brutish in their know- I
ledge, who take so much pains, and do so much I
penance, in seeking the favour of a god that has no
j power.
2. It is setting up a rival with God, the only liv¬
ing and true God; (z>. 21.) “Summon them all,
tell them that the great cause shall again be tried,
though once adjudged, between God and Baal,
bring them near, and let them take counsel together,
wh.it to say in defence of themselves and their idols:
it shall, as before, be put upen this issue; let them
show when any of their gods did with any certainty
foretell future events, as the God of Israel has done,
and it shall be acknowledged that they have some
colour for their pretensions. But none < f tlv. m ever
did; their prophets were lying prophets; but I the
Lord have told it from that time, long before it came
to pass; therefore you must < wn there is no God else
beside me.” (1.) Norie besides is fit to rule; heisa
just God, and rules injustice, and will execute jus¬
tice for those that are oppressed. (2.) None be¬
sides is able to help; as he is a just Gcd, so is he the
Saviour, who can save without the assistance of
any, but without whom none can save. Those
therefore have no sense of truth and falsehood, good
and evil, no, nor of their own interest, that set up
any in competition with him.
II. For the comfort and encouragement of all
God’s faithful worshippers, whoever they are, v.
22. They that worship idols pray to gods that can¬
not save; but the God of Israel says it to all the
ends of the earth, to his people, though they are
scattered into the utmost corners of the world, and
seem to be lost and forgotten in their dispersion;
“ Let them but lock to me by faith and prayer,
look above instruments and second causes, look off
from all pretenders, and look up tome, and they shall
be saved.” It seems to refer further, to the con¬
version of the Gentiles that live in the ends of the
earth; the most distant nations, when the standard
of the gospel is set up; to it shall the Gentiles seek.
When Christ is lifted up firm the earth, as the
brazen serpent upon the pole, he shall draw the
eyes of all men to him; they' shall all be invited to
look unto him, as the stung Israelites did to the
brazen serpent: and so strong is the eye of faith,
that by divine grace it will reach the Saviour, and
fetch in salvation by him even from the ends of the
earth; for he is God, and there is none else.
Two things are here promised, for the abundant
satisfaction of all that by faith look to the Saviour.
1. That the glory of the God they serve shall be
greatly advanced; and this will be good news to all
the Lord’s people, that, how much soever they and
theirnamesare depressed, Godwin beexaltcd, r. 23.
This is confirmed by an oath, that we might have
strong consolation; I have sworn by myself (and
God can swear by no greater, Heb. vi. 13.) the
word is gone out of my mouth, and shall neither be
recalled nor return empty; it is gone forth in righ¬
teousness; for it is the most reasonable, equitable
thing in the world, that he who made all should be
Lord of all; that, since all beings are derived from
him, they should all be devoted to him. He has
said it, aiid it shall be made good, I will be exalted,
Ps. xlvi. 10. He has assured us, (1.) That he will
be universally submitted to, that the kingdoms of
the world shall become his kingdom, they shall do
him homage; Unto me every knee shall bow; and
they shall bind themselves by an oath of allegiance
to him; Unto me every tongue shall swear. This
is applied to the dominion of our Lord Jesus; (Rc-m.
xiv. 10, 11.) JVe shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ, and give account to him; for it is
written, Jls I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall
bow to me, and evert/ tongue shall confess to God;
and it seems to be referred to, Ps. ii. 9, 10. If the
heart be brought into obedience to Christ, and made
willing in the day of his power, the knee will bow
ISAIAH, XLVI.
to him in humble adorations and addresses, in a
cheerful obedience to his commands, submission to
his disposals, and compliance with His will in both;
and the tongue will swear to him, will lay a bond
upon the soul to engage it for ever to him; for he
that bears an honest mind, never startles at strong
engagements. (2.) That he will be universally
sought unto, and application shall be made to him
from all parts of the world; Unto him shall men of
distant countries come, to implore his favour; unto
thee shall all Jlesh come, with their requests, Ps.
lxv. 2. And when Christ was lifted up from the
earth, he drew all men to him. (3.) That it shall
be to no purpose to make opposition to him; all that
are incensed against him, that rage at his bonds and
cords, the nations that are angry because he has
taken to himself his great power, and has reigned,
that have been incensed at the strictness of his laws,
the success of his gospel, and the spiritual nature of
his kingdom, they shall be ashamed; some shall be
brought to a penitential shame for it, others to
a remediless min. One way or other, sooner or
later, all that are uneasy at Christ’s government
and victories, will be made ashamedof their folly
and obstinacy. Blessed be God for the assurance
here given us, that, whatever becomes of us and our
interests, the Lord will reign for ever!
2. That the welfare of the souls they are concern¬
ed for, shall be effectually secured; Surely shall
one say, and another shall learn by his example to
say the same, so that all the seed of Israel, accord¬
ing to the Spirit, shall say, and stand to it; (1.)
That God has a sufficiency for them, and that in
Christ there is enough to supply all their needs; In
the Lord is all righteousness and strength; so the
margin reads it; he is himself righteous and strong,
he can do every thing, and yet will do nothing but
what is unquestionably just and equitable: he has
also wherewithal to supply the needs of those that
seek to him, and depend upon him, upon the equity
of his providence and the treasures of his grace;
nay, we may say, not only “ He has it,” but “ In
him, wc have it,” because he has said that he will
be to us a God. In the Lord the captive Jews had
righteousness; grace both to sanctify their afflic¬
tions to them and to qualify them for deliverance,
and strength for their support and escape. In the
Lord Jesus we have righteousness to recommend us
to the good will of God towards us, and strength to
begin and carry on the good work of God in us; he
is the Fountain of both, and on him we must depend
for both, must go forth in his strength, and make
mention of his righteousness, Ps. Ixxi. 16. (2.)
That they shall have an abundant bliss and satisfac¬
tion in this; [1.] The people of the Jews shall in
the Lord be justified before men, and openly glory
in their God. The oppressors reproached them,
loaded them with calumny, and boasted even of a
right to oppress them, as abandoned of their God;
but when God shall work out their deliv erance, that
shall be their justification from these hard censures,
and therefore they shall glory in it. [2.] All true
Christians, that depend upon Christ for strength
and righteousness, in him shall be justified, and
shall glory in that. Observe, First, All believers
are the seed of Israel, an upright, praying seed.
Secondly, The great privilege they enjoy by Jesus
Christ, is, that in him, and for his sake, they are
justified before God, Christ being made of God to
them Righteousness. All that are justified, will
own it is in Christ that they are justified, nor could
they be justified by any other; and those who are
justified shall be glorified. And therefore. Thirdly,
The great duty believers owe to Christ, is, to glory in
him, and to make their boast of him; therefore he
is made all. in all to us, that whoso glories, may glory
in the Lord; and let us comply with this intention.
Vol. iv. — 2D
201'
CHAP. XLVI.
God, by the prophet here, designing shortly to deliver them
out of their captivity, prepares them for that deliverance,
by possessing them with a detestation of idols, and with
a believing confidence in God, even their own God. 1.
Let them not be afraid of the idols of Babylon, as if they
could any way obstruct their deliverance, for they should
be defaced; (v. 1, 2.) but let them trust in that God who
had often delivered them, to do it still, to do it now, v. 3,
4. II. Let them not think to make idols of their own,
images of the God of Israel, by them to worship him, as-
the Babylonians worship their gods, v. 5- -1. Let them
not be sottish, (v. 8. ) but have an eye to God in his word,
not in an image; let them depend upon that, and upor
the promises and predictions of it, and God’s power to
accomplish them all, v. 9.. 11. And let them know that
the unbelief of man shall not make the word of God ol
no effect, v. 12, 13.
I. T9 EL boweth down, Xebo stoopetli;
their idols were upon the beasts,
and upon the cattle: your carriages were
heavy loaden: they are a burden to the
weary beast. 2. They stoop; they bow
down together; they could not deliver the
burden, but themselves are gone into cap¬
tivity. 3. Hearken unto me, O house of
Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of
Israel, which are borne by me from the belly,
which are carried from the womb: 4. And
even to your old age I am he; and even to
hoar hairs will I carry you : I have made,
and I will bear, even I will carry, and will
deliver you.
We are here told,
I. That the false gods will certainly fail their
worshippers, then when they have most need cf
them, v. 1, 2. Bel and Nebo were two celebrated
idols of Babylon; some make Bel to be a contrac¬
tion of Baal, others rather think not, but that it was
Belus, one of their first kings, who, after his death,
was deified. As Bel was a deified prince, so (some
think) Nebo was a deified prophet, for so Nebo sig¬
nifies; so that Bel and Nebo were their Jupiter and
their Mercury, or Apollo. Barnabas and Paul
passed at Lystra for Jupiter and Mercury. The
names of these idols were taken into the names of
their princes; Bel into Belshazzar’s, Nebo into Ne¬
buchadnezzar’s and Nebuzaradan’s, &c. These
gods they had long worshipped, and in their revels
praised them for their successes, (as appears, Dan.
v. 4.) and they insulted over Israel, as if Bel and
Nebo were too hard for Jehovah, and should detain
them in captivity in defiance of their God. Now that
this might be no discouragement to the poor cap¬
tives, God here tells them what shall become of these
idols, which they threaten them with. When Cy¬
rus takes Babylon, down go the idols. It was usual
then with conquerors to destroy the gods of the
places and people they conquered, and to put the
gods of their own nation in the room of them, ch.
xxx vii. 19. Cyrus will do so; and then Bel and
Nebo, that were set up on high, and looked great,
bold, and erect, stoop and bow down at the feet of
the soldiers that plunder their temples. And be¬
cause there is a great deal of gold and silver upon
them, which was intended to adorn them, but serves
to expose them, they carry them away with the rest
of the spoil; the earners’ horses, nr mules, are laden
with them, and their other idols, to be sent, among
other lumber, (for so it seems they accounted them
rather than treasure,) into Persia. So far are they
from being able to support their worshippers, that
they are themselves a heavy load in the waggons,
and a burthen to the weary beast. The idols can-
•210 ISAIAH,
not help one another; (r>. 2.) They stoofi, they bow
down, together, they are all alike, tottering things,
and their day is come to fall; their worshippers
cannot help them; they could not deliver the bur¬
then out of the enemies’ hand, but themselves
(both the idols and the idolaters) are gone into
captivity. Let not therefore God’s people be afraid
of either. When God’s ark was taken prisoner by
the Philistines, it proved a burthen, not to the
beasts, but to the conquerors, who were forced to
return it; but when Bel and Nebo are gone into
captivity, their worshippers may even give their
good word with them, they will never recover
•hemselves.
II. That the true God will never fail his wor¬
shippers; “ You hear what is become of Bel and
Nebo, now hearken to me, O house of Jacob, (z\ 3,
4.) Am I such a god as these? No; though you are
brought low, and the house of Israel is but a rem¬
nant, your God has been, is, and ever will be, your
powerful and faithful Protector.”
1. Let God’s Israel do him the justice to own that
he has hitherto been kind to them, careful of them,
tender over them, and has all along done well for
them. Let them own, (1.) That he bare them at
first; I have made. Out ot what womb came they,
but that of his mercy, and grace, and promise? He
formed them into a people, and gave them their
constitution. Every good man is what God makes
him. (2.) That he bare them up all along; You
have been borne by me from the belly, and carried
from the womb. God began betimes to do them
good, as soon as ever they were formed into a na¬
tion, nay, when as 7et they were very few, and
strangers. God took them under a special protec¬
tion, and suffered no man to do them wrong, Ps. cv.
12. — 14. In the infancy of their state, w hen they
were not only foolish and helpless, as children, but
froward and peevish, God carried them in the
arms of his power and love, bare them as upon
eagles’ wings, Exod. xix. 4. Deut. xxxii. 11. Mo¬
ses had not patience to carry them, as the nursing
father does the sucking child; (Numb. xi. 12.) but
God bare them, and bare their manners. Acts xiii.
18. And as God began early to do them good,
(when Israel was a child, then I loved him,) so he
had constantly continued to do them good; he had
carried them from the womb to this day. And we
may all witness for God that he hasbecn thus gracious
to us; we have been borne by him from the belly,
from the womb, else we had died from the womb,
and given up the ghost when we came out of the
belly; we have been the constant care of his kind
providence, carried in the arms of his power, and
m the bosom of his love and pity. The new man is
so; all that in us that is burn of God, is borne up
by him, else it would soon fail. Our spiritual life
is sustained by his grace as necessarily and con¬
stantly as our natural life by his providence. The
saints have acknowledged that God has carried them
from the womb, and have encouraged themselves
with the consideration of it, in their greatest straits,
Ps. xxii. 9, 10. — lxxi. 5, 6, 17.
2. He will then do them the kindness to promise
that he will never leave them; he that was their
First, will be their Last, that was the Author, will
be the Finisher, of their well-being; (x>. 4.) “You
have been borne by me from the belly, nursed when
you were children; and ex’en to your old age, I am
he, when, by reason of your decays and infirmities,
you will need help as much as in your infancy.”
Israel were now growing old, so was their covenant
by which they were incorporated, Heb. viii. 13.
Gray hairs were here and there upon them, Hos.
vii. 9. And they had hastened their old age, and
the calamities of it, by their irregularities; but God
will not cast them off now, will not fail them w he'll
XLV1.
their strength fails; he is still their God, will still
carry them in the same everlasting arms that were
laid under them in Moses’s time, Deut. xxxiii. 27.
He has made them, and owns his interest in them,
and therefore he will bear, will bear with then in¬
firmities, and bear them up under their afflictions;
“ Even I will carry and will deliver them; I will
now bear them upon eagles’ wings out of Babylon, as
in their infancy I bare them out of Egypt.” This pro¬
mise to aged Israel is applicable to" every aged Is¬
raelite. God has graciously engaged to support
and comfort his faithful servants, even in their old
age. “ Even to your old age, when you grow unfit
for business, when you are compassed with infirmi¬
ties, and perhaps your relations begin to grow weaiy
of you; yet lam he; he that I am; he that I have
been; the very same by whom you have been borne
from the belly, and carried from the womb. You
change, but 1 am the same. 1 am he that I have
promised to be; he that you have found me; he that
you would have me to be. I will carry you, 1 will
bear, will bear you up, and bear you out, and will
carry you on in your way, and carry you home at
last.*’
5. To whom will ye liken me, and make
me equal, and compare me, that we may
he like? 6. They lavish gold out of the hag,
and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a
goldsmith, and he maketh it a god: they fall
down; yea, they worship. 7. They bear
him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and
set him in his place, and he standeth ? from
his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall
cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor
save him out of his trouble. 8. Remember
this, and show yourselves men; bring it
again to mind, O ye transgressors. 9. Re¬
member the former things of old: for I am
God, and there is none else ; I am God, and
there is none like me ; 1 0. Declaring the
end from the beginning, and from ancient
times the things that are not yet. done, say¬
ing, My counsel shall stand, and I will do
all my pleasure: 11. Calling a ravenous
bird from the east, the man that executeth
my .counsel from a far country : yea, I have
spoken/?, I will also bring it to pass; I have
purposed it, I will also do it. 12. Hearken
unto me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from
righteousness: 13. I bring near my righte¬
ousness ; it shall not be far off, and my sal¬
vation shall not tarry: and I will place sal¬
vation in Zion for Israel my glory.
The deliverance of Israel by the destruction of
Babylon, (the general subject of all these chapters,)
is here insisted upon, and again promised, for the
j conviction both of idolaters who set up rivals with
God, and of oppressors who were enemies to the
people of God.
I. For the conviction of those who made and wor¬
shipped idols, especially those of Israel who did so,
who would have images of their God, as the Baby¬
lonians had of theirs.
1. He challenges them either to frame an image
that should be thought a resemblance of him, or to
set up any being that should stand in competition
\ with him; (v. 5.) To whom will ye liken me 7 It is
ISAIAH, XLV1.
absurd to think < f representing an infinite and eter¬
nal Spirit by the figure of any creature whatsoever;
it is to change his truth into a lie, and to turn his
glory into shame. None ever saw any similitude of
him, nor can see his face, and live. To whom then
can we liken God'/ ch. xl. 18, 25. It is likewise ab¬
surd to think of making any creature equal with the
Creator, who is infinitely above the noblest crea¬
tures, yea, or to make any comparison between the
creature and the Creator, since, between infinite
and finite there is no proportion.
2. He exposes the folly of those who made idols,
and then prayed to them, t'. 6, 7. (1.) They were
at great charge upon their idols, and spared no cost
to fit them for their purpose; They lavish gold out
of the bag; no little will serve, and they do not care
how much goes, though they pinch their families
and weaken their estates by it. How does the pro¬
fuseness of idolaters shame the niggardliness of
many who call themselves God’s servants, but are
for a religion that will cost them nothing! Some
lavish gold out of the bag, to make an idol of it in
the house, while others hoard up gold in the bag,
to make an idol of it in the heart; for covetousness is
idolatry, as dangerous, though not as scandalous, as
the other. They weigh silver in the balance, either to
be the matter of their idol, (for even they that were
most sottish had so much sense as to think that God
should be served with the best they had, the best they
could possibly afford; they that represented him by a
calf, made it a golden one,) or, to pay the workman’s
wages. The service of sin often proves very expen¬
sive. (2.) They were in great care about their
idols, and took no little pains about them; (u. 7. )
They bear him upon their own shoulders, and do not
hire porters to do it; they carry him, and set him in
his place, more like a dead corpse than a living god;
they set him on a pedestal, and he stands; they take
a great deal of pains to fasten him, and from his
place he shall not remove, that they may know
where to find him, though at the same time they
know he can neither move a hand, nor stir a step,
to do them any kindness. (3.) After all, they paid
great respect to their idols, though they were but
the works of their own hands, and the creatures of
their own fancies: when the goldsmith has made it
that which they please to call a god, they fall down,
yea, they worship it. If they magnified themselves
too much in pretending to make a god, as if they
would atone for that, they vilified themselves as
much in prostrating themselves to a god that they
knew the original of. And if they were deceived
by the custom of their country in making such gods
as those, they did no less deceive themselves when
they cried unto them ; though they knew they could
not answer them, could not understand what they said
to them, nor so much as reply Yea, or No, much less
could they save them out of their trouble. Now, shall
any that have some knowledge of, and interest in, the
true and firing God, thus make fools of themselves?
3. He puts it to themselves, and their own rea¬
son; Let that judge in the case; (x>. 8.) “ Remember
this that has been often told you, what senseless
helpless things idols are, and show yourselves men,
men and not brutes, men and not babes; act with
reason, act with resolution, act for your own inter¬
est; do a wise thing, do a brave thing, and scorn to
disparage your own judgment as you do when you
worship idols. ” Note, Sinners would become saints,
if they would but show themselves men, if they
would but support the dignity of their nature, and
use aright its powers and capacities. “ Many things
you have been reminded of; bring them again to
mind, recall them into your memories, and revolve
them there; 0 ye transgressors, consider your ways,
remember whence ye are fallen, and repent, and so
recover yourselves ”
| _ 4. He again produces incontestable proofs that he
J is God, that he, and none besides, is so; (v. 9.) 1
' am God and there is none else, none besides me; 1
am God and there is none like me. This is that
which we have need to be reminded of again and
; again; for proof ef it, he refers,
(1.) To the sacred history; “ Remember the for-
i mer things of old, what the God of Israel did for his
people in their beginnings, whether he did not that
for them, which no one else could, and which the
' talse gods did ix t, nor could do, for their worship¬
pers. Remember these things, and you will own
that lam God and there is none else.” This is a
good reason why we should give glory to him
as a Nonsuch, and why we should not give that
glory to any other, which is due to him alone, Exod.
xv. 11.
(2.) To the sacred prophecy. He is God alone,
for it is he only that declares the end fro m the begin -
ning, v. 10. From the beginning of time he de¬
clared the end of time, the end of all things; Enoch
prophesied, Behold, the Lord comes. From the
beginning of a nation, he declares what the end of
it will be; he told Israel what should befall them in
the latter days, what their end should be, and wished
they were so wise as to consider it, Deut. xxxii.
20, 29. From the beginning of an event he declares
what the end of it will be; known unto God are all
his works, and when he pleases, he makes them
known; further than prophecy guides us it is impos¬
sible for us to find out the work that God makes
from the beginning to the end, Eccl. iii. 11. He
declares from ancient times the things that are not
yet done. Many scripture prophecies which were
declared long ago, are not yet accomplished; but the
accomplishment of some in the mean time is an ear
nest of the accomplishing of the rest in due time.
By this it appears that he is God, and none else; it
is he, and none besides, that can say, and make his
words good, “ My counsel shall stand, and all the
powers of hell and earth cannot control or disannul
it, nor all their policies correct or countermine it.’'
As God’s operations are all according to his coun
sels, so his counsels shall all be fulfilled in his ope
rations, and none of his measures shall be broken,
none of his designs shall miscarry. This yields
abundant satisfaction to those who have bound up
all their comforts in God’s counsels, that his counsel
shall undoubtedly stand; and if we are come to this,
that whatever pleases God pleases us, nothing can
contribute more to make us easy than to be assured
of this, that God will do all his pleasures, Ps.
cxxxv. 6.
The accomplishment of this particular prophecy,
which relates to the elevation of Cyrus, and his
agency in the deliverance of God’s people out of
their captivity, is mentioned for the confirmation
of this truth, that the Lord is God, and there is none
else; and this is a thing that shall shortly come to
pass, v. 11. God by his counsel calls a ravenous bird
from the east, a bird of prey, Cyrus, who, they say,
had a nose like the beak of a hawk or eagle, to
which some think this alludes, or, as others say, to
the eagle which was his standard, as it was afterward
that of the Romans, to which there is supposed to
be a reference, Mattli. xxiv. 28. Cyrus came from
the east at God’s call, for God is Lord of hosts, and
of those that have hosts at command; and if God
gave him a call, he will give him success. He is
the man that shall execute God’s counsel, though
he comes from a far country, and knows nothing of
the matter. Note, Even those that know not, and
mind not, God’s revealed will, are made use of to
fulfil the counsels of his secret will, which shall all
be punctually accomplished in their season by what
hand he pleases. That which is here added, to
ratifv this Darticular me -diction, may abundantly
ISAIAH, XLV11.
show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his
counsel; “ I have spoken it by my serv ants the pro¬
phets, and what I have spoken is just the same with
what 1 have purposed. ” For though God has many
things in his purposes, which are not in his prophe¬
cies, he has nothing in his prophecies but what are
in his purposes; and he will do it, for he will never
change his mind, he will bring it to pass, for it is
not in the power of any creature to control him.
Observe with what majesty he says it, as one having
authority; I have spoken it , I will also bring it to
pass; Dictum factum — .Yo sooner said than done; I j
have purposed it, and he does not say, “ 1 will take !
care it shall be done,” but, “ I will do it. Heaven j
and earth shall pass away sooner than one tittle of j
the word of God. .
II. For the conviction of those that daringly op¬
posed the counsels of God, assurance is here given
not only that they shall be accomplished, but they
shall be accomplished very shortly, v. 12, 13.
This is addressed to the stout-hearted, that is,
either, 1. The proud and obstinate Babylonians,
that are far from righteousness , far from doing
justice, or showing mercy, to those they have
power over; that say they will never let the op¬
pressed go free, but will still detain them in spite of
their petitions or God’s predictions; that are far
from any thing of clemency or compassion to the
miserable; or, 2. The unhumbled Jews, that have
been long under the hammer; long in the furnace,
but are not broken, are not melted, that, like the
unbelieving, murmuring Israelites in the wilderness,
think themselves far from God’s righteousness, from
the performance of his promise, and his appearing
to judge for them, and by their distrusts set them¬
selves at yet a further distance from it, and keep
good things from themselves, as their lathers, who
could not enter into the land of promise because of
unbelief. This is applicable to the Jewish nation
when they rejected the gospel of Christ; though
they followed after the law of righteousness, they
attained not to righteousness , because they sought it
not of faith, Rom. ix. 31, 32. They perished, tar
from righteousness; and it was because they were
stout-hearted, Rom. x. 3.
Now to them God says, that, whatever they think,
the one in presumption, the other in despair, (1.)
Salvation shall be certainly wrought for God s peo¬
ple. If men will not do them justice, God will, and
his righteousness shall effect that for them, which
men’s righteousness would not reach to. He will
place salvation in Zion, he will make Jerusalem a
place of safety and defence to all those who will
plant themselves there; thence shall salvation go
forth for Israel his glory. God glories in his Israel;
and he will be glorified in the salvation he designs
to work out for them; it shall redound greatly to his
honour. This salvation shall be in Zion, for thence
the gospel shall take rise, (c/z. ii. 3.) thither the Re¬
deemer comes, (c/i. lix. 20. Rom. xi. 26. ) and it is
Zion’s King that has salvation, Zech. ix. 9. (2.) It
shall be very shortly wrought; this is especially in¬
sisted on with those who thought it at a distance;
(i I bring near my righteousness, nearer than you
think of, perhaps it is nearest of all when your
straits are greatest, and your enemies most injuri¬
ous; it shall not be far off when there is occasion for
it, Ps. lxxxv. 9. Behold, the Judge stands before
the door. My salvation shall not tarry any longer
than till it is ripe, and you are ready for it; and
therefore though it tarry, wait for it; wait patiently,
tor he that shall come, will come, and will not tai'ry.”
CHAP. XLV1I.
Infinite Wisdom could have ordered things so that Israel
might have been released, and yet Babylon unhurt; but
if they will harden their hearts, and will not let the peo¬
ple go they must thank themselves that their ruin is
made to pave the way to Israel’s release; that ruin is here,
in this chapter, largely foretold, not to gratify a spirit
of revenge in the people of God, who had been used bar¬
barously by them, but to encourage their faith and hope
concerning their own deliverance, and to be a type of the
downfall of that great enemy of the New Testament
church, which, in the Revelation, goes under the name
o {Babylon. In this chapter, we have, 1. The greatness
of the ruin threatened; that Babylon should be brought
down to the dust, and made completely miserable, should
fall from the height of prosperity into the depth of adver¬
sity, v. 1 . . 5. II. The sins that provoked God to bring
this ruin upon them. 1. Their cruelty to the people of
God, v. 6. 2. Their pride and carnal security, v. 7 . .9.
3. Their confidence in themselves, and contempt of God,
v. 10. 4. The use of magic arts, and their dependence
upon enchantments and sorceries, which should be so far
from standing them in any stead, that they should but
hasten their ruin, v. 1 1 . . 15.
1. fTOME down, and sit in the dust, O
vJ virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on
the ground : there is no throne, O daughter
of the Chaldeans : for thou shalt no more
be called tender and delicate. 2. Take the.
millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy
locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh,
pass over the rivers. 3. Thy nakedness
shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be
seen : 1 will take vengeance, and I will not
meet thee as a man. 4. As for our Re¬
deemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the
Holy One of Israel. 5. Sit thou silent, and
get thee into darkness, O daughter of the
Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be call¬
ed, The lady of kingdoms. 6. I was wroth
with my people ; I have polluted mine in¬
heritance, and given them into thy hand'
thou didst show them no tnercy; upon the
ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke
In these verses God, by the prophet, sends .
messenger even to Babylon, like that of Jonah u
Nineveh; “The time is at hand when Babylon
shall be destroyed.” Fair warning is thus given
her, that she may by repentance prevent the ruin,
and there may be a lengthening other tranquillity.
We may observe here,
1. God’s controversy with Babylon; we will be¬
gin with that, for there all the calamity begins; she
has made God her Enemy, and then who can be¬
friend her? Let her know that the righteous Judge
to whom vengeance belongs, has said, ( v . 3.) I will
lake vengeance. She has provoked God, and shall
be reckoned with for it, when the measure of her
iniquities is full. W o to those on whom God comes
to take vengeance; for who knows the power of his
anger, and what a fearful thing it is to fall into his
hands? Were it a man like ourselves, who would
be revenged on us, we might hope to be a match
for him, either to make our escape from him, or to
make our part good with him. But he says, “ 1
will not meet thee as a man, not with the compas¬
sions of a man, but I will be to thee as a lion, and a
young lion;” (Hos. v. 14.) or, rather, not with the
strength of a man, which is easily resisted, but with
the power of a God, which may not be resisted.
Not with the justice of a man, which may be bribed
or biassed, or mollified by a foolish pity, but with
the justice of a God, which is strict and severe, and
can never be evaded. As in pardoning the peni¬
tent, so in punishing the impenitent, he is Goa, and
not man, Hos. xi. 9.
2. The particular ground of this controversy ; we
are sure that there is cause for it, and it is a just
ISAIAH, XLVII.
cause; it is the vengeance of his temple, (Jer. 1.28.)
it is for violence done to Zion, Jer. li. 35. God will
lead his people’s cause against them. It is ac-
nowledged (r. 6.) that God had, in wrath, deliver¬
ed his people into the hands of the Babylonians, had
made use of them for the correction of his children,
and had by their means polluted his inheritance ;
had left his peculiar people exposed to suffer in
common with the rest of the nations, had suffered
the heathen, who should have been kept at a dis¬
tance, to come into his sanctuary, and dejile his
temple, Ps. lxxix. 1. Herein God was righteous;
but the Babylonians carried the matter too far, and
when they had them in their hands, (triumphing to
see a people that had been so much in reputation
for wisdom, holiness, and honour, brought thus low,)
with a base and servile spirit they trampled upon
them, and showed them no mercy, no, not the com¬
mon instances of humanity, which the miserable
are entitled to purely by their misery. They used
them barbarously, and with an air of contempt, nay,
and of complacency in their calamities. They were
brought under the yoke; but as if that were not
enough, they laid the yoke on very heavily, adding
affliction to the afflicted. Nay, they laid it on the
ancient, the elders in years, who were past their
labour, and must sink under a yoke which those in
their youthful strength would easily bear. The
elders in office, those that had been judges and ma¬
gistrates, and persons of the first rank, took a pride
in putting them to the meanest, hardest drudgery.
Jeremiah laments this, that the faces of elders were
not honoured, Lam. v. 12. Nothing brings a surer
and sorer ruin upon any people than cruelty, es¬
pecially to God’s Israel.
3. The terror of this controversy; she has reason
to tremble when she is told who it is that has this
quarrel with her, v. 4. “ As for our Redeemer,
our Gael, that undertakes to plead our cause as the
Avenger of our blood; he has two names which
speak not only comfort to us, but terror to our ad¬
versaries. ” (1.) “ He is the Lord of hosts, that has
all the creatures at his command, and therefore has
all power both in heaven and in earth.” Wo to
those against whom the Lord fights, for the whole
creation is at war with them. (2. ) “ He is the Holy
One of Israel, a God in covenant with us, who has
his residence among us, and will faithfully perform
all the promises he has made to us.” God’s power
and holiness are engaged against Babylrn, and for
Zion. This may fitly be applied to Christ, our
great Redeemer: he is both Lord of hosts, and the
Holy One of Israel.
4. The consequences of it to Babylon; she is
called a virgin, because so she thought herself,
though she was the mother of harlots; beautiful as
a virgin, and courted by all about her; she had been
called tender and delicate, (v. l.)and the lady of
kingdoms; (v. 5.) but now the case is altered.
(1.) Her honour is gone, and she must bid fare¬
well to all her dignity; she that had sat at the upper
end of the world, sat in state, and sat at ease, must
now come down, and sit in the dust, as very mean,
and a deep mourner, must sit on the ground, for
she shall be so emptied and impoverished, that she
shall not have a seat left her to sit upon.
(2.) Her power is gone, and she must bid farewell
to all her dominion; she shall rule no more as she
has done, nor give law as she has done to her neigh¬
bours; there is no throne, none for thee, O daugh¬
ter of the Chaldeans. Note, Those that abuse their
honour and power, provoke God to deprive them of
it, and to make them come down, and sit in the
dust.
(3.) Her ease and pleasure are gone; she shall no
more be called tender and delicate as she has been,
for she shall not only be deprived of all those things ll
21b
with which she pampered herself, but shall bt put
to hard service, and made to feel both want and
pain, which should be more than doubly grievous to
her, who once would not venture to set so much ns
the sole of her foot to the ground for tenderness and
delicacy, Deut. xxviii. 56. It is our wisdom not to
use ourselves to be tender and delicate, because we
know not how hardly others may use us before we
die, nor what straits we may be reduced to.
(4.) Her liberty is gone, and she is brought into
a state of servitude and as sore a bondage as she in
her prosperity had brought others to. Even the
great men of Babylon must now receive the same
law from the conquerors, that they used to give to
the conquered; “ Take the millstones, and grind
meal, ( v . 2.) set to work, to hard labour,” (like
beating hemp in Bridewell,) “ which will make
thee sweat so that thou must throw off all thy head
dresses, and uncover thy locks.” When they were
driven from one place to another, at the capricious
humours of their masters, they must be forced to
wade up to the middle through the waters; to make
bare the leg, and uncover the thigh, that they might
pass over the rivers, which would be a great morti¬
fication to them that used to ride in state; but let
them not complain, for just thus thev had used their
captives; and with what measure they then meted,
it is now measured to them again. Let those that
have power use it with temper and moderation,
considering that the spoke which is uppermost will
be under.
(5.) All her glory, and all her glorying are gone.
Instead of glory, she has ignominy; (t. 3.) Thy
nakedness shall be uncovered, and thy shame shall
be seen; according to the base and barbarous usage
they commonly gave their captives, to whom, for
covetousness of their clothes, they did not leave rags
sufficient to cover their nakedness; so void were
they of the modesty, as well as of the pity, due to
the human nature. Instead of glorving, she sits
silent, and gets into darkness, (v. 5.) ashamed to
show her face, for she has quite lost her credit, and
shall no more be called the lady of kingdoms. Note,
God can make those sit silent, that used to make
the greatest noise in the world, and send those into
darkness, that used to make the greatest figure.
Let him that glories, therefore, glory in a God that
changes not, and not in any worldly wealth, plea¬
sure, or honour, which are subject to charge.
7. And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for
ever : so that thou didst not lay these /flings
to thy heart, neither didst remember the lat¬
ter end of it. 8. Therefore hear now this
thou that art given to pleasures, that dwell
est carelessly ; that sayest in thine heart, I
am, and none else besides me : I shall not
sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss
of children: 9. But these two things shall
come to thee in a moment, in one day, the
loss of children, and widowhood : they shall
come upon thee in their perfection for the
multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great
abundance of thine enchantments. 10. For
thou hast trusted in thy wickedness : thou
hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom
and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee;
and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, arid
none else besides me. 1 1. Therefore shall
evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know
from whence it riseth : and mischief stall
214 ISAIAH
fall upon thee ; thou shalt not be able to
put it off: and desolation shall come upon
thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
12. Stand now with thy enchantments,
and with the multitude of thy sorceries,
wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth;
if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be
thou mayest prevail. 13. Thou art wearied
ir. the multitude of thy counsels. Let now
the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly
prognosticators, stand up and save thee
from these things that shall come upon thee.
14. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the
fire shall burn them ; they shall not deliver
themselves from the power of the flame:
there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire
to sit before it. 1 5. Thus shall they be un¬
to thee with whom thou hast laboured, even
thy merchants from thy youth: they shall
wander every one to his quarter; none
shall save thee.
Babylon, now doomed to ruin, is here justly up¬
braided with her pride, luxury, and security, in the
day of her prosperity, and the confidence she had in
her own wisdom and forecast, and particularly in the
prognostications and counsels of the astrologers.
These things are mentioned, both to justify God in
bringing these judgments upon her, and to mortify
her, and to put her to so much the greater shame,
under these judgments; for when God comes forth
to take vengeance, glory belongs to him, but con¬
fusion to the sinner.
I. The Babylonians are here upbraided with their
pride and haughtiness, and the conceit they had of
themselves, because of their wealth and power, and
the vast extent of their dominion; it was the lan¬
guage both of tlie government, and of the body of
the people; Thou sayest in thine heart, (and God,
who searches all hearts, can tell men what they say
there, though they never speak it out,) I am, and
none else beside ?ne, v. 8. 10. The repetition of this
part of the charge intimates that they said it often,
and that it was very offensive to God. It is the very
word that God has often said concerning himself, I
am, and none else beside me; denoting his self-ex¬
istence, his infinite and incomparable perfections,
and his sole supremacy; all this Babylon pretends
to. No wonder if she that assumed a power to
make what gods and goddesses she pleased for the
people to worship, made herself one among the rest.
It is presumption to say of any creature, It is, and
there is not its like, there is none beside it; for crea¬
tures stand nearly upon a level with one another;
but it is insufferable arrogance for any to say so of
themselves, and an evidence of their self-ignorance.
II. They are upbraided with their luxury and
love of ease; ( v . 8.) “ Thou that art given to plea¬
sures, art a slave to them, art in them as in thine
element, and, that thou mayest enjoy them without
disturbance or interruption, dwellest carelessly, and
layest nothing to heart.” Great wealth and plenty
are great temptations to sensuality, and where there
is fulness of bread, there is commonly abundance of
idleness. But if those that are given to pleasures,
and dwell carelessly, would but hear this, that for
all these things God shall bring them into judg¬
ment, it would be a damp to their mirth, an allay to
their pleasure, and would find them something to
■ ie in care about.
III. They are upbraided with their carnal securi-
XLVII.
ty, and their vain confidence of the perpetuity of
their pomps and pleasures. This is much insisted
on here. Observe,
1. 1 he cause of their security. They therefore
thought themselves safe and out of danger, not be¬
cause they were ignorant of the uncertainty of all
earthly enjoyments, and the inevitable fate that at¬
tends states and kingdoms, as well as particular
persons, ljut because they did not lay this to heart,
1 did not apply it to themselves, nor give it a due con¬
sideration. '1 hey lulled themselves asleep in ease
and pleasure, and dreamt of nothing else but that
to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more
abundant. They did not remember the latter end
oj it ; nor the latter end of their prosperity, that it
is a fading flower, and will wither; not the lattei
end of their iniquity, that it will be bitterness, that
the day will come when their injustice and i ppres-
sion must be reckoned for and punished. She did
not remember her latter end; so some read it; she
forgot that her day will come to fall, and what
would be in the end hereof. It was the ruin of Je-
ru salem, (Lam. i. 9. ) that she remembered not her
last end, therefore she came clown wonderfully ; and
it was Babylon’s ruin too. Therefore the children
of men are easy, and think themselves safe, in their
sinful ways, because they never think of death, and
judgment, and their future state.
2. The ground of their security. They trusted
in their wickedness, and in their wisdom, t’. 10.
(1.) Their power and wealth, which they had got¬
ten by fraud and oppression, were their confidence.
Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, as I)ocg, I’s.
lii. 7. Many have so debauched their own con¬
sciences, and are got to such a pitch of daring wick¬
edness, that they stick at nothing; and this they
trust to, to carry them through those difficulties
which embarrass men who make conscience rf
what they say and do. They doubt not but thev
shall be too hard for all their enemies, because tin y
dare lie, and kill, and forswear themselves, and do
any thing for their interest. Thus they trust in
their wickedness to secure them, which is the only
thing that will ruin them. (2.) Their policy and
craft, which they called their wisdom, were their
confidence. They thought they could outwit all
mankind, and therefore might set all their enemies
at defiance; but their wisdom and knowledge per¬
verted them, and turned them out of the way, made
them forget themselves, and the preparation neces¬
sary to be made for hereafter.
3. The expressions of their security. Three
things this proud and haughty monarchy said, in her
security; (1.) “I shall be a lady for ever.” She
looked upon the patent of her honour to be nc t
merely during the pleasure of the sovereign Lord,
the Fountain of honour, or during her own good
behaviour, but to be perpetual to the present gene¬
ration and their heirs and successors fi r ever; she
is not only proud that she is a lady, but confident
that she shall be a lady for ever. Thus the New
Testament Babylon says, I sit as a queen, and shall
see no sorrow, Rev. xviii. 7. Those ladies mistake
themselves, and consider not their latter end, who
think they shall be ladies for ever, for death will
shortly lay their honour with them in the dust.
Saints shall be saints for ever, but lords and ladies
will not be so for ever. (2.) “I shall not sit as a
widow, in solitude and sorrow, shall never lose the
power and wealth I am thus wedded b , the mo¬
narchy shall never want a monarch to espouse and
protect it, and be a husband to the state; nor shall
I know the loss of children.” She was as confident
of the continuance of the numbers of her people as
of the dignity of her prince, and had no fear of being
either deposed or depopulated. Those that are in
the height of prosperity, are apt to fancy them
215
• , ISAIAH.
selves out of the reach of adverse fate. (3.) “No
one sees me when I do amiss, and therefore there
will be none to call me to an account. ” It is com¬
mon for sinners to promise themselves impunity,
because they promise themselves secrecy, in their
wicked ways. They trust to their wicked arts and de¬
signs to stand them in stead, because they think they
have carried them on so plausibly that none can dis¬
cern the wickedness and deceit of them.
4. The punishment of their security. It shall be
their ruin; and it will be, (1.) A complete ruin, the
ruin of all their comforts and confidences; “ These
two things shall come u/ion thee , (the very two things
that thou didst set at defiance,) loss of children, and
widowhood. Both thy princes and thy people shall
be cut off, so that thou shalt be no more a govern¬
ment, no more a nation.” Note, God often brings
upon secure sinners those very mischiefs which they
least feared, and thought themselves in least dan¬
ger of; “They shall come upon thee in their per¬
fection, with all their aggravating circumstances,
and without any tiling to allay or mitigate them.”
Afflictions to God’s children are not afflictions in
perfection. Widowhood is not to them a calamity
in perfection, for they have this to comfort them¬
selves with, that their Maker is their Husband; loss
of children is not, for he is better to them than ten
sons; but on his enemies they come in perfection.
Widowhood and loss of children are either of them
great griefs, but both together great indeed. Naomi
thinks she may well be called Marah, when she is
left both of her sons and of her husband; (Ruth i. 5.)
and yet on her these ev ils did not come in perfec¬
tion, for she had two daughters-in-law left, that
were comforts to her; but on Babylon they come in
perfection, she has no comfort remaining. (2.) It
shall lie a sudden and surprising ruin. The evil
shall come in one day, nay in a moment, which will
make it much the more terrible, especially to those
that were so very secure. “ Evil shall come u/ion
thee, and thou shalt have neither time nor way to
provide against it, or to prepare for it; for thou shalt
not know whence it rises, and therefore shalt not
know whereto stand upon thy guard.” Thou shalt
not know the morning thereof; so the Hebrew
phrase is. We know just when and where the day
will break, and the sun rise, but we know not what
the day, when it is come, will bring forth, nor when
or where trouble will arise; perhaps the storm may
come from that point of the compass which v*e little
thought of. Babylon pretended to great wisdom
and knowledge, (x». 10.) but with all her knowledge
cannot foresee, nor with all her wisdom prevent,
the ruin threatened; “ Desolation shall come upon
thee suddenly, as a thief in the night, which thou
shalt not know, which thou little thoughtest of.”
Fair warning was indeed given them by this and
other prophets of the Lord, of this desolation; but
they slighted that notice, and would give no credit
to it, and therefore justly is it so ordered, that they
should have no other notice of it, but that, partly
through their own security, and partly through the
swiftness and subtilty of the enemy, when it came it
should be a perfect surprise to them. Those that
slight the warnings of the written word, let them
not expect any other premonition. (3.) It shall be
an irresistible ruin, and such as they should have no
fence against; “ Mischief shall come upon thee so
suddenly, that thou shalt have no time to turn thee
in, so strongly, that thou shalt not be able to make
head against it, and to put it off and save thyself.”
There is no opposing of the judgments of God when
they come with commission. Babylon herself, with
all her wealth, and power, and multitude, is not
able to put off the mischief that comes.
IV. They are upbraided with their divinations,
their magical and astrological arts and sciences,
, XLV1I.
which the Chaldeans, above any other nation, were
notorious for, and from them other nations borrowed
all their learning of that kind.
I. This is here spoken of as one of their provoking
sins, which would bring the judgments of God upon
them, v. 9. These evils shall come upon thee to
punish thee for the multitude of thy sorceries , and
the great abundance of thine enchantments. Witch¬
craft is a sin in its own nature exceeding heinous;
it is giving that honour to the devil, which is due to
God only, making God’s enemy our guide, and the
father of lies our oracle; in Babylon it was a national
sin, and had the protection and countenance of the
government; conjurers, for aught that appears, were
their privv counsellors, and prime ministers of state.
And shall not God visit for these things? Observe
what a multitude, what a great abundance of sor¬
ceries and enchantments there were among them;
such a bewitching sin this was, that, when it was
once admitted, it spread like wildfire, and they
never knew any end of it; the deceived and the de¬
ceivers both increased strangely.
II. It is here spoken of as one of their vain confi¬
dences, which they relied much upon, but should
be deceived in, for it would not serve so much as to
give them notice of the judgments coming, much
less to guard against them.
(1.) They are here upbraided with the mighty
pains they had taken about their sorceries and en¬
chantments; Thou hast laboured in them from thy
youth. They trained up their young men in these
studies, and those that applied themselves to them
were indefatigable in their labours about them;
reading books, making observations, trying experi¬
ments. Well, let them stand up now with their
enchantments, and try their skill in the critical
moment. Let them make a stand, if they can, in
opposition to the invading enemy, let them stand to
oiler their service to their country; but to what pur¬
pose? “ Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy
counsels of this kind, thou hast advised with them
all, but hast received no satisfaction from them; the
different schemes they have erected, and the dif¬
ferent judgments they have given, have but increas¬
ed thy perplexity, and tired thee out.” In the
multitude of such counsellors there is no safety.
(2.) They are upbraided with the variety they
had of such kind of people among them, v. 13.
They had their astrologers, or viewers of the hea¬
vens, that did not consider them, as l)a\id, to be¬
hold the wisdom and power of God in them, but,
under pretence of foretelling future events by them,
they viewed the heavens, and forgot him that made
them, and set their dominion on the earth, (Job.
xxxviii. 33.) and has himself dominion over them,
for he rides on the heavens. They had their star¬
gazers, who, by the motions of the stars, their con¬
junctions and oppositions, read the doom of states
and kingdoms; they had their monthly prognostica¬
tors, their almanack-makers, that told what wea¬
ther it should be, or what news they should have
each month. The great stock they had of these,
was what they valued themselves much upon; but
they were all cheats, and their art a sham. 1 con¬
fess, I see not how the judicial astrology which some
now pretend to, by the rules of which they under¬
take to prophesy concerning things to come, can be
distinguished from that of the Chaldeans, and there¬
fore how it can escape the censure and contempt
which this text lays that under; yet I fear there are
some who study their almanacks, and regard them
and their prognostications, more than their Bibles
and the prophecies there.
(3.) They are upbraided with the utter inability
and insufficiency of all these pretenders to do them
any kindness in the day of their distress. Let them
see whether with the help of their enchantments
216 ISAIAH,
they can prevail against their enemies, or profit
themselves, inspirit their own forces, or dispirit
tnose that came against them, v. 12. Let them
see what service those can do them, who make a
trade of divination; “ Let them stand up, and either
by their power save thee from these evils that are
coming upon thee, or by their foresight make such
a discovery of them beforehand, that thou mayest
by needful" precautions save thyself;” as Elisha, by
notifying to the king of Israel the motions of the
Syrian army, enabled him to save himself not once
nor twice, 2 Kings vi. 10. This baffling of the di¬
viners was literally fulfilled, when, the night that
Babylon was taken, and Belshazzar slain, all his
astrologers, soothsayers, and wise men, were quite
nonplused with the handwriting on the wall, that
pronounced the fatal sentence, Dan. v. 8.
(4.) They are upbraided with the fall of the wise
men themselves in the common ruin, v. 14. They
are unlikely to stand their friends in any stead, who
cannot secure themselves; they are as stubble at
the best, worthless and useless, and they shall be
as stubble before a consuming fire. The Persians,
to make room for their own wise men, will cut off
those of Babylon, that fire shall burn them, and
they shall not deliver themselves from the flower of
the fame. They can expect no other than to be
devuured, who by their sins make themselves fuel to
a devouring fire. When God kindles a fire among
them, it shall not be a coal to warm at, and a fire
to sit before, but a coal to burn them. Or, rather,
it denotes that they shall be utterly consumed by
the judgments of God, burnt quite to ashes, anil
there shall not remain one live coal to do any body
any service; for when God judges, he will overcome.
Lastly, They are upbraided with their mer¬
chants, and those they dealt with, ( v . 15. ) such as
they dealt with from their youth, either, [1.] In a
way of consultation; these astrologers that dealt in
the black art, they always loved to be dealing with,
and they were in effect their merchants; fortune¬
telling was one of the best trades in Babylon, and
those that followed that trade, probably lived as
such, and got as much money as the richest mer¬
chants; yet, when some of them were devoured,
others fled their country, every one to his quarter,
and there was none to save Babylon. Miserable
comforters are they all. Or, [2.] In a way of com¬
merce. As their astrologers, with whom they had
laboured, failed them, so did their merchants; they
took care to secure their own effects, and then
valued not what became of Babylon. They wan¬
dered every one to his own quarter, each man shift¬
ed for his own safety, but none would offer to lend
an helping hand, no not to a city by which they had
got so much money. Every one was for himself,
but few for his friends. The New Testament
Babylon is lamented by the merchants that were
made rich by her, but they very prudently stand
afar off to lament her, (Rev. xviii. 15.) not willing
to attempt any thing for her succour. Happy they
who by faith "and prayer deal with one that will be
a very present Help in time of trouble!
CHAP. XLVJII.
God having, in the foregoing chapter, reckoned with the
Babylonians, and showed them their sins? and the deso¬
lation that was coming upon them for their sins, to show
that he hates sin wherever he finds it, and will not con¬
nive at it in his own people, comes, in this chapter, to
show the house of Jacob their sins, but, withal, the mercy
God had in store for them notwithstanding; and he
therefore sets their sins in order before them, that by
their repentance and reformation they might be prepared
for that mercy. I. He charges them with hypocrisy in
that which is good, and obstinacy in that which is evil,
especially in their idolatry, notwithstanding the many
convincing proofs God had given them, that he is God
alone, v. 1 . .8. II. He assures them that their deliver-
XLV1I1.
ance would be wrought purely for tne sake of God's own
name, and not for any merit of theirs, v. 9.. 11. III.
He encourages them to depend purely upon God’s power
and promise for this deliverance, v. 12. .15. IV. He
show's them that as it was by their own sin that they
brought themselves into captivity, so it would be only
by the grace of God that they would obtain the necessary
preparatives for their enlargement, v. 16.. 19. V. He
proclaims their release, yet with a proviso that the
wicked shall have no benefit by it, v. 20 . . 22.
1. TJTEAR ye this, O house of Jacob,
XI which are called by the name of Is¬
rael, and are come forth out of the waters
of Judah; which swear by the name of the
Lord, and make mention of the God of
Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness.
2. For they call themselves of the holy city,
and stay themselves upon the God of Israel ;
The Lord of hosts is his name. 3. I have
declared the former things from the begin¬
ning ; and they went forth out of my mouth,
and I shewed them; I did them suddenly,
and they came to pass. 4. Because I knew
that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an
iron sinew, and thy brow brass ; 5. I have
even from the beginning declared it to thee ;
before it came to pass I shewed it thee:
lest thou shouldesl say, Mine idol hath done
them ; and my graven image, and my mol¬
ten image, hath commanded them. 6. Thou
hast heard, see all this; and will not ye de¬
clare?’// I have shewed thee new things
from this time, even hidden things, and thou
| didst not know them. 7. They are created
now, and not from the beginning ; even be¬
fore the day when thou heardest them not ;
lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew
them. 8. Yea, thou heardest not ; yea, thou
knewest not; yea, from that time that thine
ear was not opened : for I knew that thou
wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast
called a transgressor from the womb.
We may observe here,
I. The hypocritical profession which many of the
Jews made of religion and relation to God; to those
who made such a profession, the prophet is here
ordered to apply himself for their conviction and
humiliation, that they might own God’s justice in
what he had brought upon tnem.
Now observe here,
1. How high their profession of religion soared,
what a fair show they made in the flesh, and how
far they went toward heaven, what a good livery
they wore, and what a good face they put upon a
very bad heart. (1.) They were the house of Jacob,
they had a place and a name in the visible church,
Jacob have I loved, Jacob is God’s chosen, and they
are not only retainers to his family, but descendants
from him." (2.) They were called by the name oj
Israel, an honourable name; they were of that peo
pie to whom peitained both the giving of the law,
and the promises. Israel signifies a prince with
God; the people prided themselves in being of that
princely race. (3.) They came forth out of the
waters of Judah, and thence were called Jews ;
they were of the royal tribe, the tribe of which
Shiloh was to come, the tribe that adhered to God
when the rest revolted. (4.) They swarc by 'be
ISAIAH, XLVII1. 217
ri'ne of the Lord, and thereby owned him to be the
true God, and their God, and" gave glory to him as
the righteous Judge of all. i'hey sware to the
name of tae Lord; (so it may be read;) they took an
oath of allegiance to him as their King, and joined
themselves to him in covenant. (5.) They made
mention of the God of Israel in their prayers and
praises; they often spake of him, observed his me¬
morials, and pretended to be very mindful of him.
(6.) They called themselves of the holy city, and,
when they were captives in Babylon, purely from a
principle of honour, and jealously for their native
country, they valued themselves upon their interest
in it. Many, who are themselves unholy, are proud
of their relation to the church, the holy city. (7.)
They stayed themselves u/ion the God oj Israel,
and boasted of his promises, and his covenant with
them; they leaned on the Lord, Mic. iii. 11. And
if they were asked concerning their God, they could
say, “ The Lord of hosts is his name, the Lord of
all;” happy we therefore, and very great, who have
relation to him!
2. How low their profession of religion sunk, for
all this. It was all in vain, for it was all a jest, it
was not in truth and righteousness. Their hearts
were not true nor right in these professions. Note,
All our religious professions avail nothing further
than they are made in truth and righteousness. If
we be not sincere in them, we do but take the name
of the Lord our God in vain.
II. The means God used, and the method he
took, to keep them close to himself, and to prevent
their turning aside to idolatry. The many excellent
laws he gave them, with their sanctions, and the
hedges about them, it seems, would not serve to re¬
strain them from that sin which did most easily be¬
set them, and therefore to those God added remark¬
able prophecies, and remarkable providences in
pursuance of those prophecies, which were all de¬
signed to convince them that their God was the only
true God, and that it was therefore both their duty
and interest to adhere to him.
1. He both dignified and favoured them with re¬
markable prophecies; ( v . 3.) / have declared the
former things from the beginning. Nothing ma¬
terial happened to their nation from its original,
which was not prophesied of before — their bondage
in Egypt, their deliverance thence, the situation of
their tribes in Canaan, 8cc. All these things went
forth out of God’s mouth, and he showed them.
Herein they were honoured above any nation, and
even their curiosity gratified — their prophecies were
such as they could rely upon, and such as concerned
themselves and their own nation; and they were all
verified by the accomplishment of them; “ I did
them suddenly, when they were least expected by
themselves or others, and therefore could not be
foreseen by any but a divine prescience; I did them
suddenly, and they came to pass;” for what God
does he does effectually. The very calamities they
were now groaning under in Babylon, God did from
the beginning declare to them by Moses; as the cer¬
tain consequences of their apostacy from God, Lev.
xxvi. 31, &c. Deut. xxviii. 36, &c. — xxix. 28. He
also declared to them their return to God, and to
their own land again, Deut. xxx. 4, &c. Lev. xxvi.
44, 45. Thus he showed them how he would deal
with them long before it came to pass. Let them
compare their present state together with the de¬
liverance they had now in prospect with what was
written in the law, and they would find the scrip¬
ture exactly fulfilled.
2. He both dignified and favoured them with re¬
markable providences; (v. 6.) I have showed thee
new things from this time. Beside the general view
given from the beginning of God’s proceedings with
them, he showed them new things by the prophets of
Vol. IV. — 2 Fa
their own day, and created them; they were hidden
things which they could not otherwise know, as the
prophecy concerning Cyrus, and the exact time of
their release out of Babylon; these things Gcd cre¬
ated new. Their restoration was in effect their
creation, and they had a promise of it nut from ’he
beginning, but of late, for, to prevent their apostacy
from God, or to recover them, prophecy was kept
up among them. Yet it was told them when they
could not come to the knowledge of it any other way
than by divine revelation; “Consider,” (says God,)
“ how much soever it is talked of now among you,
and expected, it was told you by the prophets, when
it was the furthest tiling in your thoughts, when
you had not heard it, when you had not known it,
nor had any reason to expect it, and when your ear
was not opened concerning it, (n. 7, 8.) when the
thing seemed utterly impossible, and you would
scarcely hat e given any one the hearing, who should
have told you of it.” God had showed them hidden
things which were out of the reach of their know¬
ledge, and done for them great things, out of the
reach of their power; “Now,” says he, ( v . 6.)
“ thou hast heard; see all this. Thou hast heard
the prophecy; see the accomplishment of it, and
observe whether the word and works of God do not
exactly agree; and will ye not declare it, that as
you have heard, so you have seen? Will you not
own that the Lord is the true God, the only true
God, that he has the knowledge and power which
no creature has, and which none of the gods of the
nations can pretend to? Will you not own that your
God has been a good God to you? Declare this, to his
honour, and vour own shame, who have dealt so de¬
ceitfully with him, and preferred others before him. ”
III. The reasons why God would take this me¬
thod with them.
1. Because he would anticipate their boastings of
themselves and their idols. (1.) God by his pro¬
phets told them beforehand of their deliverance,
lest they should attribute the doing of it to their
idols. Thus he saw it necessary to secure the
glory of that to himself, which otherwise would
have been given by some of them to their graven
images; “I spake of it,” (says God,) “ lest thou
shouldest say, Mine idol has done it, or has com¬
manded it to be done,” v. 5. There were those that
would be apt to say so, and so would be confirmed
in their idolatry by that which was intended to cure
them of it. But they would now be for ever pre¬
cluded from saying this; far if the idols had none it,
the prophets of the idols would have foretold it; but
the prophets of the Lord having foretold it, it was
no doubt the pow.er of the Lord that effected it.
(2. ) God foretold it by his prophets, lest they should
assume the foresight of it to themselves. Those
that were not so profane as to have ascribed the
thing itself to an idol, were yet so proud as to have
pretended that by their own sagacity they foresaw
it, if God had not been beforehand with them and
spoken first; Lest thou shouldest say, Behold, 1
knew them. Thus vain men, who would be thought
wise, commonly undervalue a thing which is really
great and surprising, with this suggestion, that it was
no more than they expected, and they knew it would
come to this. To anticipate this, and that this boast¬
ing might for ever be excluded, God told them of it
before the day, when as yet they dreamed not of it.
God has said and done enough to prevent men’s
boastings of themselves, and that no Jlesh may glory
in his presence, which, if it have not the intended
effect, will aggravate the sin and ruin of the proud;
and, sooner or later, every mouth shall be stopped,
and all Jlesh shall become silent before God.
3. Because he would leave them inexcusable in
their obstinacy. Therefore he took this pains with
them, because he knew they were obstinate, v. 4.
218 ISAIAH,
He knew they were so obstinate and perverse, that
if he had not supported the doctrine of providence
by prophecy, they would have had the impudence
to deny it, ana would have said, that their idol had
done that which God did. He knew very well, (1.)
How wilful they would be, and how fully bent they
would be upon that which is evil; I knew that thou
toast hard; so the word is. There were prophecies
as well as precepts, which God gave them because
of the hardness of their hearts; “Thy neck is an
iron sinew, unapt to yield, and submit to the yoke
of God’s commandments, unapt to turn, and look
back upon his dealings with thee, or look up to his
displeasure against thee; not flexible to the will of
God, nor pliable to his intentions, not manageable
by his word or providence. Thy brow is brass; thou
art impudent, and canst not blush; insolent, and wilt
not fear or give back, but will thrust on in the way
of thine heart.” God uses means to bring sinners
to comply with him, though he knows they are ob¬
stinate. (2.) How deceitful they would be, and in¬
sincere in that which is good, v. 8. God sent his
prophets to them, but they did not hear, they would
lot know, and it was no more than was expected,
considering what they had been; Thou wast called,
and not miscalled, a transgressor from the womb.
Ever since they were first formed into a people,
they were prone to idolatry; they brought with
them out of Egypt a strange addictedness to that
sin; and they were murmurers as soon as ever they
began their march to Canaan. They were justly
upbraided with it then, Deut. ix. 7, 24. Therefore
I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously.
God foresaw their apostacy, and gave this reason
for it, that he had always found them false and
fickle, Deut. xxxi. 16, 27, 29. This is applicable
to particular persons; we are all bom children of
disobedience, we were called transgressors from
the womb, and therefore it is easy to foresee that we
will deal treacherously, very treacherously. Where
original sin is, actual sin will follow of course. God
knows it, and yet deals not with us according to our
deserts.
9. For my name’s sake will I defer mine
anger, and for my praise will I refrain for
thee, that I cut thee not off. 1 0. Beholch I
have refined thee, but not with silveiyf I
have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
1 1 . F or mine own sake, even for mine own
sake, will I do it: for how should my name
be polluted ? and T will not give my glory
unto another. 12. Hearken unto me, O
Jacob and Israel, my called ; I am he: I am
the first, I also am the last. 13. My hand
also hath laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand hath spanned the hea¬
vens: when I call unto them, they stand up
together. 14. All ye, assemble yourselves,
and hear; which among them hath declared
these things ? The Lord hath loved him;
he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his
arm shall be on the Chaldeans. 15. I, even
I, have spoken; yea, I have called him; I
have brought him, and he shall make his
way prosperous.
The deliverance of God’s people out of their cap¬
tivity in Babvlon was a thing upon many accounts
so improbable, that there was need of line upon line
for the encouragement of the faith and hope of G d’s
people concerning it. T wo things were discouraging
XL VIII.
to them ; their own unworthiness that God should do
it for them, and the many difficulties in the thing
itself; now, in these verses, both these discourage¬
ments are removed, for here is,
I. A reason why God would do it for them, though
they were unworthy; not for their sake, be it known
to them, but for his name's sake, for his own sake
v. 9.— 11.
1. It is true, they had been very provoking, and
God had been justly angry with them — their cap¬
tivity was the punishment of their iniquity ; and if,
when he had them in Babylon, he had left them to
pine away and perish there, and made the desol.i
tions of their country perpetual, he had but dealt
with them according to their sins, and it was what
such a sinful people might expect from an angry
God. “But,” says God, “I will defer mine an¬
ger ,” (or, rather, stifle and suflflress it,) “I will
make it appear that I am slow to wrath, and will
refrain from thee, not pour upon thee what I justly
might, that I should cut thee off from being a peo¬
ple.” And why will God thus stay his hand? Tor
my name's sake; because this people was called bv
his name, and made profession of his name, and, if
they were cut off, the enemies would blaspheme his
name. It is for my flraise; because it would re¬
dound to the honour of his mercy, to spare and
reprieve them, and if he continued them to be to
him a people, they might be to him for a name and
a praise.
2. It is true, they were very corrupt and ill-dis¬
posed, but God would himself refine them, and
make them fit for the mercy he intended for them;
“I have refined thee, that thou mightest be made
a vessel of honour.” Though he does not find tlu m
meet for his favour, he will make them so. And
this accounts for his bringing them into the trouble ,
and continuing them in it so long as he did; it was
not to cut them off, but to do them good; it was to
refine them, but not as silver, or with silver, not so
thoroughly as men refine their silver, which they
continue in the furnace till all the dross is separat d
from it; if God should take that ccurse with them,
they should be always in the furnace, for they are
all dross, and, as such, might justly be put awav,
(Ps. cxix. 119.) as reprobate silver, Jer. vi. 30. He
therefore takes them as they are, refined in part
only, and not thoroughly. “I have chosen thee in the
furnace of affliction, I have made thee a choice one
by the good which the affliction has done thee, and
then designed thee for great things.” Many have
been brought home to God as chosen vessels, and a
a good work of grace been begun in them, in the
furnace of affliction. Affliction is no bar to God’s
choice, but subservient to his purpose.
3. It is true, they could not pretend to merit at
God’s hand so great a favour as their deliverance
out of Babylon, which would put such an honour
upon them, and bring them so much joy; There¬
fore, says God, For mine own sake, even for mine
own sake, will I do it, v. 11. See how the empha¬
sis is laid upon that, for it is a reason that cannot
fail, and therefore the resolution grounded upon it
cannot fall to the ground. God will do it, not be¬
cause he owes them such a favour, but to save the
honour of his own name, that that may not be pol¬
luted by the insolent triumphs of the heathen, who,
in triumphing over Israel, thought they triumphed
over the God of Israel, and imagined their gods too
hard for him. This was plainlv the language of
Belshazzar’s revels, when he profaned the holy ves¬
sels of God’s temple at the same time when he
praised his idols, (Dan. v. 2.) and of the Babyloni¬
ans’ demand, (Ps. cxxxvii. 3.) Sing us one of the
songs of Zior. G^d will therefore deliver his peo¬
ple, because he will iv t suffer his glory to be thus
given to another. Mcsts pleaded this often with
ISAIAH
God, Lord, what will the Egyptians say? Note,
God is jealous for the honour of his own name, and
will not suffer the wrath of man to proceed any fur¬
ther than he will make it turn to his praise. And it
is matter of comfort to God’s people, that, whatever
comes of them, God will secure his own honour;
and, as far as is necessary to that, God will work
deliverance for them.
II. Here is a proof that God could do it for them,
though they were unable to help themselves, and
the thing seemed altogether impracticable. Let
Jacob and Israel hearken to this, and believe it, and
take the comfort of it. They are God’s called, call¬
ed according to his purpose, called by him out of
Egypt, (Hos. xi. 1.) and now out of Babylon, a peo¬
ple whom with a distinguishing favour lie calls by
name, and calls to; they are his called, for they are
called to him, called bv his name, and called his:
and therefore he will look after them; and they may
be assured that as he will deliver them for his own
sake, so he will deliver them by his own strength;
they need not fear then, for,
1. He is God alone, and the eternal God; (v. 12. )
“ lam he, who can do what I will, and will do what
is best; he whom none can compare with, much
less contend with; 1 am the First, I also am the
Last.” Who can be too quick for him that is the
First, or prevent him? Who can be too hard for
him that is the Last, and will keep the field against
all opposers, and will reign till they are all made
his footstool? What room then is left to doubt of
their deliverance, when he undertakes it, whose de¬
signs cannot but be well laid, for he is the First; and
well executed, for he is the Last: as for this God,
his work is perfect.
2. He is the God that made the world, and he
that did that can do any thing, v. 13. Look we
down? We see the earth firm under us, and feel it
so, it was his hand that laid out the foundation of it.
Look we up? We see the heavens spread out as a
canopy over our heads, and it was his hand that
spread them, that spanned them, that stretched
them out, and did it by an exact measure, as the
workman sometimes metes out his work by spans.
This intimates that God has a vast reach, and can
compass designs of the greatest extent. If the palm
of his right hand (so the margin reads it) has gone
so far as to stretch out the heavens, what will he do
with his outstretched arm? Yet this is not all; he
has not only made the heavens and the earth, and
therefore he in whom our hope and help is, is omni¬
potent, (Ps. cxxiv. 8.) but he has the command of
all the hosts of both; when he calls them into his
service, to go on his errand, they stand up together,
thev come at the call, they answer to their names;
“ Here we are, what wilt thou have us to do?”
They stand up, not only in reverence to their Cre¬
ator, but in a readiness to execute his orders; they
stand up together unanimously, concurring, and help¬
ing one another in the service of their Maker. If
God therefore will deliver his people, he cannot be
at a loss for instruments to be employed in it.
3. He has already foretold it, and, having infinite
knowledge, so that he foresaw it, no doubt he has
almighty power to effect it; “All ye of the house
of Jacob, assemble yourselves, and hear this for
your comfort, Which among them, among the gods
of the heathen, or their wise men, has declared
these things, or could declare them?” v. 14. They
had no foresight of them at all, but those who con¬
sulted them were very confident that Babylon should
be a lady for ever, and Israel a perpetual slave; and
their oracles did not give them the least hint to the
contrary, to undeceive them; whereas God by his
prophets had given notice to the Jews, long before,
"f their captivity, and the destruction of Jerusalem;
i s he had now likewise given them notice of their
xlviii. 2io
release; (v. 15.) I, even I, have spoken; and he
would not have spoken it, if he could not have made
it good: none could outsee him, and therefore we
may be sure that none could outdo him.
4. The person is pitched upon, who is to be em¬
ployed in this service, and the measures are con¬
certed in the divine counsels, which are unalterable.
Cyrus is the man who must do it; and it tends much
to strengthen our assurance that a thing shall be
done, when we are particularly informed how and
by whom. It is not left at uncertainty who shall do
it, but the matter is fixed: (1.) It is one whom God
is well pleased in, upon this account, because he is
designed for this service; The Lord has loved him;
(v. 14.) he has done him this favour, this lu nour to
make him an instrument of the redemption of his
people, and therein a type of the great Redeemer,
God’s beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased.
Those God does a great kindness to, and has a great
kindness for, whom he makes serviceable to his
church. (2. ) It is one whom God will give authority
and commission to; I have called him, have given
him a sufficient warrant, and therefore will bear
him out. (3.) It is one whom God will by a series
of providences lead to this service; “ I have brought
him from a far country, brought him to engage
against Babylon, brought him step by step, quite
beyond his own intentions.” Whom God calls he
will bring, will cause them to come, (so the word is,)
to come at the call. (4.) It is one whom God will
own, and give success to. Cyrus will do God’s
pleasure on Babylon, that which it is his pleasure
should be done, and which he will be pleased with
the doing of, though Cyrus has ends of his own to
serve, and has no regard either to the will of God,
or to his favour, in the doing of it. His arm, Cy¬
rus’s army, and in it God’s arm, shall come, and be
upon the Chaldeans, to bring them down; (v. 14.)
for if God call him, and bring him, he will certainly
make his way prosperous, v. 15. Then we may
hope to prosper in our way, when we follow a di¬
vine call and guidance.
16. Come ye near unto me, hear ye this;
I have not spoken in secret horn the begin¬
ning; from the time that it was, there am I:
and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath
sent me. 17. Thus saith the Lord, thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel ; I am the
Lord thy God which teacheth thee to pro¬
fit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou
shouldest go. 1 8. O that thou hadst heark¬
ened to my commandments ! then had thy
peace been as a river, and thy righteousness
as the waves of the sea; 19. Thv seed also
had been as the sand, and the offspring of
thy bowels like the gravel thereof ; his name
should not have been cut off nor destroyed
from before me. 20. Go ye forth of Baby¬
lon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice
of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even
to the end of the earth ; say ye, The Lord
hath redeemed his servant Jacob. 21. And
they thirsted not when he led them through
the deserts : he caused the waters to flow
out of the rock for them; he clave the rock
also, and the waters gushed out. 22. Then
is no peace, saith the Lor d, unto the w icked
Here, as before, Jacob and Israel are summoned
to hearken to the prophet speaking in God’s name
22C ISAIAH, XLVII1.
or rather to God speaking in and by the prophet,
and that as a type of the great Prophet by whom
God has in these last days spoken unto us, and that
is sufficient; Come ye near therefore, ancl hear this.
Note, Those that would hear and understand what
God says, must come near, and approach to him;
let them come as near as they can; let those that
have hearkened to the tempter, now come near,
and hear this, that thev may be confirmed in their
resolutions to serve God. Those that draw nigh to
God may depend upon this, that his secret shall be
with them. Here,
I. God refers them to what he had both said to
them, and done for them, formerly, which if they
would reflect upon, they might thence fetch great
encouragement to trust in God at this time. 1. He
had always spoken plainly to them, from the be¬
ginning, by Moses and all the prophets; I have not
s/:olcen in secret, but publicly, from the top of mount
Sinai, and in the chief places of concourse, the so¬
lemn assemblies of their tribes; he did not deliver
his oracles obscurely and ambiguously, but so that
they might be understood, Hab. ii. 2. 2. He had
always acted wonderfully for them; From the ti?ne
that they were first formed into a people, there am
I, there have I been resident among them, and pre¬
siding in their affairs. He sent them prophets,
raised them up judges, and frequently appeared for
them. And therefore there 1 will be still. He
that has been with his people hitherto, will be to
the end.
II. The prophet himself, as a type of the great
Prophet, asserts his own commission to deliver this
message; Now the Lord God (the same that spake
from the beginning, and did not speak in secret,)
has by his S/iirit sent me, v. 16. 1 he Spirit of God
is here spoken of as a person distinct from the Fa¬
ther and the Son, and having a divine authority to
send prophets. Note, Whom God sends the Spirit
sends. Those whom God commissions for any ser¬
vice, the Spirit in some measure qualifies for it: and
those may speak boldly, and must be heard obe¬
diently, whom God and his Spirit send. As that
which the prophet says to the same purport with
this ( ch . lxi. 1.) is applied to Christ, (Luke iv. 21.)
so may this be; the Lord God sent him, and he 'had
the Spirit without measure.
III. God by the prophet sends them a gracious
message for their support and comfort under their
affliction. The preface to this message is both
awful and encouraging; (v. 17.) Thus saith Jeho¬
vah, the eternal God thy Redeemer, that has often
been so, that has engaged to be so, and will be faith¬
ful to the engagement, for he is the Holy One, that
cannot deceive, the Holy One of Israel, that will
not deceive them. The same words that introduce
the law, and gave authority to that, introduce the
promise, and gave validity to that; “ I am the Lord
thy God, whom thou mayest depend upon as in re¬
lation to thee, and in covenant with thee.”
1. Here is the good work which God undertakes
to fulfil in them; he that is their Redeemer, in order
to that, will be, (1.) Their Instructor; “ lam thy
God that teaches thee to profit, teaches thee such
things as are profitable for thee, things that belong
to thy peace.” By this God shows himself to be a
God in covenant with us, by his teaching us; (Hcb.
viii. 10, 11.) and none teaches like him, for he gives
an understanding. Whom God redeems, he teaches;
whom he designs to deliver out of their afflictions,
he first teaches to profit by their afflictions, makes
them partakers of his holiness; for that is the / irojit
for which he chastens us, Hcb. xii. 10. (2.) Their
Guide; he leads them to the way, and in the way by
which they should go; he not only enlightens their
eyes, but directs their steps; by his grace he leads
then in the way of duty, by his providence he leads
them in the way of deliverance. Happy they that
are under such a guidance !
2. Here is the good will which God declares he
had for them, by his good wishes concerning them,
v. 18, 19. He had indeed brought them into cap¬
tivity, but it was their own fault, nor did he afflict
them willingly. (1.) As when he gave them his
law, he earnestly wished they might be obedient,
(O that there were such a heart in them! Deut. v.
29. O that they were wise! Deut. xxxii. 29. ) so,
when he had punished them for the breach of his
law, he wished they had been obedient; O that thou
hadst hearkened to my commandments! O that my
people had hearkened unto me! Ps. Ixxxi. 13.
This confirms what God has said and sworn, that he
has no pleasure in the death of sinners. (2.) He as¬
sures them that if they had been obedient, that would
not only have prevented their captiv ity, but would
have advanced and perpetuated their prosperity.
He had abundance of good things ready to bestow
upon them, if their sins had not turned them away,
ch. lix. 1, 2. [1.] They should have been carried
on in a constant uninterrupted stream of prosperity;
“ Thy peace should have been as a river, theu
shouldst have enjoyed a series of mercies, one con¬
tinually following another, as the waters of a river,
which always last;” Labitur, et labetur in omne
volubilis avum — It flows, and will for ever flow;
not like the waters of a land-llood, which are scon
gone. [2.]] Their v irtue and honour, and the jus¬
tice of their cause, should in all cases have borne
down opposition by their own strength, as the waves
of the sea; such should their righteousness have
been, nothing should have stood before it; whereas
now they have been disobedient, the current of their
prosperity was interrupted, and their righteousm ss
overpowered. [3.] The rising generation should
have been very numerous, and very prosperous,
whereas they were now very few, as appears by the
small number of the returning captives, (Ezra ii.
64.) not so many as of one tribe when they came cut
of Egypt; they should have been numberless as the
sand, according to the promise (Gen. xxii. 17.)
which they had forfeited the benefit of; “ The off¬
spring of thy bowels had been innumerable, like the
gravel of the sea, if thy righteousness had been irre¬
sistible and unconquerable as the waves of the sea.”
[4.] The honour of Israel had still been unstained,
untouched; His name should not have been cut off ,
as now it is in the land of Israel, which is either
desolate, or inhabited by strangers; nor should it
have been destroyed from before God. We cannot
reckon the name either of a family or of a kingdom
destroyed, till it is destroyed from before God, till
it ceases to be a name in his holy place. Now G< d
tells them thus wh.it he would have done for fht m,
if they had persevered in their obedience; First,
That they might be the more humbled for their
sins, by which they had forfeited such rich mercies.
Note, This shoulcl engage us, I might say, enrage
us, against sin, that it has not only deprived us of
the good things we have enjoyed, but prevented the
good things God had in store for us. It will make
the misery of the disobedient the more intolerable,
to think how happy they might have been. Se
condly. That his mercy might appear the more il
lustrious in working deliverance and salvation foi
them, though they had forfeited it, and rendered
themselves unworthy of it. Nothing but a prero¬
gative of mercy would have saved them.
3. Here is assurance given of the great work
which God designed to work for them, even their
salvation out of their captivity, when he had accom
plished his work in them.
(1.) Here is a commission granted them to leave
Babylon; God proclaimed it long before Cvras did,
I that whoever would, might return to his own land.
221
ISAIAH, XLIX.
( v . 20.) “ You have a full discharge sent you, go ye
forth out of Babylon ; the prison-doors are thrown
open, and the trumpet sounds, proclaiming a re¬
lease. ” Perhaps, with this word, as a means, the
Spirit of the Lord stirred up the spirits of those that
did take the benefit of Cyrus’s proclamation; (Ezra
i. 5.) Flee ye from the Chaldeans, not with an ig¬
nominious, stolen flight, as Jacob fled from Laban,
but with a holy disdain, as scorning to stay any
longer among them; flee ye, not silently and sorrow¬
fully, but with a voice, with a voice of singing, as
they fled of old out of Egypt, Exod. xv. 1.
(2.) Here is the news of this sent to all parts;
“ Let it be declared, let it be told, let it be uttered,
make it to be heard by the most remote, by the most
remiss, send the tidings of it by word of mouth, send
it by writing from city to city, from kingdom to
kingdom, even to the utmost regions, to the ends of
the earth.” This was a figure of the publishing of
the gospel to all the world; but thatabrings glad ti¬
dings which all the world is concerned in, this only
that which it is fit all should take notice of, that
they may be invited by it to forsake their idols, and
come into the service of the God of Israel. Let
them all know then,
[1.] That those whom God owns for his are such
as he has dearly bought and paid for; The Lord has
redeemed his servant Jacob; he has done it formerly,
when he brought them out of Egypt, and now he is
about to do it again. Jacob was God’s servant, and
therefore he redeemed him ; for what had other mas¬
ters to do with God’s servants? Israel is God’s son,
therefore Pharaoh must let him go. God redeem¬
ed Jacob, and therefore it was fit that he should be
his servant; (Ps. cxvi. 16.) the bonds God had
loosed, tied them the faster to him. He that re¬
deemed us has an unquestionable right to us.
[2. ] That those whom God designs to bring home
to himself, he will take care of, that they want not
for the necessary expenses of their journey. When
he brought them out of Egy/it, and led them
through the deserts, [y. 21.) they thirsted not, (y.
21.) tor in all their removes the water out of the
rock followed them; thence he caused the waters to
flow, and since rock- water is the clearest and finest,
God clave the rock, and the waters gushed out; for
he can fetch in necessary supplies for his people the
way that they think least likely. This refers to
what he did for them when he brought them out of
Egypt; when all this was literally true. But it
should not be in effect done again, in their return
out of Babylon, so well provided for shall they and
theirs be in their return. God does his work as ef¬
fectually by marvellous providences as by miracles,
though perhaps they be not so much taken notice of.
This is applicable to those treasures of grace laid
up for us in Jesus Christ, from which all good flows
to us as the water did to Israel out of the rock, for
that Rock is Christ.
(3.) Here is a caveat put in against the wicked
who go on still in their trespasses; Let not them
think to have any benefit among God’s people,
though in show and profession they herd themselves
among them ; let them not expect to come in sharers;
no, (v. 22.) though God’s thoughts concerning the
body of that people were thoughts of peace, yet to
those among them that were ’wicked , and hated to
be reformed, there is no peace, no peace with God
or their own consciences, no, no real good, what¬
ever is pretended to. What have they to do with
peace, who are enemies to God? Their false pro¬
phets cried Peace to them to whom it did not be¬
long; but God tells them that there shall be no
peace, nor any thing like it, to the wicked. The
quarrel sinners have commenced with God, if not
taken up in time i>y repentance, will be an ever¬
lasting quarrel.
CHAP. XLIX.
! Glorious things had been spoken in the chapters before,
concerning the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon:
but lest any should think, when it was accomplished,
that it looked much greater and brighter in the prophecy
than in the performance, and that the return of about
40,000 Jews in a poor condition out of Babylon to Jeru¬
salem, was not an event sufficiently answering to the
height and grandeur of the expressions used in the pro¬
phecy, he here comes to show that the prophecy had a
further intention, and was to have its full accomplish¬
ment in a redemption that should as far outdo these ex¬
pressions as the other seemed to come short of themj
even the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, of
whom not only Cyrus, who was God’s servant in work¬
ing the Jews’ deliverance, but Isaiah too, who was God’s
servant in foretelling it, was a type. In this chapter, we
have, 1. The designation of Christ, under the type of
Isaiah, to his office as Mediator, v. I.. 3. II. The assu¬
rance given him of the success of his undertaking among
the Gentiles, v. 3. . 8. 111. The redemption thalshould
be wrought by him, and the progress of that redemption,
v. 9. . . 12. IV. The encouragement given hence to the
afflicted church, v. 13.. 17. V. The addition of many
to it, and the setting up of a church among the Gentiles,
v. 18.. 23. VI. A ratification of the prophecy of the
Jews’ release out of Babylon, which was to be the figure
and type of all these blessings, v. 24 . . 26. If this chap¬
ter be rightly understood, we shall see ourselves to be
more concerned in the prophecies relating to the Jews’
deliverance out of Babylon than we thought we were.
1.TT ISTEN, O isles, unto me; and
1 A hearken, ye people, from far ; The
Lord hath called me from the womb; from
the bowels of my mother hath he made
mention of my name. 2. And he hath made
my mouth like a sharp sword ; in the shadow
of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a
polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me
3. And said unto me, Thou art my servant
O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 4.
Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have
spent my strength for nought, and in vain
yet surely my judgment is with the Lord
and my work with my God. 5. And now
saith the Lord that formed me from th<
womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again
to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet
shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God shall be my strength. 6. And
he said, It is a light thing that thou should-
est be my servant, to raise up the tribes of
Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel ,
I will also give thee for a light to the Gen¬
tiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto
the end of the earth.
Here,
I. An auditory is summoned together, and atten¬
tion demanded. The sermon in the chapter before
was directed to the house of Jacob and the peo¬
ple of Israel, v. 1, 12. But this is directed to the
isles, the Gentiles, for they are called the isles of
the Gentiles, (Gen. x. 5.) and to the people from
far, that were strangers to the commonwealth of
Israel, and afar off. Let these listen (7'. 1.) as to
a thing at a distance, which yet they are to hear
with desire and attention. Note, 1. The tidings of
a Redeemer are sent to the Gentiles, and to those
that lay most remote; and they are concerned to
listen to them. 2. The Gentiles listened to the gos¬
pel, when the Jews were deaf to it.
II. The great Author and Publisher of tl • rc-
222
ISAIAH
demption produces his authority from heaven for
the work he had undertaken. 1. God had ap¬
pointed him, and set him apart tor it; The Lord
has called vie from the womb to this office, and
made mention of my name , nominated me to be
the Saviour: by an angel he called him Jesus— a Sa-
viour, who should save his people from their sins,
Matth. i. 21. Nay, from the womb of the divine
counsels, before all worlds, he was called to this
service, and help was laid upon him; and he came
at the call, for he said, Lo, I come, with an eye to
what was written of him in the volume of the book.
This was said of some of the prophets, as types of
him, Jer. i. 5. Paul was separated to the apostleship
from his mother’s womb, Gal. i. 15. 2. God had
fitted and qualified him for the service to which he
designed him; he made his mouth like a sharp
sword, and made him like a polished shaft, or a
bright arrow; furnished him with every tiling ne¬
cessary to fight God’s battles against the powers of
darkness, to conquer Satan, and reduce God’s re¬
volted subjects to their allegiance, by his word, that
is, the two-eged sword (Heb. iv. 12.) which comes
out of his mouth, Rev. xix. 15. The convictions of
the word are the arrows that shall be sharp in the
hearts of sinners, Ps. xlv. 5. 3. God had prefer¬
red him to the service tor which he had reserved
him; He has hid me in the shadow of his hand
and in his quiver, which denotes, (1.) Concealment:
the gospel of Christ, and the calling in ot the Gen¬
tiles by it, were long hidden from ages and genera¬
tions, hidden in God, (Eph. iii. 5. Rom. xvi. 25.)
hidden in the shadow of the ceremonial law, and
the Old Testament types. (2.) Protection: the
house of David was the particular care ot the Di¬
vine Providence, because that blessing was in it.
Christ in his infancy was sheltered from the rage
of Herod. 4. God had owned him; had said unto
him, “ Thou art my Servant, whom 1 have em¬
ployed, and will cause to succeed; thou art Israel in
effect, the Prince with God, that hast wrestled and
prevailed; and in thee I will be glorified.” The peo¬
ple of God are Israel, and they are all gathered to¬
gether, and summed up, as it were, in Christ, the
great Representative of all Israel, as the High
Priest who had the names of all the tribes on his
breastplate; and in him God is, and will be, glori¬
fied; so he said by a voice from heaven, John xii. 27,
28. Some read the words in two clauses, Thou art
my servant, (so Christ is, ch. xlii. 1.) It is Israel in
whom I will be glorified by thee; it is the spritual
Israel, the elect, in the salvation of whom by Jesus
Christ God will be glorified, and his free grace for
ever admired.
III. He is assured of the good success of his un¬
dertaking; for whom God calls, he will prosper.
And as to this,
1. He objects the discouragement he had met
with at his first setting out; (y. 4.) “ Then I said,
with a sad heart, I have laboured in vain; those
that were ignorant, and careless, and strangers to
God, are so still; I have called and they have
refused, I have stretched out my hands to a gainsay¬
ing people.” This was Isaiah’s complaint, but it
was no more than he was bid to expect, ch. vi. 9.
The same was a temptation to Jeremiah to resolve
he would labour no more, Jer. xx. 9. It is the
complaint of many a faithful minister, that has not
•offered, but laboured, not spared, but spent, his
strength, and himself with it, and yet, as to many,
it is all in vain, and for naught, they will not be pre¬
vailed with to repent and believe. But here it seems
,o point at the obstinacy of the Jews, among whom
Christ went in person, preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, laboured, and spent his strength, and yet
the rulers and the body of the nation rejected him
and his doctrine; so very few were brought in,
, XLIX.
when one would have thought none should have
stood out, that he might well say, “ I have labour¬
ed in vain, preached so many sermons, wrought so
many miracles, in vain.” Let not the ministers
think it strange that they are slighted, when the
Master himself was.
2. He comforts himself under this discouragement
with this consideration, that it was the cause of God
in which he was engaged, and the call of God that
engaged him in it; Yet surely my judgment is with
the Lord, who is the Judge of all, and my work with
my Gocl, whose servant 1 am. His comfort is, and it
may be the comfort of all faithful ministers, when
they see little success of their labours, (1.) That,
however it be, it is a righteous cause that they are
pleading; they are witli God, and for God, they are
on his side, and workers together with him. They
like not their judgment, the rule they go by, nor
their work, the business they are employed in, ever
the worse for this; the unbelief of men gives them
no cause to suspect the truth of their doctrine, Rem.
iii. 3. (2.) That their management of this cause, nd
their prosecution of this work, were known to God,
and they could appeal to him concerning their iin-
cerity, and that it was not through any neglect of
theirs that they laboured in vain; “He knows the
way that I take ; my judgmentis with the Lord, to de¬
termine whether 1 have not delivered my soul, and
left the blood of them that perish on their own heads.”
(3.) Though the labour be in vain as to those that
were laboured with, yet not as to the labourer himself,
if he be faithful: his judgmentis with the Lord, who
will justify him, and bear him out, though men con¬
demn him, and run him down; and his work, the re¬
ward of his work, is with his God, who will take care
he shall be no loser, no, not by his lost labour. (4. )
Though the judgment be not yet brought forth unto
victory, nor the work to perfection, yet both are with
the Lord, to carry them on, and give them success,
according to his puqiose, in his own way and time.
3. He receives from God a further answer to this
objection, v. 5, 6. He knew very well that God had
set him on work, had formed him from the womb
to be his servant, had not only called him so early
to it, (y. 1. ) but begun so early to fit him for it,
and dispose him to it. Those whom God designs to
employ as his servants, he is fashioning and prepar¬
ing to be so long before, when perhaps neither
themselves nor others are aware of it; it is he that
forms the spirit of man within him. Christ was to
be his Servant, to bring Jacob again to him, that
had treacherously departed from him; the seed of
Jacob, therefore, according to the flesh, must first
be dealt with, and means used to bring them back,
Christ, and the word of salvation by him, are sent
to them first, nay, Christ comes in person to them
only, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But
what if Jacob will not be brought back to God, and
Israel will not be gathered? So it proved; but this
is a satisfaction in that case.
(1.) Christ will be glorious in the eyes of the
Lord; and those are truly glorious, that are so in
God’s eyes. Though few of the Jewish nation
were converted by Christ’s preaching and miracles,
and many of them loaded him with ignominy and dis¬
grace, yet God put honour upon him, and made
him glorious, at his baptism, and in his transfigu¬
ration, spake to him from heaven, sent angels to
minister to him, made even his shameful death glo¬
rious by the many prodigies that attended it, much
more his resurrection. In his sufferings, God was
his Strength, so that though he met witli all the
discouragement imaginable, by the contempts of
a people whom he had done so much to oblige, yet
he did not fail, nor was discoursed. An angel was
sent from heaven to strengthen him, Luke xxii. 43.
I Faithful ministers, though they see not the fruit cf
223
ISAIAH
their labours, shall vet be accepted of God, and in
that they shall be truly glorious, for his favour is
our honour; and they shall be assisted to proceed
and persevere in their labours notwithstanding. This
weakens their hands, but their God will be their
Strength.
(2.) The gospel shall be glorious in the eyes of
the world; though it be not so in the eyes of the
Jews, yet it shall be entertained by the nations, ( v . 6. )
The Messiah seemed as if he had been primarily de¬
signed to bring Jacob bach, v. 5. But be is here told
that it is comparatively but a small matter; a higher
orb of honour than that, and a larger sphere of use¬
fulness, are designed him; “It is a light thing that
thou shouldest be my Servant-, to raise up the tribes
of Jacob to the dignity and dominion they expect
by the Messiah, and to restore the preserved of Is¬
rael, and m, ike them a flourishing church and state
as formerly;” (nay, considering what a little handful
of people they are, it would be but a small matter, in
comparison, for the Messiah to be the Saviour of
them only;) “and therefore, I will give thee for a
Light to the Gentiles, many great and mighty na¬
tions by the gospel of Christ shall be brought to the
knowledge and worship of the true God, that thou
mayest be my Salvation, the Author of that salva¬
tion which I have designed for lost man, and this
to the end of the earth, to nations at the greatest
distance.” Hence Simeon learned to call Christ a
Light to lighten the Gentiles; (Luke ii. 32.) and St.
Paul’s exposition of this text is what we ought to
abide bv, and it serves for a key to the context,
Acts xiiii. 47. Therefore, says he, we turn to the
Gentiles, to preach the gospel to them, because so
has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee
to be a light to the Gentiles. In this, the Redeemer
was truly glorious, though Israel was not gathered;
the setting up of his kingdom in the Gentile world
was more bis honour, than if he had raised up all
the tribes of Jacob. This promise is in part fulfilled
already, and will have a further accomplishment if
that time be yet to come, which the apostle speaks of
when the fulness of the Gentiles shall tie brought in.
Observe, God calls it his salvation, which some think
intimates how well pleased he was with it, how he
gloried in it, and (if I may so say) how much his
heart was upon it. They further observe, that
Christ is given for a Light to all those to whom he
is given for salvation. It is in darkness that men
perish; Christ enlightens men’s eyes, and so makes
diem holy and happy.
7. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom
man despiseth, to him whom the nation ab-
horreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall
see and arise, princes also shall worship,
because of the Lord that is faithful, and
the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose
thee. 8. Thus saith the Lord, in an ac¬
ceptable time have I heard thee, and in a
day of salvation have I helped thee : and I
will preserve thee, and give thee for a cove¬
nant of the people, to establish the earth, to
cause to inherit the desolate heritages : 9.
That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go
forth ; to them that are in darkness, Shew
yourselves: they shall feed in the ways, and
their pastures shall be in all high places. 10.
They shall not hunger nor thirst ; neither
shall the heat nor sun smite them; for he
that hath mercy on them shall lead them,
, XLIX.
even by the springs of water shall he guide
them. 11. And 1 will make all my moun¬
tains a way, and my highways shall be
exalted. 12. Behold, these shall come
from far; and, lo, those from the north and
from the west; and these from the land of
Sinim.
In these verses, we have,
I. The humiliation and exaltation of the Mes¬
siah. ; (p. 7. ) The Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and
Israel’s Holy One, who had always taken care of
the Jewish church, and wrought out for them those
deliverances that were typical of the great salva¬
tion, speaks here to him who was the Undertaker of
that salvation. And, 1. He takes notice of his hu¬
miliation, the instances of which were uncommon,
nav, unparalleled. He was one whom man despised;
(i ch . liii. 3.) he is despised and rejected of men. To
be despised by so mean a creature, (man, who is him¬
self a worm,) bespeaks the lowest and most con¬
temptible condition imaginable. Man, whom he
came to save, and to put honour upon, yet despised
him, and put contempt upon him; so wretchedly un¬
grateful were his persecutors. The igm minv he
underwent was not the least of his sufferings: they
not only made him despicable, but odious; he was
one whom the nation abhorred; they treated him as
the worst of men, and cried out, Crucify him, cru¬
cify him. The nation did it, the Gentiles as well
as Jews, and the Jews herein worse than Gentiles;
for his cross was to the one a stumbling-block, and to
the other foolishness. He was a servant of rulers, he
was trampled upon, abused, scourged, and crucified
as a slave. Pilate boasted of his power over him,
John xix. 10. This he submitted to for our salva¬
tion. 2. He promises him his exaltation. Honour
was done him, even in the depth of his humiliation.
Herod the king stood in awe of him, saying, It is
John the Baptist; noblemen, rulers, centurions,
came and kneeled to him; but this was more fully
accomplished when kings received his gospel, and
submitted to his yoke, and joined in the worship of
him, and called themselves the vassals of Christ.
Not that Christ values the rich more than the poor,
(they stand upon a level with him,) but it is for the
honour of his kingdom among men, when the
great ones of the earth appear for him, and do ho¬
mage to him. This shall be the accomplishment of
God’s promise, that he will give him the heathen for
his inheritance, and therefore it shall be done, be¬
cause of the Lord, who is faithful and true to his
promise; and it shall be an evidence that Christ
had a commission for what he did, and that God
had chosen him, and would own the choice he bad
made.
II. The blessings he has in store for all those to
whom he is made salvation.
1. God will own and stand by him in his under¬
taking; (i/. 8.) In an acceptable time have I heard
thee, that is, 1 will hear thee. Christ, in the days
of his flesh, offered up strong cries, and was heard,
Heb. v. 7. He knew that the Father heard him
always, (John xi. 42.) heard him for himself, (for
though the cup might not pass from him, yet he was
enabled to drink it,) heard him for all that are his,
and therefore he interceded for them as one hav¬
ing authority, Father, I will, John xvii. 24. All
our happiness results from the Son’s interest in the
Father, and the prevalency of his intercession, that
be always heard him; and this makes the gospel¬
time an acceptable time, welcome to us, because we
are accepted of God, both reconciled and recom¬
mended to him, that God hears the Redeemer for
us, Heb. vii. 25. Nor will he hear him only, but
help him to go through with his undertaking. The
224
ISAIAH, XLIX.
father was always with him at his right hand, and
did nut leave him when his disciples did. Violent
attacks were made upon our Lord Jesus by the
powers of darkness, when it was their hour to h ive
driven him off from his undertakings, but God pro¬
mises to preserve him, and enable him toperseyerein
it; on that one stone were seven eyes, Zech. iii. 9.
God would preserve him, would preserve his in¬
terest; his kingdom among men, though fought
against on all sides. Christ is preserved while
Christianity is.
2. God will authorize him to apply to lus church
the benefits of the redemption he is to work out.
God’s preserving and helping him was to make the
day of his gospel a day of salvation. And so the
apostle understands it; Behold, now is the day of
salvation, now the word of reconciliation by Christ
is preached, 2 Cor. vi. 2.
(1.) He shall be a Guarantee of the treaty of
peace between God and man; I will give thee for a
covenant of the fieofde. This we had before, {ch.
xlii. 6. ) and it is here repeated as faithful, and well
worthy of all acceptation and observation. He is
given for a covenant, for a pledge of all the bless¬
ings of the covenant; it was in him that God was
reconciling the world to himself and he that spared j
not his own Son, will deny us nothing. He is given ]
for a Covenant, not only 'as he is the Mediator of
the covenant, the blessed Days-man who has laid j
his hand ufion us both, but as he is all in all in the j
covenant. All the duty of the covenant is summed j
up in our being his; and all the privilege and hap¬
piness of the covenant are summed up in his being
ours.
(2.) He shall repair the decays of the church,
and build it upon a rock. He shall establish the
earth, or rather, the land, the land of Judah, a type
of the church; he shall cause the desolate heritages
to be inherited; so the cities of Judah were after the
return out of captivity, and so the church, which in
the last and degenerate ages of the Jewish nation
had been as a country- laid waste, but was again re¬
plenished by the fruits of the preaching of the
gospel.
(3.) He shall free the souls of men from the bon¬
dage of guilt and corruption, and bring them into
the glorious liberty of God’s children. He shall say
to the prisoners that were bound over to the justice
of God, and bound under the power of Satan, (lo
forth, v. 9. Pardoning mercy is a release from the
curse of the law, and renewing grace is a release
from the dominion of sin; both are from Christ, and
are branches of the great salvation; it is he that
says, Go forth; it is the Son that makes us free,
and then we are free indeed. He saith to them that
are in darkness. Show yourselves: “Not only see
but be seen, to the glory of God, and your own com¬
fort.” When he discharged the lepers from their
confinement, he said. Go show yourselves to the
priest; when we see the light, let our light shine.
(4.1 He shall provide for the comfortable passage
of those whom he sets at liberty, to the place of
their rest and happy settlement, v. 9. — 11. These
verses refer to the provision made for the Jews’ re¬
turn out of their captivity, who were taken under
the particular care of the Divine Providence, as fa¬
vourites of heaven, and new so in a special manner;
but it is applicable to that guidance of divine grace,
which all God’s spiritual Israel are under, from
their release out of bondage to their settlement in
the heavenly Canaan. [1.] They shall have their
charges borne, and shall be fed at free cost with
food convenient; They shall feed on the ways, as
sheep; for now, as formerly, God leads Joseph like
a flock. When God pleases, even highway ground
shall be good ground for the sheep of his pastille to
teed in. Their pastures shall be not only in the val¬
leys, but in all high places, which are commonly dry
and barren. Wherever God brings his people, he will
take care they shall want nothing that is good tor
them, Ps. xxxiv. 10. And sowell shall they be pro¬
vided for, that the)- shall not hunger nor thirst, foi
what they need they shall have seasonably, before
their need of it comes to any extremity. [2.] They
shall be sheltered and protected from every tiling
that would incommode them; JYeither shall the heat
nor sun smite them, for God causes his Jlock to rest at
noon. Cant. i. 7. No evil thing shall befall those that
put themselves under a divine protection; they shall
be enabled to bear the burthen and heat of the day.
[3.] They shall be under God’s gracious guidance;
He that has mercy on- them, in bringing them out
of their captivity, shall lead them, as he did their
fathers in the wilderness, by a pillar of cloud and
fire; Even by springs of water, which will be ready
to them in their march, shall he guide them. God
will furnish them with suitable and seasonable com¬
forts, not like the pools cf rain-water in the valley
of Baca, but like the water out of the rock which
followed Israel. Those who are under a divine
guidance, and follow that closely, while they do so,
may, upon good grounds, hope for divine comforts
and cordials. The world leads its followers by
broken cisterns, or brooks that fail in summer; but
God leads those that are his by springs of water.
And those whom God guides, shall find a ready
road, and all obstacles removed; (r. 11.) I will
make all my mountains a way. He that in times
past made the sea a way, now with as much ease
will make the mountains a way, though they seemed
impassable. The highway, or causey, shall be
raised, to make it both the plainer and the fairer.
Note, The ways in which God leads his people, he
himself will be the Overseer of, and will take care
that they be well mended, and kept in repair, as of
old the ways that led to the cities of refuge. The
levelling of the roads from Babylon, as it was fore¬
told, ( ch . xl. 2, 3.) was applied to gospel-works,
and so may this be. Though there be difficulties
in the way to heaven, which we cannot by ( ur own
strength get over, yet the grace of God shall be suf¬
ficient to help us over them, and to make even the
mountains a way, ch. xxxv. 8.
(5.) He shall bring them all together from all
parts, that they may return in a body, that they
may encourage one another, and be the more taken
notice of. They were dispersed into several parts
of the country of Babylon, as their enemies pleased
to prevent any combination among themselves. But
when God’s time is come to bring them home to¬
gether, one spirit shall animate them all that lie at
the greatest distance from each other; and these
also that had taken shelter in other countries, shall
meet them in the land of Judah, v. 12; Here shall
a party come from far, some from the north, some
from the west, some from the land of Sinim, which,
probably, is some province of Babylon, not else¬
where named in scripture. But some make it to be
a country belonging to one of the chief cities of
Egypt, called Sin, of which we read, Ezek. xxx.
15,’ 16. Now this promise was to have a further
accomplishment in the great confluence of converts
to the gospel-church, and its full accomplishment
when God’s chosen shall come from the east and
from the west, to sit down with the patriarchs in
the kingdom of God, Matth. viii. 11.
13. Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O
earth ; and break forth into singing, O moun¬
tains; for the Lord hath comforted his peo¬
ple, and will have mercy upon his afflicted
14. But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken
me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. I.r>
220
ISAIAH,
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that
she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet
will I not forget thee. 16. Behold, J have
graven thee upon the palms of my hands ;
thy walls are continually before me. 17.
Thy children shall make haste; thy de¬
stroyers, and they that made thee waste,
shall go forth of thee.
The scope of these verses is to show that the re¬
turn of the people of God out of their captivitv, and
the eternal redemption to be wrought out by Christ,
(which that was a type of,) would be great occa¬
sions of joy to the church, and great proofs of the
tender care God has of the church.
I. Nothing can furnish us with better matter for
songs of praise and thanksgiving, v. 13. Let the
whole creation join with us in songs of joy, for it
shares with us in the benefits of the redemption, and
all they can contribute to this sacred melody, is lit¬
tle enough in return for such inestimable favours,
Ps. xevi. 11. Let there be joy in heaven, and let
the angels of God celebrate the praises of the great
Redeemer; let the earth and the mountains, parti¬
cularly the great ones of the earth, be joyful, and
break forth into singing, for the earnest expectation
of the creature that waits for the glorious liberty of
the children of God, (Rom. viii. 19, 21.) shall now
be abundantly answered; God’s people are the
blessings and ornaments of the world, and therefore
let there be universal joy, for God has comforted his
people that were in sorrow, and he will have mercy
upon the afflicted because of his compassion, upon
his afflicted because of his covenant.
II. Nothing can furnish us with more convincing
arguments, to prove the most tender and affection¬
ate concern God has for his church, and her inter¬
ests and comforts.
1. The troubles of the church have given some
occasion to question God’s care and concern for it,
7'. 14. Zion, in distress, said, The Lord has for¬
saken me, and looks after me no more; My Lord
has forgotten me, and will look after me no more.
See how deplorable the case of God’s people may
be sometimes, such that they may seem to be for¬
saken and forgotten of their God; and at such a
time their temptations may be alarmingly violent.
Infidels, in their presumption, say, God has for¬
saken the earth, (Ezek. viii. 12.) and has forgotten
their sins, Ps. x. 11. Weak believers, in their
despondency, are ready to say, “God has forsaken
his church, and forgotten the sorrows of his people. ”
But we have no more reason to question his promise
and grace, than we have to question his providence
and justice He is as sure a Rewarder as he is a
Revenger. Away therefore with these distrusts and
jealousies which are the bane of friendship.
2. The triumphs of the church, after her troubles,
will in due time put the matter out of question.
What God will do for Zion, we are told, it. 17.
(1.) Her friends, who had deserted her, shall be
gathered to her, and shall contribute their utmost
to her assistance and comfort; Thy children shall
make haste. Converts to the faith of Christ are the
children of the church; they shall join themselves
to her with great readiness and cheerfulness, and
flock into the communion of saints, as doves to their
windows; “ Thy builders shall make haste;” (so
some read it,) “ who shall build up thy houses, thy
walls, especially thy temple, they shall do it with
expedition.” Church-work is usually slow work;
but when God’s time is come, it shall be done sud¬
denly. (2.) Her enemies, who had threatened and
assaulted her, shall be forced to withdraw from her;
Vol. iv. — 2 F
XLIX.
Thy destroyers, and they who made thee waste,
who had made themselves masters of the country,
and ravaged it, shall go forth of thee. By Christ,
the prince of this world, the great destroyer, is cast
out, is dispossessed, his power broken, and his at
tempts quite baffled.
Now by this it will appear that Zion’s suggestions
were altogether groundless, that God has not for¬
saken her, or forgotten her, nor ever will. Be
assured,
[1.] That God has a tender affection for his
church and people, v. 15. In answer to Zion’s
fears, God speaks as one concerned fi r his own
glory; he takes himself to be reflected upon, if Zion
say, The Lord has forsaken me; and he will clear
himself. As one concerned also for his people’s
comfort, he would not have them droop and be dis
couraged, and give way to any uneasy thoughts.
\ ou think that 1 have forgotten you; can a woman
forget her sucking child ? First, It is not likely
that she should. A woman, whose honour it is to
be of the tender sex as well as the fair one, cannot
but have compassion for a child, which, being both
harmless and helpless, is a proper object of com
passion. A mother, especially, cannot but be con
cerned for her own child, for 'it is her own, a piece
of herself, and very lately one with her. A nursing
mother, most of all, cannot but be tender of her
sucking child; her own breasts will soon put her in
mind of it, if she should forget it. But, Secondly
It is possible that she may forget. A woman may
perhaps be so unhappy as' not to be ab’e to remem¬
ber her sucking child, she may be sick, and dying,
and going to the land of forgetfulness; or, slie'may
be so unnatural as net to have compassion on the
son of her womb, as those who, to conceal their
shame, are the death of their children as soon as
they are their life. Lam. iv. 10. Dent, xxviii. 57.
But, says God, I will not forget thee. Note, God’s
compassions to his people infinitely exceed those of
the tenderest parents toward their children. What
are the affections of nature to those of the Gcd of
nature !
[2.] That he has a constant care of his church
and people; (x>. 16.) I have graven thee upon the
palms of my hands. This does not allude to the
foolish artof palmistry, which imagines every man’s
fate to be engraved in the palms of his hands, and
to be legible in the lines there; but to the custom of
those who tie a string upon their hands or fingers,
to put them in mind of things which they are afraid
they shall forget; or to the wearing of signet or
locket-rings in remembrance of some dear friend.
His setting them thus as a seal upon his arm, de¬
notes his setting them as a seal upon his heart, and
his being ever mindful of them and their interest,
Cant. viii. 6. If we bind God’s law as a sign upon
our hand, (Deut. vi. 8.— 1 1, 18.) he will engrave
our interests as a sign on his hand, and will lock
upon that and remember the covenant. He adds.
Thy walls shall be continually before me; thy ruined
walls, though no pleasing spectacle, shall be in my
thoughts of compassion. Do Zion’s friends favour
her dust? Ps. cii. 14. So does her God. Or, “The
plan and model of thy walls, that are to be rebuilt,
is before me, and they shall certainly be built ac¬
cording to it.” Or, “Thy walls (thy safety) are
my continual care; so are the watchmen on thy
walls.” Some apply his graving of his church on
the palms of his hands to the wounds in Christ’s
hands when he was crucified; he will look on the
marks of them, and remember those for whom he
suffered and died.
18. Lift up thine eyes round about, and
behold: all these gather themselves to¬
gether, and come to thee. As I live, saitli
22G
ISAIAH, XLIX.
the Lord, thou sbalt surely clothe thee i
with them all as with an ornament, and
hind them on thee as a bride (loeth. 1 9. For
thy waste and thy desolate places, and the
land of thy destruction, shall even now be
too narrow by reason of the inhabitants,
and they that swallowed thee up shall be
far away. 20. The children which thou
shalt have, after thou hast lost the other,
shall say again in thine ears, The place is j
too strait for me : give place for me that
I may dwell. 21. Then shalt thou say in
thy heart, Who hath begotten me these,
seeing 1 have lost my children, and am
desolate, a captive, and removing to and
fro ? and who hath brought up these? Be¬
hold, I was left alone; these, where had
they been? 22. Thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gen¬
tiles, and set up my standard to the people :
and they shall bring thy sons in their arms,
and thy daughters shall be carried upon their
shoulders. 23. And kings shall be thy nurs¬
ing-fathers, and their queens thy nursing-
mothers; they shall bow down to thee with
their face toward the earth, and lick up the
dust of thy feet ; and thou shalt know that I
am the Lord : for they shall not be asham¬
ed that wait for me.
Two things are here promised, which were to be
in part accomplished in the reviving of the Jewish
church, after its return out of captivity, but more
fully in the planting of the Christian church, by the
preaching of the gospel of Christ; and we may take
the comfort of these promises.
I. That the church shall be replenished with
great numbers added to it It was promised, (v.
if.) that her children should make haste; that pro¬
mise is here enlarged upon, and is made very en¬
couraging. It is promised,
1. That multitudes shall flock to the church from
all parts. Look round, and see how they gather
themselves to thee, (y. 18.) by a local accession to
the Jewish church. They come to Jerusalem from
all the adjacent countries, for that was then the
centre of their unity; but, under the gospel, it is by j
a spiritual accession to the mystical body of Christ
in faith and love; those that are come to Jesus as
the Mediator of the new covenant, thereby come to
She mount Zion, the church of the first-born, Heb.
xii. 22, 23. Lift up. thine eyes, and behold how the
fields are white unto the harvest, Johniv. 35. Note,
It is matter of joy to the church to see a multitude
of converts to Christ
2. That such as are added to the church shall not
be a burthen and blemish to her, but her strength
and ornament. This part of the promise is confirm¬
ed with an oath, As I live, saith the Lord, thou
sbalt surely clothe thee with them all. The addition
of such numbers to the church shall complete her
clothing; and when all that were chosen are ef¬
fectually called, then the bride, the Lamb’s wife,
shall have made herself ready, shall be quite dress¬
ed, Rev. xix. 7. They shall make her to appear
comely and considerable; and she shall therefore
bind them on with as much care and complacency
as a bride does her ornaments. When those that i
are added to the church, are serious and holy, id!
exemplary in their conversation, they are an oma
ment to it.
3. That thus the country which was waste and
desolate, and without inhabitant, (c/i. v. 9. — vi. 11.)
shall be again peopled, nay, it shall be over-peopled;
(v. 19.) “ Thy waste and thy desolate places, that
have long lain so, and the land of thy destruction,
that land of thine which was destroyed with thee,
and which nobody cared for dwelling in, shall now
be so full of people, that there shall be no room for
the inhabitants.” Here is a blessing poured out
till there be not room enough to receive it, Mai. iii.
10. Not that they should be crowded by their
enemies, or straitened for room, as Abraham and
Lot were, because of the Canaanite in the land;
“ No, they that swallowed thee up, and took pos¬
session of thy land when thy possession of it was dis¬
continued, shall be far away. Thy people shall be
numerous, and there shall be no stranger, no enemy,
among them.” Thus the kingdom of God among
men, which had been impoverished and almost de¬
populated, partly by the corruptions of the Jewish
church, and partly by the abominations of the Gen
tile world, was again peopled and enriched by the
setting up of the Christian church, and by its graces
and glories.
4. That the new converts shall strangely increase
and multiply. Jerusalem, after she has lost abun¬
dance of her children by the sword, famine, and
captivity, shall have a new family growing up in¬
stead of them; children which she shall have after
she has lost the other, (v. 20.) as Seth, who was ap¬
pointed another seed instead of Abel, and Job’s chil¬
dren, which God blessed him with instead of those
that were killed in the mins of the house. God
will repair his church’s losses, and secure t him¬
self a seed to serve him in it. It is promised to the
Jews, after their return, that Jerusalem shall be
full of boys and girls playing in the streets, Zech.
viii. 5. The church, after it has lost the Jews, who
will be cut off by their owm infidelity, shall have
abundance of children still, more than she had when
the Jews belonged to her. See Gal. iv. 27. They
shall be so numerous, that, (1.) The children shall
complain for want of room ; they shall say, (and it is
a good hearing,) “Our numbers increase so fast,
that the place is too strait for us;” as the sons of the
prophets complained, 2 Kings vi. 1. But strait as
the place is, still more shall desire to be admitted,
and the church shall gladly admit them, and the
inconvenient straitness of the place shall be no hin-
derance to either, for it will be found, whatever we
think, that even when the poor and the maimed,
the halt and the blind, are brought in, yet still there
is room, room enough for those that are in, and rocn
for more, Luke xiv. 21, 22. (2.) The mother shall
stand- amazed at the increase k>{ her family, v. 21.
She shall say. Who has begotten me these? and
Who has brought up these? They came to her with
all the duty, affection, and submission of children;
and yet she never bore any pain for them, nor took
any pains with them, but has them ready reared to
her hand. This gives her a pleasing surprise, and
she cannot but be astonished at it, considering what
her condition had been very lately, and very long.
The Jewish nation had left her children, they were
cut off, she had been desolate, without ark, and alt r,
and temple-service, those tokens of God’s esprusals
to them; nay, she had been a captive, and continually
removing to and fro, in an unsettled condition, and
not likely to bring up children either for God or
herself. She was left alone in obscurity; This is
Zion whom no man seeks after; left in all the soli¬
tude and sorrow of a widowed state. How then
came she to be thus replenished? See here, [1.]
That the church is not perpetually visible, out there
are times when it is desolate, and left alone, and
ISAIAH, XLJX
made few in number. [2.] That yet on the other
hand its desolations shall not be perpetual, nor will
it be found too hard for God to repair them, and out
of stones to raise up children unto Abraham. [3. ]
That sometimes this is done in a very surprising
way, as when a nation is born at once, ch. lxvi. ts.
5. That this shall be done with the help of the
Gentiles, v. 22. The Jews were cast off, among
whom it was expected that the church should be
built up; but God will sow it to himself in the earth ,
and from thence will re .p a plentiful crop, Hos. ii.
23. Observe, (1. ) How the Gentiles shall be called
in; God will lift u/i his hand to them, to invite or
beckon them, having all the day stretched it out in
vain to the Jews, (c/i. lxv. 2.) Or it denotes the
exerting of an almighty power, that of his Spirit and
grace, to compel them to come in, to make them
willing. And he will set u/i his standard to them,
the preaching of the everlasting gospel, to which
they shall gather, and under which they shall list
themselves. (2.) How they shall come; They
shall bring thy sons in their arms. They shall as¬
sist the sons of Zion, which are found among them,
in their return to their own country, and shall for¬
ward them with as much tenderness as ever any
parent carried a child that was weak and helpless.
God can raise up friends for returning Israelites,
even among Gentiles; the earth hel/ied the woman.
Rev. xii. 16. Or, “When they come themselves,
they shall bring their children, and make them thy
children;” compare ch. lx. 4. “Dost thou ask,
IV ho has begotten and brought up' these? Know,
that they were begotten and brought up’ among the
Gentiles, but they are now brought into thy family.”
Let all that are concerned about young converts,
and young beginners in religion, learn hence to deal
very tenderly and carefully with them, as Christ
does with the lambs, whom he gathers with his
arms, and carries in his bosom.
II. That the church shall have a great and pre¬
vailing interest in the nations, v. 23. 1. Some of
the princes of the nations shall become patrons and
protectors to the church: Kings shall be thy nurs¬
ing fathers, to carry thy sons m their arms, v. 22.
As Moses, Numb. xi. 12. And because women are
the most proper nurses, their queens shall be thy
nursing mothers. This promise was in part fulfilled
to the Jews, after their return out of captivity; di¬
vers of the kings of Persia were very tender of their
interests, countenanced and encouraged them, as
Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes; Esther the queen
was a nursing mother to the Jews that remained in
their captivity, putting her life in her hand to
snitch the child out of the flames. The Christian
church, after a long captivity, was happy in some
such kings and queens as Constantine and his mo¬
ther Helena, and afterward Theodosius, and others,
who nursed the church with all possible care and
tenderness. Whenever the sceptre of government
is put into the hands of religious princes, then this
promise is fulfilled. The church, in this world, is
in an infant state, and it is in the power of princes
and magistrates to do it a great deal of service;
it is happy when they do so, when their power is a
praise to them that do well. 2. Others of them,
who stand it out against the church’s interests, will
be forced to yield, and to repent of their opposition;
They shall bow down to thee, and lick the dust.
The promise to the church of Philadelphia seems to
be borrowed from this; (Rev. iii. 9.) I will make
them of the synagogue of Satan to come and wor¬
ship before thy feet. Or, it may be meant of the
willing subjection which kings and kingdoms shall
p.iv to Christ, the church’s King, as he manifests
himself in the church? (Ps. lxxii. 11.) jill kings
shall fall down before him. And by all this it shall
made to appear, (1.) That God is the Lord, the
227
sovereign Lord of all, against whom there is no
standing out, or rising up. (2.) That those who
wait for him, in a dependence upon his promise, and
a resignation to his will, shall not be made ashamed
of their hope; for the vision of peace is for an ap¬
pointed time, and at the end it shall speak, and shall
not lie.
24. Shall the prey be taken from the
mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? 25.
But thus saith the Loan, Even the captives
of the mighty shall be taken away, and the
prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I
will contend with him that contendeth with
thee, and I will save thy children. 26. And
I will feed them that oppress thee with their
own flesh ; and they shall be drunken with
their own blood, as with sweet wine: and
all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy
Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mightv
One of Jacob.
Here is, 1. An objection started against the pro¬
mise of the Jews’ release out of their captivity in
Babylon, suggesting that it was a thing not to be ex¬
pected; for, (x>. 24.) they were a prey in the hand
of the mighty, of such as were then the greatest
potentates on earth, and therefore it was not likely
they should be rescued by force; yet that was not
all, they were lawful captives; by the law of God,
having offended, they were justly delivered into
captivity; and by the law of nations, being taken in
war, they were justly detained in captivity till they
should be ransomed or exchanged. Now this is
spoken either, (1.) By the enemies, as justifying
themselves in their refusal to let them go; thev
plead both might and right. Proud men think ail
their own that they can lay their hands on, and
their title good if they have but the longest sword.
Or, (2.) By their friends; either in a way of dis¬
trust, despairing of the deliverance, “ For who is
able to deal with those that detain us, either by
force of arms or a treaty of peace?” Or, in a way
of thankfulness, admiring the deliverance, “ Whc
would have thought that ever the prey should be
taken from the mighty? Yet it is done.” This is
applicable to our redemption by Christ; as to Satan,
we were a prey in the hand of the mighty, and yet
delivered even from him that had the power of
death, by him that had the power of life. As tc
the justice of God, we were lawful captives and yet
delivered by a price of inestimable value.
2. This objection answered by an express pro¬
mise, and a further promise; for God’s promises
being all yea, and amen, they may well serve to cor¬
roborate one another.
(1.) Here is an express promise with a non-ob-
stante — notwithstanding to the strength of the ene¬
my; (v. 25.) “ liven the captives of the mighty,
though they are mighty, shall be taken away, and
it is to no purpose for them to oppose it; and the
prey of the terrible, though they are terrible, shall
be delivered; and as they cannot with all their
strength outforce, so they cannot with all their im¬
pudence outface, the deliverance, and the counsels
of God concerning it.” The Lord saith thus, who,
having all power in his hands, and all hearts, is able
to make his words good.
(2.) Here is a further promise, showing how, and
in what way, God will bring about the deliverance.
He will bring judgments upon the oppressors, and
so will work salvation for the oppressed; “1 will
contend with him that contends with thee, will plead
thy c .use against those that justify themselves in
lSATAH, l.
-2-28
oppressing thee; whoever it be, though but a single
person, that contends with thee, he shall know that
it is at his peril, and thus I mill save thy children."
The captives shall be delivered by leading captivity
captive, sending those into captivity that had held
God’s people captive, Rev. xiii. 10. Nay, they
shall have blood for blood; (y. 26.) “I will feed them
that oppress thee, with their own Jlesh, and they
shall be drunken with their own blood; the proud
Babylonians shall become not only an easy, but an
acceptable prey to one another; God will send a
dividing spirit among them, and their rain, which
was begun by a foreign invasion, shall be completed
'u- their intestine divisions. They shall bite and
devour one another, till they are consumed one of
another. They shall greedily and with delight
prey upon those that are their own flesh and blood. ”
God can make the oppressors of his church to be
their own tormentors, and their own destroyers.
The New Testament Babylon, having made her¬
self drunk with the blood of the saints, shall have
blood given her to drink, for she is worthy. See
how cruel men sometimes are to themselves, and to
one another; indeed those who are so to others are
so to themselves, for God’s justice and men’s re¬
venge will mete to them what they have measured
to others; they not only thirst after blood, but drink
it so greedily, that they are drunken with it, and
with as much pleasure as if it were sweet wine. If
God had not more mercy on sinners than they
would have one upon another, were their passions
let loose, the world would soon be an Aceldama,
nay, a desolation.
And ( lastly ) see what will be the effect of Baby¬
lon’s ruin; All flesh shall know that I the Lord am
thy Saviour; God will make it to appear, to the
conviction of all the world, that, though Israel seem
lost and cast off, they have a Redeemer, and though
they are made a prey to the mighty, Jacob has a
Mighty One, who is able to deal with all his ene¬
mies. God intends, by the deliverances of his
church, both to notify, and to magnify, his own
name.
CHAP. L.
In this chapter, I. Those to whom God sends are justly
charged with bringing all the troubles they were in upon
themselves, by their own wilfulness and obstinacy; it
being made to appear that God was able and ready to
help them, if they had been fit for deliverance, v. 1 . . 3.
II. He by whom God sends, produces his commission,
(v. 4.) alleges his own readiness to submit to all the ser¬
vices and sufferings he was called to in the execution of
it, (v. 3,6.) and assures himself that God, who sent him,
would stand by him, and bear him out against all oppo¬
sition, v. 7 . . 9. III. The message that is sent is, life
and death, good and evil, the blessing and the curse;
comfort to desponding saints, and terror to presuming
sinners, v. 10, 1 1. Now all this seems to have a double
reference; 1. To the unbelieving Jews in Babylon, who
quarrelled with God for his dealings with them: and to
the prophet Isaiah, who, though dead long before the
captivity, yet, prophesying so plainly and fully of it, saw
fit to produce his credentials, to justify what he had said.
2. To the unbelieving Jews in our Saviour’s time,
whose own fault it was, that they were rejected; Christ
having preached much to them, and suffered much from
them, and being herein borne up by a divine power.
The contents of this chapter, in our Bibles, give this
sense of it, very concisely, thus; Christ shows that the
dereliction of the Jews is not to be imputed to him; bxj his
ability to save , htj his obedience in that vjork, and by his
confidence in divine assistance. The prophet concludes
with an exhortation to trust in God, and not in ourselves.
THUS saith the Lord, Where is
the hill of your mother’s divorce¬
ment, whom I have put away? or which of
my creditors is it to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold your¬
selves, and for your transgressions is your
mother put away. 2. Wherefore, when I
came, was there no man? when I called,
teas there none to answer? Is my hand short¬
ened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have
I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke
I dry up the sea : I make the rivers a wil¬
derness : their fish stinketh, because there is
no water, and dieth for thirst. 3. I clothe
the heavens with blackness, and I make
sackcloth their covering.
Those who have professed to be the people of
God, and yet seem to be dealt severely with, are
apt to complain of God, and to lay the fault upon
him, as if he had been hard with them. But, in
answer to their murmurings, we have here,
I. A challenge given them to prove, or pre (luce
any evidence, that the quarrel began on God’s side,
v. 1. They could net say that he had drne them
any wrong, or had acted arbitrarily. I. He bad
been a Husband to them; and husbands were then
al owed a power to put away their wives upen any
little disgust; if they found not favour in their eyes,
they made nothing of giving them a bill of divorce,
Deut. xxiv. 1. Matth. xix. 7. But they could not
say that God had dealt so with them ; it is true, they
were now separated from him, and bad abode many
days without ephod, altar, or sacrifice; but whose
fault was that? They cculd not say that God had
given their mother a bill of divorce ; let them produce
it if they can, for a bill of divorce was given into the
hand of her that was divorced. 2. He lipd been a
Father to them; and fathers had then a power to
sell their children for slaves to their creditors, in
satisfaction for the debts they were not otherwise
able to pay; it is true, the Jews were sold to the
Babylonians then, and afterward to the Romans;
but did God sell them for payment of his debts? No,
he was not indebted to any of those to whom they
were sold, or, if he had sold them, he did not in¬
crease his wealth by their price, Ps. xliv. 12. W hen
God chastens his children, it is neither for his plea¬
sure, (Heb. xii. 10.) nor for his profit; all that are
saved, are saved by a prerogative of grace, but
those that perish, are cut off by an act of divine ho¬
liness and justice, not of absolute sovereignty.
II. A charge exhibited against them, showing
them that they were themselves the authors of their
own ruin; “ Behold, for your iniquities, for the
leasure of them, and the gratification of your own
ase lusts, you have sold yoursehes, for your ini¬
quities you are sold; not as children are sold by
their parents, to pay their debts, but as malefactors
are sold by the judges, to punish them for theii
crimes. You sold yourselves to work wickedness,
and therefore God justly sold you into the hands of
your enemies, 2 Chron. xii. 5, 8. It is for your
transgressions that your mother is put away, for her
whoredoms and adulteries; which were always al¬
lowed to be a just cause of divorce. The Jews
were sent into Babylon for their idolatry, a sin which
broke the marriage-covenant, and were at last re¬
jected for crucifying the Lord of glory; these were
the iniquities for which they were sold and put
away.
lit. The confirmation of this challenge and this
charge.
1. It is plain that it was their own fault that they
were cast off; for God came, and offered them his
favour, offered them his helping hand, either to
prevent their trouble,. or to deliver them out of it,
but they slighted him and fdl the tenders cf his
229
ISAIAH, L.
grace; “Do you lay it upon me?” (says God,) “Tell
me then, wherefore when I came, there was no man
to meet me, when l called, there was none to answer
me,” v. 2. God came to them by his servants the
prophets, demanding the fi-uits of his vineyard;
(Matth. xxi. 34.) he sent them his messengers,
rising u/i betimes, and sending them; (Jer. xxxv.
15.) he called to them to leave their sins, and so
prevent their own ruin: but there was no man, or
next to none, that had any regard to the warnings
which the prophets gave them, none that answered
the calls of God, or complied with the messages lie
sent them; and this was it for which they were sold
and put away; because they mocked the messengers
of the Lord, therefore God brought ufion them the
king of the Chaldees, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16, 17. Last
of all, he sent unto them his Son, he came to his own,
but his own received him not; he called them to hint-
self, but there were none that answered; he would
have gathered Jerusalem’s children together, but
they would not, they knew not, because they would
not know, the things that belonged to their peace,
nor the day of their visitation, and for that trans¬
gression it was that they were put away, and their
house left desolate, Matth. xxi. 41. — xxiii. 37, 38.
Luke xix. 41, 42. When God calls men to happi¬
ness, and they will not answer, they are justly left
to be miserable.
2. It is plain that it was not owing to a want of
power in God, for he is almighty, and could have
recovered them from so great a death, nor was it
owing to a want of power in Christ, for he is able to
save to the uttermost. The unbelieving Jews in
Babylon thought they were not delivered because
their God was notable to do it; and those in Christ’s
time were ready to ask, in scorn, Can this man save
us? For himself he cannot save. “But,” (says
God) “is my hand shortened at all, oris it weaken¬
ed?” Can any limits be set to Omnipotence’ Can¬
not he redeem, who is the great Redeemer? Has
he no power to deliver, whose all power is? To put
to silence, and to put for ever to shame, their doubts
concerning his power, he here gives unquestionable
proofs of it. (1.) He can, when he pleases, dry up
the seas, and make the rivers a wilderness; he did
so for Israel when he redeemed them out of Egypt,
he can do so again for their redemption out of Baby¬
lon. It is done at his rebuke, as easily as with a
word’s speaking; he can so dry up the rivers, as to
leave the fish to die for want of water, and to putrefy.
When God turned the waters of Egypt into blood,
he slew the fish, Ps. cv. 29. The expression our
Saviour sometimes used concerning the power of
faith, that it will remove mountains, and plant syca¬
mores in the sea, is not unlike this; if their faith
could do that, no doubt, their faith would save them,
and therefore they were inexcusable if they perished
in their unbelief. (2.) He can, when he pleases,
eclipse the lights of heaven, clothe them with black¬
ness, and make sackcloth their covering, by thick
and dark clouds interposing, which he balances. Job
xxxvi. 32. — xxxvii. 16.
4. The Lord God hath given me the
tongue of the learned, that I should know
how to speak a word in season to him that is
weary: he wakenetli morning by morning;
he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.
5. The Lord God hath opened mine ear,
and I was not rebellious, neither turned
away back. 6. I gave my back to the
smiters, and my cheeks to them that pluck¬
ed off the hair: I hid not my face from shame
and spitting. 7. For the Lord God will help
me; therefore shall I not be confounded:
therefore have I set my face like a flint, and
I know that I shall not be ashamed, fi. He.
is near that justifieth me; who will contend
with me ? let us stand together: who is mine
adversary? let him come near to me. 9.
Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is
he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall
wax old as a garment ; the moth shall eat
them up.
Our Lord Jesus, having proved himself able to
save, here shows himself as willing as he is able
We suppose the prophet Isaiah to say something
of himself in these verses, engaging and encouraging
himself to go on in his work, as a prophet, notwith¬
standing the many hardships he met with, not doubt¬
ing but that God would stand by him, and strengthen
him; but, like David, he speaks of himself as a type
of Christ, who is here prophesied of, and promised
to be the Saviour.
I. As an acceptable Preacher, v. 4. Isaiah, as a
prophet, was qualified for the work to which he was
called, so were the rest of God’s prophets, and others
whom he employed as his messengers; but Christ
was anointed with the Spirit above his fellows. To
make the man of God perfect, he has, 1. The tongue
of the learned, to know how to give instruction, how
to speak a word in season to him that is weary.
God, who made man’s mouth, gave Moses the tongue
of the learned, to speak for the terror and con
viction of Pharaoh, Exod. iv. 11, 12. He gave to
Christ the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in
season for the comfort of those that are weary and
heavy laden under the burthen of sin, Matth. xi.
28. Grace was poured into his lips, and they are
said to drop sweet-smelling myrrh. See .vhat is
the best learning of a minister, to know how to com¬
fort troubled consciences, and to speak pertinently,
properly, and plainly, to the various cases of poor
souls. An ability to do this is God’s gift, and it is
one of the best gifts, which we should covet earnestly.
Let us repose ourselves in the many comfortable
words which Christ has spoken to the weary. 2.
The ear of the learned, to receive instruction. Pro¬
phets have as much need of this, as of the tongue
of the learned; for they must deliver what they are
taught, and no other; must hear the word from
God’s mouth diligently and attentively, that they
may speak it exactly, Ezek. iii. 17. Christ himself
received, that he might give. None must undertake
to be teachers, who have not first been learners;
Christ’s apostles were first disciples; scribes in¬
structed unto the kingdom of heaven, Matth. xiii. 52.
Nor is it enough to hear, but we must hear as the
learned, hear and understand, hear and remember,
hear as those that would learn by what we hear.
Those that would hear as the learned, must be
awake, and wakeful, for we are naturally drowsy
and sleep)-, and unapt to hear at all, or we hear by
the halves, hear, and do not heed. Our ears need
to be wakened; we need to have something said to
rouse us, to awaken us out of our spiritual slumbers,
that we may hear as for our lives. We need to be
wakened morning by morning, as duly as the day
returns, to be awakened to do the work of the day
in its day. Our case calls for continual fresh sup¬
plies of divine grace, to free us from the dulness we
contract daily. The morning, when cur spirits are
most lively, is a proper time for communion with
God; then we are in the best frame' both to speak to
him. My voice sha/t thou hear in the morning, and
to hear from him, the people came early in the
morning to hear Christ in the temple, Luke xxi. 38.
For, it seems, his were morning lectures, and it is
God that wakens us morning by morning; if we dc
230
ISAIAH, L.
any tiling to purpose in his service, it is he, who, as
our Master, calls us up; we should dose perpetually,
if he did not waken us morning by morning.
II. As a patient Sufferer, v. 5, 6. One would
think that he who was commissioned and qualified
to speak comfort to the weary, should meet with no
difficulty in his work, but universal acceptance; it
is, however, quite otherwise; he hath both hard
work to do, and hard usage to undergo; and here
he tells us with what undaunted constancy he went
through with it. We have no reason to question
but that the prophet Isaiah went on resolutely in the
work to which God had called him, though we read
not of his undergoing any such hardships as are here
supposed; but we are sure it was abundantly verified
in Jesus Christ: and here we have,
1. His patient obedience in his doing- work. “The
Lord God has not only wakened my ear to hear
what he says, but has opened my ear to receive it,
and comply with it; (Ps. xl. 6, 7.) Mine ear hast
thou opened; then said /, Lo, I come;” for when he
adds, / wasnot rebellious, neither turned away back,
more is implied than expressed — that he was will¬
ing, that, though he foresaw a great deal of difficulty
and discouragement, though he was to take pains,
and give constant attendance as a Servant, though
he was to empty himself of that which was very
great, and humble himself to that which was very
mean, yet he did not fly off, did not fail, nor was
discouraged. He continued very free and forward
to his work, even when he came to the hardest part
of it. Note, As a good understanding in the truths
of God, so a good will to the work and service of
God is from the grace of God.
.. His obedient patience in his suffering-work.
, call it obedient patience, because he was patient
with an eve to his Father’s will; thus pleading with
himself, This commandment have I received of mu
Father; and thus submitting to God, Not as I will,
but as thou wilt. In this submission, he resigned
himself, (1.) To be scourged; I gave my back to the
smiters; and that not only by submitting to it when
he was smitten, but by permitting it (or admitting
it rather) among the other instances of pain and
shame which he would voluntarily undergo for us.
(2.) To be buffeted; I gave my cheeks to them that
not only smote them, but plucked off the hair of the
beard, which was a greater degree both of pain and
ignominy. (3.) To be spit upon; I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. He could have hid his
face from it, could have avoided it, but he would
not, because he was made a Reproach of men, and
thus he would answer to the proselyte. Job, that
man of sorrows, of whom it is said, that they smote
him on the cheek reproachfully, (Job xvii. 10.) and
spared not to spit in his face, (Job xxx. 10.) an ex¬
pression not only of contempt, but of abhorrence
and indignation. All this Christ underwent for us,
and voluntarily, to convince us of his willingness to
save us.
III. As a courageous champion, v. 7. — 9. The
Redeemer is as famous for his boldness as for his
humility and patience, and, though he yields, yet he
is more than a conqueror.
Observe, 1. The dependence he has upon God.
What was the prophet Isaiah’s support, was the
support of Christ himself; (y. 7.) The Lord God
will help me; and again, v. 9. Whom God employs
lie will assist, and will take care they want not any
nelp that they or their work call for. God, having
aid help upon his Son for us, gave help to him, and
nis hand was all- along with the Man of his right
hand. Nor will he onlv assist him in his work, but
accept of him; (v. 8.) He is near that justifleth me.
Isaiah, no doubt, was falsely accused, and loaded
with reproach and calumny, as other prophets were;
Nit he despised it, knowing t''at God would roll
away the reproach, and bring forth his righteous
ness as the light, perhaps in this world, (Ps. xxxvii.
6.) at furthest in the great day, when there will be
a resurrection of names as well as bodies, and the
righteous shall shine forth as the morning sun.
And so it was verified in Christ; by his resurrection
he was proved to be not the man that he was repre ¬
sented, not a blasphemer, not a deceiver, not an
enemy to Cxsar. The judge that condemned him,
owned he found no fault in him; the centurion, or
sheriff, that had charge of his execution, declared
him a righteous man: so near was he that justified
him. But it was true of him in a further and more
peculiar sense; the Father justified him, when he
accepted the satisfaction he made for the sin of man,
and constituted him the Lord our Righteousness,
who was made sin for us: he was justified in the
Spirit, 1 Tim. iii. 16. He was near who did it; for
his resurrection, by which he was justified, soon
followed his condemnation and crucifixion; he was
straightway glorified, John xiii. 32.
2. The confidence he thereupon has of success in
his undertaking; “ If God will help me, if he will
justify me, will stand by me, and bear me rut, I
shall not be confounded, as these are that come short
of the end they aimed at, and the satisfaction they
promised themselves; I know that I shall not be
ashamed.” Though his enemies did all they could
to put him to shame, yet he kept his ground, he kept
his countenance, and was not ashamed of the work
he had undertaken. Note, Work for God is work
that we should not be ashamed of; and hope in God
is hope that we shall not be ashamed of. Those
that trust in God for help shall not be disappointed;
they know whom they have trusted, and therefore
know they shall not be ashamed.
3. The defiance which, in this confidence, he bids
to all opposers and opposition; “ God will help me,
and therefore have I set my face like a flint.” The
prophet did so, he was bold in reproving sin, in
warning sinners, (Ezek. iii. 8, 9.) and in asserting
the truth of his predictions. Christ did so; he went
on in his work, as Mediator, with unshaken constan
cy, and undaunted resolution; hedid not fail, norwa-
discouraged; and here he challenges all his opposers,
(1.) To enter the lists with him; Who will contend
with me, either in law, or by the sword? Let us
stand together as combatants, or as the plaintiff and
defendant. Who is mine adversary? Who is the
master of my cause? so the word is. “Who will
pretend to enter an action against me? Let him
appear, and come near to me, fori will not abscond. ”
Many offered to dispute with Christ, but he put
them to silence. The prophet speaks this in the
name of all faithful ministers; those who keep close
to the pure word of God, in delivering their mes¬
sage, need not fear contradiction; the scrip tures'ivill
bear them out, whoever contends with them. Great
is the truth, and will prevail. Christ speaks this
in the name of all believers, speaks it as their
Champion. Who dares be an enemy to those whom
he is a Friend to, or contend with those fir whom
he is an Advocate? Thus St. Paul applies it, (Rom.
viii. 33.) Who shall lay any thing to the charge of
God’s elect? (2.) He challenges them to prove any
crime upon 1 im; (v. 9.) Who is hr that shall con¬
demn me? The prophet, perhaps, was condemned
to die; Christ, we are sure, was; and vet both could
say. Who is he that shall condemn? For there is no
condemnation to them whom God justifies. There
were those that did condemn them, but what came
of them? They all shall wax old as a garment.
The righteous cause of Christ and his prophets shall
outlive all opposition. The moth shall rat them up
silently and insensibly; a little thing will serve to
destroy them. But the roaring lion himself shall
not prevail against God’s witnesses. All believers
231
ISAIAH, LI.
are cnaoied to muie this challenge, H'l io is he that
shall condemn? It is Christ that died.
10. Who is among you that feareth the
Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, j
that walketh in darkness, and hath no light !
let him trust in the name of the Lord, and
stay upon his God. 1 1. Behold, all ye that
kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about
with sparks; walk in the light of your fire,
and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This
shall ye have of my hand, ye shall lie down
in sorrow.
The prophet, having the tongue of the learned
given him, that he might give to every one their
portion, here makes use of it, rightly dividing the
word of truth. It is the summary of the gospel; he
that believes shall be saved, he that trusts in the name
of the Lord shall be comforted, though for awhile
he walk in darkness, and have no light. But he that
believes not shall be damned; though for awhile he
walk in the light of his own fire, yet he shall lie
down in sorrow.
I. Comfort is here spoken to disconsolate saints,
and they are encouraged to trust in God’s grace, v.
10. Where observe,
1. What is always the character of a child of
God; he is one that fears the Lord with a filial fear,
that stands in awe of his majesty, and is afraid of in¬
curring his displeasure. This is a grace that usually
appears most in good people then when they walk
in darkness, when other graces appear not. They
then tremble at his word; (cA. lxvi. 2.) and are
afraid of his judgments, Ps. cxix. 120. He is one
that obeys the voice of God’s servant; is willing to
be ruled by the Lord Jesus, as God’s servant in the
great work of man’s redemption; one that yields a
sincere obedience to the law of Christ, and cheer¬
fully comes up to the terms of his covenant. Those
that truly fear God will obey the voice of Christ.
2. What is sometimes the case of a child of God.
It is supposed, that though he has in his heart the
fear of God, and faith in Christ, yet for a time he
walks in darkness, and has no light, is disquieted,
and has little or no comfort. Who is there that does
so? This intimates that it is a case which sometimes
happens among the professors of religion, yet not
very often; but whenever it happens, God takes no¬
tice of it. It is no new thing for the children and
heirs of light sometimes to walk in darkness, and
for a time not to have any glimpse or gleam of light.
This is not meant so much of the comforts of this life,
(those that fear God, when they have ever so great an
abundance of them, do not walk in them as their
light,) as of their spiritual comforts, which relate to
their souls. They walk in darkness, when their evi¬
dences for heaven are clouded, their joy in God is
interrupted, the testimony of the Spirit is suspended,
and the light of God’s countenance is eclipsed. Pen¬
sive Christians are apt to be melancholy, and those
who fear always, to tear too much.
3. What is likely to be an effectual cure in this
sad case. He that is thus in the dark, (1.) Let him
trust in the name of the Lord, in the goodness of his
nature, and that which he has made known of him¬
self, his wisdom, power, and goodness. The name
of the Lord is a strong tower, let him ran into that.
Let him depend upon it, that if he walk before God,
which a man may do though he walk in the dark,
he shall find God all-sufficient to him. (2. ) Let him
stay himself upon his God, his in covenant; let him
keep hold of his covenant-relation to God, and call
God his God, as Christ on the cross, My God, My
God Let him stay himself upon the promises of I
I the covenant, and build his hopes on them. When
a child of God is ready to sink, he will find enough
in God to stay himself upon. Let him trust in Christ,
for God’s name is in him; (Exod. xxiii. 21.) trust
I in that name of hjs, The Lord our Righteousness,
and stay himself upon God as his God, in and
, through a Mediator.
II. Conviction is here spoken to presuming sin¬
ners, and they are warned not to trust in themselves,
J v. 11. Observe, 1. The description given of them;
They kindle a fire, and walk in the light of that fire;
they depend upon their own righteousness, offer all
their sacrifices, and bum all their incense, with that
fire, (as Nadab and Abihu,) and not with the fire
from heaven; in their hope ot acceptance with Gcd,
they have no regard to the righteousness of Christ,
they refresh and please themselves with a conceit
of their own merit and sufficiency, and warm them¬
selves with that; it is both light and heat to them.
They com/iass themselves about with sfiarks of their
own kindling. As they trust in their own righteous¬
ness, and not in the righteousness of Christ, so they
place their happiness in their worldly possessions
and enjoyments, and not in the favour rf God. Crca-
turc-coniforts are as sparks, short-lived, and soon
gone; yet the children of this world, while they last,
warm themselves by them, and walk with pride and
pleasure in the light cf them. 2. The doom passed
upon them; they are ironically bid to walk in the
light of their own fire; “ Make your best of it, while
it lasts. This shall ye have of mine hand, (says
Christ, for to him the judgment is committed,) ye
shall lie down in sorrow, shall go to bed in the
dark.” See Job xviii. 5, 6. His candle shall be /tut
out with him. Those that make the world their
comfort, and their own righteousness their confi¬
dence, will certainly meet with a fatal disappoint¬
ment, which will be bitterness in the end. A godlv
man’s way may be melancholy, but his end shall be
peace and everlasting light. A wicked man’s wav
may be pleasant, but his end and endless abode will
be utter darkness.
CHAP. LI.
This chapter is designed for the comfort and encourage¬
ment of those that fear God and keep his command¬
ments, even then when they walk in darkness, and have
no light: whether it was intended primarily for the sup¬
port of the captives in Babylon, is not certain, probably
it was, but comforts thus generally expressed ought not
to be so confined. Whenever the church of God is in
distress, her friends and well-wishers may comfort them¬
selves and one another, with these words ; I. That God,
who raised his church at first out of nothing, will take
care that it shall not perish, v. 1 . . 3. II. That the
righteousness and salvation he designs for his church
are sure and near, very near and very sure, v. 4 . . 6.
III. That the persecutors of the church are weak and
dying creatures, v. 7, 8. IV. That the same power which
did wonders for the church formerly, is now engaged
and employed for her protection and deliverance, v. 9 . .
II. V. That God himself, the Maker of the world, had
undertaken both to deliver his people out of their distress,
and to comfort them under it, and sent his prophet to as¬
sure them of it, v. 12. . 16. VI. That, deplorable as the
condition of the church now was, (v. 17 . . 20.) to the
same woful circumsiances her persecutors and oppressors
should shortly be reduced, and worse, v. 20. . 23. The
three first paragraphs of this chapter begin with, Heark¬
en unto me, and they are God’s people that are all along
called to hearken ; for even when comforts are spoken
to them, sometimes they hearken not , through anguish
of spirit , (Exod. vi. 9.) therefore they are again and
again called to hearken, v. 1,4, 7. The two other para¬
graphs of this chapter begin with, Awake , awake; in the
former, (v. 9.) God’s people call upon him to awake,
and help them; in the latter, (v. 17.) God calls upon
them to awake, and help themselves.
l.TTEARKEN to me, ye that follow
XX after righteousness, ye that seek the
'232
ISAIAH, LI.
Lou r> : look unto (hr- rock whence, ye are
hewn, anti to the hole of the pit, whence yc
are digged. 2. Look unto Abraham your
father, and unto Sarah that bare you : for I
called him alone, and blessed him, and in¬
creased him. 3. For the Lord shall com¬
fort Zion : he will comfort all her waste
places, and he will make her wilderness like
Eden, and her desert like the garden of the
Lord ; joy and gladness shall be found
therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of me¬
lody.
Observe, 1. How the people of God are here de¬
scribed, to whom the word of this consolation is sent,
and who are called upon to hearken to it, v. 1.
They are such as follow after righteousness, as are
very desirous and solicitous both to be justified and
to be sanctified, at e pressing hard after this, to have
the favour of God restored to them, and the image
of God renewed on them. These are they that seek
the Lord, for it is only in the way of righteousness
that we can seek him with any hope of finding him.
I. How they are here directed to look back to
their original, and the smallness of their beginning;
“ Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn;” (the
idolatrous family in Ur of the Chaldees, out of
which Abraham was taken, the generation of slaves
which the heads and fathers of their tribes were in
Egypt;) “look unto the hole of the flit out of which
ye arc digged, as clay, when God formed you into a
people.” Note, It is good for those that are privi¬
leged by a new birth, to consider what they were
by their first birth: how they were conceived in ini¬
quity and sha/ien in sin. That which is born of the
flesh, is flesh: how hard was that rock out of which
we were hewn, unapt to receive impressions; and
how miserable the hole of that fit out of which we
were digged! The consideration should fill us witli
low thoughts of ourselves, and high thoughts of di¬
vine grace. Those that are now advanced, would
do well to remember how low they began; (u. 2.)
“ Look unto Abraham your father, the father of all
the faithful, of all that follow after the righteousness
of faith as he did; (Rom. iv. 11.) and unto Sarah
that bare you, and whose daughters you all are as
long as you do well; think how Abraham was call¬
ed alone, and yet was blessed and multiplied; and
let that encourage you to depend upon the promise
of God, even then when a sentence of death seems
to be upon all the means that lead to the perform¬
ance of it. Particularly let it encourage the cap¬
tives in Babylon, though they are reduced to a small
number, and few of them left, to hope that yet they
shall increase so as to replenish their own land again.
When Jacob is very small, yet he is not so small as
Abraham was, who yet became father of many na¬
tions. “ Look unto Abraham, and see what he got
by trusting in the promise of God, and take exam¬
ple by him to follow God with an implicit faith.”
3. How they are here assured that their present
seedness of tears should at length end in a harvest
of joys, v. 3. The church of God on earth, even
the gospel-Zion, has sometimes had her deserts and
waste places; many parts of the church, through
either corruption or persecution, made like a wil¬
derness, unfruitful to God, or uncomfortable to the
inhabitants; but God will find out a time and way to
comfort Zion, not only by speaking comfortably to
her, but by acting graciously for her. God has com¬
forts in store even for the waste places of bis church,
for those parts of it that seem not regarded nr va¬
lued. (1.) He will make them fruitful, and so give
them cause to rejoice; her wildernesses shall put on a
new face, and look pleasant as Eden, and abound in
all good fruits as the garden of the Lord. Note, It
is the greatest comfort of the church to be made
serviceable to the glory of God, and to be as his gar¬
den in which lie delights. (2.) He will make them
cheerful, and so give them hearts to rejoice: with
the fruits of righteousness, joy and gladness shall
be found therein; for, the more holiness men have,
and the more good they do, the more gladness the'-
have. And where there is gladness, to their satis
faction, it is fit that there should be thanksgiving,
to God’s honour; for, whatever is the matter of our
rejoicing, ought to be the matter of our thanksgiv¬
ing; and the returns of God’s favour ought to be
celebrated with the voice of melody, which will be
the more melodious, when God gives songs in the
night, songs in the' desert.
4. Hearken unto me, my people, and give
ear unto me, O my nation : for a law shall
proceed from me, and 1 will make my judg¬
ment to rest for a light of the people. 5. My
righteousness is near; my salvation is gone
forth, and mine arms shall judge the people:
the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine
arm shall they trust. 6. Lift up your eyes
to the heavens, and look upon the earth be¬
neath; for the heavens shall vanish away
like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like
a garment, and they that dwell therein shall
die in like manner: but my salvation shall
be for ever, and my righteousness shall not
be abolished. 7. Hearken unto me, ye that
know righteousness, the people in whose
heart is my law ; fear ye not the reproach
of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
8. For the moth shall eat them up like a
garment, and the worm shall eat them like
wool : but my righteousness shall be for ever,
and my salvation from generation to gene¬
ration.
Both these firoclamations, as I may call them, end
alike with an assurance of the perpetuity of God’s
righteousness, and his salvation; and therefore we
put them together, both being designed for the com¬
fort of God’s people. Observe,
I. Who they are to whom this comfort belong;
“ My people, and my nation, that I have set apart
for myself, that own me, and are owned by me.”
Those are God’s people and his nation, who are
subject to him as their King and their God, pay
allegiance to him, and put themselves under his
protection accordingly. They are a people who
know righteousness, who not only have the means of
knowledge, and to whom righteousness is made
known, but who improve those means, and are able
to form a right judgment of truth and falsehood,
good and evil. And as they have good heads, so
they have good hearts, for they have the law of God
in them, written and ruling there. Those God
owns for his people, in whose heart his law is. Even
those who know righteousness, and have the law of
God in their heart, may yet be in great distress
and sorrow, and loaded with reproach and con¬
tempt; but their God will comfort them with the
righteousness they know, and the law they have in
their hearts.
II. What the comfort is, that belongs to God’s
people:
1. That the gospel of Christ shall be preached
233
ISAIAH, LI.
and published to the world; A law shall proceed
from me, an evangelical law, the law of Christ, the
law of faith, ch. ii. 3. This law is his judgment, for
it is that law of liberty by which the world shall be
governed and judged; this shall not only go forth,
but shall continue and rest, it shall take firm footing
and deep root in the world; it shall rest not only for
the benefit of the Jews, who had the first notice of
it, but far a light of the people of other nations. It
is this law, this judgment, that we are required to
hearken and give ear to, at our peril; for how shall
we escape if we neglect it, and turn a deaf ear to it?
When a law proceeds from God, he that has ea>-s
:o hear, let him hear.
2. That this law and judgment shall bring witli
them righteousness and salvation, shall open a ready
way to tlie children of men, that they may lie justi¬
fied and saved, v. 5. It is called God’s righteous¬
ness and his salvation, because of his contriving and
bringing it about; it is a righteousness which he will
accept for us, and accept us for; and a righteousness
which lie will work in us, and graciously accept of;
it is the salvation of the Lord, for it arises from
him, and terminates in him. Observe, There is no
salvation without righteousness; and wherever there
■sthe righteousness of God, there shall be his salva¬
tion. All those, and those only, that are justified
and sanctified, shall be glorified.
3. That this righteousness and salvation shall very
shortly appear: it is near, it is gone forth; the de¬
cree is gone fortli concerning it, it shall as certainly
be introduced as if it were gone forth already, and
the time for it is at hand. It is near in time, behold,
all tilings are now ready; it is near in place, not far
to seek, but the word is nigli us, and Christ in the
word, righteousness in the word, Rom. x. 8.
4. That tills evangelical righteousness and salva¬
tion shall not be confined to the Jewish nation, but
sli ill lie extended to the Gentiles; Mine arms shall
judge the people. Those that will not yield to the
judgments of God’s mouth, shall be crushed by the
judgments of his hand. Some shall thus be judged
bv the gospel, for for judgment Christ came into
this world; but others, and those of the isles, shall
wait upon him, and bid his gospel, and the com¬
mands as well as the comforts of it, welcome. It
was a comfort to God’s people, to his nation, that
multitudes should be added to them, and the increase
of their number should be the increase of their
Strength and beauty. It is added, And on mine arm
shall they trust, that arm of the Lord, which is re¬
vealed in Christ, ch. liii. 1. Observe, God’s arm
shall judge the people that are impenitent, and yet
on his arm shall others trust, and lie saved by it; for
it is to us, as we make it, a savour of life or of death.
5. That this righteousness and salvation shall be
for ever, and shall never be abolished, v. 8. It is
an everlasting righteousness that the Messiah brings
in, (Dan. ix. 24.) an eternal redemption that he is
the Author of, Heb. v. 9. As it shall spread through
all the nations of the earth, so it shall last through
all the ages of the world. We must never expect
any other way of salvation, any other covenant of
peace, or rule of righteousness, than what we have
in the gospel, and what we have there shall continue
to the end, Mattli. xxviii. 20. It is for ever, for the
consequences of it shall be to eternity; and by this
law of liberty men’s everlasting state will lie deter¬
mined. This perpetuity of the gospel, and the bless¬
ed things it brings in, is illustrated by the fading
and perishing of this world and all things in it. Look
up to the visible heavens above, which have conti¬
nued hitherto, and seem likely to continue, but they
shall vanish like smoke that soon spends itself and
disappears; they shall be rolled like a scroll, and
their lights shall fall like leaves in autumn. Look
down to the earth beneath, that abides too for a
Vol. iv. — 2G
short ever, (Eccl. i. ■*. , out it shall wax old like a
garment that will be the worse for wearing; and
they that dwell therein, all the inhabitants of the
earth, even those that seem to have the best settle¬
ment in it, shall die in like manner; the soul shall, as
to tliis world, vanish like smoke, and the body be
tin-own by like a garment waxen old; they shall be
easily crushed, (Jobiv. 19.) and nolossof them. But
when heaven and earth pass away, when all flesh
and tlie glory of it wither as grass, the word of the
Lord endures for ever, and not one iota or tittle of
that shall fall to the ground. Those whose happi¬
ness is bound up in Christ’s righteousness and salva¬
tion, will have the comfort of it when time and days
shall be no more.
III. What use they are to make of this comfort:
if God’s righteousness and salvation are near to them,
then let them not fear the reproach of men, of mor¬
tal, miserable men, nor be afraid of their revilings
or spiteful taunts, theirs who bid you sing them the
songs of Zion, or who ask you, in scorn, Where is
now your God ? Let not those who embrace the
gospel-righteousness be afraid of those who will call
them Beelzebub, and will say all manner of evil
against them falsely; let them not be afraid of them,
let them not be disturbed by these opprobrious
speeches, nor made uneasy by them, as if they would
be the ruin of their reputation and honour, and they
must for ever lie under the load of them. Let them
not be afraid of their executing their menaces, or be
deterred thereby from their duty, or frightened into
any sinful compliances, or driven to take any indirect
courses for their own safety. Those can bear but
little for Christ, that cannot bear a hard word for
him. Let us not fear tlie reproach of men; for, 1.
They will be quickly silenced; (x>. 8.) The moth
shall eat them up like a garment, ch. 1. 9. The
worm shall cat them like wool, or wot lien cloth. If
we have tlie approbation of a living God, we may
despise tlie censure of dying men; the matter is not
great what they say of us, who must shortly be food
for worms. Or it intimates the judgments of God
witli which they shall lie visited, with which they
shall be consumed, for their malice against the peo¬
ple of God; they shall be slowly and silently, but
effectually, destroyed, when God shall come to
reckon with them for all their hard speeches, Jude
14, 15. 2. The cause we suffer for cannot be ran
down; the falsehood of their reproaches will be de¬
tected, but truth shall triumph, and tlie righteous¬
ness of religion’s injured cause shall be for ever plain.
Clouds darken the sun, but give no obstruction to
his progress.
9. Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm
of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient clays,
in the generations of old. Art thou not it
that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the
dragon? 10. Art thou not it which hath
dried the sea, the waters of the great deep;
that hath made the depths of the sea a way
for the ransomed to pass over ? 11. There¬
fore the redeemed of the Lord shall return,
and come with singing unto Zion ; and ever¬
lasting joy shall he upon their head : they
shall obtain gladness and joy ; ant! sorrow
and mourning shall flee away. 12. I, even
I, am he that comforteth you : who art thou,
that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that
shall die, and of the son of man which shall
be made as grass; 13. And forget test the
Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth
234
ISAIAH, Li.
the heavens, and laid the foundations of the
earth ; and hast feared continually eveiy day,
because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he
were ready to destroy ? and where is the
fury of the oppressor? 14. The captive exile
hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he
should not die in the pit, nor that his bread
should fail. 15. But I am the Lord thy
God, that divided the sea, whose waves
roared : the Lord of hosts is his name. 16.
And I have put my words in thy mouth, and
have covered thee in the shadow of mine
hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay
the foundations of the earth, and say unto
Zion, Thou art .my people.
In these verses, we have,
I. A prayer that God would, in his providence,
appear and act for the deliverance of his people, and
the mortification of his and their enemies; Awake,
awake, put on strength, O Arm of the Lord, v. 9.
The arm of the Lord is Christ, or it is put for God
himself, as Ps. xliv. 23. Awake, why sleepest thou ?
He that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps;
but when we pray that he would awake, we mean
that he would make it to appear that he watches
over his people, and is always awake to do them
good. The arm of the Lord is said to awake, when
the power of God exerts itself with more than ordi¬
nary vigour on his people’s behalf. When a hand
or arm is benumbed, we say, It is asleep; when it is
stretched forth for action, It awakes. God needs
not to be reminded or excited by us, but he gives us
leave thus to be humbly earnest with him for such
appearances of his power as will be for his own
pr .ise; “ Put on strength, put forth strength : appear
in thy strength, as we appear in the clothes we put
■m,” rs. xxi. 13. The church sees her case bad, her
enemies many and mighty, her friends few and fee¬
ble; and therefore she depends purely upon the
strength of God’s arm for her relief; “ Awake as in
the ancient days, do for us now as thou didst for our
fathers formerly, repeat the wonders they told us
of,” Judg. vi. 13.
II. The pleas to enforce this prayer; 1. They
plead precedents, the experiences of their ancestors,
and the great things God had done for them; “Let
the arm of the Lord be made bare on our behalf, for
it has done great things formerly in defence of the
same cause, and we are sure it is neither shortened
nor weakened: it did wonders against the Egyptians,
who enslaved and oppressed God’s son, his first¬
born; it cut llahab to pieces with one direful plague
after another; and wounded Pharaoh, the Dragon,
the Leviathan, (as he is called, Ps. lxxiv. 13, 14.)
it gave him his death’s wound. It did wonders for
Israel; it dried u/i the sea, even the waters of the
great deep, as far as was requisite to open a way
through the sea for the ransomed to pass over,” v.
10. God is never at a loss for a way to accomplish
his purposes concerning his people, but will either
find one, or make one. Past experiences, as they
are great supports to faith and hope, so they are
good pleas in prayer, Thou hast; wilt thou not? Ps.
ixxxv. 1. — 6. 2. They plead promises; (y. 11.) And
the redeemed of the Lord shall return; (as it may be
supplied) Thou hast said. They shall; referring to
ch. xxxv. 10. where we find this promise, that the
redeemed of the Lord, when they are released out of
their captivity in Babylon, shall come with singing
unto Zion. Sinners, when they are brought out of
the slavery of sin into the glorious liberty of God’s
children, may come singing, as a bird got loose out
of the cage. The souls of believers, wner, ,ney are
delivered out of the prison of the body, come to the
heavenly Zion with singing. Then this promise will
have its full accomplishment, and we may plead it
in the mean time; he that designs such joy for us at
last, will he not work such deliverance for us in the
mean time as our case requires? When the saints
come to heaven, they enter into the joy of their Lord,
it crowns their heads with immortal honour, it fills
their hearts with complete satisfaction; they shall
obtain that joy and gladness which they could never
obtain in this vale ol tears. In this world of changes,
it is a short step from joy to sorrow, but in that
world sorrow and mourning shall flee away, never
to return, or come in view again.
III. The answer immediately given to this prayer;
(v. 12. ) I, even I, am he that comforts you. They
prayed for the operations of his power," he answers
them with the consolations of his grace, which may
well be accepted as an equivalent. If God do not
wound the dragon, and dry the sea, as formerly, yet
if he comfort us in soul under our afflictions, "we
have no reason to cpmplain. If God do not answer
immediately, with the saving strength of his right
hand, we must be thankful if he answer us, as an
angel himself was answered, (Zech. i. 13.) with
good words and comfortable words. See how God
resolves to comfort his people; I, even I, will do it.
He had ordered his ministers to do it, ( ch . xl. 1. )
but because they cannot reach the heart, he takes
the work into his own hands; I, even I, will do it.
See how he glories in it; he takes it among the titles
of his honour to be the God that comforts them that
are cast down; he delights in being so. Those whom
God comforts, are comforted indeed; nay, his under¬
taking to comfort them is comfort enough to them.
1. He comforts those that were in fear; and fear
has torment which calls for comfort; the fear of man
has a snare in it which we have 'need of comfort to
preserve us from. He comforts the timorous by-
chiding them, and that is no improper way of com¬
forting either others or ourselves; Why art thou
cast down, and why disquieted? v. 12, 13. God,
who comforts his people, would not have them dis¬
quiet themselves with amazing, perplexing fears,
either of the reproach of men, (v. 7.) or of their
growing, threatening power and greatness, or of any
mischief they may intend against us or our people.
Observe,
(1.) The absurdity of those fears; it is a disparage¬
ment to us to give way to them; Who art thou, that
thou shouldest be afraid? In the original, the pro¬
noun is feminine. Who art thou, O woman, unwor¬
thy the name of a man? Such a weak and womanish
thing it is to give way to perplexing fears. [1.] It
is absurd to be in such dread of a dying man. What !
afraid of a man, that shall die, shall certainly and
shortly die; of the son of man which shall be made
as grass, shall wither and be trodden down, or eaten
up? The greatest men, and the most formidable,
that are the terror of the mighty, in the land of the
living, are but men, (Ps. ix. 20.) and shall die like
men; (Ps. lxxxii. 7.) are but grass sprang out of the
earth, cleaving to it, and retiring again into it. Note,
We ought to look upon every man as a man that
shall die. Those we admire, and love, and trust to,
are men that shall die; let us not therefore delight
too much in them, nor depend too much upon them.
Those we fear we must look upon as frail and mor¬
tal, and consider what a foolish thing it is for the
servants of the living God to be afraid of dying men,
that are here to-day, and gone to-morrow. [2.] It
is absurd to fear continually every day, (re 13.) to
put ourselves upon a constant rack, so as never to be
easy, nor to have any enjoyment of ourselves. Now
and then a danger may be imminent and threat: nmg,
and it may be prudence to fear it; but to be always
235
ISAIAH, LI.
in a toss, jealous of dangers at every step, and to
Tumble at the shaking of every ieaf, is to make our¬
selves all our life-time subject to bondage, (Heb. ii.
15.) and to bring upon ourselves that sore judgment
which is threatened, Deut. xxviii. 66, 67. Thou
shall fear day and night. [3.] It is absurd to fear
beyond what there is cause; “Thou art afraid of
the fury of the ofifiressor; it is true, there is an
oppressor, and he is furious, and he designs, it may
be, when lie lias an opportunity, to do thee a mis¬
chief, and it will be thy wisdom therefore to stand
upon thy guard; but thou art afraid of him, as if he
were ready to destroy, aS if he were just now going
to cut thy throat, and as if there were no possibility
of preventing it. ” A timorous spirit is thus apt to
make the worst of every thing, and to apprehend
the danger greater and nearer than really it is.
Sometimes God is pleased at once to show us the
folly of it; “ Where is the fury of the oppressor? It
is gone in an instant, and the danger is over ere thou
art aware. ” His heart is turned, or his hands are
tied. Pharaoh king of £gy/it is but a noise, and
the king of Babylon no more. What is gone with
all the furious oppressors of God’s Israel, that hec¬
tored them, and threatened them, and were a terror
to them; they passed away, and lo, they were not,
and so shall these.
(2.) The impittv of those fears; “ Thou art afraid
of a man that shall die, and forgettest the Lord thy
Maker, who is also the Maker of all the world, who
has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the founda¬
tions of the earth, and therefore has all the hosts and
all the powers of both at his command and disposal. ”
Note, Our inordinate fearing of man is an implicit
forgetting of God. When we disquiet ourselves
with the fear of man, we forget that there is a God
above him, and that the greatest of men have no
power but what is given them from above; we forget
the providence of God, by which he orders and
overrules all events according to the counsel of his
own will; we forget the promises he has made to
protect his people, and the experiences we have had
of his care concerning us, and his seasonable inter¬
position for our relief many a time, when we thought
the oppressor ready to destroy; we forget our Jeho-
vah-jirehs, monuments of mercy in the mount of the
Lcrd. Did we remember to make God our fear
and our dread, we should not be so much afraid as
we are of the frowns of men, ch. viii. 12, 13. Happy
is the man that fears God always, Prov. xxviii. 14.
Luke xii. 4, 5.
2. He comforts those that were in bonds, v. 14,
15. See here, (1.) What they do for themselves;
The ca/itive exile hastens that he may be loosed, and
r^ay return to his own country, from which he is
banished; his care is, that he may not die in the pit,
not die a prisoner, through the inconveniencies of his
confinement; and that his bread should not fail,
either the bread he should have to keep him alive
in prison, or that which should bear his charges
home; his stock is low, and therefore he hastens to
be loosed. Now some understand this as his fault;
he is distrustfully impatient of delays, cannot wait
God’s time, but thinks he is undone, and must die
in the pit, if he be not released immediately; others
take it to be his praise, that when the doors are
thrown open, he does not linger, but applies himself
with all diligence to procure his discharge; and then
it follows, But I am the Lord thy God, which inti¬
mates, (2.) What God will do for them, even that
which they cannot do for themselves. God has all
power in his hand to help the captive exiles; for he
lias divided the sea, when the roaring of its waves
was more frightful than any of the impotent menaces
of proud oppressors. He has stilled or quieted the
s-' a, so some think it should be read, Ps. lxv. 7. —
I xxxix. 9. This is not only a proof of what God
| can do, out a resemblance of what he has done, and
!• will do, for his people; lie will find out a way to still
j the threatening storm, and bring them safe into the
!| harbour; The Lord of hosts is his name, his name
jj for ever; the name by which his people have long
!; known him. And as he is able to help them, so he
jj is willing and engaged to do it; for he is thy God, O
i; captive exile, thine in covenant. This is a check to
jj the desponding captives; let them not conclude that
il they must either be loosed immediately, or die in
ij the pit; for he that is the Lord of hosts can relieve
j: them when they are brought ever so low. It is also
|! an encouragement to the diligent captives, who,
jj when liberty is proclaimed, are willing to lose no
j time; let them know that the Lord is their God, and
while they thus strive to help themselves, they may
be sure he will help them.
3. He comforts all his people who depended upon
what the prophets said to them in the name of the
Lord, and built their hopes upon it. When the
deliverances which the prophets spake of, either did
not come so soon as they looked for them, or did not
come up to the height of tneir expectation, they’
began to be cast down in their own eyes; but as to
this, they are encouraged, (y. 16.) by what God
says to his prophet, not to this only, but to all his
prophets, nor to this, or them, principally, but to
Christ, the great Prophet. It is a great satisfaction
to those to whom the message is sent, to hear the
God of truth and power say to his messenger, as he
does here, I have put my words in thy mouth, that
by them I may plant the heavens. God undertook
to comfort his people; (n. 12.) but still he does it by
his prophets, by his gospel; and that he may do it
by these, he here tells us, (1.) That his word in
them is very true. He owns what the)' had said to
be what he had directed and enjoined them to say;
“ I have put my words in thy mouth, and therefi re
he that receives thee and them receives me.” This
is a great stay to our faith, that Christ’s doctrine
was not his, but his that sent him; and that the
words of the prophets and apostles were God’s words
which he put into their mouths. God’s Spirit not
only revealed to them the things themselves thev
spake of, but dictated to them the words they should
speak, (2 Pet. i. 21. 1 Cor. ii. 13.) so that these are
the true sayings of God, of a God that cannot lie.
(2.) That it is very safe; I have covered thee in the
shadow of my hand, (as before, ch. xlix. 2. ) which
speaks the special protection not only of the pro¬
phets, but of their prophecies, not only of Christ but
of Christianity, of the gospel of Christ; it is not only
the faithful word of God which the prophets deliver
to us, but it shall be carefully preserved till it have
its accomplishment for the use of the church, not¬
withstanding the restless endeavours of the powers
of darkness to extinguish this light. They shall
prophesy again, (Rev. x. 11.) though not in their
persons, yet in their writings, which God has always
covered in the shadow of his hand, preserved by a
special providence, else they had been lost ere this.
(3.) That this word, when it comes to be accom¬
plished, will be very great, and will not fall short of
the pomp and grandeur of the prophecy; “ I have
put my words in thy mouth, not that by the per¬
formance of them I may plant a nation, or found a
city, but plant the heavens, and lay the foundation?
of the earth, may do that for my people which will
be a new creation.” This must look as far forward
as to the great work done by the gospel of Christ,
and the setting up of his holy religion in the world.
As God by Christ made the world at first, (Heb. i.
2.) and by him formed the Old Testament church,
(Zocli. vi. 12.) so by him, and the words put into
his mouth, he will set up, [1.] A new world; will
again plant the heavens, and found the earth. Sin
having put the whole creation into disorder, Christ’s
ISAIAH, Li.
taking away the sin of the world put all into order
again; old things are passed away, all things are
become new; things in heaven and things on earth
are reconciled, and so put into a new posture, Col. i.
20. Through him, according to the promise, we
look for new heavens and a new earth, (2 Pet. iii.
13.) and to this the prophets bear witness. [2.]
He will set up a new church, a New Testament
church; he •will say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
The gospel-church is called Zion, (Heb. xii. 22.)
and Jerusalem, Gal. iv. 26. And when the Gen¬
tiles are brought into it, it shall be said unto them,
Ye are my people. When God works great deli¬
verances for his church, and especially when he
shall complete the salvation of it in the great day,
he will thereby own that poor despised hand¬
ful to be his people, whom he has chosen and
loved.
17. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusa¬
lem, which hast drunk at the hand of the
Lord the cup of his fury: thou hast drunken
'the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung
them out. 1 S. There is none to guide her
among all the sons whom she hath brought
•orth ; neither is there any that taketh her
by the hand, of all the sons that she hath
brought up. 19. These two things are
come unto thee; who shall be sorry for
thee ? desolation, and destruction, and the
famine, and the sword : by whom shall I
comfort thee? 20. Thy sons have fainted,
they lie at the head of all the streets as a
wild bull in a net : they are full of the fury
of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God. 21.
Therefore, hear now this, thou afflicted, and
drunken, but not with wine : 22. Thus
saith thy Lord, the Lord, and thy God that
pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I
have taken out of thy hand the cup of
trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my
fury , thou shalt no more drink it again :
23. But 1 will put it into the hand of them
that afflict thee; which have said to thy
soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and
thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and
as the street, to them that went over.
God having awoke for the comfort of his people,
here calls upon them to awake, as afterward, ch.
Iii. 1. It is a call to awake not so much out of their
sleep of sin, (though that also is necessary in order
to their being ready for deliverance,) as out of the
stupor of despair. When the inhabitants of Jeru¬
salem were in captivity, they as well as those who
remained upon the spot, were so overwhelmed with
the sense of their troubles, that they had no heart
or spirit to mind any thing that tended to their com¬
fort or relief ; they were as the disciples in the gar¬
den, sleeping for sorrow, .(Luke xxii. 45.) and
therefore when the deliverance came, they are
said to be like them that dream, (Ps. exxvi. 1.)
Nay, it is a call to awake, not only from sleep,
but from death, like that to the dry bones to live,
Ezek. xxxvii. 9. “Awake, and look about thee,
that thou mayest see the day of thy deliverance
dawn, and mayest be ready to bid it welcome:
recover thy senses, sink not under thy load, but
stand up, and bestir thyself for thy own help.”
This may be applied to the Jerusalem that was
in the apostle’s time, which is said to be in bon
dage with her children, (Gal. iv. 25.) and to have
been under the power of a spirit of slumber;
(Rom. xi. 8.) they are called to awake, and mind
the things that belonged to their everlasting peace,
and then the cup of trembling should be taken r ut
of their hands, peace should be spoken to them, and
they should triumph over Satan, who had blinded
their eyes and lulled them asleep. Now,
I. It is owned that Jerusalem had long been in a
very deplorable condition, and sunk into the depths
of misery.
1. She had lain under the tokens of God’s displea¬
sure: he had put into her hand the cup of his fury,
her share of his displeasure; the dispensations of his
providence concerning her had been such, that she
had reason to think he was angry with her. She
had provoked him to anger most bitterlv, and was
made to taste the bitter fruits of it. The cup of
God’s fury is, and will be, a cup of trembling to all
those that have it put into their hands: damned sin¬
ners will find it so to eternity. It is said (Ps. lxxv
8.) that the dregs of the cup, the loathsome sedi¬
ments in the bottom of it, all the wicked of the earth
shall wring them out, and drink them; but here Je¬
rusalem having made herself as the wicked of the
earth, is compelled to wring them out, and drink
them; for wherever there has been a cup of forni¬
cation, as there had been in Jerusalem’s hand, when
she was idolatrous, sooner or later there will be a
cup of fury, a cup of trembling: therefore stand in
awe and sin not.
2. Those that should have helped her in her dis¬
tress, failed her, and were either unable or unwill¬
ing to help her, as might have been expected, v. 18.
She is intoxicated with the cup of God’s fury, and,
being so, staggers, and is very unsteady in her coun¬
sels and attempts; she knows not what she says or
does, much less knows she what to say or do. In
this unhappy condition, of all the sons that she has
brought forth and brought up, that she has borne
and educated, (and there were many famous ones,
for of Zion it was said, That this and that man was
born there, Ps. lxxxvii. 5.) there is none to guide
her, none to take her by the hand, to keep her
either from falling, or from shaming herself, to lend
either a hand to help her out of her trouble, or a
tongue to comfort her under it. Think it not
strange, if wise and good men are disappointed in
their children, and have not that succour from them
which they expected, but if those that were arrows
in their hand, prove arrows in their heart, when Je¬
rusalem herself has none of all her sons, either
prince, priest, or prophet, that has such a sense
either of duty or gratitude, as to help her when she
had most need of help. Thus they complain, (Pa
lxxiv. 9.) There is none to tell us how long.
Now that which aggravated this disappointment,
was,
(1.) That her trouble was very great, and yet
there was none to pity or help her; These two things
are come unto thee, (v. 19.) to complete thy deso¬
lation and destruction, even the famine and the
sword, two sore judgments, and very terrible. Or,
the two things were, the desolation and destruction
by which the city was wasted, and the famine and
sword by which the citizens perished. Or, the two
things were, the trouble itself, made up of desola¬
tion, destruction, famine, and sword, and her being
helpless, forlorn, and comfortless, under it; “Two
sad things indeed, to be in this woful case, and to
have none to pity thee, to sympathize with thee in
thy griefs, or to’ help to bear the burthen of thy
cares; to have none to comfort thee, by suggesting
that to thee which might help to alleviate thy g-rief,
or doing that for thee which might help to redress
thy grievances.” Or, these two things that were
237
ISAIAH, LTI.
come upon Jerusalem, are the same with the two
things that were afterward to come upon Babylon,
(c/i. xlvii. 9.) loss of children and widowhood;
piteous cases, and yet, when thou hast brought it
upon thyself by thy own sin and folly, who shall be
sorry for thee? Cases that call for comfort, and
yet, when thou art froward under thy trouble, fret-
test, and makest thyself uneasy, by whom shall I
comfort thee? They that will not be counselled,
cannot be helped.
(2. ) That those who should have been her com¬
forters, were their own tormentors, (v. 20.) They
have fainted, as quite dispirited and driven to de¬
spair, they have no patience in which to keep pos¬
session of' their own souls, and the enjoyment of
themselves, nor any confidence in God’s promise,
bv which to keep possession of the comfort of that.
They throw themselves upon the ground, in vexa¬
tion at their troubles, and there they lie at the head
of all the streets, complaining to all that pass by,
(Lam. i. 12.) pining away for want of necessary
food; there they lie like a wild bull in a net, fretting
and raging, struggling and pulling, to help them¬
selves, but entangling themselves so much the more,
and making their condition the worse, by their own
passions and discontents. They that are of a meek
and quiet spirit, are, under affliction, like a dove in
a net, mourning indeed, but silent and patient.
They that are of a froward, peevish spirit, are like
a wild bull in a net, uneasy to themselves, vexatious
to their friends, and provoking to their God: they
are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of our
Goa. God is angry with them, and contends with
them, and they are full of that only, and take no
notice of his wise and gracious designs in afflicting
them, never inquire wherefore he contends with
them, and therefore nothing appears in them but an¬
ger at God, and quarrelling with him. They are
displeased at God for the dispensations of his pro¬
vidence concerning them, and so they do but make
bad worse. This had long been Jerusalem’s woful
case, and God took cognizance of it. But,
II. It is promised that Jerusalem’s troubles shall
at length come to an end, and be transfeired to her
persecutors; (y. 21.) JVevertheless, hear this, thou
afflicted. It is often the lot of God’s church to be
afflicted, and God has always something to say to
her then, which she will do well to hearken to.
“ Thou art drunken, not as formerly with wine,
not with the intoxicating cup of Babylon’s whore¬
doms and idolatries, but with the cup of affliction.
Know then, for thy comfort,
1. “ That the Lord Jehovah is thy Lord and thy
God, for all this.” It is expressed emphatically,
(v. 22.) “ Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord, and thy
God; the Lord, who is able to help thee, and has
wherewithal to relieve thee, thy Lord, who has an
incontestable right to thee, and will not alienate it,
thv God, in covenant with thee, and who has un¬
dertaken to make thee happy.” Whatever the
distresses of God’s people may be, he will not dis¬
own his relation to them, nor have they lost their
interest in him and in his promise.
?. “ That he is the God who pleads the cause of
'rs people, as their Patron and Protector; who takes
wh.it is done against them as done against himself.”
rii e cause of God’s people, and of that holy religion
which they profess, is a righteous cause, otherwise
the righteous God would not appear for it; yet it
m iv for a time be run down, and seem as if it were
I st; but God will plead it, either by convincing the
i' 1 m sciences, or confounding the mischievous projects,
of those that fight against it. He will plead it by
clearing up the equity and excellency of it to the
world, and by giving success to those that act in
defence of it. It is his own cause, he has espoused
if, and therefore will plead it with jealousy.
3. That they should shortly take leave of their
troubles, and bid a final farewell to tlum; “ > will
take out of thy hand the cup of trcinbln ,g, that
bitter cup, it shall pass from thee.” Tnn wing
away the cup of trembling will not do, nor sav ing,
“We will not, we cannot drink it;” but if we p. -
tiently submit, he that put it into rur hands will
himself take it out of our hands. Nay, it is pn -
mised, “ Thou shalt no more drink it again; God
has let fall his controversy with thee, ..nd will not
revive the judgment.”
4. That their persecutors and oppressors should
be made to drink of the same bitter cup which they
had drunk so deep of, v. 23. See hire, (1.) Hi w
insolently they had abused, and trampled upon, tli ■
people of God; They have said to thy soul, to thee,
to thy life, Bow down, that we may go over. Nat ,
they have said it to thy conscience, taking pride and
pleasure in forcing thee to worship idols. Hi rim
the New Testament Babylon triads in the stips i f
that old oppressor, tyrannizing over men’s c< n-
sciences, giving law to them, putting them upi n
the rack, and compelling them to sinful compliances.
Thev that set up an infallible head and judge, re¬
quiring an implicit faith in his dictates, and obedi¬
ence to his commands, do in effect say to men’s
souls, Boson down, that we may go over, and they
say it with delight. How meanly the people if
God (having by their sin lost much of their courage
and sense of honour). truckled to them; Thou hast
laid thy body as the ground. Observe, The i p-
pressors required souls to be subjected to them, that
every man should believe and worship just as they
would have them. But all they could gain by their
threats and violence, was, that people laid tluir
body on the ground; they brought them to an ex¬
ternal and hypocritical conformity, but conscieitce
cannot be forced, nor is it mentioned to their praise
that they yielded thus far. But, (2.) Observe how
justly God will reckon with those who have carried
it so imperiously toward his people; the cu/i of
trembling shall be put into their hand. Babylon’s
case shall be as bad as ever Jerusalem’s was. Da¬
niel’s persecutors shall be thrown into Daniel’s den;
let them see how they like it. And the Lord is
known by these judgments which he executes.
CHAP. LII.
The most part of this chapter is of the same subject with
the chapter before, concerning the deliverance of the
Jews out of Babylon, which yet is applicable to the
great salvation Christ has wrought out for us ; but the
three last verses are of the same subject with the follow¬
ing chapter, concerning the person of the Redeemer, his
humiliation, and exaltation. Observe, I. The encourage¬
ment that is given to the Jews in captivity, to hope that
God would deliver them in his own way and time, v.
1 • • 6. II. The great joy and rejoicing that shall be
both with ministers and people upon that occasion, v.
7 . . 10. III. The call given to those that remained in
captivity to shift for their own enlargement when liberty
was proclaimed, v. 11, 12. IV. A short idea given here
of the Messiah, which is enlarged upon in the next
chapter, v. 13. . . 15.
1 . A WAKE, awake ; put on thy strength,
jlm. O Zion ; put on thy beautiful gar¬
ments, O Jerusalem, the holy city : for hence¬
forth there shall no more come unto thee the
uncircumcised and the unclean. 2. Shake
thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down,
O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands
of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 3
For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold
yourselves for nought ; and ye shall be re¬
deemed without money. . 4. For thus said.
233
ISAIAH, LII.
the Lord God, Mv people went down afore¬
time into Egypt to sojourn there ; and the
Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5. Now, therefore, what have I here, saith
the Lord, that my people is taken away for
nought? They that rule over them make
them to howl, saith the Lord, and my
name continually every day is blasphemed.
6. Therefore my people shall know my
name : therefore they shall know in that day
that I am he that doth speak ; behold, it is I.
Here,
I. God’s people are stirred up to appear vigorous
for their own deliverance, v. 1,2. 1 hey had de¬
sired that God would awake, and fiut on his strength,
ch. li. 9. Here he calls upon them to awake, and
fiut on their strength, to bestir themselves; let them
awake from their despondency, and pluck up their
spirits, encourage themselves and one another with
hope that all will be well yet, and no longer succumb
and sink under their burthen. Let them awake
from their distrust, look above them, look about
them, look into the promises, look into the provi¬
dences of God that were working for them, and let
them raise their expectations of great things from
God. Let them awake from, their dulness, slug¬
gishness, and incogitancy, and raise up their en¬
deavours, not to take any irregular courses for their
own relief, contrary to the law of nations concern¬
ing captives, but to use all likely means to recom¬
mend themselves to the favour of the conqueror,
and make an interest with him.
God here gives them an assurance, 1. That they
shall be reformed by their captivity; There shall no
more come into thee the uncircumcised and the un¬
clean, their idolatrous customs shall be no more in¬
troduced, or at least not harboured ; for when by the
marriage of strange wives, in Ezra’s time and Ne-
hemiah’s, the unclean crept in, they were soon by
the vigilance and zeal of the magistrates expelled
again; and care was taken that Jerusalem should be
a holv city. Thus the gospel-Jerusalem is purified
by the blood of Christ and the grace of God, and
made indeed a holy city. 2. They shall be relieved,
and rescued out of their captivity; that the bands
of their necks should be loosed; that they should not
now be any longer oppressed, nay, that they should
not be any more invaded as they had been; There
shall no more come against thee (so it may be read,
t>. 1.) the uncircumcised and the unclean. The
heathen shall not again enter into God’s sanctuary,
and profane his temple, Ps. lxxix. 1. This must
be understood with a condition; if they keep close
to God, and keep in with him, God will keep off,
will keep out, the enemy; but if they again corrupt
themselves, Antiochus will profane their temple,
and the Romans destroy it. However, for some
time they shall have peace. And to this happy
change, now approaching, they are here called to
accommodate themselves. (1.) Let them prepare
for joy; “ Put on thy beautiful garments, no longer
to appear in mourning-weeds, and the habit of thy
widowhood. Put on a new face, a smiling counte¬
nance, now that a new and pleasant scene begins to
open. ” The beautiful garments were laid up then,
when the harps were hung on the willow-trees; but
now there is occasion for both, let both be resumed
together. “Put on thy strength, and in order to
that, put on thy beautiful garments, in token of tri¬
umph and rejoicing.” Note, The joy of the Lord
will be our strength, (Neh. viii. 10.) and our beau¬
tiful garments will serve for armour of proof against
the darts of temptation and trouble. And observe.
Jerusalem must then put on her beautiful garments
when she is become a holy city, for the beaut)* of
holiness is the most amiable beauty, and the more
holy we are, the more cause we have to rejoice.
(2. ) Let them prepare for liberty ; “ Shake thyself
from the dust in which thou hast lain, and into
which thy proud oppressors have trodden thee, (ch.
li. 23.) or into which thou hast in thy extreme sor¬
row rolled thyself.” Arise, and sit ufi; so it may
be read. “ O Jerusalem, prepare to get clear of all
the marks of servitude thou hast been under, and to
shift thy quarters; loose thyself from the bands of
thy neck, be inspired with generous principles, and
resolutions to assert thine own liberty.” Phe gos¬
pel proclaims liberty to those who were bound with
fears, and makes it their duty to take hold of their
liberty. Let those who have been weary and
heavy-laden, under the burthen of sin, finding re¬
lief in Christ, shake themselves from the dust of
their doubts and fears, and loose themselves from
those bands; for if the Son make them free, they
shall be free indeed.
II. God stirs up himself to appear jealous for the
deliverance of his people. He here pleads their
cause with himself, and even stirs up himself to
come and save them, for his reasons of mercy are
fetched from himself. Divers things he here con¬
siders.
1. That the Chaldeans who oppressed them,
never acknowledged God in the power they gained
over his people; any more than Senna •herib did,
who, when God made use of him as an instrument
for the correction and reformation of his people,
meant not so, r'. x. 6, 7. “ Ye have sold your¬
selves for naught, you got nothing by it, nor did I.”
v. 3. God considers ‘that when they by sin had
sold themselves, lie himself, who had the prior,
nay, the sole, title to them, did not increase his
wealth by the firice, Ps. xliv. 12. (They did not
so much as pay their debts to him with it; the Ba¬
bylonians gave him no thanks for them, but rather
reproached and blasphemed his name upon that
account.) “ And therefore they, having so long
had you for nothing, shall at last restore you for no¬
thing; you shall be redeemed without firice; this was
promised, ch. xlv. 13. Those that give nothing,
must expect to get nothing; however, God is a
Debtor to no man.
2. That thev had been often before in the like
distress, had often smarted for a time under the
tyranny of their taskmasters, and therefore it was
pity that they should now be left always in the hand
of these oppressors; (y. 4.) My fieofile went down
into Egyfit, in an amicable way to settle there; but
they enslaved them, and ruled them with rigour.
And then they were delivered, notwithstanding the
pride, and power, and policies of Pharaoh. And
why may we not think God will deliver his people
now? At other times, the Assyrian oppressed the
people of God without cause, as when the ten tribes
were carried away captive by the king of Assyria;
soon after, Sennacherib, another Assyrian, with a
destroying army, oppressed, and made himself
master of, all the defenced cities of Judah; the
Babylonians might not unfitly be called Assyrians,
their monarchy being a branch of the Assyrian:
and they now oppressed them without cause.
Though ’God was righteous in delivering them into
their hands, they were unrighteous in using them
as they did; and could not pretend a dominion over
them as their subjects, as Pharaoh might when they
were settled in Goshen, a part of his kingdom.
When we suffer by the hands of wicked and unrea¬
sonable men, it is some comfort to be able to say.
that as to them it is without cause, that we have not
given them any provocation, Ps. vii. 3, 5, 8ce.
3. That God’s glory suffered by the injuries that
239
ISAIAH, LI I.
were done to his people; (v. 5.) H7iat have I here,
what do I get by it, that my ficofile is taken away
for naught? God is not worshipped as he used to
be in Jerusalem, his altar there is gone, and his
temple in ruins; but if, in lieu of that, he were more
and better worshipped in Babylon, either by the
captives, or by the natives, it were another matter,
God might be looked upon as in some respect a
Gainer in his honour by it; but alas, it is not so.
(1.) The captives are so dispirited, that they can¬
not praise him; instead of this, they are continually
howling, which grieves him, and moves his pity.
They that rule over them make them to howl, as the
Egyptians of old made them to sigh, Exod. ii. 23.
So the Babylonians, now using them more hardly,
extorted from them louder complaints, and made
them to howl. This gives us no pleasing idea of the
temper the captives were now in; their complaints
were not so rational and pious as they should have
been, but brutish rather; they howled, Hos. vii. 14.
However, God heard it, and came down to deliver
them, as he did out of Egypt, Exod. iii. 7, 8. (2.)
The natives are so insolent, that they will not praise
him, but, instead of that, they are continually blas¬
pheming, which affronts him, and moves his anger.
They boasted that they were too hard for God, be¬
cause thev were too fiard for his people, and set
him at defiance, as unable to deliver them, and thus
his name continually every day was blasphemed
among them. When they praised their own idols,
they lifted u/i themselves against the Lord of hea¬
ven, £)an. v. 23. “ Now,” says God, “this is not
to be suffered, I will go down to deliver them; for
what honour, what rent, what tribute of praise,
have I from the world, when my people, who
should be to me for a name and a praise, are to me
for a reproach.'1 For their oppressors will neither
praise God themselves, nor let them do it.” The
apostle quotes this, with application to the wicked
lives of the Jews, by which God was dishonoured
among the Gentiles then, as much as now he was
by their sufferings, Rom. ii. 23, 24.
4. That his glory would be greatly manifested by
their deliverance; ( v . 6.) “ Therefore, because my
name is thus blasphemed, I will arise, and my fieo-
file shall know my name, my name, Jehovah.” By
this name he had made himself known, in deliver¬
ing them out of Egypt, Exod. vi. 3. God will do
something to vindicate his qwn honour, something
for his great name, and his people, who have almost
lost the knowledge of it, shall know it to their com¬
fort, and shall find it their strong tower. They
shall know that God’s providence governs the world,
and all the affairs of it, that it is he who speaks de¬
liverance for them by the word of his power, that
it is he only, who at first spake, and it was done.
They shall know that God’s word, which Israel is
blessed with above other nations, shall without fail
have its accomplishments in due season; that it is
he who speaks by the prophets, it is he, and they
do not speak of themselves, for not one iota or tittle
of what they say shall fall to the ground.
7. How beautiful upon the mountains are
the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace ; that bringeth good
tidings of good, that publisheth salvation;
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth !
8. Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice;
with the voice together shall they sing : for
they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord
shall bring again Zion. 9. Break forth into
joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jeru¬
salem : for the Lord hath comforted his
people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem: 10.
The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in
the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends
of the earth shall see the salvation of our
God. • 11. Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out
from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye
out of the midst of her ; he ye clean that bear
the vessels of the Lord. 12. For ye shall
not go out with haste, nor go by (light: for
the Lord will go before you ; and the God
of Israel will he your rearward.
The removal of the Jews from Babylcn to their
own land again, is here spoken of both as a mercy,
and as a duty; and the application cf v. 7. to the
preaching of the gospel, (by the apostle, Rom. x.
15.) plainly intimates that that deliverance was a
type and figure of the redemption of mankind by
Jesus Christ, to which what is here said of their re¬
demption out of Babylon ought to be accommodated.
I. It is here spoken of as a great blessing, which
ought to be welcomed with abundance of joy and
thankfulness.
1. Those that bring the tidings of their release,
shall be very acceptable; (t\ 7.) “ How beautiful
ufion the mountains, the mountains round about
Jerusalem, over which these messengers are seen
coming at a distance, how beautiful are their feet,
when it is known what tidings they bring!” It is
not meant so much of the common posts, or the
messengers sent express by the government to
disperse the proclamation, but rather of seme of the
Jews themselves, who, being at the fountain-head
of intelligence, had early notice of it, and immedi¬
ately went themselves, or sent their own messen-
fers, to all parts, to disperse the news, and even to
erusalem itself, to tell the few who remained there,
that their brethren would be with them shortly, for
it is published not merely as matter of news, but as
a proof that Zion’s God reigns, for in that language
it is published; they say unto Zion, Thy God reigns.
Those who bring the tidings of peace and salvation,
that Cyrus has given orders for the release of the
Jews, tidings which were so long expected by them
that waited for the consolation of Israel, the se good
tidings, (so the original reads it, without the tau¬
tology of our translation, good tidings of good,)
they put this construction upon it, O Zion, thy God
reigns. Note, When bad news is abroad, this is
good news, and when good news is abroad, this is
the best news, that Zion’s God reigns; that God is
Zion’s God in covenant with her, and as such he
reigns, Ps. cxlvj. 10. Zech. ix. 9. The Lord has
founded Zion, ch. xiv. 32. All events have their
rise in the disposals of the kingdom of his provi¬
dence, and their tendency' to the advancement cf
the kingdom of his grace. This must be applied to
the preaching of the gospel, which is a proclamation
of peace and salvation; it is gospel indeed, good
news, glad tidings, tidings of victory over our spi¬
ritual enemies, and liberty from our spiritual bon¬
dage. The good news is, that the Lord Jesus
reigns, and all power is given to him. Christ him¬
self brought these tidings first; (Luke iv. 18. Heb.
ii. 3.) and of him the text speaks; How beautiful
are his feet; his feet that were nailed to the cross
how beautiful upon mount Calvary; his feet when
he came leafing ufion the mountains. Cant. ii. 8.
How beautiful were they to those who knew his
voice, and knew it to be the voice of their Beloved.
His ministers proclaim these good tidings; they
ought to keep their feet clean from the pollu lions
of the world, and then they ought to be beautiful
in the eyes of those to whom they are sent, who sit
-240
ISAIAH, LII.
tit their feet, or rather at Christ’s in them, to hear
his word. They must be esteemed in love, for their
work's sake, 1 Thess. v. 13. For their message-
sake, which is well worthy of all acceptation.
2. Those to whom the tidings are brought, shall
be put thereby into a transport of joy.
(1.) Zion’s watchmen shall then rejoice, because
they are surprisingly illuminated, t. 8. The watch¬
men on Jerusalem’s walls shall lead the chorus in
this triumph; who they were we are told, ch. Ixii. 6.
They were such as God set on the walls of Jerusa¬
lem, to make mention of his name, and to continue
instant in prayer to him, till he again make Jerusa¬
lem a praise on the earth; these watchmen stand
upon their watch-tower, waiting for an answer to
these prayers, Hab. ii. 1. And therefore when the
good news comes they have it first, and the longer
they have continued, and the more importunate
they have been in praying for it, the more will they
be elevated when it comes; they shall lift up the
voice, with the voice together shall they sing in con¬
ceit, to invite others to join with them in their
praises. And that which above all things will
transport them with pleasure is, that they shall see
eye to eye, face to face. Whereas God had been
a God hiding himself, and they could scarcely dis¬
cern anj' thing of his favour through the dark cloud
of their afflictions, now that the cloud is scattered
they shall plainly see it. They shall see Zion’s
king eye to eye; so it was fulfilled when the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and there
were those that saw his glory, (John i. 14.) and
looked upon it, 1 John i. 1. They shall see an exact
agreement and correspondence between the pro¬
phecy and the event, the promise and the perform¬
ance ; they shall see how they look one upon another
eye to eye, and be satisfied that the same God spake
the one, and did the other. When the Lord shall
bring again Zion out of her captivity, the prophets
shall thence receive and give fuller discoveries than
ever of God’s good-will to his people. Applying
this also, as the foregoing verse, to gospel-times, it
is a promise of the pouring out of the Spirit upon
gospel ministers, as a spirit of wisdom and revela¬
tion, to lead them into all truth, so that they shall
see eye to eye; shall see God’s grace more clearly
than the Old Testament saints should see it; and they
shall herein be unanimous; in these great things
concerning the common salvation, they shall concur
in their sentiments as well as their songs. Nay, St.
Paul seems to allude to this, when he makes it the
privilege of our future state, that we shall see face
to face.
(2. ) Zion’s waste places shall then rejoice, because
they shall be surprisingly comforted; ( v . 9.) Break
forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of
Jerusalem; that is, all parts of Jerusalem, for it was
all in ruins, and even those parts that seemed to lie
most desolate, shall share in the joy; arid they,
having little expected it, shall break forth into joy,
as men that dream, Ps. exxvi. 1, 2. Let them sing
together. Note, Those that share in mercies, ought
to join in praises. Here is matter for joy and praise.
[1.] God’s people will have the comfort of this sal¬
vation, and what is the matter of our rejoicing ought
to be the matter of our thanksgiving. He has re¬
deemed Jerusalem, the inhabitants of Jerusalem
that were sold into the hands of their enemies, and
thereby he has comforted his people that were in
sorrow. The redemption of Jerusalem is the joy
of all God’s people, whose character it is, that thev
look for that redemption, Luke ii. 38. [2.] God
will have the glory of it, v. 10. He has made bare
his holy arm, manifested and displayed his power,
in the eyes of all the nations. God’s arm is a holy
arm, stretched out in purity and justice, in defence
of holiness, and in pursuance of his promise. [3.]
All the world will have the benefit of it. Jo the
great salvation wrought out by our Lord Jesus, the
arm of the Lord was revealed, and all the enas of
the earth were made to see the great salvution, not
as spectators of it only, as they saw the deliverance
of the Jews out of Babylon, but as sharers in it; some
of all nations, the most remote, shall partake c.f the
benefit of the redemption. This is applied to our
salvation by Christ; (Luke iii. 6.) All flesh shall
see the salvation of God, that great salvation.
II. It is here spoken of as a great business, which
ought to be managed with abundance of care and
circumspection. When the liberty is proclaimed,
J. Let the people of God hasten out of Babylon
with all convenient speed; though they are ever so
well settled there, lot them not think of taking root
in Babylon, but Depart ye, depart ye, (y. 11.) go
ye out from the midst of her; not only these that are
in the borders, but those that are in the midst, in
the heart of the country, let them be gone. Baby¬
lon is no place for Israelites. As soon as they have
leave to go, let them lose no time; with this word
God stirred up the spirits of those that were moved
to go up, Ezra i. 5. And it is a call to all those who
are yet in the bondage of sin and Satan, to make use
of the liberty which Christ has proclaimed to them.
And if the Son make them free, they shall be free
indeed.
2. Let them take heed of carrying away with
them any of the pollutions of Babylon; Touch no
unclean thing. Now that Ged makes bare his holy
arm for you, be ye holy as he is, and keep yourselves
from every wicked thing. When they came out
of Egypt, they brought with them the idolatrous
customs of Egypt, (Ezek. xxiii. 3.) which were
their rain; let them take heed of doing so, now that
they come out of Babylon. Note, When we are re¬
ceiving any special mercy from God, we ought more
carefully than ever to watch against all impurity.
But especially let them be clean, who bear the ves¬
sels of the Lord; the priests, who had the charge of
the vessels of the sanctuary, (when they were re¬
stored by a particular grant, ) to carry them to Je¬
rusalem, Ezra i. 7. — viii. 24, Uc. Let them net
only avoid touching any unclean thing, but be very
careful to cleanse themselves according to the puri¬
fication of the sanctuary. Christians are made to
our God spiritual priests. Rev. i. 6. They are to
bear the vessels of the Lord, are intrusted to keep
the ordinances of God pure and entire; it is a good
thing committed to them, and they ought to be
clean, to wash their hands in innocency, and so to
compass God’s altars, and, to carry his vessels, and
keep themselves pure.
3. Let them depend upon the presence of God
with them, and his protection in their remove; (t>.
12.) Ye shall not go out with hash. They were to
go with a diligent haste, not to lose time, nor linger
as Lot in Sodom, but they were not to go with a dif¬
fident, distrustful haste; as if they were afraid of
being pursued, as when they came cut of Egypt, or
of having the orders for their release recalled and
countermanded: no, they shall find that, as for God,
his work is perfect, and therefore they need not
make more haste than good speed. Cyrus shall
give them an honourable discharge, and they shall
have an honourable return, and not steal away, for
the Lord will go before them as their General and
Commander-in-chief. And the God of Israel will
be their Rearward, or, he that will gather up
them that are left behind. God will both lead their
van, and bring up their rear; he will secure them
from enemies that either meet them or follow them,
for with his favour will he compass them. The pillar
of cloud and fire, when they came out of Egypt,
sometimes went behind them to secure their rear,
Exod. xiv. 19. And God’s presence with them
ISAIAH, IJ11. 241
would now be that to them which that pillar was a
visible token of. Those that are in the way of their
duty, are under God’s special protection; and he
that believes this, will not make haste.
13. Behold, my servant shall deal pru¬
dently, he shall be exalted and extolled,
and be very high. 1 4. As many were aston¬
ished at thee ; (his visage was so marred
more than any man, and his form more
than the sons of men;) 15. So shall he sprinkle i
many nations ; the kings shall shut their j
mouths at him: for that which had not been
told them shall they see, and that which
they had not heard shall they consider.
Here, as in other places, for the confirming of the
faith of God’s people, and the encouraging of their
hope in the promise of temporal deliverances, the
prophet passes from them, to speak of the great sal¬
vation which should in the fulness of time be wrought
out by the Messiah. As the prophecy of Christ’s
incarnation was intended for the ratification of the
promise of their deliverance from the Assyrian arm}',
so this of Christ’s death and resurrection is to con¬
firm the promise of their return out of Babylon: for
both these salvations were typical of the great re¬
demption, and the prophecies of them had a refer¬
ence to that. This prophecy, which begins here, and
is continued to the end of the next chapter, points as
plainly as can be at Jesus Christ; the ancient Jews
understood it of the Messiah, though the modem
Jews take a great deal of pains to pervert it; and
some of ours (no friends therein to the Christian re¬
ligion) will have it understood of Jeremiah; but Phi¬
lip, who from hence preached Christ to the eunuch,
has put it past dispute, that of him speaks the pro¬
phet this; of him, and of no other man, Acts viii.
34, 35. Here,
I. God owns Christ to be both commissioned and
qualified for his undertaking. 1. He is appointed
to it: “He is my Servant, whom I employ, and
therefore will uphold.” In his undertaking, he does
his Father’s will, seeks his Father’s honour, and
serves the interests of his Father’s kingdom. 2. He
is qualified for it; He shall deal prudently, for the
spirit of wisdom and understanding shall rest upon
him, ch. xi. 2. The word is used concerning David
when he behaved himself wisely, 1 Sam. xviii. 14.
Christ is Wisdom itself, and in the contriving and
carrying on of the work of our redemption, there
appeared much of the wisdom of God in a mystery,
1 Cor. ii. 7. Christ, when he was here upon earth,
dealt very prudently, to the admiration of all.
II. He gives a short prospect both of his humilia¬
tion, and his exaltation. See here,
1. How he humbled himself; Many were aston¬
ished at him, as they were at David, when by rea¬
son of his sorrows and troubles he became a wonder
unto many, Ps. lxxi. 7. Many wondered to see
what base usage he met with, how inveterate peo¬
ple were against him, how inhuman, and what in¬
dignities were done him; His visage was marred
more than any man’s, when he was buffeted, smit¬
ten on the cheek, and crowned with thorns, and hid
not his face from shame and spitting. His face was
foul with weefling, for he was a Man of sorrows;
he that really was fairer than the children of men,
had his face spoiled with the abuses that were done
him. Never was man used so barbarously; his
form, when he took upon him the form of a servant,
was more mean and abject than that of any of the
sons of men. They that saw him, said, “Surely
never man looked so miserably, a worm, and no
man,” Ps. xxii. 6. The nation abhorred him, (ch.
y ol. iv. — 2 h
xlix. 7.) treated him as the offscouring of all things.
JYever was sorrow like unto his sorrow.
2. How highly God exalted him, and therefore
exalted him, because lie humbled himself. Three
words are used for this, v. 13. He shall be exalted,
and extolled, and be very high. God shall exalt
him, men shall extol him, and with both he shall be
very high, higher than the highest, higher than the
heavens. He shall prosper in his work, and suc¬
ceed in it, and that shall raise him very high. (1.)
Many nations shall be the better for him, for he
shall sprinkle them, and not the Jews only; the blood
of sprinkling shall be applied to their consciences,
to purify them. He suffered and died, and so sprink¬
led many nations, for in his death there was a foun¬
tain opened, Zech. xiii. 1. He shall sprinkle many
nations bv his heavenly doctrine, which shall drop
as the rain, and distil as the dew. Moses’s did so
only on one nation, (Dent, xxxii. 2.) but Christ’s on
many nations. He shall do it by baptism, which is
the washing of the body with pure water, Heb. x.
22. So that this promise had its accomplishment
when Christ sent his apostles to disciple all nations,
by baptizing or sprinkling them.' (2.) The great
ones of the nations shall show him respect; Kings
shall shut their mouths at him, they shall not open
their mouths against him, as they have done, to con¬
tradict and blaspheme his sacred oracles; nay, they
shall acquiesce in, and be well pleased with, the
methods he takes of setting up his kingdom in the
world; they shall with great humility and rever¬
ence receive his oracles and laws, as those who,
when they heard Job’s wisdom, after his speech
sfiake not again. Job xxix. 9, 22. Kings shall see
and arise, ch. xlix. 7. (3.) The mystery which
was kept secret from the beginning of the world,
shall by him be made known to all nations for the
obedience of faith, as the apostle speaks, Rom. xvi.
25, 26. That which has not been told them shall
they see; the gospel brings to light things new and
unheard of, which will waken the attention, and en¬
gage the reverence, of kings and kingdoms. This
is applied to the preaching of the gospel in the Gen¬
tile world, Rom. xv. 21. These words are there
quoted according to the Septuagint translation; To
whom he was not spoken of they shall see, and they
that have not heard shall understand. As the things
revealed had long been kept secret, so the persons
to whom they were revealed, had long been kept in
the dark; but now they shall see and consider the
glory of God shining in the face of Christ, which be¬
fore the}' had not been told of — they had not heard.
That shall be discovered to them by the gospel of
Christ, which could never be told them by all the
learning of their philosophers, or the art of their di¬
viners, or any of their pagan oracles. Much had
been said in the Old Testament concerning the Mes
siah, much had been told them, and they had heard
it. But as the queen of Sheba found concerning So¬
lomon, vvhat they shall see in him, when he comes,
shall far exceed what had been told them. Christ
disappointed the expectations of those who looked
for a Messiah according to their fancies, as the car¬
nal Jews, but outdid theirs who looked for such a
Messiah as was promised. According to their faith,
nay, and beyond it, it was to them.
CHAP. LIIL
The two great things which the Spirit of Christ in the Old
Testament prophets testified beforehand, were, the suf¬
ferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, 1
Pet. i. 11. And that which Christ himself* when he ex¬
pounded Moses and all the prophets, showed to be the
drift and scope of them all, was, that Christ ought to suf¬
fer, and then to enter into his glory, Luke xxiv. 26, 27.
But no where in all the Old Testament are these two so
plainly and fully prophesied of, as here in this chapter,
out of which divers passages are quoted, with applica¬
tion to Christ* in the New Testament. This chapter is
242
ISAIAH, LITJ.
so replenished with the unsearchable riches of Christ,
that it may be called rather, The gospel of the evangelist
Isaiah , than, The prophecy of the prophet Isaiah. We
may observe here, 1. The reproach of Christ’s sufferings,
the meanness of his appearance, the greatness of his
grief, and the prejudices which many conceived from
thence against his doctrine, v. 1 . . 3. II. The rolling
away of this reproach, and the stamping of immortal
honour upon his sufferings, notwithstanding the disgrace
and ignominy of them, by four considerations. l.^That
therein he did his Father’s will, v. 4, 6, 10. 2. That there¬
by he made atonement for the sin of man, v. 4 . . 6 8, 1 1,
12. For it was not for any sin of his own that he suf¬
fered, v. 9. 3. That he bore his sufferings with an invin¬
cible and exemplary patience, v. 7. 4. That he should
prosper in his undertaking, and his sufferings should end
in his immortal honour, v. 10.. 12. By mixing faith
with the prophecy of this chapter, we may improve our
acquaintance with Jesus Christ, and him crucified, with
Jesus Christ, and him glorified; dying for our sins, and
rising again for our justification.
1. hath believed our report? and
TT to whom js the arm of the Lord
revealed? 2. For he shall grow up before
him as a tender plant, and as a root out of
a dry ground; he hath no form nor comeli¬
ness; and when we shall see him, there is
no beauty that we should desire him. 3.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man
of sorrows, and acquainted with grief : and
we hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not.
The prophet, in the close of the former chapter,
had foreseen and foretold the kind reception which
the gospel of Christ should find among the Gentiles,
that nations and their kings should bid it welcome,
that they who had not seen him should believe in
him, and though they had not any prophecies among
them of gospel-grace, which might raise their ex¬
pectations, and dispose them to entertain it, vet
upon their first notice of it they should give it its due
weight and consideration; now, here he foretells,
with wonder, the unbelief of the Jews, notwithstand¬
ing the previous notices they had of the coming of
the Messiah in the Old Testament, and the oppor¬
tunity they had of being personally acquainted with
him. Observe here,
I. 1 he contempt they put upon the gospel of
Christ, v. 1. The unbelief of the Jews, in our Sa¬
viour’s time, is expressly said to be the fulfilling of
this word, John xii. 38. And it is applied likewise
to the little success which the apostle’s preach¬
ing met with among Jews and Gentiles, Rom. x.
16. Note, 1. Of the many that hear the report of
the gospel, there are few, very few, that believe it.
It is reported openly and publicly, not whispered in
a corner, or confined to the schools, but proclaimed
to all; and it is so faithful a saying, and so well wor¬
thy of all acceptation, that one would think it should
be universally received and believed; but it is quite
otherwise; few believed the prophets who spake be¬
fore of Christ; when he came himself, none of the
rulers, or of the Pharisees followed him, and but
here and there one of the common people; and
when the apostles carried this report all the world
over, some in each place believed, but, compara¬
tively, very few. To this day, of the many that
profess to believe this report, there are few that
cordially embrace it, and submit to the power of it.
2. Therefore people believe not the report of the
gospel, because the arm of the Lord is not revealed
to them; they do not discern, nor will be brought to
acknowledge, that divine power which goes along
with the word; the arm of the Lord is made bare (as
was said eh. lii. 10.) in the miracles that were
wrought to confirm Christ’s doctrine in the wonder¬
ful success of it, and its energy upon the conscience;
though it is a still voice, it is a strong one; but they
do not perceivethis, nor dothev experience in them¬
selves that working of the Spirit, which makes the
word effectual. They believe not the gospel, be¬
cause by rebelling against the light they had, they
had forfeited the grace of God, which therefore he
justly denied them, and withheld from them, and
for want of that they believed not. 3. This is a
thing we ought to be much affected with; it is to be
wondered at, and greatly lamented, and ministers
may go to God, and complain of it to him, as the
prophet here. What pity is it that such rich grace
should be received in vain, that precious souls should
perish at the pool’s side, because they will not step
in and be healed !
^ II. The contempt they put upon the person of
Christ, because of the meanness of his appearance,
v. 2, 3. This seems to come in as a reason why
they rejected his doctrine — they were prejudiced
against his person. When he was on earth, many
that heard him preach, and could not but approve
of what they heard, would not give it any regard or
entertainment, because it came from one that made
so small a figure, and had no external advantages
to recommend him. Observe here,
1. The low condition he submitted to, and how
he abased and emptied himself; the entry he made
into the world, and the character he wore in it,
were no way agreeable to the ideas which the Jews
had formed of the Messiah, and their expectations
concerning him, but quite the reverse.
(1.) It was expected that his extraction should
be very great and noble; he was to be the Son of
David, of the family that had a name like to the
names of the great men that are in the earth, 2 Sam.
vii. 9. But he sprung out of this royal and illustri¬
ous family, when it was reduced and sunk, and Jo¬
seph, that son of David, who was his supposed
father, was but a poor carpenter, perhaps a ship-
carpenter, for most of his relations were fishermen.
This is here meant by his being a Root out of a dry
ground, his being born of a mean and despicable
family, in the north, in Galilee, of a family, out of
which, like a dry and desert ground, nothing green,
nothing great, was expected, in a country- of such
small repute, that it was thought no good thing could
come out of it. His mother, being a virgin, was a
dry ground, yet from her he sprang, who is not onlv
Fruit, but Root. The seed on the stony ground had
no root; but though Christ grew out of a dry ground,
he is both the Root and the Offspring of David, the
Root of the good olive.
(2.) It was expected that he should make a pub¬
lic entry, and come in pomp, and with observation;
but, instead of that, he grew up before Gcd, not
before men. God had his eye upon him, but men
regarded him not; He grew up as a tender plant,
silently and insensibly, and without any noise, as
the corn, that tender plant, grows up, we know not
how, Mark iv. 7. Christ rose as a tender plant,
which, one would have thought, might easily have
been crushed, which one frosty night might have
nipped. The gospel of Christ, in its beginning, was
as a grain of mustard seed, so inconsiderable did it
seem, Matth. xiii. 31, 32.
(3.) It was expected that he should have some
uncommon beauty in his face and person, which
should charm the eye, attract the heart, and raise
the expectations, of all that saw him; but there was
nothing of that in him; not that he was in the least
deformed or misshapen, but he had no form nor
comeliness, nothing extraordinary, which one might
have thought to meet with in the countenance of an
incarnate Deity; those who saw him could not see
that there was any beauty in him, that they should
desire him, nothing in him more than in another be
243
ISAIAH, LIII.
loved , Cant. v. 9. Moses, when he was born, was
exceeding fair, to that degree, that it was looked
upon as a happy presage, Acts vii. 20. Hcb. xi. 23.
David, when he was anointed, was of a beautiful
countenance, and goodly to look to, 1 Sam. xvi. 12.
But our Lord Jesus had nothing of that to recom¬
mend him. Or, it may refer, not so much to Iris
person, as to the manner of his appearing in the
world, which had nothing in it of sensible glory.
His gospel is preached, not with the enticing words
of man’s wisdom, but with all plainness, agreeable to
the subject.
(4. ) It was expected that he should live a plea¬
sant life, and have a full enjoyment of all the de¬
lights of the sons and daughters of men, which would
have invited all sorts to him; but quite contrary, he
was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
it was not only his last scene that was tragical,
but his whole life was so, not only mean, but mi¬
serable;
- but one continued chain
Of labour, sorrow, and consuming pain. — Sir. R. B.
Thus, being made Sin for us, he underwent the sen¬
tence sin had subjected us to, that we should cat in
sorrow all the days of our life, (Gen. iii. 17.) and
thereby relaxed much of the rigour and extremity
of the sentence as to us. His condition was, upon
many accounts, sorrowful; he was unsettled, had
not where to lay his head, lived upon alms, was op¬
posed and menaced, and endured the contradiction
of sinners against himself, his spirit was tender,
and he admitted the impressions of sorrow; we
never read that he laughed, but often that he wept.
Lentulus, in his epistle to the Roman senate con¬
cerning Jesus, says, He was never seen to laugh;
and so worn and macerated was he with continual
grief, that, when he was but a little above thirty
ye irs of age, he was taken to be near fifty, John
viii. 57. Grief was his intimate acquaintance; for
he acquainted himself with the grievances of others,
and sympathized with them, and he never set his
own at a distance; for, in his transfiguration, he
t dked of his own decease; and, in his triumph, he
wept over Jerusalem. Let us look unto him, and
mourn.
2. The low opinion that men had of him, upon
this account — they being generally apt to judge of
persons and things by the sight of the eye, and
according to outward appearance; they saw no
beauty in him, that they should desire him. There
was a great deal of true beauty in him, the beau¬
ty of holiness, and the beauty of goodness, enough
to render him the Desire of all nations; but the
far greater part of those among whom he lived
and conversed, saw none of this beauty, for it
was spiritually discerned. Carnal hearts see no
excellency in the Lord Jesus, nothing that should
induce them to desire an acquaintance with him
or interest in him. Nay, he is not only not de¬
sired, but he is des/iised and rejected, abandoned
and abhorred, a Reproach of men, an Abject, one
that men were shy of keeping company with, and
had not any esteem for; a Worm and no man.
He was despised as a mean Man, rejected as a
bad man; he was the Stone which the builders
refused, they would not have him to reign over
them; men, who should have had so much reason
as to understand things better, so much tenderness
as not to tr imple upon a man in misery, men, whom
he came to seek and save, they rejected him; “ We
hid as it were our faces from him, looked another
way, and his sufferings were as nothing to us; though
never sorrow was like unto his sorrow. Nay, we
not only behaved as having no concern for him, but
as loathing him, and having him in detestation.” It
maybe read, He hid as it were his face from us,
concealed the glory of his majesty, and drew a vail
over it, and therefore he was des/iised, and we es¬
teemed him not, because we could not see through
that vail. Christ having undertaken to make satis¬
faction to the justice of God for the injury man had
done him in Ins honour by sin, (and God cannot be
injured except in his honour,) he did it not only by
divesting himself of the glories due to an incarnate
Deity, but by submitting himself to the disgraces
due to the worst of men and malefactors; and thus,
by vilifying himself, he glorified his Father: but this
is a good reason why we should esteem him highly,
and study to do him honour; let him be received by
us, whom men rejected.
4. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities: the chas¬
tisement of our peace teas upon him ; and
with his stripes we are healed. 6. All we,
like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned
every one to his own way; and the Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted;
yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. 8. He was taken from pri¬
son and from judgment : and who shall de¬
clare his generation? for he was cut off out
of the land of the living: for the transgres¬
sion of my people was he stricken. 9. And
he made his grave with the wicked, and
with the rich in his death; because he had
done no violence, neither was any deceit in
his mouth.
In these verses, we have,
I. A further account of the sufferings of Christ:
much was said before, but more is said here, of the
very low condition to which he abased and humbled
himself, to which he became obedient, even to the
death of the cross.
1. He had griefs and sorrows; being acquainted
with them, he kept up the acquaintance, and did
not grow shy, no, not of such melancholy acquaint¬
ance. Were griefs and sorrows allotted him ? He
bore them, and blamed not his lot; he carried them,
and did neither shrink from them, nor sink under
them. The load was heavy, and the way long, and
yet he did not tire, but persevered to the end, till
he said, It is finished.
2. He had blows and bruises; he was stricken,
smitten, and afflicted. His sorrows bruised him,
and he felt pain and smart from them, they touched
him in the most tender part, especially when God
was dishonoured, and when he forsook him upon
the cross. All along, he was smitten with the tongue,
when he was cavilled at and contradicted, put under
the worst of characters, and had all manner of evil
said against him; at last, he was smitten with the
hand, with blow after blow.
3. He had wounds and stripes; he was scourged,
not under the merciful restriction of the Jewish law,
which allowed not above forty stripes to be given to
the worst of malefactors, but according to the usage
of the Romans. And his scourging, doubtless, was
the more severe, because Pilate intended it as an
equivalent for his crucifixion, and yet it proved a
preface to it. He was wounded in his hands, and
!2 44
ISAIAH, Lin.
feet, and side; though it was so ordered, that not a
hone of him should be broken, yet he had scarcely
in any pait a whole skin, (how fond soever we are
to sleep in one, even when we are called out to suf¬
fer for him,) but from the crown of the head, which
was crowned with thorns, to the soles of his feet,
which were nailed to the cross, nothing appeared
but wounds and bruises.
4. He was wronged and abused; (v. 7 .) he was
oppressed, injuriously treated, and hardly dealt
with. That was laid to his charge, which he was
perfectly innocent of, that laid upon him, which he
did not deserve, and in both he was oppressed and
injured; he was afflicted both in mind and body; be¬
ing oppressed, he laid it to heart, and though he
was patient, was not stupid under it, but he mingled
his tears with those of the oppressed, that have no
comforter, because on the side of the oppressors
there is power, Eccl. iv. 1. Oppression is a sore
affliction, it has made many a wise man mad; (Eccl.
vii. 7.) but our Lord Jesus, though when he was
oppressed, he was afflicted, kept possession of his
own soul.
5. He was judged and imprisoned; that is implied
in his being taken from prison and judgment, v. 8.
God having made him sin for us, he was proceeded
against as a malefactor, he was apprehended and
taken into custody, and made a Prisoner, he was
judged, accused, tried, and condemned, according
to the usual forms of law : God filed a process against
him, judged him in pursuance of that process, and
laid him in the prison of the grave, at the door of
which a stone was rolled and sealed.
6. He was cut off by an untimely death from the
land of the living, though he lived a most useful life,
did so many good works, and they were all such,
that one would be apt to think it was for some of
them that they stoned him. He was stricken to the
death, to the grave which he made with the wick¬
ed, for he was crucified between two thieves, as if
he had been the worst of the three; and yet with the
rich, for he was buried in a sepulchre that belonged
to Joseph, an honourable counsellor. Though he
died with the wicked, and, according to the com¬
mon course of dealing with criminals, should have
been buried with them, in the place where he was
crucified, yet God here foretold, and Providence so
ordered it, that he should make his grave with the
innocent, with the rich, as a mark of distinction put
between him and those that really deserved to die,
even in his sufferings.
II. A full account of the meaning of his sufferings.
It was a very great mystery, that so excellent a
person should suffer such hard things; and it is na¬
tural to ask with amazement, “ How came it about?
What evil has he done?” His enemies indeed looked
upon him as suffering justly for his crimes; and
though they could lay nothing to his charge, they
esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted,
v. 4. Because they hated him, and persecuted him,
they thought that God did, that he was his Enemy,
and fought against him; and therefore they were the
more enraged against him, saying, God has for¬
saken him: persecute and take him, Ps. lxxi. 11.
Those that are justly smitten, are smitten of God,
for by him princes decree justice, and so they looked
upon him to be smitten, justly put to death as a
blasphemer, a deceiver, and an enemy to Caesar.
They that saw him hanging on the cross, inquired
not into the merits of bis cause, but took it for grant¬
ed that he was guilty of every thing laid to his
charge, and that therefore vengeance suffered him
not to live. Thus Job’s friends esteemed him smit-
len of God, because there was something uncom¬
mon in his sufferings. It is true, he was smitten of
God, v. 10. (or, as some read it, he was God’s
smitten and afflicted, the Son of God, though smit¬
ten and afflicted,) but not in the sense in which
they meant it: for though he suffered all these
things,
1. He never did any thing in the least to deserve
this hard usage. Whereas he was charged with
perverting the nation, and sowing sedition, it was
utterly false, he had done no violence, but went
about doing good. And whereas he was called that
Deceiver, he never deserved that character, for
there was no deceit in his mouth, ( v . 9. ) to which
the apostle refers, (1 Pet. ii. 22.) He did no sin,
neither was guile found in his mouth; he never of¬
fended either in word or deed, nor could any of his
enemies take up that challenge of his, Which of
you convinceth me of sin? The judge that condemn¬
ed him, owned he found no fault in him; and the
centurion that executed him, professed that cer¬
tainly he was a righteous man.
2. He conducted himself under his suffering so as
to make it appear that he did not suffer as an evil¬
doer; for though he was oppressed and afflicted, yet
he opened not his mouth, (u. 7.) no, not so much as
to plead his own innocency, but freely offered him¬
self to suffer and die for us, and objected nothing
against it. This takes away the scandal of the
cross, that he voluntarily submitted to it, for great
and holy ends. By his wisdom he could have evaded
the sentence, and by his power have resisted the
execution; but thus it was written, and thus it be¬
hoved him to suffer; this commandment he received
from his Father, and therefore he was led as a lamb
to the slaughter, without any difficulty or reluctance;
he is the Lamb of God, and as a sheep is dumb be¬
fore the shearers, nay, before the butchers, so he
opened not his mouth; which denotes not only his
exemplary patience under affliction, (Ps. xxxix. 9.)
and his meekness under reproach, (Ps. xxxviii. 13.)
but his cheerful compliance with his Father’s will;
JVbt my will, but thine be done; lo, 1 come. By this
will we are sanctified; his making his own soul, his
own life, an offering for our sin.
3. It was for our good, and in our stead, that Je¬
sus Christ suffered; this is asserted here plainly and
fully, and in a very great variety of emphatical ex¬
pressions.
( 1 . ) It is certain that we are all guilty before God ;
we have all sinned, and have come short of the
glory of God; (y. 6.) All we like sheep have gone
astray, one as well as another; the whole race of
mankind lies under the stain of original corruption,
and every particular person stands charged with
many actual transgressions. We have all gone
astray from God our rightful Owner, alienated our¬
selves from him, from the ends he designed us to
move towards, and the way he appointed us to move
in. We have gone astray like sheep, which are apt to
wander, and are unapt, when they are gone astray,
to find the way home again. That is our true cha¬
racter; we are bent to backslide from God, but al¬
together unable of ourselves to return to him. This
is mentioned not only as our infelicity, (that we go
astray from the green pastures, and expose our¬
selves to the beasts of prey,) but as our iniquity; we
affront God, in going astray from him,, for we turn
aside every one to his own way, and thereby set up
ourselves, and our own will, in competition with
God and his will; which is the malignity of sin: in¬
stead of walking obediently in God’s way, we have
turned wilfully and stubbornly to our own way, the
way of our own heart, the way that cur own corrupt
appetites and passions lead us to; we have set up for
ourselves, to be our own masters, our own carvers,
to do what we will, and have what we will; some
think it intimates our own evil way, in distinction
from the evil wav of others. Sinners have their
own iniquity, their beloved sin, which does most
easily beset them; their own evil way, that they
2<o
ISAIAH, LI II.
are particularly fond of, and bless themselves in.
(2.) Our sins are our sorrows and our griefs, v.
4. Or, as it may be read, our sickness and our
wounds: the LXX. read it, our sins; and so the apos¬
tle, 1 Pet. ii. 24. Our original corruptions are the
sickness and disease of the soul, an habitual indispo¬
sition; our actual transgressions are the wounds of
the soul, which put conscience to pain, if it be not
seared and senseless. Or, our sins are called our
griefs and sorrows, because all our griefs and sor¬
rows are owing to our sins; and our sins deserve all
griefs and sorrows, even those that are most ex¬
treme and everlasting.
(3. ) Our Lord Jesus was appointed, and did un¬
dertake, to make satisfaction for our sins, and to
save us from the penal consequences of them.
[1.] He was appointed to do it, by the will of his
Father, for the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of
us all. God chose him to be the Saviour of poor
sinners, and would have him to save them in this
way, by bearing their sins, and the punishment of
them; not the idem, the same that we should have
suffered, but the tantundem, that which was more
than equivalent for the maintaining of the honour of
the holiness and justice of God in the government
of the world. Observe here,
First, In what way we are saved from the ruin to
which by sin we are become liable; by laying our
sins on Christ, as the sins of the offerer were laid
upon the sacrifice, and those of all Israel upon the
head of the scape-goat. Our sins were made to
meet upon him; (so the margin reads it;) the sins
of all that he was to save from every place and
every age, met upon him, and he was met with for
them. They were made to fall upon him, (so some
read it,) as those rushed upon him, that came with
swords and staves to take him. The laying of our
sins upon Christ, implies the taking of them off from
us; we shall not fall under the curse of the law, if
we submit to the grace of the gospel: they were
laid upon Christ when he was made Sin, a Sin-
offering, for us, and redeemed us from the curse of
the law, by being made a Curse for us; thus he put
himself into a capacity to make those easy, that
come to him heavy laden under the burthen of sin.
See Ps. xl. 6, 12.
Secondly, By whom this was appointed; it was
the Lord that laid our iniquities on Christ; he con¬
trived this way of reconciliation and salvation, and
he accepted of the vicarious satisfaction Christ was
to make. Christ was delivered to death by the de¬
terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God. None
but God had power to lay our sins upon Christ, both
because the sin was committed against him, and to
him the satisfaction was to be made, and because
Christ., on whom the iniquity was to be laid, was
His own Son, the Son of his love, and his holy Child
Jesus, who himself knew no sin.
Thirdly, For whom this atonement was to be
made; it was the iniquity of us all, that was laid on
Christ; for in Christ there is a sufficiency of merit
for tlie salvation of all, and a serious offer made of
that salvation to all, which excludes none that do
not exclude themselves. It intimates, that this is
the one only way of salvation: all that are justified
are justified by having their sins laid on Jesus Christ,
and, though they were ever so many, he is able to
bear the weight of them all.
[2.j He undertook to do it; God laid upon him
our iniquity; but did he consent to it ? Yes, he did;
for some think that the true reading of the next
words, (t>. 7. ) is, It was exacted, and he answered:
divine justice demanded satisfaction for our sins,
and he engaged to make the satisfaction. He be¬
came our Surety, not as originally bound with us,
but as Bail to the action; “Upon me be the curse,
my Father.” And therefore when he was seized,
j he indented with those into whose hands no sui
| rendered himself, that that should be his disciples
discharge; If ye seek me, let these go their way.
John xviii. 8. By his own voluntary susception lit
made himself responsible for our debt, and it is well
for us that he was responsible; thus he restored that
which he look not away.
(4.) Having undertaken our debt, he underwent
the penalty. Solomon says, He that is surely for a
stranger shall smart for it. Christ, being surety
| for us, did smart for it. [1.] He bore our griefs.
and curried our sorrows, v. 4. He not only sub
mitted to the common infirmities of human nature
and the common calamities of human life, which
sin had introduced, but he underwent the extremi¬
ties of grief, when he said, Ply soul is exceeding
sorrowful. He made the sorrows of this present
time heavy to himself, that he might make them
light and easy for us. Sin is the wormwood and
tlie gall in the affliction and the misery ; Christ bore
| our sins, and so bore our griefs, bore them off us,
| that we should never be pressed above measure
j This is quoted, Mattli. viii. If. with application tr
the compassion Christ had for the sick that came to
him to be cured, and the power he put forth to curt
them. [2.] He did this by suffering for our sins;
j (v. 5.) lie was wounded for our transgressions; to
make atonement for them, and to purchase for us
the pardon of them. Our sins were the thorns in
his head, the nails in his hands and feet, the spear
in his side. Wounds and bruises were the conse¬
quences of sin, what we deserved and what we had
brought upon ourselves, ch. i. 6. That these
wounds and bruises, though they are painful, may
not be mortal, Christ was wounded for cur trims
gressions, was tormented, or pained, (the word is
used for the pains of a woman in travail,) for our
revolts and rebellions; he was bruised, or crushed,
for our iniquities; they were the procuring cause
of his death. To the same purport, r. 8. For the
transgression of my people was he smitten, was the
stroke upon him, that should have been upon us; and
so some read it, He was cut off for the iniquity of
my people, unto whom the stroke belonged, or was
due. He was delivered to death for our offences ,
Rom. iv. 25. Hence it is said to be according to
the scriptures, according to this scripture, that
Christ died for our sins, 1 Cor. xv. 3. Some read
this, by the transgressions of my people; by the
wicked hands of the Jews, who were, in profession,
God’s people, he was stricken, was ci-ucified anti
slain, Acts ii. 23. But, doubtless, we arc to take it
in the former sense, which is abundantly confirmed
by the angel’s prediction of the Messiah’s under¬
taking, solemnly delivered to Daniel, that he shall
finish transgression , make an end of sin, and make
reconciliation for iniquity, Dan. ix. 24.
(5.) The consequence of this to us is, our peace
and healing, v. 5. [1.] Hereby we have peace;
The chastisement of our peace was upon him; he,
bv submitting to these chastisements, slew the en¬
mity; and settled an amity between God and man;
he made peace by the blood of his cross. Whereas
by sin we were become odious to God’s holiness, and
obnoxious to his justice, through Christ God is
reconciled to us, and not only forgives our sins, and
saves us from ruin, but takes us into friendship and
fellowship with himself, and thereby peace, all good,
comes unto us, Col. i. 20. He is our Peace, Eph.
ii. 14. Christ was in pain, that we might be at ease,
he gave satisfaction to the justice of God, that we
might have satisfaction in our own minds, might be
of good cheer, knowing that through him our sins
are forgiven us. [2.] Hereby we have healing; for
by his stripes we are healed. Sin is not onlv a
crime, for which we were condemned to die, and
which Christ purchased for us the pardon of, but it
246
ISAIAH,
is a disease, which tends directly to the death of our
souls, and which Christ provided ten- the cure ot.
By his stripes, the suffering he underwent, he pur¬
chased for us the Spirit and grace of Cod to mortify
our corruptions, which are the distempers of our
soids, and to put our souls in a good state of health,
that they may be fit to serve God, and prepared to
enjoy him. And by the doctrine of Christ’s cross,
and the powerful arguments it furnishes us witli
against sin, the dominion of sin is broken in 11s, and
we are fortified against that which feeds the dis¬
ease.
(6.) The consequence of this to Christ was, his
resurrection and advancement to perpetual honour.
This makes the offence of the cross perfectly to
cease; he yielded himself to die as a Sacrifice, as a
Lamb, and, to make it evident that the sacrifice he
offered of himself was accepted, we are told here,
v. 8. [1.] That lie was discharged; He mas taken
from prison and from judgment; whereas he was
imprisoned in the grave, under a judicial process,
lay there under an arrest for our debt, and judg¬
ment seemed to be given against him; he was by an
express order from heaven taken out of the prison
of the grave, an angel was sent on purpose to roll
away the stone and set him at liberty, by which the
judgment given against him was reversed and taken
off; this redounds not only to his honour, but to our
comfort; for, being delivered for our offences, he
was raised again for our justification. That dis¬
charge of the bail amounted to a release ot the debt.
[2.] That he was preferred; Who shall declare his
generation ? his age, or continuance, so the word
signifies; the time of his life? He rose to die no
more, death had no more dominion over him; he
that mas d ad, is alive, and lives for evermore; and
who can describe that immortality to which he rose,
or number the years and ages of it ? And therefore
he is advanced' to this eternal life, because for the
transgression of his people he became obedient to
death. We may take it as denoting the time of his
usefulness; as David is said to ser ve his generation,
and so to answer the end of living. Who call de¬
clare how great a blessing Christ by his death and
resurrection will be to the world? Some by his
generation understand his spiritual seed; Who can
count the vast numbers of converts that shall by
the gospel be begotten to him, like the dew of the
morning ?
When thus cxnltcd, lie shall live to see
A numberless believing progeny
Of his adopted sons; the godlike race
Exceed the stars that heavVs high arches "race.
Sir R. Blackmork.
of which generation of his let us pray, as Moses did
for Israel, The Lord God of our fathers make them
a thousand times so many more as they are, and
bless them as he has promised them, Deut. i. 11.
10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him; he hath pul :nm to grief: when thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he
shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days,
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. 1 1. He shall see of the travail
of his soul, and shall be satisfied : by his
knowledge shall my righteous servant jus¬
tify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
1 i. Therefore will 1 divide him a portion
with the great, and ho shall divide the spoil
with the strong; because Ik1 hath poured
out his so\d unto death: and he was num¬
bered with the transgressors: and lie bare
, LI II.
the sin of many, and made intercession for
the transgressors.
In the foregoing verses, the prophet hud testified
very particularly of the sufferings of Christ, yet
mixing some hints of the happy issue of them ; here
he again .mentions his sufferings, but largely lore-
tells the glory that should follow. We may observe,
in these verses,
1. The services and sufferings of Christ’s state ol
humiliation. Come, and see how he loved us, see
what he did for us.
1. He submitted to the frowns of Heaven; (u. 10. )
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; to put him
to pain, or torment, or grief. The scripture no
where says, that Christ in his sufferings underwent
tlie wrath of God; but it says here, (1.) That the
Lord bruised him, not only permitted men to bruise
him, but awakened his own sword against him,
Zecli. xiii. 7. They esteemed him smitten of God
for some very great sin of his own; ( v . 4.) now it
was true that he was smitten of God, but it was for
our sin; the Lord bruised him, fi r he did not spare
him, but delivered him up for us all, Horn. viii. 32.
He it was that put the bitter cup into his hand, and
obliged him to drink it, (John xviii. 11.) having laid
upon him our iniquity. He it was that made him
Sin and a Curse for us, and turned to ashes all Ins
burnt-offering, in token of the acceptance of it, Ps.
xx. 3. (2.) That he bruised him so as to put him
to grief. Christ accommodated himself to this dis¬
pensation, and received the impressions of grief from
his Father’s delivering him up; and he was tr< ublcd
to that degree, that it put him into an agony, and
he began to be amazed and very heavy. (3.) It
pleased the Lord to do this; he determined to do it,
it was the result of an eternal counsel; and he de¬
lighted in it, as it was an effectual method for the
salvation of men, and the securing and advancing ot
the honour of God.
2. He substituted himself in the room of sinners,
as a Sacrifice. He made his si ul an < ffering for sin;
he himself explains this, (Matth. xx. 28.) that he
cattle to give his life a ransom for many. When
men brought bulls and goats as sacrifices for sin,
they made them offerings, for they had an interest
in them, God having put them under the feet of
man; but Christ made himself an Offering; it was
his own act and deed; we could not put him in t in¬
stead, but he put himself, and said, Father, into thy
hands I commit my spirit, in a higher sense thru
1) ivid said, or could say it; “Father, I commit my
soul to thee, I deposit it in thy hands, as the life of
a sacrifice and the price of pardons.” Thus he
shall beat the iniquities of the many that lie design¬
ed to justify, (i>. 11.) shall take away the sin of the
world by taking it upon himself, John i. 29. This
is mentioned again; (x>. 12.) He hare the sin of
many, who, if they bad borne it themselves, would
have been sunk by it to the lowest hell. See how
this is dwelt upon; for whenever wc think of the
sufferings of Christ, we must see him in them, hear¬
ing our sin.
3. He subjected himself to that which tons is the
wages of sin; (i>. 12.) He has poured out his soul
unto death, poured it out as water, so little account
did he make of it, when the laying of it down was
the appointed means of our redemption and salva
tinn; he loved not his life unto the death, and his
followers, the martyrs, did likewise, Rev xii. 11.
Or rather, he poured it out as a drink-offering, to
make his sacrifice complete; poured it out as wine,
that his blood might he drink indeed, as his flesh is
meat indeed to all believers. There was not only
a colliquation of his body in his sufferings, (Ps. xxii.
14.) Iam poured out like mater, but a surrender of
his spirit; he poured "nt that, even unto death,
though he is the Lord of life.
2 17
ISAIAH, LII1.
4. He suffered himself to be ranked with sinners,
ami yet otfered himself to be an intercessor for sin¬
ners, v. 12.
(1.) It was a great aggravation of his sufferings,
that he was numbered with transgressors, that he
was not only condemned as a malefactor, but exe¬
cuted in company with two notorious malefactors,
and he in the midst, as if he had been the worst of
the three; in which circumstance of his suffering,
the evangelist tells us this prophecy was fulfilled,
Mark xv. 27, 28. Nay, the vilest malefactor of all,
Barabbas, who was a traitor, thief, and murderer,
was put in election with him for the favour of the
people, and carried it; for they would not have
Jesus released, but Barabbas. In his whole life he
was numbered among the transgressors: for he was
called and counted a sabbath-breaker, a drunkard,
and a friend to publicans and sinners.
(2. ) It was a great commendation of his sufferings,
and redounded very much to his honour, that in his
sufferings he made intercession for the transgressors,
for those that reviled and crucified him; for he
prayed, Father, forgive r/;em;;thcreby showing not
only that he forgave them, but that he was now
doing that upon which their forgiveness, and the
forgiveness of alt other transgressors were to be
founded. That prayer was the language of his
blood, crying, not for vengeance, but for mercy,
and therein it speaks better things than that of
Abel, even for those who with wicked hands shed it.
II. The graces and glories of his state of exalta¬
tion; and the graces he confers on us are not the
least of the glories conferred on him. These are
secured to him by the covenant of redemption,
which these verses give us some idea of. He pro¬
mises to make his soul an offering for sin, consents
that the Father shall deliver him up, and under¬
takes to bear the sin of many, in consideration of
which, the Father promises to glorify him, not only
with the glory he had, as God, before the world
was, (John xvii. 5.) but with the glories of the
Mediator.
1. He shall have the glorv of an everlasting Fa¬
ther; under this title he was brought into the world,
(eh. ix. vi.) and he shall not fail to answer the title
when he goes out of the world. This was the pro¬
mise made to Abraham, (who herein was a type of
Christ,) that he should be the father of many na¬
tions, and so be the heir of the world, Rom. iv. 13,
17. As he was the root of the Jewish church, and
the covenant was made with him and his seed, so is
Christ of the universal church, and with him and
his spiritual seed is the covenant of grace made,
which is grounded upon, and grafted in, the cove¬
nant of redemption, which here we have some of
the glorious promises of. It is promised,
(1.) That the Redeemer shall have a seed to
serve him and to bear up his name, Ps. xxii. 30.
True believers are the seed of Christ; the Father
gave them to him to be so, John xvii. 6. He died
to purchase and purify them to himself, fell to the
ground as a corn of wheat, that he might bring forth
much fruit, John xii. 24. The word, that incor¬
ruptible seed, of which they are born again, is his
word: the Spirit, the great Author of their regene¬
ration, is his Spirit, and it is his image that is im¬
pressed upon them.
(2.) That he shall live to see his seed; Christ’s
children have a living Father, and because he lives
they shall live also, for he is their Life. Though he
died, he rose again, and left not his children or¬
phans, but took effectual care to secure to them the
Snirit, the hlrssing, and the inheritance of sons.
He shall see a great increase of them; the word is
plural. He shall see his seeds, multitudes of them, so
many that they cannot be numbered.
13.) That he shall himself continue to take care
of the affairs of this numerous family; He shall fro
long his days. Many, when they see their seed,
their seed’s seed, have wished to depart in peace;
but Christ will not commit the care of his family to
any other, no, he shall himself live long, and of the
increase of his government and fence there shall be
no end, for he ever lives. Some refer it to believers;
He shall see a seed that shall frolong its days,
agreeing with Ps. lxxxix. 29, 36. His seed shall
endure for ever. While the world stands, Christ
will have a church in it, which he himself will be
the Life of.
(4.) That his great undertaking shall be success¬
ful, and shall answer expectation; The fleasure of
the Lord shall frosfer in his hand. God’s purposes
shall take effect, and not one iota or tittle of them
shall fail. Note, [1.] The work of man’s redemp¬
tion is in the hands of the Lord Jesus, and it is in
good hands; it is well for us that it is in his, for cur
own hands are not sufficient for us, but he is able to
save to the uttermost; it is in his hands, who upholds
all things. [2.] It is the good pleasure of the Lord;
which denotes not only his counsel concerning it,
but his complacency in it; and therefore God loved
him and was well pleased in him, because he under¬
took to lay down his life for the sheep. [3.] It has
prospered hitherto, and shall prosper, whatevet
obstructions or difficulties have been, or may be, in
the way of it. Whatever is undertaken according
to God’s pleasure shall prosper, ch. xlvi. 10. Cyrus,
a type of Christ, shall perform all God’s pleasure,
(ch. xliv. 28.) and therefore, no doubt, Christ shall.
Christ was so perfectly well qualified for his under¬
taking, and prosecuted it with so much vigour, and
it was from first to last so well devised, that it could
not fail to prosper, to the honour of his Father, and
the salvation of all his seed.
(5.) That he shall himself have abundant satis¬
faction in it; (v. 11.) He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied; he shall see it b< -
forehand, (so it may be understood,) he shall with
the prospect of his sufferings have a prospect of the
fruit, tind he shall be satisfied with the bargain; he
shall see it when it is accomplished in the conversion
and salvation of poor sinners. Note, [1.] Our
Lord Jesus was in travail of soul for our redemption
and salvation, in great pain, but with longing desire
to be delivered, and all the pains and throes he un¬
derwent were in order to it, and hastened it on.
[2.] Christ does and will see the blessed fruit of the
travail of his soul, in the founding and building up
of his church, and the eternal salvation of all that
were given him. He will not come short of his end
in any part of his work, but will himself see that he
has not laboured in vain. [3.] The salvation of
souls is a great satisfaction to the Lord Jesus; he
will reckon all his pains well bestowed, and him¬
self abundantly recompensed, if the many sons be
by him brought through grace to glory. Let him
have this, and he has enough. God will be sancti¬
fied and glorified, penitent believers shall be justi¬
fied, and then he is satisfied. Thus, in conformity
to Christ, it should be a satisfaction to us, if we can
do any thing to serve the interests of God’s king¬
dom in the world. Let it always be our meat and
drink, as it was Christ’s, to do God’s will.
2. He shall have the glory of bringing in an ever¬
lasting righteousness; for so it was foretold concern¬
ing him, Dan. ix. 24. And here, to the same pur¬
port, By his knowledge, the knowledge of him, and
faith in him, shall my righteous Servant justify
many; for he shall bear the sins of many, and so lay
a foundation for our justification from sin. Note,
(1.) The great privilege that flows to us from the
death of Christ is, justification from sin; our being
acquitted from that guilt which alone can ruin us,
and accepted into God’s favour, which akne can
248 ISAIAH, L1V.
make us happy (2.) Christ, who purchased o i
justification for us, applies it to us, by his inter es
sion made for us, his gospel preached to us, and Ins
Spirit witnessing in us. The Son of man had power
even on earth to forgive sin. (3.) There are many
whom Christ justifies, not all, multitudes perish in
their sins, yet many, even as many as he gave his
life a ransom for, as many as the Lord our God
shall call. He shall justify, not here and there one
that is eminent and remarkable, but those of the
many, the despised multitude. (4.) It is by faith
that we are justified, by our consent to Christ and
the covenant of grace; in this way we are saved,
because thus God is most glorified, free grace most
advanced, self most abased, and our happiness most
effectually secured. (5.) Faith is the knowledge
of Christ, and without knowledge there can be no
true faith. Christ’s way of gaining the will and
affections is by enlightening the understanding, and
bringing that unfeignedly to assent to divine truths.
(6.) That knowledge of Christ, and that faith in
him, by which we are justified, have reference to
him, both as a Servant to God, and as a Surety for
us. [1. ] As one that is employed for God, to pur¬
sue his designs, and secure and advance the interests
of his glory; He is my righteous Servant, and as
such justifies men. God has authorized and ap¬
pointed him to do it; it is according to God’s will,
and for his honour that he does it. He is himself
righteous, and of his righteousness have all we re¬
ceived. He that is himself righteous, (for he could
not have made atonement for our sin, it he had had
any sin of his own to answer for,) is made of God
to us Righteousness, the Lord our Righteousness.
[2.] As one that has undertaken for us. We must
know him, and believe in him, as one that bore our
iniquities — saved us from sinking under the load by
taking it upon himself.
3. He shall have the glory of obtaining an incon¬
testable victor*", and universal dominion, v. 12.
Because he has done all these good services, there¬
fore will I divide him a fiortion with the great, and,
according to the will of the Father, he shall divide
the spoil with the strong, as a great general, when
he has driven the enemy out of the field, takes the
lunder of it for himself and his army ; which is
oth an unquestionable evidence of the victory, and
a recompense for all the toils and perils of the battle.
Note, (1.) God the Father has engaged to reward
the services and sufferings of Christ with great
glory; “I will set him among the great, highly
exalt him, and give him a name above every name; ’
great riches are also assigned him ; He shall divide
the spoil, shall have abundance of graces and com¬
forts to bestow upon all his faithful soldiers. (2. )
Christ comes at his glory by conquest; he has set
upon the strong man armed, dispossessed him, and
divided the spoil. He has vanquished principali¬
ties and powers, sin and Satan, death and hell, the
world and the flesh; these are the strong that he has
disarmed and taken the spoil of. (3.) Much of the
glory with which Christ is recompensed, and the
spoil which he has divided, consists in the vast mul¬
titudes of willing, faithful, loyal subjects that shall
be brought in to him ; for so some read it, I will give
many to him, and he shall obtain many for a spoil.
God will give him the heathen for his inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for his posses¬
sion, Ps. ii. 8. His dominion shall be from sea to
sea. Many shall be wrought upon by the grace of
God to give up themselves to him to be ruled, and
taught, and saved by him, and hereby he shall
reckon himself honoured, and enriched, and abun¬
dantly recompensed for all he did and all he suffer¬
ed. (4.) What God designed for the Redeemer he
shall certainly gain the possession of; I will divide it
to him, and immediately it follows, He shall divide
it, notwitl.standing the opposition that is giviii to
him ; for as Christ finished the work that was given
him to do, so God completed the recompense that
was promised him for it; for he is botli able and
faithful. (5.) The spoil which God divided to
Christ, he divides, (it is the same word,) he distri¬
butes, among his followers; for when he led cap¬
tivity captive, he received gifts for men, that he
might give gifts to men; for he did himself reckon
it more blessed and honourable to give th in to re¬
ceive, Acts xx. 35. Christ conquered for us, and
through him we are more than conquerors; he has
divid.d the spoils, the fruits of his conquest, to all
that are his; let us therefore cast in our lot among
them.
CHAP. LIV.
The death of Christ is the life of the Church, and of all
that truly belong to it ; and therefore, very fitly, after
the prophet had foretold the sufferings of Christ, he fore¬
tells the flourishing of the church, which is a part of his
glory, and that exaltation of him which was the reward
of his humiliation : it was promised him that he should
see his seed, and thi^chapter is an explication of that
promise. It may easily be granted that it has a primary
reference to the welfare and prosperity of the Jewish
church after their return out of Babylon, which (as other
things that happen to them) was typical of the glorious
liberty of the children of God, which through Christ we
are brought into; yet it cannot be denied but that it has
a further and principal reference to the gospel-church,
into which the Gentiles were to be admitted. And the
first words being understood by the apostle Paul of the
New Testament Jerusalem, (Gal. iv. 26, 27.) may serve
as a key to the whole chapter, and that which follows.
It is here promised concerning the Christian church, I.
That, though the beginnings of it were small, it should
be greatly enlarged by the accession of many to it among
the Gentiles, who had been wholly destitute of church-
privileges, v. 1 . . 5. II. That, though sometimes God
might seem to withdraw from her, and suspend the to¬
kens of his favour, he would return in mercy, and would
not return to contend with them any more, v. 6. . . 10. III.
That though for awhile she was in sorrow, and under
oppression, she should at length be advanced to greater
honour and splendour than ever, v. 11, 12. IV. That
knowledge, righteousness, and peace should flourish and
prevail, v. 13, 14. V. That all attempts against the
church should be baffled, and she should be secured from
the malice of her enemies, v. 14.. 17.
1. OING, O barren, thou that didst not
bear; break forth into singing, and
cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with
child : for more are the children of the deso¬
late than the children of the married wife,
saith the Lord. 2. Enlarge the place of
thy tent, and let them stretch forth the cur¬
tains of thy habitations : spare not, length¬
en thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes : 3.
F or thou shalt break forth on the right hand
and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit
the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities
to be inhabited. 4. Fear not; for thou shalt
not be ashamed : neither be thou confound¬
ed ; for thou shalt not be put to shame : for
thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth,
and shalt not remember the reproach of thy
widowhood any more. 5. For thy Maker
is thy husband ; the Lord of hosts is his
name ; and thy Redeemer, the Holy On-
of Israel ; The God of the whole earth shall
he be called.
If we apply this to the state of the Jews after their
return out of captivity, it is a prophecy of the increase
219
ISAIAH, LIV.
of 'heir nation after they were settled in their own
land. Jerusalem had been in the condition of a
wife written cliildlcss, or a desolate, solitary widow;
but now it is promised that the city should be re¬
plenished, and the country peopled again; that not
only the ruins of Jerusalem should be repaired, but
tue suburbs of it extended on all sides, and a great
m my buildings erected upon new foundations —
That those estates which had for many years been
wrongfully held by the Babylonian Gentiles should
now return to the right owners. God will again be
t Husband to them, and, the reproach of their cap¬
tivity, and the small number to which they were
then reduced, shall be forgotten. And it is to be
observed, that by virtue of the ancient promise
made to Abraham of the increase of his seed, when
they were restored to God’s favour they multiplied
greatly. Those that first came out of Babylon,
were but 42,000, (Ezraii. 64.) about a 15th part of
their number when they came out of Egypt; many
came dropping to them afterward, but wc may sup¬
pose that to be the greatest number that ever came
in a body; and yet, above 500 years after, a little
before their destruction by the Romans, a calcula¬
tion was made by the number of the paschal lambs,
and the lowest computation by that rule, (allowing
only ten to a lamb, whereas they might be twenty,)
made the nation to be near three millions; Josephus
says, seven and twenty hundred thousand and odd;
De Bell. Jud. lib. 7. cap. 17.
But we must apply it to the church of God in
general; I mean, the kingdom of God among men,
God’s city in the world, the children of God incor¬
porated. Now observe,
I. The low and languishing estate of religion in
the world, for a long time before Christianity was
brought in. It was like one barren, that did not
bear, or travail with child, was like one desolate,
that had lost husband and children; the church lay
in a little compass, and brought forth little fruit.
The Jews were indeed by profession married to
God, but few proselytes were added to them; the
rising generations were unpromising, and serious
godliness manifestly lost ground among them. The
Gentiles had less religion among them than the
Jews; their proselytes were in a dispersion; and the
children of God, like the children of a broken, re¬
duced family, were scattered abroad, (John xi. 52.)
did not appear, nor make any figure.
II. Its recovery from this low condition by the
preaching of the gospel, and the planting of the
Christian church.
1. Multitudes were converted from idols to the
living God; those were the church’s children, that
were born again, were partakers of a new and di¬
vine nature, by the word : more were the children
of the desolate than the married wife; there were
more good people found in the Gentile church,
(when that was set up,) that had been afar off, and
without God in the world, than ever were found in
tlie Jewish church. God’s sealed ones out of the
tribes of Israel are numbered; (Rev. vii. 4.) and
they were but a remnant compared with the thou¬
sands of Israel; but those of other nations were so
many, and crowded in so thick, and lay so much
scattered in all parts, that no man could number
them, v. 9. Sometimes more of the power of re¬
ligion is found in those places and families that have
made little show of it, and have enjoyed but little
of the means of grace, than in others that have dis¬
tinguished themselves by a flourishing profession;
and then more are the children of the desolate,
more the fruits of their righteousness, than those of
the married wife; so the last shall be first.
Now this is spoken of as matter of great rejoicing
to the church, which is called upon to break forth
into singing upon this account. The increase of the
Vol. IV. — 2 1
I church is the joy of all its friends, and strengthens
their hands. The longer the church has lain deso¬
late, the greater will the transports of its joy be,
i when it begins to recover the ground it has lest, and
j to gain more. Even in heaven, among the angels
of God, there is an uncommon joy for a sinner that
repents; much more for a nation that does so. If
the barren fig-tree at length bring forth fruit, it is
well, it shall rejoice, and others with it.
2. The bounds of the church were extended
much further than ever before, v. 2, 3. (1.) It is
here supposed th.it the present state of the church
is a tabernacle-state; it dwells in tents, like the
heirs of promise of old, (Heb. xi. 9.) its dwelling is
mean and moveable, and of no strength against a
storm. The city, the continuing city, is reserved
for hereafter. A tent is soon taken down and shift¬
ed, so the candlestick of church-privileges is soon
removed out of its place, (Rev. ii. 5.) and, when
God pleases, it is as soon fixed elsewhere. (2.)
Though it be a tabernacle-state, it is sometimes
very remarkably a growing state; and if this family
increase, no matter though it be in a tent. Thus it
was in the first preaching of the gospel; it was the
business of the apostles to disciple all nations, to
stretch forth the curtains of the church’s habitation,
to preach the gospel there where Christ had not
yet been named, (Rom. xv. 20.) to leaven with the
gospel those towns and countries that had hitherto
been strangers to it, and so to lengthen the cords of
this tabernacle, that more might be enclosed; which
would make it necessary to strengthen the stakes
proportionably, that they might bear the weight of
the enlarged curtains. The more numerous the
church grows, the more cautious she must be to
fortify herself against errors and corruptions, and to
support her seven pillars, Prov. ix. 1. (3.) It was
a proof of divine power going along with the gospel,
that in all places it grew and prevailed mightily,
Acts xix. 20. It broke forth, as the breaking forth
of waters; on the right hand, and on the left, on all
hands, the gospel spread itself into all parts of the
world; there were eastern and western churches.
The church’s seed inherited the Gentiles, and the
cities that had been desolate, destitute of the know¬
ledge and worship of the tine God, came to be in¬
habited, to have religion set up in them, and the
name of Christ professed.
3. This was the comfort and honour of the church;
(u. 4.) “Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed,
as formerlv, of the straitnessof thy borders, and the
fewness of thy children, which thine enemies up¬
braided thee with, but shalt forget the reproach of
thy youth, because there shall be no more ground
for that reproach.” It was the reproach of the
Christian religion in its youth, that none of the
rulers or princes of this world embraced it, and that
it was entertained and professed by a despicable
handful of men; but, after awhile, nations were
discipled, the empire became Christian, and then
this reproach of its youth was forgotten.
4. This was owing to the relation in which God
stood to his church, as her husband; ( v . 5.) Thy
Maker is thy Husband. Believers are said to be
married to Christ, that they may bring forth fruit
unto God; (Rom. vii. 4.) so the church is married
to him, that she may bear and bring up a holy seed
to God, that shall be accounted to him for a gene¬
ration. Jesus Christ is the church’s Maker, by
whom she is formed into a people; her Redeemer
by whom she is brought out of captivity, the brnd-
age of sin, the worst of slaveries. This is he that
espoused her to himself; and, (1.) He is the Lord
oj hosts, who has an irresistible power, an absolute
sovereignty, and an universal dominion ! Kings, who
are lords of some hosts, find there arc others, who
are lords of other hosts, as many and mighty as
250
ISAIAH, L1V.
theirs; but God is the Lord of all hosts. (2.) He is
the Holy One of Israel , the same that presided in
tne affairs of the Old Testament church, and was
the Mediator of the covenant made with it. The
promises made to the New Testament Israel, are
as rich and sure as those made to the Old Testa¬
ment Israel; for he that is our Redeemer, is the
Hoi)- One of Israel. (3.) He is, and shall be called,
'he Lord of the whole earth, as God, and as Media¬
tor, for he is the Heir of all things; but then he shall
be called so, when the ends of the earth shall be
made to see his salvation, when all the earth shall
call him their God, and have an interest in him.
L mg he had been called, in a peculiar manner, the
Hod of Israel, but now the partition wall between
Jew and Gentile being taken down, he shall be call¬
ed the God of the whole earth, there where he has
been, as at Athens itself, an unknown God.
6. For the Lord hath called thee as a
woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and
a w ife of youth, when thou wast refused,
saith thy God. 7. For a small moment
have I forsaken thee; but with great mer¬
cies will I gather thee. 8. In a little wrath
i hid my face from thee for a moment; but
wit h everlasting kindness will I have mercy
on thee, saith the Lord thy lledeemer. 9.
For this is as the waters of Noah unto me:
lor as 1 have sworn that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth ; so have I
sworn that I would not be wroth with thee,
nor rebuke thee. 10. For the mountains
shall depart, and the hills be removed ; but
my kindness shall not depart from thee,
neither shall the covenant of my peace be
removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy
on thee.
The seasonable succour and relief which God
sent to his captives in Babylon, when they had a dis¬
charge from their bondage there, are here foretold,
as a type and figure of all those consolations of God
which are treasured up for the church in general,
and all believers in particular, in the covenant of
grace.
I. Look back to former troubles; in comparison
witn them, God’s favours to his people appear very
comfortable, v. 6, 8. Observe,
1. How sorrowful the church’s condition had
been; she had been as a woman forsaken, whose
husband was dead, or had fallen out with her,
though she was a wife of youth; upon which ac¬
count she is grieved in spirit, takes it very ill, frets,
and grows melancholy upon it; or, as one refused
and rejected, and therefore full of discontent. Note,
Even those that are espoused to God, may yet seem
to be refused and forsaken, and may be grieved in
spirit under the apprehensions of it; those that shall
never be forsaken and left in despair, may yet for a
time lie perplexed and in distress. The similitude
is explained, (v. 7, 8.) for a small moment have I
forsaken thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from
thee. When God continues his people long in trou¬
ble, he seems to forsake them; so their enemies con¬
strue it, (Ps. lxxi. 11.) so they themselves misinter¬
pret it, ch. xlix. 11. When they are comfortless
under their troubles, because their prayers and ex¬
pectations are not answered, God hides His face
from them, as if he regarded them not, nor design¬
ed them any kindness. God owns that he had done
this; for he keeps an account of the afflictions of his .
people, and though he never turned his faci against
them, (as against the wicked, Ps. xxxiv. 16. ;he te-
members how often he turned his back upon them.
This arose indeed from his displeasure, it was in
wrath that he forsook them, and hid His face from
them; (ch. lvii. 17.) yet it was but in a little wrath;
not that God’s wrath ever is a little thing, or to be
made light of, ( Who knows the power of his anger?)
but little in comparison with what the) had deserv¬
ed, and what others justly suffer, on whom the full
vials of his wrath are poured out; he did not stii u;
all His wrath. But God’s people, though they bi
sensible of ever so small a degree of God’s displea
sure, cannot but be grieved in spirit because of it.
For the continuance of it, it was but for a moment,
a. small moment; for God does not keep his anger
against his people for ever, no, it is soon over: as lie
is slow to anger, so he is swift to show mercy. The
afflictions of God’s people, as they are light, so they
are but for a moment, a cloud that presently blow’s
over.
2. How sweet the returns of mercy would be to
them, when God should come and comfort them
according to the time that he afflicted them. God
called them into covenant with himself, then when
they were forsaken and grieved; he called them out
of their afflictions, then when they were most press¬
ing, v. 6. God’s anger endures for a moment, but
God will gather his people when they think them¬
selves neglected; will gather them out of their dis¬
persions, that they may return in a body to their
own land; will gather them into his arms, to pro¬
tect them, embrace them, and bear them up; and
will gather them at last to himself; will gather the
wheat into his barn. He will have mercy on them ;
this supposes the turning away of his anger, and .lie
admitting of them again into his favour. God’s
gathering of his people takes rise from his mercy,
not any merit of theirs; and it is with great mercies,
( v . 7.) with everlasting kindness, v. 8. The wrath
is little, but the mercies great; the wrath for a mo¬
ment, but the kindness everlasting. See how one is
set over against the other, that we may neither de¬
spond under our afflictions, nor despair of relief.
II. Look forward to future dangers, and in defi¬
ance of them. God’s favours to his people appear
very constant, and his kindness everlasting; for it is
formed into a covenant, here called a covenant of
peace, because it is founded in reconciliation, and is
inclusive of all good. Now,
1. This is as firm as the covenant of providence;
it is as the waters of JVoah, as that promise which
was made concerning the deluge, that there should
never be the like again to disturb the course of sum¬
mer and winter, seed-time and harvest, v. 9. God
then contended with the world in great wrath, and
for a full year, and yet at length returned in mercy,
everlasting mercy; for he gave his word, which was
as inviolable as his oath, that Noah’s flood should
never return, that he would never drown the world
again; see Gen. viii. 21, 22 — ix. 11. And God has
ever since kept his word, though the world has been
very provoking; and he will keep it to the end; for
the world that now is, is reserved unto fire. And
thus inviolable is the covenant of grace; I have
sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, as I have
been, and rebuke thee, as I have done. He will net
be so angry with them, as to cast them off, and
break his covenant with them, (Ps. lxxxix. 34.)
nor rebuke them as he has rebuked the heathen, to
destrov them, and put out their name for ever and
ever, Ps. ix. 5.
2. It is more firm than the strongest ports of the
visible creation ; (v. 10.) the mountains shall depart,
which are called everlasting mountains, and the
hills be removed, though they are called perpetua
hills, Hub. iii. 6. Sooner shall the)’ remove than
251
TSAIAH, LIV.
God’s covenant with his people be broken. Moun¬
tains have sometimes been shaken by earthquakes,
and removed; but the promises of God were never
broken by the shock of any event. The day will
come when all the mountains shall depart, and all
the hills be removed, not only the tops of them co¬
vered, as they were by the waters ot Noah, but the
mots of them torn up; for the earth, and all the
works that are therein, shall be burned up; but
then the covenant of peace between God and be¬
lievers shall continue in the everlasting bliss of all
those who are the children of that covenant. Moun¬
tains and hills signify great men, men of bulk and
figure. Do these mountains seem to support the
skies, (as Atlas,) and bear them up? They shall de¬
part and be removed, creature-confidences shall
fail us; in vain is salvation hoped for from those
hills and mountains: but the firmament is firm,
agreeably to its name; when those who seem to
prop it are gone, when our friends fail us, our God
does not, nor does his kindness depart. Do these
mountains threaten, and seem to top the skies, and
bid defiance to them, as Pelion and Ossa? Do the
kings of the earth, and the rulers, set themselves
against the Lord? They shall depart and be re¬
moved; great mountains, that stand in the way of
the salvation of the church, shall be made plain;
(Zcch. iv. 7.) but God’s kindness shall never de¬
part from his people, for whom he loves, he loves
to the end; nor shall the covenant of his peace ever
be removed, for he is the Lord that has mercy on
his people, Therefore the covenant is immoveable
and inviolable, because it is built not on our merit,
which is a mutable uncertain thing,* but on God’s
mercy, which is from everlasting to everlasting.
11.0 thou afflicted, tossed with tempest,
and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy
stones with fair colours, and lay thy founda¬
tions with sapphires. 12. And I will make
thy windows of agates, and thy gates of car¬
buncles, and all thy borders of pleasant
stones. 13. And all thy children shall be
taught of the Loro ; and great shall be the
peace of thy children. 14. In righteousness
shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far
from oppression; for thou shalt not fear:
and from terror; for it shall not come near
thee. 15. Behold, they shall surely gather
together, but not by me: whosoever shall
gather together against thee shall fall for
thy sake. 1G. Behold, I have created the
smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and
t hat bringeth forth an instrument for his
work; and I have created the waster to de¬
stroy. 17. No weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper; and every tongue
that shall rise against thee in judgment thou
shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the
servants of the Lord ; and their righteous¬
ness is of me, saith the Lord.
Very precious promises aVe here made to the
church in her low condition, that God would not
* Prior lo tho, age of Mr. Henry, the term merit was occasionally
applied even by evangelical divines, (chiefly indeed on the Conti¬
nent,) to the actions of sincere believers. While this circumstance
may serve to qualify our censure, the term itself needs so much ex¬
planation, in order to make the use of it appear compatible with the
,’ystem of grace, that we presume Mr. Henry adopted it through mere
-jadvertency. — Ed. 1
only continue his love to his people under their
troubles, as before, but that lie would restore them
to their former prosperity, nay, that lie would raise
them to greater prosperity than any they had yet
enjoyed. In the foregoing chapter we had the hu¬
miliation and exaltation of Christ, here we have the
humiliation and exaltation of the church; for if we
suffer witli him, we shall reign with him. Observe,
I. The distressed state the church is here re¬
duced to by the providence of God; (v. 11.) “ 0
thou afflicted, poor and indigent society, that art
tossed with tempests, like a ship driven from her an¬
chors by a storm, and hurried into the ocean, where
she is ready to be swallowed up by the waves, and
in this condition not comforted by any compassion¬
ate friend that will sympathize witli thee, or sug¬
gest to thee any encouraging considerations, (Eccl.
iv. 1.) not comforted by any allay to thy trouble, or
prospect of deliverance out of it.” This was the
condition of the Jews in Babylon, and afterward for
a time, under Antiochus; it is often the condition of
Christian churches, and of particular believers;
without are fightings, within are fears, they are like
the disciples in a storm, ready to perish; and where
is their faith?
II. The glorious state the church is here advanced
to by the promise of God. God takes notice of the
afflicted, distressed state of His church, and com¬
forts her, when she is most disconsolate, and has no
other comforter. Let the people of God, when they
are afflicted and tossed, think they hear God speak¬
ing comfortably to them by these words, taking no¬
tice of their griefs and fears, what afflictions they
are under, what tosses they are in, and what com¬
forts their case calls for; when they bemoan them¬
selves, God bemoans them, and speaks to them witli
pity, O thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not
comforted; for in all their afflictions he is afflicted.
But this is not all; he engages to raise her up out of
her affliction, and encourages her with the assu¬
rance of great things he would do for her, both for
her prosperity, and for the securing of that prosperi¬
ty to her.
1. Whereas now she lay in disgrace, God pro¬
mises that which would be her beauty and honour,
which would make her easy to herself, and amiable
in the eves of others.
(1.) This is here promised by a similitude taken
from a city, and it is an apt similitude, for the
church is the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem. Whereas now Jerusalem lay in ruins,
a heap of rubbish, it shall not only he rebuilt, but
beautified, and appear more splendid than ever; the
stones shall be laid not only firm, but fine, laid with
fair colours, they shall be glittering stones, 1 Chron.
xxix. 2. The foundation shall be laid or garnished
with sapphires, the most precious of the precious
stones here mentioned; for Christ, the church’s
Foundation, and the Foundation of the apostles and
prophets, is precious above every thing else. The
windows of this house, city, or temple, shall be
made of agates, the gates of carbuncles, and all the
borders, the walls that enclose the courts, or the
boundaries by which her limits are marked, the
mere stones shall be of pleasant stones, v. 12. Never
was this literally true; but it intimates, [1.] That
God having graciously undertaken to build Ins
church, we may expect that to be done for it, that
to be wrought in it, which is very great and uncom
mon. [2.] That the glory of the New Testament
church shall far exceed that of the Jewish church;
not in external pomp and splendour, hut in these
gifts and graces of the Spirit which are infinitely
more valuable; that wisdom which is more precious
than rubies, (Pro v. iii. 15.) than the precious rnyx
and the sapphire, and which the topaz of F.thi /da
cannot equal, Job xxviii. 16, 19. [3.) That the
252
ISAIAH, LI V.
wealth of this world, and those things of it that are
accounted m st precious, shall be despised by all
the true living members of the church, as having
no value, no glory, in comparison with that which
f ir excels. That which the children of this world
lay up in their treasures, and too often in their
hearts, the children of God make pavements of, and
put under their feet, the fittest place for it.
(1.) It is here promised in the particular instances
of those things that shall be the beauty and honour
of the church, which are knowledge, holiness, and
love, the very image of God in which man was cre¬
ated, renewed, and restored. And these are the
sapphires, and carbuncles, the precious and plea¬
sant stones, with which the gospel-temple shall be
enriched and beautified, and these wrought by the
power and efficacy of those doctrines which the
apostle compares to gold, silver, and precious stones,
that are to be built upon the foundation, 1 Cor. iii.
12. Then the church is all glorious,
[1.] When it is full of the knowledge of God, and
that is promised here;(n. 13.) All tint children shall
be taught of the Lord. The church’s children, be¬
ing born of God, shall be taught of God; being his
children by adoption, he will take care of their edu¬
cation. It was promised, (u. 1.) that the church’s
children shall be many; but lest we should think
that, being many, as sometimes it happens in nu¬
merous families, they will be neglected, and not
have, instruction given them so carefully as if they
were but few, God here takes that work into his
own hand; They shall all be taught of the Lord;
and none teaches like him. First, It is a promise
of the means of instruction, and those means au¬
thorized bv a divine institution; They shall all be
taught of God, they shall be taught by those whom
God shall appoint, and whose labours shall be under
his direction and blessing. He will ordain the me¬
thods of instruction, and by his word and ordinances
will diffuse a much greater light than the Old Tes¬
tament church had. Care shall be taken for the
teaching of the church’s children, that knowledge
may be transmitted from generation to generation,
and that all may be enriched with it, from the least
even to the gre itest. Secondly, It is a promise of
the Spirit of illumination. Our Saviour quotes it
with application to gospel-grace, and makes it to
have its accomplishment in all those that were
brought to believe in him; (John vi. 45.) It is turit-
ten in the prophets, They shall all be taught of God;
whence he infers, that those, and those only, come
to him by faith, that have heard and learned of the
Father, that are taught by him, as the truth is in
Jesus, Eph. iv. 21. There shall be a plentiful ef¬
fusion of the Spirit of grace upon Christians, to teach
them all things, John xiv. 26.
[2.] When the members of it live in love and
unity among themselves; Great shall be the peace
of thy children. Peace may be taken here for all
good. As where no knowledge of God is, no good
can be expected; so those that are taught of God to
know him, are in a fair way to prosper for both
worlds. Great peace have they that know and love
God’s law, Ps. cxix. 165. But it is often put for
love and unity; and so we may take it. All that are
taught of God, are taught to love one another,
(1 Thess. iv. 9.) and that will keep peace among
;he church’s children, and prevent their falling out
by the way.
[3.] When holiness reigns; for that above any
thing is the beauty of the church; (t>. 14.) In right¬
eousness shalt thou be established; the reformation
iif manners, the restoration of purity, the due ad¬
ministration of public justice, and the prevailing of
honesty and fair dealing among men, are the
strength and stability of any church or state. The
kingdom of God, set up by the gospel of Christ, is
not meat and drink, but this righteousni ss and
peace, holiness and love.
2. Whereas now she lay in danger, God promises
that which would be her protection and security.
God engages here that though in the day of her dis¬
tress without were fightings and within were fears,
now she shall be safe from both.
(1.) There shall be no fears within; ( v . 14.)
“ Thou shalt be far from oppression: those that
have oppressed thee shall be removed, those that
would oppress thee shall be restrained, and there¬
fore thou shalt not fear, but mayest look upon it as
a thing at a distance, that thou art now in no danger
of. Thou shalt be far from terror, not only from
evil, but from the fear of evil, for it shall not come
near thee, so as to do thee any hurt, or to put thee
in any fright.” Note, Those are far from terror,
that are far from oppression; for it is as great a
terror as can fall on a people, to have the rod of
government turned into the serpent of oppression,
because against this there is no fence, nor is there
any flight from it.
(2.) There shall be no fightings without; though
attempts should be made upon them to insult them,
to invade their country, or besiege their towns, they
should all be in vain, and none of them succeed, v. 15.
It is granted, “ They shall surely gather together
against thee, thou must expect it, the confederate
force of hell and earth will be renewing their as¬
saults.” As long as there is a devil in hell, and a
persecutor out of it, God’s people must expect fre¬
quent alarms; but, [1.] God will not own them, will
not give them either commission or countenance;
they gather together, hand joins in hand, but it is
not by me. God gave them no such order as he
did to Sennacherib, to take the spoil, and take the
prey, ch. x. 6. And therefore, [2.] Their attempl
will end in their own ruin; “ Whosoever shall gather
together against thee, be they ever so many and evei
so mighty, they shall not only be baffled, but they
shall fall for thy sake, or they shall fall before thee,
which shall be the just punishment of their enmity
to thee.” God will make them to fall for the sake
of the love he bears to his church, and the care he
has of it, in answer to the prayers made by his peo¬
ple, and in pursuance of the promises made to
them; “They shall fall, that thou mayest stand,”
Ps. xxvii. 2.
Now, that we may with the greatest assurance
depend upon God for the safety of his church, we
have here,
First, The power of God over the church’s ene¬
mies asserted, v. 16. The truth is, they have no
power but what is given them from above, and he
that gave them their power can limit and restrain
them; Hitherto shall they go, and no further. 1.
They cannot carry on their design without arms
and weapons of war; and the smith that makes
those weapons is God’s creature, and he gave them
his skill to work in iron and brass, (Exod. xxxi. 3,
4. ) and particularly to make proper instruments for
warlike porpo'ses. It is melancholy to think, as if
men did not die fast enough of themselves, how in¬
genious and industrious they are to make instru¬
ments of death, and to find out ways and means to
kill one another. The smith blows the coals in the
fire, to make his iron malleable, to soften it first,
that it may be hardened into steel, and so he may
bring forth an instrument proper for their work
that seek to destroy. It is the iron age that is the
age of war. But God has created the smith, and
therefore can tie his hands, so that the project of
the enemy shall miscarry, (as many a project has
done,) for want of arms and ammunition. Or the
smith that forges the weapons is perhaps put here
for the council of war that forms the design, blows
the coals of contention, and brings forth the plan of
ISAIAH, LV.
253
the war; these can do no more than God will let
t.icm. 2. They cannot carry it on without men,
they must have soldiers, and it is God that created
the' waster to destroy. Military men value them¬
selves upon their great offices and splendid titles,
and even the common soldiers call themselves gen¬
tlemen; but God calls them wasters made to destroy,
for wasting and destruction are their business.
They think their own ingenuity, labour, and experi¬
ence made them soldiers; but it was God that
created them, and gave them strength and spirit for
th .t hazardous employment; and therefore he not
only can restrain them, but will serve his own pur¬
poses and designs by them.
Secondly, The promise of God concerning the
church’s safety solemnly laid down, as the heritage
of the servants of the Lord, {v. 17.) as that which
they may depend upon and be confident of, That
God will protect them from their adversaries both
in camps and courts.
1. From their field-adversaries, that think to de¬
stroy them by force and violence, and dint of sword ;
“ No weafion that is formed against thee,” (though
ever so artfully formed by the smith that blows the
coals, (v. 16.) though ever so skilfully managed by
the waster that seeks to destroy,) “shall prosper; it
shall not prove strong enough to do any harm to the
people of God; it shall miss its mark, shall fall out
of the hand, or perhaps recoil in the face of him that
uses it against thee.” It is the happiness of the
church, that no weapon formed against it shall
prosper long, and therefore the folly of its enemies
will at length be made manifest to all, for they are
but preparing instruments of ruin for themselves.
2. From their law-adversaries, that think to run
them down, under colour of right and justice.
When the weapons of war do not prosper, there
ire tongues that rise in judgment; both are included
m the gates of hell, that seek to destroy the church;
fir they had their courts of justice, as well as their
nagazmes and military stores, in their gates. The
,ongues that rise in judgment against the church,
are such as either demand a dominion over it, as if
God’s children were their lawful captives, pretend¬
ing an authority to oppress their consciences; or
they are such as misrepresent them, and falsely
accuse them, and by slanders and calumnies en¬
deavour to make them odious to the people and ob¬
noxious to the government. This the enemies of
the Jews did, to incense the kings of Persia against
them; (Ezra iv. 12. Esth. iii. 8.) “But these in¬
sulting, threatening tongues thou shalt condemn;
thou shalt have wherewith to answer their inso¬
lent demands, and to put to silence their mali¬
cious reflections. Thou shalt do it by well-doing,
(1 Pet. ii. 15.) by doing that which will make
thee manifest in the consciences even of thine
adversaries, that thou art not what thou art re¬
presented to be. Thou shalt condemn them, God
shall condemn them for thee; he shall bring forth
thy righteousness as the light, Ps. xxxvii. 6.
Thou shalt condemn them as Noah condemned
the old world that reproached him, by building
the ark, and so saving his house, in contempt of
their contempts.” The day is coming when God
will reckon with wicked men for all their hard
speeches which they have spoken against him,
Jude 15.
The last words refer not only to this promise, but
to all that go before; This is the heritage of the ser¬
vants of the Lord. God’s servants are his sons, for
he has provided an inheritance for them, rich, sure,
and indefeasible. God’s promises are their heritage
for ever; (Ps. cxix. 111.) and their righteousness is
of me, saith the Lord. God will clear up the right¬
eousness of their cause before men; it is with him,
for he knows it, it is with hirr for he will plead it.
Or, their reward for their righteousness, and f r all
that which they have suffered nnrightu uslv, is cf
God, that God who judges in the earth, and with
whom verily there is a reward for the righteous
Or, their righteousness itself, all that in them is good
and right, is of God, who works it in them; it is < f
Christ who is made Righteousness to them. Win m-
ever God designs a heritage for hereafter, in them
he will work righteousness now.
CHAP. LA'
As we had much of Christ in the 53d chapter, and much
of the church of Christ in the 54th chapter, so in this
chapter we have much of the covenant of grace made
with us in Christ. The sure mercies of David which are
promised here, {v. 3.) are applied by the apostle to the
benefits which flow to us from the resurrection of Christ,
( Jicts xiii. 34.) which may serve as a key to this chapter ;
not but that it was intended for the comfort of the peo¬
ple of God that lived then, especially of the captives in
Babylon, and the other dispersed of Israel ; but unto us
was this gospel preached as well as unto them, and much
more clearly and fully in the New Testament. Here is,
I. A free and gracious invitation to all, to come and take
the benefit of gospel-grace, v. I II. Pressing argu¬
ments to enforce this invitation, v. 2 . . 4. Ill. A pro¬
mise of the success of this invitation among the Gentiles,
v. 5. IV. An exhortation to repentance and reforma¬
tion, with great encouragement given to hope for pardon
and forgiveness thereupon, v. 6 . . 9. V. The ratifica¬
tion of all this, with the certain efficacy of the word of
God, v. 10, 11. And a particular instance of the accom¬
plishment of it in the return of the Jews out of their
captivity, which was intended for a sign of the accom¬
plishment of all these other promises.
1. TIO, every one that thirsteth, come ye
JLX to the waters, and he that hath no
money ; come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come,
buy wine and milk without money, and with¬
out price. 2. Wherefore do ye spend mo¬
ney for that which is not bread, and your
labour for that which satisfieth not ? Hear¬
ken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which
is good, and let your soul delight itself in
fatness. 3. Incline your ear, and* come
unto me: hear, and your soul shall live ; and
I will make an everlasting covenant with
you, even the sure mercies of David. 4.
Behold, I have given him for a witness to
the people, a leader and commander to the
people. 5. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not; and nations that
knew not thee shall run unto thee, because
of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy
One of Israel ; for he hath glorified thee.
Here,
I. We are all invited to come and take the benefit
of that provision which the grace of God has made
for poor souls in the new covenant, of that which
is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, ( ch . liv.
17. ) and not only their heritage hereafter, but their
cup now, v. 1. Observe,
1. Who are invited; Ho, every one. Not the
Jews only, to whom first the word of salvation was
sent, but the Gentiles, the poor and the maimed,
the halt and the blind, are called to this marriage-
supper, whoever can be picked up out of the high¬
ways and the hedges. It intimates that in Christ
there is enough for all, and enough for each; that
ministers are to make a general offer of life and sal¬
vation to all; that in gospel-times the invitation
should be more largely made than it had been, and
should be sent to the Gentiles; and that the gospd-
254
ISAIAH, LV.
covenant excludes none that do not exclude them¬
selves. The invitation is published with an Oyez,
Ho, take notice of it. He that has ears to hear, let
him hear.
2. What is the qualification required in those that
shall be welcome; they must thirst. All shall be
welcome to gospel-grace, upon those terms only,
that gospel-grace be welcome to them. Those that
are satisfied with the world and its enjoyments for a
portion, and seek not for happiness in the favour of
God; those that depend upon the merit of their own
works for a righteousness, and see no need they have
of Christ and his righteousness; these do not thirst,
they have no sense of their need, are in no pain or
uneasiness about their souls, and therefore will not
condescend so far as to be beholden to Christ: but
those that thirst, are invited to the waters, as those
that labour, and are heavy-laden, are invited to
Christ for rest. Note, Where God gives grace, lie
first gives to thirst after it; and where he has given
to thirst after it, he will give it, Ps. lxxxi. 10.
3. Whither they are invited; Come ye to the wa¬
ters. Come to the water-side, to the ports, and
quays, and wharves, on the navigable rivers, into
which goods are imported, thither come and buy,
for that is the market-place of foreign commodities;
and to us they would have been for ever foreign, if
Christ had not brought in an everlasting righteous¬
ness. Come to Christ, for he is the F ountain opened,
he is the Rock smitten. Come to holy ordinances,
to those streams that m ike glad the city of our God,
come to them, and though they may seem to you
plain and common things, like waters, yet to those
who believe in Christ, the things signified will be as
wine and milk, abundantly refreshing. Come to
the healing waters, come to the living waters; who¬
ever will, let him come, and take of the waters
of life. Rev. xxii. 17. Our Saviour referred to it,
( John vii. 37.) If any man thirst, let him come unto
me and drink.
4. What are they invited to do; (1.) Come, and
buy. Never did any tradesman court customers
that he hoped to get by, so as Christ courts us to
that which we only are to be gainers by; “Come
and buv, and we can assure you, you shall have a
good bargain, which you will never repent of or
lose by. Come and buy; make it your own by an
application of the grace of the gospel to yourselves;
make it vour own upon Christ’s terms, nay, your own
upon any terms, and stand not hesitating about the
terms, or deliberating whether you shall agree to
them.” (2.) “ Come, and eat; make it still more
your own, as that which we eat is more our own
than that which we only buv.” We must buy
the truth, not that we may lay !t by, to be looked at,
but that we may feed and feast upon it, and that the
spiritual life may be nourished and strengthened by
it. W e must buy necessary provisions for our souls,
be willing to part with any thing, though ever so
dear to us, so that we may but have Christ and his
graces and comforts; we must part with sin, be¬
cause it is an opposition to Christ; part with all
opinion of our own righteousness, as standing in
competition with C lyrist ; and part with life itself,
and its most necessary supports, rather than quit
our interest in Christ. And when we have bought
what we need, let us not deny ourselves the com¬
fortable use of it, but enjoy it, and eat the labour of
our hands; buy, and eat.
5. What is the provision they are invited to;
“ Come, and buy wine and milk, which will not
only quench the thirst,” (fair water would do that,)
“but nourish the body, and revive the spirits.”
The world comes short of our expectations; we
promise ourselves, at least, water in it, but we are
disappointed of that, as the troops o f Tenia, Job vi.
19 But Christ outdoes our expectations; we come
i to the waters, and would be glad of them, but we
I find there wine and milk, which were the staple
commodities of the tribe of Judah, and which the
Shiloh of that tribe is furnished with to entertain the
gathering of the people to him; Gen. xlix. 10, 12.
His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white
with milk. We must come to Christ, to hoc
milk for babes, to nourish and cherish them that
are but lately born again; and with him strong men
shall find that which will be a cordial to them; they
shall have wine to make glad their hearts. We
must part with our puddle-water, nay, with em¬
poison, that we may procure this wine and milk.
6. The free communication of this provision; Buy
it without money and without price. A strange wav
of buying, not only without ready money, (that is
common enough,) but without any money, or the
promise of any; yet it seems not so strange to those
who have observed Christ’s counsel to Laodicea,
that was wretchedly poor, to come and buy, Rev.
iii. 17, 18. Our buying without money, intimates,
(1.) That the gifts offered us are invaluable, and
such as no price can be set upon. Wisdom is that
which cannot be getttn for gold. (2. ) That he who
offers them has no need of us, or of any returns we
can make him. He makes us these proposals, not
because he has occasion to sell, but because he has
a disposition to give. (3.) That the things offered
are already bought and paid for; Christ purchased
them at the full value, with price, not with money,
but his own blood, 1 Pet. i. 19. (4.) That we shall
be welcome to the benefits of the promise, though
we are utterly unworthy of them, and cannot make
a tender of any thing that looks like a valuable con¬
sideration. We ourselves are not of any value, nor
any thing we have, or can do, and we must own it,
that if Christ and heaven be ours, we may see our¬
selves for ever indebted to free grace.
II. We are earnestly pressed and persuaded (and
O that we would be prevailed with ! ) to accept this
invitation, and make this good bargain for ourselves.
1. That which we are persuaded to is, to hearken
to God, and to his proposals; “ Hearken diligently
unto me, v. 2. Not only give me the hearing, but
approve of what I say, and apply it to yourselves,
v. 3. Incline your ear, as you do to that which you
find yourselves concerned in, and pleased with; bow
the ear, and let the proud heart stoop, to the hum¬
bling methods of the gospel; bend the ear this way,
that you may hear with attention and remark; hear,
and come unto me, not only come and treat with me,
but comply with me, come up to my terms. Accept
God’s offers as very advantageous, answer his de¬
mands as very fit and reasonable.”
2. The arguments used to persuade us to this, are
taken,
(1.) From the unspeakable wrong we do to our¬
selves if we neglect and refuse this invitation;
“Wherefore do you spend money for that which is
not bread, which will not yield you, no, not beggar’s
food, dry bread, when with me you may have wine
and milk without money? Wherefore do you spend
your labour, and toil for that which will not be so
much as dry bread to you, for it satisfies not?'"
See here, [1.] The vanity of the things of this
world; they are not bread, not proper food for a soul,
they afford no suitable nourishment or refreshment.
Bread is the staff of the natural life, but it affords
no support at all to the spiritual life. All the wealth
and pleasure in the world will not make one meal’s
meat for a soul. Eternal truth and eternal good are
the only food for a rational and immortal soul, the
life of which consists in reconciliation and conformity
to God, and in union and communion with him,
which the things of the world will not at all befriend.
They satisfy not, they yield not any solid comfort
and content to the soul, nor enable it to say “ Now
-255
ISAIAH, LV.
1 have what I would have.” Nay, they do not
satisfy even the appetites of the body; the more
men have, the more they would have, Eccl. 1. 8.
Hunan was unsatisfied iii the midst of his abun-
d nice. They flatter, but they do not fill; they
please for awhile, like the dream of a hungry man,
who wakes and his soul is empty. They soon sur-
f it, but they never satisfy; they cloy a man, but do
not content ftim, or make him truly easy. It is all
rani tv and vexation.
[2.] The folly of the children of this world; they
sp nd their money and labour for these uncertain,
unsatisfying things. Rich people live by their mo-
ik v, poor people by their labour; but both mistake
their truest interest, while the one is trading, the
other toiling, for the world, both promising them¬
selves satisfaction and happiness in it, but both
miserably disappointed. God vouchsafes compas¬
sionately to reason with them; “Wherefore do you
thus act against your own interest? Why do you suf¬
fer yourselves to be thus imposed upon?” Let us rea¬
son thus with ourselves, and let the result of these
reasonings be, a holy resolution not to labour for the
•neat that fierishes, but for that which endures to
everlasting life , Joint vi. 27. Let all the disappoint-
nvnts we meet with in the world, help to drive us to
Christ, and to seek for satisfaction in him only. This
is the wav to make that sure, which will be made sure.
(2.) Emm the unspeakable kindness we do to
ourselves, if we accept this invitation, and comply
with.it.
[1‘.] Hereby we secure to ourselves present plea¬
sure and satisfaction; “ If you hearken to Christ,
you eat that, which is good, which is both wholesome
and pleasant, good in itself and good for you.” God’s
good word and promise, a good conscience, and the
comforts of God’s good Spirit, are a continual feast
to those that hearken diligently and obediently to
Christ. Their souls shall delight themselves in fat¬
tiest:; in the richest and most grateful delights. Here
t'v invitation is not, “Come, and buy,” lest that
should discourage, but, “Come, and eat, come and
entertain yourselves with that which will be abun-
d mtlv pleasing; eat, O friends.” It is sad to think
that men should need to be courted thus to their
own bliss.
[2.] Hereby we secure to ourselves lasting hap¬
piness; “ Hear and your soul shall live, you shall not
> ill y be saved from perishing eternally, but you shall
h” et -rn dly blessed;” for less than that cannot be
the life of an immortal soul. The words of Christ
are spirit and life, life to spirits, (John vi. 33, 63.)
the words of this life, Acts v. 20. On what easy
terms is happiness offered to us! It is but “ Hear,
and you shall live. ”
[3.] The great God graciously secures all this to
us; “ Come to me, and I mill make an everlasting
covenant with you, will put myself into covenant-
r 1 iti-ns, and under covenant-engagements to you,
and ther bv settle upon you the sure mercies of Da¬
vid.” Note, First, If we come to God to serve
him, he will covenant with us to do us good, and
m ike us happv; such ar? his condescension to us
and concern for us. Secondly, God’s covenant with
us is an everlasting covenant; its contrivance from
everlasting, its continuance to everlasting. Thirdly,
Th- benefits of this covenant are mercies suited to
our case, who, being miserable, are the proper ob¬
jects of mercy. They come from God’s mercy, and
are ordered every way in kindness to us. Fourthly,
They are the mercies of David, such mercies as
God promised to David, (Ps. Ixxxix. 28, 29, &c.)
which are called the mercies of David his servant,
and are appealed to by Solomon, 2 Chron. vi. 42.
It shall be a covenant as sure as that with David,
Jer. xxxiii. 25, 26. The covenant of royalty was a
figure of the covenant of grace, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Or, |
rather, by David here, we are to understand thr
Messiah. Ccv nont-nr rcics arc all his mercies;
they are purch isi d by him, they are premised in
him, they are treasured up in his hand, and out of
his hand they are dispensed to us. He is the Me¬
diator and Trustee (t the covenant; to him this is
applied, Arts xiii. 34. They arc the TB OCT la— the
holy things of David; the word used there, and by
the LXA. here; for they are confirmed by the holi¬
ness of God, (Ps. Ixxxix. 35.) and arc intended to
advance holiness among men. Lastly, They are
sure mercies; the covenant, being well-ordered in
all things, is sure. It is sure in the general proposal
of it; God is real and sincere, serious and in earnest,
in the offer of these mercies. It is sure in the par¬
ticular application of it to believers; God’s gifts and
callings are without repentance; they are the mer¬
cies of David, and therefore sure, for in Christ the
promises are all yea and amen.
III. Jesus Christ is promised for the making good
of all the other promises which we are here invited
to accept of, v. 4. He is that David, whose sure
mercies all the blessings and benefits of the covenant
are. And God has given him in his purpose and
promise, has constituted and appointed him; and in
the fulness of time will as surely send him as if he
were already come, to be all that to us, which is
necessary to our having the benefits of these pre¬
parations. He has given him freely; for what more
free than a gift? There was nothing in us to merit
such a favour, but Christ is the Gift of God. We
want one, 1. To attest the truth of the promises
which we are invited to take the benefit of; and
Christ is given for a Witness that God is willing to
receive us into his favour upon gospel-terms, to
confirm the promises made unto the fathers, that
we may venture our souls upon those promises with
entire satisfaction. Christ is a faithful Witness, we
may take his word ; a competent Witness, for he lay
in the bosom of the Father from eternity, and was
perfectly apprised of the whole matter. Christ as
a Prophet, testifies the will of God to the world; and
to believe is to receive his testimony. 2. To assist
us in closing with the invitation, and coming up to
the terms of it; we know not how to find the way
to the waters where we are to be supplied, but Christ
is given to be a Leader; we know not what to do,
that we may be qualified for it, and become sharers
in it, but he is given for a Commander, to show us
what to do, and enable us to do it. Much difficulty
and opposition lie in our way to Christ; we have
spiritual enemies to grapple with, but, to animate
us for the conflict, we have a good Captain, like
Joshua; a Leader and Commander to tread our ene¬
mies under our feet, and to put us in possession of the
land of promise. Christ is a Commander by his
precept, and a Leader by his example; our business
is to obey him, and follow him.
IV. The Master of the feast being fixed, it is,
next, to be furnished with guests, for the provision
shall not be lost, or made in vain, v. 5. 1. The
Gentiles shall be called to this feast, shall be invited
out of the highways and the hedges; “ Thou shall
call a nation that thou knowest not, that was not
formerly called and owned as thy nation, that thou
didst not send prophets to as to Israel, the people
which God knew above all the families of the earth. ”
The Gentiles shall now be favoured so as they nevei
were before; their knowing God is said to be rathei
their being known of God, Gal. iv. 9. 2. They
shall come at the c.ali; JYations that, know not thee,
shall ruti unto thee; those that had long been : far
off from Christ, shall be made nigh, that had been
running from him, shall run to him, with the great¬
est speed and alacrity imaginable. There shall be
a concourse of believing Gentiles to Christ, win ,
being lifted up from the earth, will draw all men Jo
ISATAH, LV.
25G
him. Now see the reason, (1.) Why the Gentiles
will thus flock to Christ; it is because of the Lord
his God, because he is the Son of God, and is de¬
clared to be so with power; because they now see
his God is one with whom they have to do, and
there is no coming to him as their God but by
making an interest in his Son. I hose that are
brought to be acquainted with God, and understand
how the concern lies between them and him, cannot
but run to Jesus Christ, who is the only Mediator
between God and man, and there is no coming to
God but by him. (2.) Why God will bring them
to him; because he is the Holy One of Israel, true
to his promises, and he has promised to glorify him,
by giving him the heathen for his inheritance. When
Greeks began to inquire after Christ, he said, The
hour is come, that the Son of man shall be glorified,
John xii. 22, 23. And his being glorified in his re¬
surrection and ascension, was the great argument by
which multitudes were wrought upon to run to him.
6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be
found, call ye upon him while he is near. 7.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him
return unto the Lord, and he will have
mercy upon him ; and to our God, for he will
abundantly pardon. 8. For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
my ways, saith the Lord. 9. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts. 1 0. F or as
the rain cometh down, and the snow, from
heaven, and returneth not thither, but water-
eth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and
bread to the eater; 1 1. So shall my word
be that goeth forth out of my mouth : it shall
not return unto me void; but it shall accom¬
plish that which I please, and it shall prosper
in the thing whereto I sent it. 12. For ye
shall go out with joy, and be led forth with
peace: the mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you into singing, and all
the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the
fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come
up the myrtle-tree; and it shall be to the
Lord for a name, and for an everlasting
sign, that shall not be cut off.
We have here a further account of that covenant
of gi ace which is made with us in Jesus Christ, both
what is required, and what is promised, in the cove¬
nant, and those considerations that are sufficient
abundantly to confirm our believing compliance
with, and reliance on, that covenant. This gracious
discovery of God’s good-will to the children of men,
is not to be confined either to the Jew or to the Gen¬
tile, to the Old Testament or to the New, much less
to the captives in Babylon. No, both the precepts
and the promises here are given to all, to every one
that thirsts after ha/i/iiness, v. 1. And who does
not? Hear this and live.
I. Here is a gracious offer made of pardon, and
peace, and all happiness, to poor sinners, upon gos
pel-terms, v. 6, 7.
1. Let them pray, and their prayers shall be heat d
and answered; ( v . 6.) '‘Seek the Lord while he may
be found. Seek hint whom you have left by revolt¬
ing from your allegiance to him, and whom you
have lost by provoking him to withdraw his favour
from you. Call upon him now while he is near, and
within call.” Observe here, (1.) The duties re¬
quired. [1.] “Seek the Lord; seek to him, and
inquire of him, as your Oracle; ask the law at his
mouth. What wilt thou have me to do? Seek for him,
and inquire after him, as your Portion and Happi¬
ness; seek to be reconciled to him, and acquainted
with him, and to be happy in his favour. Be sorry
that you have lost him, be solicitous to find him; take
the appointed method of finding him, making use of
Christ as your Way, the Spirit as your Guide, and the
word ;re your rule.” [2. j “Call upon him; pray to
him to be reconciled, and, being reconciled, pray to
him for every thing else you have need of.” (2.) The
motives made use of to press these duties upon us;
While he may be found — while he is near. [1.] It
is implied that now God is near, and will be found,
so that it shall not be in vain to seek him, and to
call upon him: now his patience is waiting cn us,
his word is calling to us, and his Spirit striving with
us: let us now improve our advantages and eppor-
tunities, for now is the accepted time. But, [2.]
There is a day coming when he will be afar off, and
will not be found; when the day of his patience is
over, and his Spirit will strive no more. There
may come such a time in this life, when the heart
is incurably hardened; it is certain that at death and
judgment the door will be shut, Luke xvi. 26. —
xiii. 25, 26. Mercy is now offered, but then judg¬
ment without mercy will take place.
2. Let them repent and reform, and their sins
shall be pardoned, v. 7. Here is a call to the un¬
converted, to the wicked and the unrighteous; to
the wicked, who live in known gross sins, to the
unrighteous, who live in the neglect of plain duties:
to them is the word of this salvation sent, and all
assurance given, that penitent sinners shall find Gcd
a pardoning God. Observe here, (1.) What it is
to’ repent. There are two things in it; [1.] It is to
turn from sin, it is to forsake it; it is to leave it, and
to leave it with loathing and abhorrence, never to
return to it again. The wicked must forsake his
way, his evil way, as one would forsake a false way
that will never bring us to the happiness we aim at,
and a dangerous way, that leads to destruction. Let
him not take one step more in that way. Nay,
there must be not only a change of the way, but a
change of the mind; the unrighteous must forsake
his thoughts. Repentance, if it be true, strikes at
the root, and washes the heart from wickedness.
We must alter our judgments concerning persons
and things, dislodge the corrupt imaginations, and
quit the vain pretences which an unsanctified heart
shelters itself under. Note, It is not enough to
break off from evil practices, but we must enter a
caveat against evil thoughts. Yet this is not all;
[2.] To repent is to return to the Lord; to return
to him as our God, cur sovereign Lord, against
whom we have rebelled, and to whom we are con¬
cerned to reconcile ourselves; it is to return to the
Lord as the Fountain of life and living waters, which
we had forsaken for broken cisterns. (2. ) What en
couragement we have thus to repent. If we do so,
[1.] God will have mercy; he will not deal with us
as our sins have deserved, but will have compassion
onus. Misery is the object of mercy. Now both
the consequences of sin, by which we are become
truly miserable, (Ezek. xvi. 5, 6.) and the nature
of repentance, by whom we are made sensible of our
misery, and are brought to bemoan ourselves, (Jer
xxxi. 1 8. ) both these make us objects of pity, and
with God there are tender mercies. [2. j He will
abundantly pardon. He will multiply to pardon.
i!SAj AH, LV.
257
(v. me word is,) as we have multiplied to offend.
Though our sins have been very great, and very
nnrv, and though we have often backslidden, and
are still prone to offend, yet God will repeat his par¬
don, and welcome even backsliding children that
return to him in sincerity.
II. Here are encouragements given us to accept
this offer, and to venture ourselves upon it. For look
which way we will, we find enough to confirm us
in our belief of its validity and value.
t. If we look up to heaven, we find God’s coun¬
sels there high and transcendent; his thoughts and
ways infinitely above ours, v. 8, 9. The wicked
are bid to forsake their evil ways and thoughts, (u.
7. ) and to return to God, to bring their ways and
thoughts to concur and comply with his; “ For”
(says he) “ my thoughts and ways are not as yours;
yours are conversant only about things beneath,
they are of the earth, earthy; but mine are above, as
the heaven is high above the earth ; and if you would
approve yourselves true penitents, yours must be
so too, and your affections must be set on things
above.” Or, rather, it is to be understood as an en¬
couragement to us to depend upon God’s promise to
pardon sin, upon repentance. Sinners may be ready
to fear that God will not be reconciled to them, be¬
cause they could not find in their hearts to be re¬
conciled to one, who should have so basely and so
frequently offended them. “ But” (says God) “ my
thoughts in this matter are not as yours, but as far
above them as heaven is above the earth. ” They
are so in other things; men’s sentiments concerning
sin, and Christ, and holiness, concerning this world
and the other, are vastly different from God’s; but
in nothing more than in the matter of reconciliation.
We think God apt to take offence, and backward to
forgive; that if he forgives once, he will not forgive
a second time. Peter thought it a great deal to for¬
give seven times; (Matth. xviii. 21.) and a hundred
pence go far with us; but God meets returning sin¬
ners with pardoning mercy; he forgives freely, and,
as he gives, it is without upbraiding. We forgive,
and connot forget; but when God forgives sin, he
remembers it no more. Thus God invites sinners
to return to him, bv possessing them with good
thoughts of him, as Jer. xxxi. 20.
2. If we look down to this earth, we find God’s
word there powerful and effectual, and answering
all its great intentions, v. 10, 11. Observe here,
(1.) The efficacy of God’s word in the kingdom
of nature; He saith to the snow. Be thou on the
earth; he appoints when it shall come, to what de¬
gree, and how long it shall lie there ; he saith so to
the small rain and the great rain of his strength.
Job xxxvii. 6. And according to his order they
come down from heaven, and do whatsoever he com¬
mands them ufion the face of the world, whether it
he for correction, or for his land, or for mercy, v.
12, 13. It returns not reinfecta — without having ac¬
complished something, but waters the earth, which
he is therefore said to do from his chambers, Ps.
uv. 13. And the watering of the earth is in order
to its fruitfulness; thus he makes it to bring forth
and bud, for the products of the earth depend upon
the dews of heaven; and thus it gives not only bread
to the eater, presents maintenance to the owner and
his family, but seed likewise to the sower, that he
may have food for another year. The husbandman
must be a sower as well as an eater, else he will
soon see the end of what he has.
(2) The efficacy of his word in the kingdom of
providence and grace, which is ascertain as the for¬
mer; “So shall my word be, as powerful in the
mouth of prophets as it is in the hand of Provi¬
dence; it shall not return unto me void, as unable to
effect what it was sent for, or meeting with an in¬
superable opposition; no, it shall accomplish that
V0L. IV.— 2 K
which I please,” (for it is the declaration of his will,
according to the counsel of which he works all
things,) “and it shall prosper in the thing for which
I sent it.” This assures us, [1.] That the promises
of God shall all have their full accomplishment in
due time, and not one iotaortittle of them shall fail,
1 Kings viii. 56. These promises of mercy and
grace shall have as real an effect upon the souls of
believers, for their sanctification and comfort, as
ever the rain had upon the earth, to make it fruit¬
ful. [2.] That according to the different errands on
which the word is sent, it will have its different ef¬
fects; if it be not a savour of life unto life, it will be
a savour of death unto death; if it do not convince
the conscience, and soften the heart, it will sear the
conscience, and harden the heart; if it do not ripen
for heaven, it will ripen for hell. See ch. vi. 9. One
way or other, it will take effect. [3.] That Christ’s
coming into the world, as the dew from heaven,
(Hos. xiv. 5.) will not be in vain. For if Israel be
not gathered, he will be glorious in the conversion
of the Gentiles; to them therefore tenders of grace
must be made when the Jews refuse them, that the
wedding may be furnished with guests, and the
gospel not return void.
3. If we take a special view of the church, we
shall find what great things God has done, and will
do, forit; (v. 12, 13.) Ye shall go out with joy, and
be led forth with fieace. This refers, (1.) To the
deliverance and return of the Jews out of Babylon.
They shall go out of their captivity, and be led forth
toward their own land again. Godwin go before
them as surely, though not as sensibly, as before
their fathers in the pillar of cloud and fire. They
shall go out, not with trembling, but with triumph;
not with any regret to part with Babylon, or any
fear of being fetched back, but with joy and peace,
Their journey home over the mountains shall be
pleasant, and they shall have the good will and
good wishes of all the countries ‘hev pass through.
The hills and their inhabitants shall, as in a trans¬
port of joy, break forth into singing; and if the peo¬
ple should altogether hold their peace, even the
trees of the field would attend them with their ap¬
plauses and acclamations. And when they come to
their own land, it shall be ready to bid them wel¬
come; for whereas they expected to find it all over
grown with briers and thorns, it shall be set with
fir-trees, and mvrtle-trees; for though it lay deso¬
late, yet it enjoyed it sabbaths, (Lev. xxvi. 34.)
which, when they were over, like the land after the
sabbatical year, "it was the better for. And this
shall redound much to the honour of God, and be
to him for a name. But, (2.) Without doubt it lorks
further; this shall be for an everlasting sign. That
is, [1.] The redemption of the Jews out of Babylon
shall be a ratification of those promises that relate
to gospel-times. The accomplishment of the pre¬
dictions relating to that great deliverance, would be
a pledge and earnest of the performance of all the
other promises, for thereby it shall appear that he
is faithful, who has promised. [2.] It shall be a re¬
presentation of the blessings promised, and a type
and figure of them. First, Gospel-grace will' set
those at liberty, that were in bondage to sin and Sa¬
tan. They shall go out, and be led forth; Christ
shall make them free, and then they shall be free
indeed. Secondly, It will fill those with joy, that
were melancholy, Ps. xiv. 7. Jacob shall rejoice
and Israel shall be glad. The earth and the infe¬
rior part of the creation shall share in the joy of this
salvation, Ps. xevi. 11, 12. Thirdly , It w'ill'make a
great change in men’s characters. Those that were
as thorns and briers, good for nothing but the fire,
nay, hurtful and vexatious, shall become graceful
and useful as the fir-tree and the mvrtle-tree.
Thoms and briers came in with sin, and were the
ISAIAH, LVI.
2i>8
fruits of the curse, Gen. hi. 18. th? removal
sant trees in the room oftl^ ^ .= troduct;pn of gos-
of the cui se o t enemies were as thoi'ns
pel-blessmss The chmch s ene ^ ^ raise
?" d?tv’be her protection and ornament. Or, it
friends t' ->e e wing better; instead of a
"f FSSrl
covenant, for the present blessings of it are signs of
everlasting ones.
CHAP. LVI.
charge ■dven'tous' aHtomake conscience’of our duty, as
we fope to have the heneM of those promises, J. . ;
b IV the^enant,
of their duty; (v. 9 . f and threat-
ginnmg of a newsermo , chapters. And the
woVTofGod’was intended for conviction, as well as for
comfort and instruction m righteousn.. .
1 npHUS saith the Lord, Keep yejudg-
' J_ ment, and do justice: for my salva¬
tion is near to come, and my righteousness
to be revealed. 2. Blessed is the man that
doeth this, and the son of man that laveth
hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from
polluting it, and keepeth his hand from do-
mg any evil.
mf ftXus1 whnat\rh?sf intentions of
that was the salvation
the^lvaSon of ttelewffrom Sennacherib, or out
of Babylon. Observe, 1. The gospel-salvation is
?he salvation of the Lord; it was contrived and
brought about by him, he glories in it as his. •
that salvation God’s righteousness is revealed, which
is so much the beauty of the gospel, that St Paul
mokes this the ground cf his glorifying m it, ( •
T vAbTame therein is the righteousness of God
revealed from faith to faith. The law revealed th
•ighteousness of God by which fU ^ers stand con-
lemned, but the gospel reveals that by which
aelievers stand acquitted. 3. The ,°h ^„*™ear
saints saw the salvation coming, and drawing near
to them, long before it came ; and -they had no ice
bv tluTprophetsof its approach. As Daniel nnder-
; T
others understood by Daniel’s books tbe^approacb
of our redemption by Christ, at the end of 70 weeks
°f TTCaHe tells us what are bis expectations of duty
from us, in consideration thereof. Say not, “ We
seethe salvation near, and therefore we may live ns
we list for there is no danger now of missing it, 01
coming short of it;” that is tarring the grace of (M
into wantonness. But, on the contrap
salvation is near, double your S"a' fvpf ^
Note The fuller assurances God gives us -
performance of his promises, the longer obla¬
tions he lays us under to obedience. The s.dvation
here spoken of is now.comej yet, tbnt
further salvation in view, the apostle pu. ... •
upon us Christians with the same argument, fRom
xiii 11 1 Now is our salvation nearer than wtienw
Zifel That which is here
and prepare us for the approaching salt ation, is,
1. That we be honest and just in all our deal
ines • Keehve judgment, and do justice. A ‘l,K ?y
p"? ’ „„d make conscience of wha.t yon say and 1 do
that ve do no wrong to any; render to all
exactly, and, in exacting what is due to you .keep up
a court of equity in your own bosom, to moderate
the rieours of the law. Be ruled by that golden rule,
"Do Is you would be done by ” M amstrates must
administer justice wisely and faithfully,
required, to evidence the sincerity of out -fa ith and
repentance, and to open the.way of mercy ,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. God is true
to us, let us be so to one another. , , , .
2. That we religiously observe the sabbath day,
XL 2. We are not just if we rob God of his tun*
Sabbath-sanctification is here put for all the duties
of the first table, the fruits of our love to God, as
justice and judgment, for all those of seco
ble, the fruits of our love to our neighbour. Ob
serve, (1.) The duty required, which is, to keep the
sabbath; to keep it as a talent weare totm ew
as a treasure we are intrusted with, Keep , J’
keen it safe, keep it with care and caution, keep
from polluting it; allow neither yourselves nor others
either to violate the holy rest or omit the .holy work
of that day. If this be intended primarily for the Jews
in Babylon, it was fit that they should be particularly
put in mind of this ; because, when, by reason of their
distance from the temple, they could not observe the
other institutions of their law, yet they might dis in-
guish themselves from the heathen by P^tm^^hffe -
ence between God’s day and other days. But it being
required more generally of man, and the son °f man>
it mtimates that sabbath-sanctification should be a
dutv in gospel-times, when the bounds of the church
sffld be enlarged/and other rites and , ceremonies
abolished. Observe, Those that would keep the
sabbath from polluting it, must put on resolution;
must not only do this, but lay hold on it, for sabbath-
time isprecious, but is very apt to slip away, if we
take not* great care; and therefore we must lay hold
on it amf keep our hold; must do it, and persevere
in it ’ (2 ) The encouragement we have to do this
duty ; Blessed is he that doeth it. The way to have
the messing of God upon our employments all the
week, is to make conscience, and make a business,
of sabbath-sanctification: m doing so we shall be the
better qualified to do judgment ^justice. The
more godliness, the more honesty, 1 1 up- "-J-
3 That we have nothing to do with sin; Blessed
is the man that keefis his hand from doing evil, any
wrone: to his neighbour, in body, goods, or good
o? more generally, -any thing that is dis¬
pleasing to God and hurtful to his own soul. Note,
^The best evidence of our having kept the sabbath
well will be a care to keep a good conscience all the
week. By this it will appear that we have been in
the mount with God, if our faces shine in a holy
conversation before men.
3 Neither let the son of t he stranger, that
hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, say-
inv The Lord hath utterly separated me
from his people : neither let the eunuch say
259
ISAIAH, LV1.
Behold, I am a dry tree. 4. For thus saith
the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my
sabbaths, and choose the things that please
me, and take hold of my covenant; 5. Even
unto them will I give in my house, and with¬
in my walls, a place and a name better than
of sons and of daughters : I will give them
an everlasting name, that shall not be cut
off. 6. Also the sons of the stranger that
join themselves to the Lord, to serve him,
and to love the name of the Lord, to be his
servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath
from polluting it, and taketh hold of my
covenant ; 7. Even them will I bring to my
holy mountain, and make them joyful in my
house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and
their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine
altar : for my house shall be called a house
of prayer for all people. 8. The Lord
God, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel,
saith, Yet will I gather others to him, be¬
sides those that are gathered unto him.
The prophet is here, in God’s name, encouraging
those that were hearty in joining themselves to God,
and yet laboured under great discouragements.
I. Some were discouraged because they were not
of the seed of Abraham. They had joined them¬
selves to the Lord, had bound their souls with a
bond to be his for ever. (This is the root and life
of religion, to break off from the world and the
flesh, and devote ourselves entirely to the service
and honour of God. ) But they questioned whether
God would accept of them, because they were of the
sons of the stranger, v. 3. They were Gentiles,
strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, and aliens
from the coven mts of promise, and therefore feared
they had no part or lot in the matter; they said,
“ The Lord has utterly separated me from his
heople, and will not own me as one of them, nor ad¬
mit me to their privileges.” It was often said that
there should be one law for the stranger, and for
him that was born in the Land ; (Exod. xii. 49.) and
vet they made this melancholy conclusion. Note,
Unbelief often suggests things to the discourage¬
ment of good people, which are directly contrary
to what God himself’ has said, things which he has
expressly guarded against. Let not the sons of the
stranger therefore say thus, for they have no reason
to say it. Note, Ministers must have answers ready
for the disquieting fears and jealousies of weak
Christians, which, how unreasonable soever, they
must take notice of.
II. Others were discouraged because they were
not fathers in Israel. The eunuch said, Behold, I
am a dry tree. So he looked upon himself, and it
was his grief; so others looked upon him, and it was
his reproach. He was thought to be of no use be¬
cause he had no children, nor was ever likely to
have any. This was then the more grievous, be¬
cause eunuchs were not admitted to be priests,
(Leva xxi. 20. ) nor to enter into the congregation;
(Deut. xxiii. i.) it was additionally grievous be¬
cause the promise of a numerous posterity was the
articular blessing of Israel, and the more valuable,
ecause from among them the Messiah was to
come. Yet God would not have the eunuchs to make
the worst of their case, nor to think that they should
be excluded from the gospel-church, and from be¬
ing spiritual priests, because they were shut out
from the congregation of Lrael, and the Levitical
priesthood; no, as the taking down of the partition-
wall, contained in ordinances, admitted the Gen¬
tiles, so it let in likewise those that had been kept
cut by ceremonial pollutions. Yet by the reply
here given to this suggestion, it should seem the
chief thing which the eunuch laments in his case,
is, his being written childless.
Now suitable encouragements are given to each
of those.
1. To those who have no children of their own;
who, though they had the honour to be the chil¬
dren of the church and the covenant themselves,
yet had none to whom they might transmit that
honour; none to receive the sign of circumcision,
and the privileges secured by that sign. Now cb-
serve*
(1.) What a good character they have, though
they lie under this ignominy and affliction; and those
only are entitled to the following comforts, who in
some measure answer to these characters. [1.]
They keep God’s sabbaths as he has appointed
them to be kept. In the primitive times, if a Chris¬
tian were asked, “ Hast thou kept holy the Lord’s
day?” He would readily answer, “I am a Chris¬
tian, and dare not do otherwise.” [2.] In their whole
conversation they choose those things that please
God: they do that which is good; they do it with a
sincere design to please God in it; they do it of choice,
and with delight. If sometimes, through infirmity,
they come short in doing that which pleases God, yet
they choose it, they endeavour it, and aim at it.
Note, Whatever is God’s pleasure should without
dispute be our choice. [3.] They take hold of his
covenant, and that is a thing that pleases God as
much as any thing. The covenant of grace is pro¬
posed and proffered to us in the gospel; to take
hold on it is to consent to it, to accept the offer, and
to come up to the terms; deliberately and sincerely
to take God to be to us a God, and to give up our¬
selves to hirn to be to him a people. Taking hold ol
the covenant denotes an entire and resolute consent tc
it; taking hold, as those that are afraid of coming
short; catching at it as a good bargain, and as
those that are resolved never to let it go, for it is
our life: and we take hold of it as a criminal took
hold of the horns of the altar to which he fled for
refuge.
(2.) What a great deal of comfort they may have,
if they answer to this character, though they are
not built up into families; (tv 5.) Unto them will 1
give a better place, and name. It is supposed that
there is a place and a name, Which we have from
sons and daughters, that is valuable and desirable,
It is a pleasing notion we have, that we live in ou.
children when we are dead. But there is a better
place, and a better name, which those have that
are in covenant with God, and it is sufficient to ba¬
lance the want of the former. A place and a name
denote rest and reputation; a place to live com¬
fortably in themselves, and a name to live credita¬
bly with among their neighbours; they shall be
happy, and may be easy both at home and abroad.
Though they have not children to be the music of
their house, or arrows in their quiver, to keep
them in countenance when they speak with then-
enemies in the gate, yet they shall have a place and
a name more than equivalent. For, [1.] God will
give it them, will give it them by promise, he will
himself be both their Habitation and their Glory,
their Place and their Name. [2.] He will give
it them in his house, and within his wall; there
they shall have a place, shall be planted so as to
take root, (Ps. xcii. 13.) shall dwell all the days of
their life, Ps. xxvii. 4. They shall be at home in
communion with God, as Anna, that departed not
from the temple night or day. There they shall
have a name a name for good things with God a-.
260
ISAIAH, LVI.
good people, which is a name better than that of
/ions and daughters. Our relation to God, our in¬
terest in Christ, our title to the blessings of the co¬
venant, and our hopes of eternal life, are things that
give us in God’s house a blessed place and a blessed
name. [3.1 It shall be an everlasting name, that
shall never be extinct, shall never be cut off; like
the place and name of angels, who therefore marry
not, because they die not. Spiritual blessings
are unspeakably better than those of sons and
daughters; for children are a certain care, and
may prove the greatest grief and shame of a man’s
life, but the blessings we partake of in God’s house,
are a sure and constant joy and honour, comforts
which cannot be imbittered.
2. To those that are themselves the children of
strangers,
(1.) It is here promised, that they shall now be
welcome to the church, v. 6, 7. When God’s Is¬
rael come out of Babylon, let them bring as many
of their neighbours along with them as they can
persuade to come, and God will find room enough
for them all in his house.
And here (as before) we may observe,
[1.] Upon what terms they shall be welcome;
let them know that God’s Israel, when they come
out of Babylon, will not be plagued, as they were
when they came out of Egypt, with a mixed multi¬
tude, that went with them, but were not cordially
for them; no, the sons of the stranger shall have a
place and a name in God’s house, provided, First,
That they forsake other gods, all rivals and pre¬
tenders whatsoever, and join themselves to the
Lord, so as to become one sfiirit, 1 Cor. vi. 17. Se¬
condly, That they join themselves to him as sub¬
jects to their prince, and soldiers to their general,
by an oath of fidelity and obedience, to serve him,
not occasionally, as one would serve a turn, but to
be constantly his servants, entirely subject to his
command, and devoted to his interest. Thirdly,
That they join themselves to him as friends to his
honour and the interests of his kingdom in the
world, to love the name of the Lord, to be well-
pleased with all the discoveries he has made of him¬
self, and all the memorials they make of him. Ob¬
serve, Serving him and loving him go together, for
those that love him truly will serve him faithfully,
and that obedience is most acceptable to him, as
well as most pleasant to us, which flows from a
principle of love, for then his commandments are
not grievous, 1 John v. 3. Fourthly, That they
keep the sabbath from polluting it; for the stranger
that is within thy gates, is particularly required to
do that. Lastly, That they take hold of the cove¬
nant, that they come under the bonds of it, and put
in for the benefits of it.
[2. J To what privileges they shall be welcome,
7. Three things are here promised them
in their coming to God. First, Assistance; “ 1 will
bring them to my holy mountain, not only bid them
welcome, when they come, but incline them to come,
'•ill show them the way, and lead them in it.”
David himself prays, that God by his light and
truth would bring them to his holy hill, Ps. xliii.
3. And the sons of the stranger shall be under the
same guidance. The church is God’s holy hill, on
which he hath set his King, and in bringing them
: > Zion-hill, he brings them to be subjects to Zion’s
King, as well as worshippers in Zion’s holy temple.
Secondly, Acceptance; “ Their burnt-offerings and
vlieir sacrifices shall be accepted on mine altar, and
never the less acceptable for being theirs, though
i uey are sons of the stranger.” The prayers and
praises (those spiritual sacrifices) of devout Gen¬
tiles shall be as pleasing to God as those of the pious
Jfws, and no difference shall be made between
them; foi though they are Gentiles by birth, yet
through grace they shall be looked upon as ihe
believing seed of faithful Abraham, and the p.-ay-
ing seed of wrestling Jacob, for in Christ Jesus tnere
is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncii-
cumcision. Thirdly, Comforts; they shall not only
be accepted, but they themselves shall have the
pleasure of it; I will mak e them joyful in my house
of prayer. ' They shall have grace, not only to
serve God, but to serve him cheerfully and with
gladness, and that shall make the service the more
acceptable to him; for when we sing in the ways of
the Lord, then great is the glory of our God. They
shall go away, and eat their bread with joy, because
God now accepts their works, Eccl. ix. 7. Nay,
though they come mourning to the house of prayer,
they shall go away rejoicing, for they shall there
find such ease, by casting their cares and bur¬
thens upon God, and referring themselves to him,
that, like Hannah, they shall go away, and their
countenance shall be no more sad. Many a sor¬
rowful spirit has been made joyful m the house of
prayer.
(2.) It is here promised, that multitudes of the
Gentiles shall come to the church ; not only that the
few who come dropping in, shall be bid welcome,
but that great numbers shall come in, and the door
be thrown open to them; My house shall be called
an house of firayer for all people. The temple was
then God’s house, and to that Christ applies these
words; (Matth. xxi. 13.) but with an eye to it
as a type of the gospel-church, Heb. ix. 8,' 9.
For Christ calls it his house, Heb. iii. 6. Now con¬
cerning this house, it is promised, [1.] That it
shall not be a house of sacrifice, but a house of
prayer. The religious meetings of God’s people
shall be meetings for prayer, in which they shall
join together, as a token of their united faith and
mutual love. [2.] That it shall be a house of
prayer, not for the peple of the Jews only, but for
all people. This was fulfilled when Peter was
made, not only to perceive it himself, but to tell it
to the world, that in every nation, he that fears
God and works righteousness, is accepted of him.
Acts x. 35. It had been declared again and again
that the stranger that comes nigh shall be put tj
death, but Gentiles shall now be looked upon no
longer as strangers and foreigners, Eph. ii. 19.
And it appears by Solomon’s prayer at the dedica¬
tion of the temple, both that it was primarily intend¬
ed for a house of prayer, and that strangers should
be welcome to it, 1 Kings viii. 30, 41, 43.
And it is intimated here, (y. 8.) that when the
Gentiles are called in, they shall be incorporated
into one body with the Jews, that (as Christ says,
John x. 16.) there may be one fold and one Shep¬
herd; for, First, God will gather the outcasts of Is¬
rael; many of the Jews that had by their unbelief
cast themselves cut, shall by faith be brought in
again, a remnant according to the election of grace,
Rom. xi. 5. Christ came to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel, (Matth. xv. 24.) to gather their
outcasts, (Ps. cxlvii. 2.) to restore their preserved,
(eh. xlix. 6.) and to be their Glory, Luke ii. 32.
Secondly, He will gather others also to him, be¬
side his own outcasts that are gathered to him; or
though some of the Gentiles have come over now
and then into the church, that shall not serve (as
some may think) to answer the extent of these pro¬
mises, no, there are still more and more to be
brought in; I will gather others to him beside these;
these are but the first-fruits, in comparison with the
harvest that shall be gathered for Christ in the na¬
tions of the earth, when the fulness of the Gentiles
shall come in. Note, The church is a growing
body: when some are gathered to it, we may hope
there shall be still more, till the mystical bedy be
completed’ 'It'ier sheep l have.
261
ISAIAH, LV1.
a. All ye beasts of the field, come to de¬
vour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. 1 0.
His watchmen are blind; they are all ig¬
norant, they are all dumb dogs, they can¬
not bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to
slumber. 11. Yea, they are greedy dogs
which can never have enough, and they are
shepherds that cannot understand ; they all
look to their own way, every one for his
gain from his quarter. 1 2. Come ye, say they,
I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves
with strong drink ; and to-morrow shall
be as to-day, and much more abundant.
From words of comfort the prophet here, by a
very sudden change of his style, passes to words of
reproof and conviction, and goes on in that strain,
for the most part, in the three following chapters;
and therefore some here begin a new sermon. He
had assured the peop e, that in due time God would
deliver them out of captivity, which was designed
for the comfort of those that should live when God
would do this. N ow here he shows what their sins and
provocations were, for which God would send them
into captivity, and this was designed for the convic¬
tion of those that lived in his own time, near a hun¬
dred years before the captivity, who were now fill¬
ing up the measure of the nation’s sin, and to justify
God in what he brought upon them. God will lay
them waste by the fierceness of their enemies, for
the falseness of their friends.
I. Desolating judgments are here summoned, v. 9.
The sheep of God’s pasture are now to be made the
sheep of his slaughter, to fall as victims to his jus¬
tice, and therefore the beasts of the field and the
forest are called to come and devour. They are
beasts of prey, and do it from their own ravenous
disposition; but God permits them to do it, nay , he em¬
ploys them as his servants in doing it, the ministers
of his justice, though thev mean not so, neither does
their heart think so. If this refers primarily to
the descent made upon them by the Babylonians,
and their devouring of them, yet it may look fur¬
ther, to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish
nation by the Romans, after these outcasts of them
(mentioned v. 8.) were gathered into the Christian
church. The Roman armies came upon them as
beasts of the forest to devour them, and they quite
took away their place and nation. Note, WhenGod
has bloody work to do, he has beasts of prey within
call, to be employed in doing it.
II. The reason of these judgments is here given.
The shepherds who should have been the watchmen
of the nock, to discover the approaches of the
beasts of prey, to keep them off, and protect the
sheep, were treacherous and careless, minded not
their business, nor made any conscience of the trust
reposed in them, and so the sheep became an easy
prey to the wild beasts. Now 'Ins may refer to the
false prophets that lived in Isaiah’s, Jeremiah’s, and
Ezekiel’s time, that flattered the people in their
wicked ways, and told them they should have
peace, though they went on: it may also refer to
the priests that bare rule by their means, or to the
wicked princes, the sons of Josiah, that did evil in
the sight of the Lord , and other wicked magis¬
trates under them, that betrayed their trust, were
vicious and profane, and, instead of making up the
breach of which the judgments of God were break¬
ing in upon them, made it wider, and augmented
the fierce anger of the Lord instead of doing any
thing to turn it away. They should have kept
judgment and justice, (y. 1.) but they abandoned
joth, Jer. v. 1. Or, it may refer to those who were
the nation’s watchmen in our Saviour’s time, the
chief priests and the scribes who should have dis¬
cerned the signs of the times, and have given notice
to the people of the approach of the Messiah, but
who, instead of that, opposed him, and did all they
could to keep people from coming to the knowledge
of him, and to prejudice them against him.
It is a very sad character that is here given of
these watchmen; wo unto thee, O land, when thy
guides are such.
1. They had no sense or knowledge of their busi¬
ness; they were wretchedly ignorant of their work,
and very unfit to teach, being so ill-taught them¬
selves. His watchmen are blind, and therefore
utterly unfit to be watchmen. If the seers see not,
who shall see for us? If the light that is in us be
darkness, how great is that darkness! Christ de¬
scribes the Pharisees to be blind leaders of the blind,
Matth. xv. 14. The beasts of the field come to
devour, and the watchmen are blind, and are not
aware of them. They are all ignorant, (y. 10.)
shepherds that cannot understand, (y. 11.) that
know not what is to be done about the sheep, nor
can feed them with understanding, Jer. iii. 15.
2. What little knowledge they had, they made no
use of it, no one was the better for it. As they
were blind watchmen, that could not discern the
danger, so they were dumb dogs, that would not
give warning of it. And why are the dogs set to
guard the sheep, if they cannot bark to awaken the
shepherd, and frighten the wolf? Such were these;
they that had the charge of souls never reproved
men for their faults, nor told them what would be
in the end thereof, never gave them notice of the
judgments of God that were breaking in upon them;
they barked at God’s prophets, and bit them too,
and worried the sheep, but made no opposition to
the wolf or thief.
3. They were very lazy, and would take no pains;
they loved their ease, and hated business, were al¬
ways sleeping, lying down, and loving to slumber.
They were not overcome, and overpowered by
sleep, as the disciples, through grief and fatigue,
but they lay down on purpose to invite sleep; and
said, Soul, take thine ease. Yet a little sleep. It is
bad with a people when their shepherds slumber,
(Nah. iii. 18.) and it is well for God’s people, that
their Shepherd, the Keeper of Israel, neither
slumbers nor sleeps.
4. They were very covetous and eager after the
world, greedy dogs, that can never have enough;
if they had ever so much, they would think it too
little; they so loved silver as never to be satisfied
with silver, Eccl. v. 10. All their inquiry is, what
they shall get, not what they shall do. Let them
have the wages, and they care not whether the work
be done or no; they feed not the flock, but fleece it.
They are every one looking to his own way, mind¬
ing his own private interests, and have no regard
at all to the public welfare; it was St. Paul’s com¬
plaint of the watchmen in his time; (Phil. ii. 21.)
jlll seek their own, not the things that are Jesus
Christ’s. Every one is for propagating his own
opinion, advancing his own party, raising his own
family, and having every thing to his own mind,
while the common concerns of the public are
wretchedly neglected and postponed. They look
every one to his gain from his quarter, from his end
or part of the work, they are for gain from every’
quarter, Rem, rem, quocunque modo rem — Money,
money, by fair means, or by foul, we must have
money, but especially from their own quarter,
where they will be sure to take cave that they lose
nothing, nor miss any thing that is to be got. If any
one put not into their mouths, they not only will dc
him no service, but they prepare war against him ,
Micah iii. 5
262
ISAIAH, LV11.
5. They were perfect epicures, given to their
pleasures, never so much in their element as in
their drunken revels; (v. 12.) Come ye, (say they, )
I will fetch wine; (they have that at command,
their cellars are better furnished than their closets;)
and we will fill ourselves, or be drunk with strong
drink. They were often drunk, not overseen, (as
we say,) or overtaken, in drink, but designedly.
The watchmen did thus invite and encourage one
another to drink to excess, or they courted the peo¬
ple to sit and drink with them, and so confirmed
them in their wicked ways, and hardened their
hearts, whom they should have reproved. How
could they think it any harm to be drunk, when
the watchmen themselves joined with them, and led
them to it?
6. They were secure, and confident of the con¬
tinuance of their prosperity and ease; they said,
“ To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more
abundant; we shall have as much to spend upon
our lusts to-morrow, as we have to-day.” They
had no thought at all of their own frailty and mor¬
tality, though they were shortening their days, and
hastening their deaths, by their excesses. T hey
had no dread of the judgments of God, though they
were daily provoking him, and making themselves
liable to his wrath and curse. 1 hey never consi¬
dered the uncertainty of all the delights and enjoy¬
ments of sense, how they perish in the using, and
pass away with the lusts of them. They resolved
to continue in this wicked course, whatever their
consciences said to the contrary, to be as merry to¬
morrow as they are to-day. But boast not thyself
of to-morrow, when perhaps this night thy soul
shall be required of thee.
CHAP. LVII.
The prophet, in this chapter, makes his observations, I.
Upon the deaths of good men, comforting those that
were taken away in their integrity, and reproving those
that did not make a due improvement of such provi¬
dences, v. 1, 2. II. Upon the gross idolatries and spirit¬
ual whoredoms which the Jews were guilty of, and the
destroying judgments they were thereby bringing upon
themselves, v. 3. . 12. Ill. Upon the gracious returns
of God to his people to put an end to their captivity,
and re-establish their prosperity, v. 13'-. .21.
1. rriHE righteous perisheth, and no man
A layeth it to heart ; and merciful men
are taken away, none considering that the
righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
2. He shall enter into peace : they shall rest
in their beds, each one walking in his up¬
rightness.
The prophet, in the close of the foregoing chap¬
ter, had condemned the watchmen for their igno¬
rance and sottishness; here he shows the general
stupidity and senselessness of the people likewise;
no wonder they were inconsiderate, when their
watchmen were so, who should have awakened
tuem to consideration. We may observe here,
1. The providence of God removing good men
apace out of this world. The righteous, as to this
world, perish, they are gone, and their place knows
them no more; piety exempts none from the arrests
of death, nay, in persecuting times, the most righ¬
teous are most exposed to the violences of bloody
men. The first that died, died a martyr. Righ¬
teousness delivers from the sting of death, but not
from the stroke of it. They are said to fierish, be¬
cause they are utterly removed from us, and to ex¬
press the great loss which this world sustains by the
removal of them; not that their death is their un¬
doing, but it often proves an undoing to the places
where they lived, and were useful. Hay, even
merciful men are taken away, those good men that
are distinguished from the righteous for whom some
would even dare to die, Rom. v. 7. Those are
often removed, that could be worst spared; the fruit¬
ful trees are cut down by death, and the barren left
still to cumber the ground. Merciful men are
often taken away by the hand of men’s malice; many
good works they have done, and for some of them
they are stoned. Before the captivity in Babylon
perhaps there was a more than ordinary mortality
of good men, so that there were scarcely any left,
Jer. v. 1. The godly ceased, and the faithful failed,
Ps. xii. 1.
2. The careless world slighting these providences,
and disregarding them — no man lays it to heart,
none considers it. There are very few that lament
it as a public loss, very few that take notice of it as a
public warning. The death of good men is a thing
to be laid to heart, and considered, more than com¬
mon deaths. Serious inquiries cught to be made;
Wherefore does God contend with us? What good
lessons are to be learned by such providences?
What may we do to help to make up the breach,
and to fill up the room of those that are removed?
God is justly displeased when such events are not
laid to heart; when the voice of the rod is not heard,
nor the intentions of it answered, much more when
it is rejoiced in, as the slaying of the witnesses is,
Rev. xi. 10. Some of God’s choicest blessings to
mankind, being thus easily parted with, are really
undervalued; and it is an evidence of very great
incogitancy; little children, when they are little,
least lament the death of their parents, because
they know not what a loss it is to them.
3. The happiness of the righteous in their re¬
moval.
(1.) They are taken away from the evil to come,
then when it is just coming. [1.] In compassicn to
them, that they may not see the evil, (2 Kings xxii.
20.) nor share in it, nor be in temptation by it.
When the deluge is coming, they are called into the
ark, and have a hiding-place and rest in heaven,
when there was none for them under heaven. [2.]
In wrath to the world, to punish them for all the
injuries they have done to the righteous and merci¬
ful ones; these are taken away, that stood in the
gap to turn away the judgments of God; and then
what can be expected but a deluge of them ! It is a
sign that God intends war, when he calls heme his
ambassadors.
(2.) They go to be easy, out of the reach of that
evil. The righteous man, who, while he lived,
walked in his uprightness, enters, when lie dies, in¬
to peace, and rests in his bed. Note, [1.] Death is
gain, and rest, and bliss, to those only who walked
in their uprightness, and who, when they die, can
appeal to God concerning it, as Hezekiah, (2 Kings
xx. 3.) Aviv, Lord, remember it. [2.] They that
practised uprightness and persevered in it to the
end, shall find it well with them when they die.
Their souls then enter into peace, into the world of
peace, where peace is in perfection, and where
there is no trouble; Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. Their bodies rest in their beds. Note,
The grave is a bed of rest to all the Lord’s people;
there they rest from all their labours. Rev. xiv. 13.
And the more weary they were, the more welcome
will that rest be to them, Job iii. 17. This bed is
made in the darkness, but that makes it the more
quiet; it is a bed out of which they shall rise re¬
freshed in the morning of the resurrection.
3. But draw near hither, ye sons of the
sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the
whore. 4. Against whom do ye spoil your¬
selves? aeainst whom make ye a wide
265
ISAIAH, LVIJ.
mouth, and draw out tnc tongue? are ye not
children of transgression, a seed of false¬
hood, 5. Inflaming yourselves with idols
under every green tree, slaying the children
in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
(>. Among the smooth stones of the stream is
thy portion; they, they are thy lot; even to
them hast thou poured a drink-offering, thou
hast offered a meat-offering. Should 1 re¬
ceive comfort in these? 7. Upon a lofty and
high mountain hast thou set thy bed : even
thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.
8. Behind the doors also and the posts hast
thou set up thy remembrance ; for thou hast
discovered thyself to another than me, and
art gone up : thou hast enlarged thy bed, and
made a covenant with them ; thou lovedst
their bed where thou sawedst it. 9. And
thou wentest to the king with ointment, and
didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send
thy messengers far off, and didst debase
thyself even unto hell. 10. Thou art wea¬
ried in the greatness of thy way ; yet saidst
thou not, There is no hope : thou hast found
the life of thy hand ; therefore thou wast not
grieved. 1 1 . And of whom hast thou been
afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast
not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart?
have not I held my peace even of old, and
thou fearest me not? 12. I will declare thy
righteousness, and thy works ; for they shall
not profit thee.
We have here a high charge, but a just one, no
doubt, drawn up against that wicked generation,
out of which God’s righteous ones were removed,
because the world was not worthy of them. Ob¬
serve,
I. The general character here given of them, or
the name and title by which they stand indicted, v.
3. They are bid to draw near, and hear the charge,
are set to the bar and arraigned there as sons of the
sorceress, or of a witch, the seed of an adulterer and
a whore; they were such themselves, they were
strongly inclined to be such, and their ancestors
were such before them. Sin is sorcery and adultery ,
for it is departing from God, and dealing with the
devil; and they were children of disobedience;
“ Come,” says the prophet, “draw near hither, and
1 will read you your doom; to the righteous death
will bring peace and rest, but not to you; you are
children of transgression, and a seed of falsehood,
(u. 4.) that have it by kind, and have it woven into
your very nature, to backslide from God, and to
deal treacherously with him,” (c/i. xlviii. 8.)
II. The particular crimes laid to their charge.
1. Scoffing at God and his word. They were a
generation of scorners; tv. 4.) “ Against whom do
you sport yourselves ? You think it is only against
the poor prophets, whom you trample upon as con¬
temptible men, but really it is against God himself,
who sends them, and whose message they deliver.”
Mocking the messengers of tire Lord was Jerusa¬
lem’s measure-filling sin, for what was done to them
God took as done to himself. When they were re¬
proved for their sins, and threatened with the judg¬
ments of God, they ridiculed the word of God with
the rudest and most indecent gestures and expres¬
sions of disdain. They sported themselves and
made themselves merry with that which should
have made them serious, and under which they
should have humbled themselves. They made wry
mouths at the prophets, and drew out the tongue,
contrary to all the laws of good breeding; nor did
they treat God’s prophets with the common civility
with which they would have treated a gentleman’s
servant that had been sent to them on an errand.
Note, Those who mock at God, and bid defiance
to his judgments, had best consider who it is toward
whom they carry it so insolently.
2. Idolatry. This was that sin which the people
of the Jews were most notoriously guilty of before
the captivity ; but that affliction cured them of it.
In Isaiah’s time it abounded, witness the abominable
idolatries of Ahaz (which some think are particu¬
larly referred to here) and of Manasseh. ( 1. ) They
were dotingly fond of their idols, were inflamed
with them, as those that burn in unlawful, unnatu¬
ral lusts, Rom. i. 27. They were mad upon 'their
idols, Jer. 1. 38. They inflamed themselves with
them by their violent passions in the worship of
them, as those of Baal’s prophets that leaped upon
the altar, and cut themselves, 1 Kings xviii. 26, 28.
Note, Vile corruptions, the more they are gratified,
the more they are inflamed. They worshipped
their idols under every green tree, in the open air,
and in the shade; yet that did not cool the heat of
their impetuous lusts, but, rather, the charming
beauty of the green trees made them the more fond
of their idols which they w'orshipped there. Thus
that in nature which is pleasing, instead of drawing
them to the God of nature, drew them from him.
The flame of their zeal in the worship of false gods,
may shame us for our coldness and indifference in the
worship of the true God. They strove to inflame
themselves, but we distract and deaden ourselves.
(2.) They were barbarous and unnaturally cruel in
the worship of their idols; they slew their children,
and offered them in sacrifice to their idols, not only
in the valley of the son of Hinnom, the head-quar¬
ters of that monstrous idolatry, but in other valleys,
in imitation of that, and under the clefts of the rock,
in dark and solitary places, the fittest for such
works of darkness. (3. ) They were abundant and
insatiable in their idolatries; they never thought
they could have idols enough, nor could spend
enough upon them, and do enough in their service.
The Syrians had once a notion of the God of Israel,
that he was a God of the hills, but not a God of the
valleys; (1 Kings xx. 28.) but these idolaters, to
make sure work, had both.
[1.] They had gods of the valleys, which they
worshipped in the low places by the water side; (v.
6.) Among the smooth stones of the valley, or brook,
is thy portion. If they saw a smooth carved stone,
though set up but for a way-mark, or a mere stone,
they were ready to worship it, as the papists do
crosses. Or, in stony valleys they set up their gods,
which they called their portion, and took for their
lot, as God’s people take him for their Lot and Por¬
tion. But these gods of stone would really be no
better a portion for them, no better a lot, than the
smooth stones of the stream, near which they were
set up, for sometimes they worshipped their rivers;
“ They, they are thy let which thou trustest to, and
art pleased with, but thou shalt be put off with it for
thy lot, and miserable will thy case be.” See the
folly of sinners, who take the smooth stones of the
stream for their portion, when they might have the
precious stones of God’s Jerusalem, and the High
Priest’s ephod, to portion themselves with. Having
taken these idols for their lot and portion, they re¬
fuse no charge in doing honour to them; “ To them
hast thou poured a drink-offering, and offered a
meat-offering, as if they had given thee thy meat
264
ISAIAH, LVII.
and drink.” They loved their idols better than
their children, for their own tables must be robbed,
t j replenish the altars of their idols. Have we taken
the true God for our Portion? Is he, even he, our
Lot? Let us then serve him with our meat and drink,
not as they did, by depriving ourselves of the use
of them, but by eating and drinking to his glory.
Here, in a parenthesis, comes in an expression of
God’s just resentment of this wickedness of theirs.
Should I receive comfort in these — in such a people
as this? Can they expect that God would take any
pleasure in them, or accept their devotions at his
altar, who thus serve Baal with the gifts of his pro¬
vidence? God takes comfort in his people, while
they are faithful to him; but what comfort can he
take in them, when they that should be his witnesses
against the idolatries of the world, do themselves
fall in with them? Should I have comfiassion on
these ? (so some;) Should I repent me concerning
these? (soothers.) “ How can they expect that i
should spare them, and either adjourn or abate their
punishment, when they are so very provoking ?
Shall I not visit for these things?” Jer. v. 7, 9.
[2.] They had gods of the hdlstoo; ( v . 7.) “ Upon
a lofty and high mountain (as if thou wouldest vie
with the high and lofty One himself, v. 15. ) hast
thou set thy bed, thine idol, thine idol’s temple and
altar, the bed of thine uncleanness, where thou com-
mittest spiritual whoredom, with all the wantonness
of an idolatrous fancy, and in direct violation of the
covenant of thy God. Thither wentest thou up
readily enough, though it was up-hill, to offer sacri¬
fice.” Some think this bespeaks the impudence
they arrived at in their idolatries; at first they had
some sense of shame, when they worshipped their
idols in the valleys, in obscure places; but they soon
conquered that, and came to do it upon the lofty,
high mountains; they were not ashamed, neither
could they blush.
[3. ] As if these were not enough, they had house¬
hold-gods too, their lares and penates. Behind the
doors and the posts, {v. 8. ) where the law of God
should be written for a memorandum to them of
their duty, they set up the remembrance of their
idols, not so much to keep up their own remembrance
rf them, (they were so fond of them, that they could
not forget them,) but to show to others how mindful
they were of them, and to put their children in mind
of them, and possess them betimes with a venera¬
tion for these dunghill-deities.
[4.] As -they were insatiable in their idolatries, so
they were inseparable from them ; they were harden¬
ed in their wickedness, they worshipped their idols
openly and in public view, as being neither ashamed
of the sin, nor afraid of the punishment; they went
as publicly, and in as great crowds, to the idol-tem¬
ples, as ever they had gone to God’s house. This
was like an impudent harlot, discovering themselves
to another, and not to God, making a profession of
a false religion, and not of the true. They took a
pride in making proselytes to their idolatries, and
not only went up themselves to their high places,
but enlarged their bed, their idol-temples, and (as
the margin reads the following words) thou hewedst
it for thyself larger than theirs, than theirs from
whom thou copiedst it, and tookest the platform of
it, as Ahaz of his altar from that which he saw at
Damascus, 2 Kings xvi. 10. And being thus involved
over head and ears, as it were, in their idolatries,
there is no parting them from them. Ephraim is
now joined to idols both in love and league. First,
In league; “ Thou hast made a covenant with them,
with the idols, with the idol-worshippers, to livy
and die together. This was a complete renuncia¬
tion of their covenant with God, and an avowed
resolution to persist in their apostaev from him.
Secondly, In love; “ Thou lovedst their bed, the
temple of an idol, wherever thou sawest it.” Justiv
therefore were they given up to their own hearts’
lusts.
3. Another sin charged upon them is, their trust¬
ing in, and seeking to, foreign aids and succours, and
contracting a communion with the Gentile powers;
(t>. 9.) Thou wentest to the king, which some under¬
stand of the idol they worshipped, particularly
Moloch, which signifies a king; “ Thou didst every
thing to ingratiate thyself with those idols, didst
offer incense and sweet ointments at their altars.’’
Or, it may be meant of the king of Assyria, whom
Ahaz made his court to; or, of the king of Babylon,
whose ambassadors Hezekiah caressed; or, of the
other kings of the nations whose idolatrous usages
they admired, and were desirous to learn and imi¬
tate, and, for that end, went and sent to cultivate an
acquaintance and correspondence with them, thal
they might be like them, and strengthen themselves
by an alliance with them. See here, (1.) What ai
expense they were at in forming and procuring this
grand alliance; they went with ointments and per¬
fumes, either bestowed upon themselves, to beautify
their own faces, and to make themselves considera¬
ble, and worthy the friendship of the greatest king ;
or, to be presented to those whose favour they were
ambitious of, because a man’s gift makes room for
him, and brings him before great men; “When the
first present of rich perfumes was thought too litt’e,
thou didst increase them;” and thus many seek the
ruler’s favour, forgetting that, after all, every man’s
judgment proceeds from the Lord. So fond were
they of those heathen princes, that they not only
went themselves, in all their airs, to those that were
near them, but sent messengers to those that were
afar off, ch. xviii. 2. (2. ) How much they hereby
disparaged themselves, and laid the honour of their
crown and nation in the dust; Thou didst debase thy¬
self even unto hell. They did so by their idolatries.
It is a dishonour to the children of men, who are
endued with the powers of reason, to worship that
as their god, which is the creature of their own
fancy, and the work of their own hands, to bow
down to the stock of a tree. It is much more a dis¬
honour to the children of God, who are blessed with
the privilege of divine revelation, to forsake such a
God as they know theirs to be, for a thing of naught,
their own mercies for lying vanities. They likewise
debased themselves by truckling to their heathen
neighbours, and depending upon them, when they
had a God to go to, who is all-sufficient, and in cove¬
nant with them. How did they shame themselves
to the highest degree, and sink themselves to the
lowest, that forsook the Fountain of life for broken
cisterns, and the Rock of ages for broken reeds.
Note, Sinners disparage and debase themselves; the
service of si:i is an ignominious slavery; and they
who thus debase themselves to hell, will justly have
theii portion there.
III. The aggravation of their sin:
1. They had been tired with disappointments in
their wicked courses, and yet they would not be
convinced of the folly of them; (i>. 10.) “ Thou art
wearied in the greatness of thy way; thou hast un¬
dertaken a mighty task, to find out true satisfaction
and happiness in that which is vanity and a lie.”
Those that set up idols, instead of God, for the
object of their worship, and princes, instead of God,
for the object of their hope and confidence, and think
thus to better themselves, and make themselves
easy, go a great way about, and will never come to
their journey’s end; Thou art wearied in the multi¬
tude, or multiplicity, of thy ways; so some read it;
those that forsake the only right way, wander end¬
lessly in a thousand by-paths, and lose themselves
in the many inventions which they have sought out;
they weary themselves with fresh chases, and fierce
ISAIAH, LV11.
oiii ,, but never gain their point, like the Sodomites,
that wearied themselves to Jind the door , (Gen. xix.
11.) and could not find it at last. The pleasures of
sin will soon surfeit, but never satisfy; a man may
quickly tire himself in the pursuit of them, but can
never repose himself in the enjoyment of them.
They found this by experience; the idols they had
often worshipped never did them any kindness, the
kings they courted distressed them, and helped them
not; and yet they were so wretchedly besotted, that
they could not say, “ There is no hope; it is in vain
any longer to expect that satisfaction in creature-
confidences, and in the worship of idols, which we
have so often looked for, and never met with ”
Note, Despair of happiness in the creature, and of
satisfaction in the service of sin, is the first step
towards a well-grounded hope of happiness in God,
and a well-fixed resolution to keep to his service:
and those are inexcusable, who have had a sensible
conviction of the vanity of the creature, and yet will
no* be brought to say, “There is no hope to be
happy short of the Creator.”
2. Though they were convinced that the way they
were in was a sinful way, yet, because they had
found some present sensual pleasure and worldly
profit by it, they could not persuade themselves to
be sorry for it; “ Thou hast found the life of thy
hand,” (or, the living of it;) “thou boastest how
fortune smiles upon thee, and therefore thou art not
grieved, any more than Ephraim, when he said,
(Hos. xii. 8.) I am become rich, I have found me
out substance.” Note, Prosperity in sin is a great
bar to conversion from sin. Those that live at ease
in their sinful pleasures, and raise estates by their
sinful projects, are tempted to think God favours
them, and therefore they have nothing to repent of.
Some read it ironically, or by way of question,
“Thou hast found the life of thy hand, hast found
true satisfaction and happiness, no doubt, thou hast;
hast thou not? And therefore thou art so far from
being grieved, that thou blessest thyself in thine own
evil way; but rev iew thy gains once more, and come
to a balance of profit and loss, and then say, What
fruit hast thou of those things whereof thou art
ashamed, and for which God shall bring thee into
judgment ?" Rom. vi. 21.
3. They had dealt very unworthily with God by
their sin; for, (l.)It should seem they pretended
that the reason why they left God, was, because he
was too terrible a majesty for them to deal with,
they must have gods that they could be more free
and familiar with; “But,” says God, “of whom
hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied;
that thou hast dealt falsely and treacherously with
me, and dissembled in thy covenants with me and
prayers to me? What did I ever do to frighten thee
Irom me? What occasion have I given thee to think
hardly of me, that thou hast gone to seek a kinder
master?” (2.) However, it is certain that they had
no true reverence of God, nor any awful regard to
him. So that question is commonly understood.
“Of whom hast thou been afraid, or feared? Of
none ; for thou hast not feared me whom thou shouldest
fear; for thou hast lied to me. ” Those that dissem¬
ble with God, make it to appear they stand in no
awe of him. “Thou hast not remembered me,
neither what I have said, nor what I have done,
neither the promises, nor the threatenings, nor the
performances of either; thou hast not laid them to
thy heart, as thou wouldest have done, if thou hadst
feared me.” Note, Those who lay not the word of
God and his providences to their hearts, show that
they have not the fear of God before their eyes.
And multitudes are ruined by fearlessness, forget¬
fulness, and mere carelessness; they do not aright,
nor to good purpose fear any thing, remember any
thing, or lay any thing to heart Nay, (3.) Thev
Vol. iv. — 2L
2A5
were hardened in their sin by the patience and for
bearanceof God; “ Havenot I held my fie ace of old,
and for a long time? These things thru hast done,
and I kept silence. And therefore, as it follows
here, thou fearest me not;” as if because Gi d had
spared long, he would never punish, Eccl. viii. 31.
Because he kept silence, the sinner thought him
altogether such a one as himself, and stood in no
awe of him.
Lastly, Here is God’s resolution to call them to
an account, though he had long borne with them;
(v. 12.) J will declare; like that, (Ps. 1. 21.) “ but
I will re/irove thee, I will declare thy righteousness,
which thou makest thy boast of, and let the world
see, and thyself too, to thy confusion, that it is all a
sham, all a cheat, it is not what it pretends to be.
When thy righteousness comes to be examined, it
will be found unrighteousness; and that there is no
sincerity in all thy pretensions. I will declare thy
works, what they have been, and what the gain thou
pretendest to have gotten by them, and it will appear
that at long run they shall not profit thee, nor turn
to any account.” Note, Sinful works, as they are
works of darkness, and there is no reason or right¬
eousness in them, so they are unfruitful works, and
there is nothing got by them ; and however they look
now, it will be made to appear so another day. Sin
profits not, nay, it ruins and destroys.
1 3. When thou criest, let thy companies
deliver thee: but the wind shall carry them
all away; vanity shall take them: but he
that putteth his trust in me shall possess the
land, and shall inherit my holy mountain ;
14. And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up,
prepare , the way, take up the stumbling-
block out, of the way of my people. 15. For
thus saith the high and lofty One that in-
habiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; 1
dwell in the high and holy place : with him
also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit df the humble, and to
revive the heart of the contrite ones. 1 6.
For I will not contend for ever, neither will
1 be always wroth : for the spirit should fail
before me, and the souls which I have made.
Here,
I. God shows how insufficient idols and creatures
were to relieve and succour those that worshipped
them, and confided in them; (y. 13.) “ When thou
criest in thy distress and anguish, lamentest thy
misery, and callest for help, let thy companies de¬
liver thee, thy idol-gods which thou hast heaped to
thyself companies of, the troops of the confederate
forces which thou hast relied so much upon, let them
deliver thee if they can; expect no other relief than
what they can give.” Thus God said to Israel,
when in their trouble they called upon him, (Judg.
x. 14.) Go, and cry to the gods which you have
chosen, let them deliver you. But in vain is salva¬
tion hoped for from them, the wind shall carry them
all away, the wind of God’s wrath, the breath of his
mouth, which shall slay the wicked; they have
made themselves as chaff, and therefore the wind
will of course hurry them away. Vanity they are,
and vanity shall take them away, to vanity they
shall be reduced, and vanity shall be their recom¬
pense. Both the idols and their worshippers shall
come to nothing.
II. He shows that there was a sufficiency, an all-
sufficiency, in him for the comfort and deliverance
of all those that put their confidence in him, and
266
fSAlAH, LVn.
made their application to him. Their safety and
satisfaction appear the more comfortable, because
their hopes are crowned with fruition, when those
that sees to other helpers have their hopes frus¬
trated; “He that puts his trust in me, and in me
only, he shall be happy, both for soul and body, for
this world and the other.” 1. They that trust in
God’s providence take the best course to secure
their secular interests; they shall possess the land,
as much of it as is good for them, and what they
have, they shall have it from a good hand, and hold
it by a good title; (Ps. xxxvii. 3.) They shall dwell
in the land, and verily they shall be fed. 2. They
that trust in God’s grace take the best course to
secure their sacred interests; They shall inherit my
holy mountain. They shall enjoy the privileges of
the church on earth, and be brought at length to the
jovs of heaven; and no wind shall carry them away.
More particularly,
(1.) The captives that trust in God, shall be re¬
leased; (v. 14.) They shall say, the messengers of
his word, and all the ministers of his providence, in
that great event shall say, cast ye up, cast ye up,
prepare the way. When God’s time is come for
their deliverance, the way of bringing it about shall
be made plain and easy, obstacles shall be removed,
difficulties that seemed insuperable shall be speedily
got over, and all things shall concur both to accele¬
rate and facilitate their return. See ch. xl. 3, 4.
This refers to the provision which the gospel, and
the grace of it, have made for our ready passage
through this world to a better. The way of religion
is now cast up, it is a highway; ministers’ business
is to direct people in it, and to help them over the
discouragements they meet with, that nothing may
offend them.
(2. ) The contrite, that trust in God, shall be re¬
vived, v. 15. They that trusted to idols and crea¬
tures for help, went with their ointments and per¬
fumes, v. 9. But here God shows that those who
may expect help from him, are such as are destitute
of, and set themselves at a distance from, the gaieties
of the world, and the delights of sense. God’s glory
appears here very bright,
[1.] In his greatnessTvnd majesty; he is the high
and lofty One that inhabits eternity. Let this pos¬
sess us with very high and honourable thoughts of
the God with whom we have to do. First, That
his being and perfections are exalted infinitely above
every creature, not only above what they have
themselves, but above what they can conceive con¬
cerning him, far above all their blessing and praise,
Neh. ix. 5. He is the high and lofty One, and there
is no creature like him, nor any to be compared
with him. It speaks likewise his sovereign domi¬
nion over all, and the incontestable right he has to
give both law and judgment to all: he is higher than
the highest, (Eccl. v. 8. ) than the highest heavens,
Ps. cxiii. 4. Secondly, That with him there is nei¬
ther beginning of days, nor end of life, nor change
of time; he is both immortal and immutable, he
only has immortality , 1 Tim. vi. 16. He has it of
himself, and he has it constantly, he inhabits it, and
cannot be dispossessed of it. We must shortly re¬
move into eternity, but God always inhabits it.
Thirdly, That there is an infinite rectitude in his
nature, an exact conformity with himself, and a
steady design of his own glory, in all that he does;
and this appears in every thing by which he has
made himself known, for his name is Holy, and all
that desire to be acquainted with him, must know
him as a holy God. Fourthly, That the peculiar
residence and discovery of his glory are in the man¬
sions of light and bliss above; “ I dwell in the high
and holv place, and will have all the world to know
it. ” Whoever have any business with God must
direct to him as their Father in heaven, fer there
he dwells. These great things are here said of God,
to possess us with a holy reverence of him, to en¬
courage our confidence in him, and to magnify his
compassion and condescension to us; that though he
is thus high, yet he has respect unto the lowly; he
that rides on the heavens by his name JAH, stoop:
to concern himself for poor widows and fatherless.
Ps. lxviii. 4, 5.
[2.] In his grace and mercy; he has a tender pitv
for the humble and contrite, for those that are so in
respect of their state; if they.be his people, he will
not overlook them, though they are poor and low
in the world, and despised and trampled upon bt
men. But it refers to the temper of their mind; h>
will have a tender regard to those, who, being u
affliction, accommodate themselves to their afflic
tion, and bring their mind to their condition, be il
ever so low, and ever so sad and sorely broken,
those that are truly penitent for sin, and mourn in
secret for it, and have a dread of the wrath of God,
which they have made themselves obnoxious to,
and are submissive under all his rebukes. Now,
First, With these Gcd will dwell; he will visit them
graciously, will converse familiarly with them by
his word and spirit, as a man does with those of his
own family; he will be always nigh to them, and
present with them; he that dwells in the highest
heavens, dwells in the lowest hearts, and inhabits
sincerity as surely as he inhabits eternity; in these
he delights. Secondly, He will revive their heart
and spirit; will speak that to them, and work that
in them, by the word and Spirit of his grace, which
will be reviving to them, as a cordial to one that is
ready to faint. He will give them reviving joys and
hopes, sufficient to balance all the griefs and fears
that break their spirits. He dwells with them, and
his presence is reviving.
(3.) Those he contends with, if they trust in him,
shall be relieved, and received into’favour, v. 16.
He will revive the heart of the contrite ones, for he
will not contend for ever. Nothing makes a soul
so contrite as God’s contending, and therefore no¬
thing revives it so as his ceasing his controversy.
Here is, [1.] A gracious promise. It is not pre¬
mised that he will never be angry with his people,
for their sins are displeasing to him, or that he will
never contend with them, for they must expect the
rod; but he will not contend for ever, nor be always
wroth. As he is not soon angry, so he is not long
angry; he will not always chide. Though he con¬
tend with them by convictions of sin, he will not con¬
tend for ever, but, instead of the spirit of bondage,
they shall receive the Spirit of adoption; he has
tom, but he will heal: though he contend with them
by the rebukes of providence, yet the correction
shall not last always, shall not last long, shall last
no longer than there is need, (1 Pet. i. 6.) no longer
than they can bear, and no longer than till it has
done its work. Though their whole life be calamit¬
ous, yet their end will be peace,' and so will then
eternity be. [2.] A very compassionate consider¬
ation, upon which this promise is grrunded ; “ If I
should contend for ever, the spirit would fail before
me, even the souls which I have made.” Note,
First, God is the Father of spirits; (Heb. xii. 9.) it
is the soul that he has made, that he gave being to
bv creation, and a new being to by regeneration.
Secondly, Though the Lord is for the body, yet he
concerns himself chiefly for the souls of his people,
that the spirit do not fail, and its graces and com¬
forts. Thirdly, When troubles last long, the spirit
even of good men is apt to fail; they are tempted to
entertain hard thoughts of God, to think it in vain
to serve him; they are ready to put ermfort away
from them, and to despair of relief, and then the
spirit fails. Fourthly, it is in consideration of this,
that God will not contend for ever; for he will net
267
ISAIAH, LVI1.
forsake the work of his own hands, nor defeat the
purchase of his Son’s blood. The reason is taken
not from our merit, but from our weakness and in¬
firmity; for he remembers that vie are Jiesh, (Ps.
Ixxviii. 39. ) and the flesh is weak.
17. For the iniquity of his covetousness
was I wroth, and smote him : I hid me, and
was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the
way of his heart. 1 8. 1 have seen his ways,
and will heal him: I will lead him also, and
restore comforts unto him and to his mourn¬
ers. 1 9. I create the fruit of the lips ; Peace,
peace to him that is far off, and to him that
is near, saith the Lord ; and I will heal him.
20. But the wicked are like the troubled
sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast
up mire and dirt. 21. There is no peace,
saith my God, to the wicked.
The body of the people of Israel, in this account
of God’s dealings with them, is spoken of as a par¬
ticular person, (t>. 17, 18.) but divided into two
sorts, differently dealt with; some who were sons of
peace, to whom peace is spoken, ( v . 19. ) and others
who were not, who have nothing to do with peace,
v. 20, 21. Observe here,
I. The just rebukes which that people were
brought under for their sin; For the iniquity of his
covetousness I was wroth, and smote, him. Covet¬
ousness was a sin that abounded very much among
that people; (Jer. vi. 13.) From the least to the
greatest of them every one is given to covetousness.
Those that did not worship images, were yet car¬
ried away by this spiritual idolatry; for covetousness
is such, it is making money the god, Col. iii. 5. No
marvel that the people were covetous, when their
watchmen themselves were notoriously so, ch. lvi.
31. Yet, covetous as they were, in the service of
their idols they were firodigal, v. 6. And it is hard
to say, whether their profuseness in that, or their
c "vetousness in every thing else, was more pro¬
voking. But for this iniquity, among others, God
was angry with them, and brought one judgment
after another upon them, and their destruction at last
by the Chaldeans. 1. God was wroth; he resented
it, took it very ill, that a people who were devoted
to himself, and portioned in himself, should be so
entirely given up to the world, and choose that for
their portion. Note, Covetousness is an iniquity
that is very displeasing to the God of heaven. It
is heart-sin, but he sees it, and therefore hates it,
and looks upon it with jealousy, because it sets up a
rival with him in the soul. It is a sin which men
bless themselves in, (Ps. xlix. 18.) and in which
their neighbours bless them; (Ps. x. 3.) but God ab¬
hors it. 2. He smote him, reproved him for it by
his prophets, corrected him by his providence, pun¬
ished him in those very things he so doated upon,
and was covetous of. Note, Sinners shall be made
to feel from the anger of God; whom he is wroth
with he smites; and covetousness particularly lays
men under the tokens of God’s displeasure. They
that set their hearts upon the wealth of this world
are disappointed of it, or it is imbittered to them; it
is either clogged with a cross, or turned into a curse.
3. God hid himself from him when he was under
these rebukes; and continued wroth with him.
When we are under the rod, if God manifest him¬
self to us, we may bear it the better; but if he both
smite us and hide himself from us, send us no pro¬
phets, speak to us no comfortable word, show us no
token for good, if he rear and go away, (Hos. v. 14.)
we are very miserable.
II. Their obstinacy and incorrigibleness under
these rebukes; He went on frowardly in the way
of his heart, in his evil way. He was not sensible
of the displeasure of God that he was under; he felt
the smart of the rod, but had no regard at all to the
hand; the more he was crossed in his worldly pur¬
suits, the more eager he was in them. He either
would not see his error, or, if he saw it, would not
amend it; covetousness was the way of his heart, it
was what he was inclined to, and intent upon, and
he would not be reclaimed, but in his distress he
tresfiassed yet more , 2 Chron. xxviii. 22. See the
strength of the corruption of men’s hearts, and the
sinfulness of sin; it will take its course, in despite of
God himself and all the flames of his wrath. See
also how insufficient afflictions of themselves are to
reform men, unless God’s grace work with them.
III. God’s wonderful return in mercy to them,
notwithstanding the obstinacy of the generality of
them. The greater part of them went on frowardly ,
but there were some among them that were mourn¬
ers for the obstinacy of the rest; with an eye to
them, or rather, for his own name’s sake, God de¬
termines not to contend for ever with them. With
the froward God may justly show himself froward,
(Ps. xviii. 26. ) and walk contrary to those that walk
contrary to him. Lev. xxvi. 24. When this sinner *•
here went on frowardly in the way of his heart, one
would think it should have followed, “ I have seen
his ways, and will destroy him, will abandon him,
will never have anything more to do with him.”
But such are the riches of divine mercy and grace,
and so do they rejoice against judgment, that it fol¬
lows, I have seen his ways and will heal him. See
how God’s goodness takes occasion from man’s bad¬
ness to appear so much the more illustrious; and
where sin has abounded, grace much more abounds.
God’s reasons of mercy are fetched from within
himself, for in us there appears nothing but what
is provoking; “ I have seen his ways, and yet I will
heal him for my own name’s sake.” God knew how
bad the people were, and yet would not cast them
off. But observe the method; God will first give
him grace, and then, and not till then, give him
peace; “I have seen his ways, that he will never
turn to me of himself, and therefore I will turn
him.” Those whom God has mercy in store for,
he has grace in readiness for, to prepare and qualify
them for that mercy, which they were running from
as fast as they could. 1. God will heal him of his
corrupt and vicious disposition, will cure him of his
covetousness, though it be ever so deeply rooted in
him, and his heart have been long exercised to co¬
vetous practices. There is no spiritual disease so
inveterate, but almighty grace can conquer it. 2.
God will lead him also; not only amend what was
amiss in him, that he may cease to do evil, but di¬
rect him into the way of duty, that he may learn to
do well. He goes on frowardly, as Saul, yet breath¬
ing out threatenings and slaughter, but God will
lead him into a better mind, a better path. And
then, 3. He will restore those comforts to him,
which he had forfeited and lost, and for the return
of which he had thus prepared him. There was a
wonderful reformation wrought upon the captives
in Babylon, and then a wonderful redemption
wrought for them, which brought comfort to them,
to their mourners, to those among them that mourn¬
ed for their own sins, the sins of their people, and
the desolations of the sanctuary. To those mourn¬
ers the mercy would be most’ comfortable, and to
them God had an eve in working it out. Blessed are
they that mourn, for to them comfort belongs, and
thev shall have it.
Now, as when that people went into captivity,
some of them were good figs, very good, others of
them bad figs, very bad, and, accordingly, their
268
ISAIAH, LVII1.
captivity was to them for their good or for their
hurt, (Jer. xxiv. 8, 9.) so, when they came out of
c iptivity, still some of them were good, others bad,
and the deliverance was to them accordingly.
(1.) To those among them that were good, their
return out of captivity was peace, such peace as
was a type and earnest of the peace which should
be preached by Jesus Christ, ( v . 19.) I create the
fruit of the lips; peace. [1.] God designed to give
them matter for praise and thanksgiving, for that is
the fruit of the lips, (Heb. xiii. 15.) the calves of
the lips, Hos. xiv. 2. I create this. Creation is out
of nothing, and this is surely out of worse than no¬
thing, when God creates matter of praise for those
that went on frowardly in the way of their heart.
[2.] In order to this, peace shall be published,
peace, peace, perfect peace, all kinds of peace, to
him that is afar off from the general rendezvous,
th“ head-quarters, as well as to him that is near.
Peace with God; though he has contended with
them, he will be reconciled, and let fall his contro¬
versy; peace of conscience, a holy security, and se¬
renity of mind, after the many reproaches of con¬
science and tosses of spirit they had been under in
their captivity. Thus God creates the fruit of the
lips, fresh matter for thanksgiving; for, when he
speaks peace to us, we must speak praises to him.
This peace is itself of God’s creating, he, and he
only, can work it; it is the fruit of the lips, of his
lips, he commands it; of the minister’s lips, he speaks
it by them, ch. xl. 1. It is the fruit of preaching
lips and praying lips; it is the fruit of Christ’s lips,
whose lips drop as a honey-comb, for to him this is
applied, (Eph. ii. 17.) He came, and preached peace
to you ic ho ivere afar off, you Gentiles, as well as
to the Jews, who were nigh; to after ages, who
were afar off in time, as well as to those of the pre- 1
sent age.
(2.) To those among them that were wicked,
though they might return with the rest, yet to them
their return was no peace, v. 20. The wicked,
wherever he is, in Babylon or in Jerusalem, carries
about with him the principle of his own uneasiness,
and is like the troubled sea. God healed those to
whom he spake peace; (t>. 19.) I will heal them,
he shall be well again and set to rights; but the
wicked would not be healed by the grace of God,
and therefore shall not be healed by his comforts.
They are always like the sea in a storm, for they
carry about with them, [1.] Unmortified corrup¬
tions; those are not cured and conquered, and their
ungoverned lusts and passions make them like the
troubled sea when it cannot rest, vexatious to all
about them, and therefore uneasy to themselves;
noisy and dangerous. When the intemperate heats
of the spirit break out in scurrilous and abusive lan¬
guage, then the troubled sea casts forth mire and
dirt. [2.] Unpacified consciences; they are under
a frightful apprehension of guilt and wrath, that
thev cannot enjoy themselves; when they seem set¬
tled, they are in a toss, when they seem merry, they
are in heaviness; like Cain, who always dwelt in
the land of shaking. The terrors of conscience dis¬
turb all their enjoyments, and cast forth such mire
and dirt as make them a burthen to themselves.
Though this do not appear (it may be) at present,
vet it is a certain truth, what this prophet had said
before, {ch. xlviii. 22.) and here repeats, (v. 21.)
There is no peace to the wicked, no reconciliation to
God, nor can they be upon good terms with him
while they go on still in their trespasses; no qui¬
etness or satisfaction in their own mind, no real
good, no peace in death, because no hope. My
God hath said it, and all the world cannot un¬
say it, Th3t there is no peace to those that allow
themselves any sin. What have they to do with
peace?
CHAP. LVI1I.
The prophet, in this chapter, has his commission and
charge renewed, to reprove the sinners in Zion, particu¬
larly the hypocrites, to show them their transgressions,
v. 1. It is intended for admonition and warning to all
hypocrites, and is not to be confined to those of any
one age. Some refer it primarily to those at that time
when Isaiah prophesied; see ch. xxxiii. 14 — xxix. 13.
Others to the captives in Babylon, the wicked among
them, to whom the prophet had declared there was no
peace, ch. lvii. 21. Against the terror of that word they
thought to shelter themselves with their external per¬
formances, particularly their fastings, which they kept
up in Babylon, and for some time after their return to
their own land, Zech. vii. 3, &c. The prophet therefore
here shows them that their devotions would not entitle
them to peace, while their conversations were not all of
a piece with them. Others think it is principally intend¬
ed against the hypocrisy of the Jews, especially the
Pharisees, before, and in, our Saviour’s time; they
boasted of their fastings, but Christ (as the prophet here )
showed them their transgressions, ( Malth . xxiii.) much
the same with those they are here charged with. Ob¬
serve, I. The plausible profession of religion which they
made, v. 2. II. The boasts they made of that profes¬
sion, and the blame they laid upon God for taking no
more notice of it, v. 3. III. The sins they are charged
with, which spoiled the acceptableness of their fasts, v.
4, 5. IV. Instructions given them how to keep fasts
aright, v. 6, 7. V. Precious promises made to those who
do so keep fasts, v, 8. . 12. VI. The like precious pro¬
mises made to those that sanctify sabbaths aright, v.
13, 14.
1. f ^ II Y aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice
VJ like a trumpet, and show my people
their transgression, and the house of Jacob
their sins. 2. Yet they seek me daily, and
delight to know my ways, as a nation that
did righteousness, and forsook not the ordi¬
nance of their God : they ask of me the or¬
dinances of justice; they take delight in ap¬
proaching to God.
When our Lord Jesus promised to send the Com¬
forter, he added. When he is come, he shall convince;
(John xvi. 7, 8.) for conviction must prepare for
comfort, and must also separate between the pre¬
cious and the vile, and mark out those to whom
comfort does not Delong. God had appointed this
prophet to comfort his people; {ch. xl. J.) here he
appoints him to convince them, and show them
their sins.
I. He must tell them how very bad they really
were, v. 1.
1. He must deal faithfully and plainly with them;
“Though they are called the people of God, and
the house of Jacob, though they wear an honourable
title and character, by which they are interested in
many glorious privileges, yet do not flatter them,
but show them their transgressions and their sins,
be particular in telling them their faults, what sins
are committed among them, which they do net
know of, nay what sins are committed by them,
which they So not acknowledge to be sins; though
in some things they are reformed, let them know
that in other things they are still as bad as ever.
Show them their transgressions and their sins, all
their transgressions in their sins, their sins and all
the aggravations of them,” Lev. xvi. 21. Note,
( 1. ) God sees sin in his people, in the house of Jacob,
and is displeased with it. (2. ) They are often unapt
and unwilling to see theirown sins, and need to have
them showed them, and to be told, Thus and thus
thou hast done.
2. He must be vehement and in good earnest
herein, must cry aloud, and not spare; not spare
them, nor touch them with his reproofs, as if he
were afraid of hurting them, but search the wound
269
ISAIAH, LVIII.
to the bottom, lay it bare to the bone; not spare
himself or his own pains, but cry as loud as he can;
though he spend his strength, and waste his spirits,
though he get their ill-will by it, and get himself
into an ill name; yet he must not spare. He must
lift up his voice like a trumpet, to make those hear
of their faults, that were apt to be deaf, when ad¬
monition was addressed to them. He must give his
reproofs in the most powerful and pressing manner
possible, as one who desired to be heeded. The
trumpet does not give an uncertain sound, but,
though loud and shrill, is intelligible; so must his
alarms be, giving them warning of the fatal conse¬
quences of sin, Ezek. xxxiii. 3.
II. He must acknowledge how very good they
seemed to be, notwithstanding, (y. 2. ) Yet they seek
me daily. When the prophet went about to show
them their transgressions, they pleaded that they
could see no transgressions which they were guilty
of; for they were diligent and constant in attending
on God’s worship — and what more would he have
of them? Now, 1. He owns the matter of fact to
be true; as far as hypocrites do that which is good,
they shall not be denied the praise of it, let them
make their best of it. It is owned that they have a
form of godliness: (1.) They go to church, and ob¬
serve their hours of prayer; They seek me daily;
they are very Constantin their devotions, and never
omit them, nor suffer any thing to put them by.
(2.) They love to hear good preaching; They de¬
light to know my ways, as Herod, who heard John
gi idly, and the stony ground, that received the seed
of the word with joy; it is to them as a lovely song,
Ezek. xxxiii. 32. (3.) They seem to take a great
pleasure in the exercises of religion, and to be in
their element when they are at their devotions;
They delight in approaching to God, not for his
sake to whom they approach, but for the sake of
some pleasing circumstance, the company, or the
festival. (4. ) They are inquisitive concerning their
duty, and seem desirous only to know it, making no
question but that then they should do it; They ask
of me the ordinances of justice, the rulers of piety in
the worship of God, the rulers of equity in their
dealings with men, both which are ordinances of
justice. (5.) They appear to the eye of the world
as if they made conscience of doing their duty ; They
are as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook
not the ordinances of their God; others took them
for such, and they themselves took on them to be
such; nothing lay open to view, that was a contradic¬
tion to their profession, but they seemed to be such
as they should be. Note, Men may go a great way
toward heaven, yet come short; nay, may go to hell
with a good reputation. But, 2. He intimates that
this was so far from being a cover or excuse for their
sin, that really it was an aggravation of it; “ Show
them their sins which they go on in, notwithstanding
their knowledge of good and evil, sin and duty, and
the convictions of their consciences concerning it.
3. Wherefore have we fasted, say they ,
and thou seest not? wherefore have we af¬
flicted our soul, and thou takest no know¬
ledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you
And pleasure, and exact all your labours.
■1. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and
to smite with the fistof wickedness: ye shall
not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice
to be heard on high. 5. Is it such a fast
that I have chosen? a day for a man to af¬
flict his soul? is it to bow down his head as
n bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes
unde hum? Wilt thou call this a fast, and
an acceptable day to the Lord? 6. Is not
this the fast that I have chosen? lo loose
the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy
burdens, and to let the oppressed go free,
and that ye break every yoke? 7. Is it not
to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that
thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy
house? when thou seest the naked, that
thou cover him; and that thou hide not thy
self from thine own flesh?
Here we have,
I. The displeasure which these hypocrites con¬
ceived against God, for not accepting the services
which they themselves had a mighty opinion of;
(to 3.) Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and
thou seest not'/ Thus they went in the way of Cain,
who was angry at God, and resented it as a gross af¬
front, that his offering was not accepted. Having
gone about to put a. cheat upon God by their external
services, here they go about to pick a quarrel with
God for ne t being pleased with their services, as if
he had not dene fairly or justly by them. Observe,
1. How they boast ot themselves, and magnify their
own performances; “ lie have fisted, and afflicted
our souls; we have not only sought God daily, ( v .
2. ) but have kept some certain times of more solemn
devotion.” Some think it refers to the yearly fast,
which was called the day of atonement; others, to
the arbitrary occasional fasts. Note, It is common
for unhumbled hearts to be proud of their profes¬
sions of humiliation, as the Pharisee, (Luke xviii.
12.) / fast twice in the week. 2. What they ex¬
pected from their performances; they thought God
should take great notice of them, and own himself a
Debtor to them for their services. Note, It is a
common thing for hypocrites, while they perform
the external services of religion, to promise them¬
selves that acceptance with God, which he has
promised only to the sincere; as if they must be ac¬
cepted of course, or for a compliment. 3. How
heinously they take it, that God had not put some
particular marks of his favour upon them, that he
had not immediately delivered them out of their
troubles, and advanced them to honour and pros¬
perity: they charge God with injustice and parti¬
ality, and seem resolved to throw up their religion,
and justify themselves in doing so with this, that
they had found no profit in praying to God, Job xxi.
14, 15. Mai. iii. 14. Note, Reigning hypocrisy
often breaks out in daring impiety, and an open con
tempt and reproach of God anti religion, for that
which the hypocrisy itself must bear all the blame
of. Sinners reflect upon religion as a hard and me¬
lancholy service, and which there is nothing to be
got by, when really it is their own fault that it seems
so to them, because they are not sincere in it.
II. The true reason assigned why God did not
accept their fastings, nor answer the prayers they
made on their fast-days; it was because they did not
fast aright; to God, even to him, Zech. vii. 5. They
fasted indeed, but they persisted in their sins, and
did not, as the Ninevites, turn every one from his
evil way; but in the day of their fast, and notwith¬
standing the professed humiliations and covenants
of that day, they went on to find pleasure, to do
whatsoever seemed right in their own eyes, lawful
or unlawful, Quicquid libet, licet — making their in¬
clinations their law; though they seemed to afflict
their souls, they still gratified their lusts as much
as ever. 1. They were as covetous and unmerciful
as ever; “ Ye exact all your labours from your ser¬
vants, and will neither release them according to
the law, nor relax the rigour of their servitude ”
This was their fault before the captivity, Jer. xxxa
270 ISAIAH, LVIII.
8, 9. It was no less their fault after their captivity,
notwithstanding all their solemn fasts; (Neh. v. 2.)
“ Ye exact alt your dues , your debts (so some
read it;) “ ye are as rigorous and severe in extort¬
ing what you demand trom those that are poor, as
ever your were, though it was at the close of the
yearly fast that the release was proclaimed. ” 2.
"They were contentious and spiteful; (it. 4.) Behold
ye fast for strife and debate. When they proclaim¬
ed a fast to deprecate God’s judgments, they pre¬
tended to search for those sins which provoked God
to threaten them with his judgments, and under
that pretence perhaps particular persons were false¬
ly accused, as Naboth in the day of Jezebel’s fast,
1 Kings xxi. 12. Or, the contending parties among
them upon those occasions were bitter and severe
in their reflections one upon another, one side crying
out, “ It is owing to you,” and the other, “ It is ow¬
ing to you, that our deliverance is not wrought.”
Thus, instead of judging themselves, which is the
proper work of a fast-day, they condemned one
another. They fasted for strife, with emulation
which should make the most plausible appearance
on a fast-day, and humour the matter best. Nor
was it only tongue-quarrels that were fomented in
the times of their fasting, but they came to blows
too; Ye smite with the fist of wickedness. The cruel
taskmasters beat their servants, and the creditors
their insolvent debtors, whom they delivered to
the tormentors; they abused poor innocents with
•wicked hands. Now while they thus continued in
sin, in those very sins which were directly contrary
to the intention of a fasting day, (1.) God would not
allow them the use of such solemnities; “ Ye shall
not fast at all, if ye fast as ye do this day, causing
your voice to be heard on high, in the heat of your
clamours one against another; or in your devotions,
which you perform so as to make them to be taken
notice of for ostentation. Bring me no more of these
empty, noisy, vain oblations,” ch. i. 13. Note,
Those are justly forbidden the honour of a profes¬
sion of religion, that will not submit to the power of
it. (2.) He would not accept of them in the use of
them; “ Ye shall not fast, it shall not be looked upon
as a fast, nor shall the voice of your prayers on
those days be heard on high in heaven.” Note,
Those that fast and pray, and yet go on in their
wicked wavs, do but mock God and deceive them¬
selves.
III. Plain instructions given concerning the true
nature of a religious fast. In general, a fast is in¬
tended, 1. For the honouring and pleasing of God;
it must be such a performance as he has chosen;
(v. 5.) it must be an acceptable day to the Lord, in
the duties of which we must study to approve our¬
selves to him, and obtain his favour, else it is not a
fast, else there is nothing done to any purpose. 2.
For the humbling and abasing of ourselves. A fast
is a day to afflict the soul; if it do not express a ge¬
nuine sorrow for sin, and do not promote a real mor¬
tification of sin, it is not a fast; the law of the day
of atonement was, that on that day they should af¬
flict their souls. Lev. xvi. 29. That must be done
on a fast-day, which is a real affliction to the soul,
as far as it is yet unregenerate and unsanctified,
though a real pleasure and advantage to the soul as
far as it is itself.
It concerns us therefore to inquire, on a fast-day,
what it is that will be acceptable to God, and af¬
flictive to our corrupt nature, and tending to its mol¬
lification.
(1.) We are here told negatively what is not the
last that God has chosen, and which does not amount
to the afflicting of the soul. [1.] It is not enough
to look demure, to put on a grave and melancholy
aspect, to bow down the head like a bulrush that is
withered and broken; as the hypocrites, that were
of a sad countenance, and disfigured their faces,
that they might afifiear unto men to fust, Matth. vi.
16. Hanging down the head did indeed well enough
become the publican, whose heart was truly hum¬
bled and broken for sin, and therefore in token cf
that, would not so much as lift ufi his eyes to heaven;
(Lukexuii. 13.) but when it was only mimicked,
as here, it was justly ridiculed, it is but hanging
down the head like a bulrush, which nobody regards
or takes any notice of. As the hypocrite’s humilia¬
tions are but like the hanging down of a bulrush, so
his elevations in his hopes are but like the Jiourish-
ing of a bulrush, (Job viii. 11, 12.) which, while it
is yet in its greenness, withers before any other herb
[2.] It is not enough to do penance, to mortify the
body a little, while the body of sin is untouched.
It is not enough for a man to spread sackcloth and
ashes under him, which does indeed give him somt
uneasiness for the present, but is soon forgotter
when he returns to stretch himself ufion his beds cj
ivory, Amos vi. 4. Wilt thou call this a fast? No.
it is but the shadow and carcase of a fast. Will
thou call this an acceptable day to the Lord ? No,
it is so far from being so, that the hypocrisy of it is
an abomination to him. Note, The shows of reli
gion, though they show ever so fair in the eyes cf
the world, will not be accepted of God without the
substance of it.
(2.) We are here told positively what is the fast
that God has chosen; what that is, which will re¬
commend a fast-day to the divine acceptance, and
what is indeed afflicting the soul, crushing and sub¬
duing the corrupt nature: it is not afflicting the
soul for a day, (as some read it, v. 5.) that will
serve; no, it must be the business of our whole lives.
It is here required,
[ 1. ] That we be just to those with whom we have
dealt hardly. The fast that God has chosen, con
sists in reforming our lives, and undoing what we
have done amiss; (v. 6.) to loose the bands of wick¬
edness, the bands which we have wickedly tied, and
by which others are bound out from their right, ot
bound down under severe usage. Those which per¬
haps were at first bands of justice, tying men to pay
a due debt, become, when the debt is exacted with
rigour from those whom Providence has reduced
and emptied, bands of wickedness, and they must
be loosed, or they will bring us into bonds of guilt
much more terrible. It is to undo the heavy bur¬
then laid on the back of the poor servant, under
which he is ready to sink; it is to let the oppressed
go free from the oppression which makes his life
bitter to him. “ Let the prisoner for debt, that has
nothing to pay, be discharged, let the vexatious ac¬
tion be quashed, let the servant that is forcibly de¬
tained beyond the time of his servitude, be released,
and thus break every yoke; not only let go those
that are wrongfully kept under the yoke, but break
the yoke of slavery itself, that it” may not serve
again another time, nor any be made again to serve
under it.”
[2.] That we be charitable to those that stand in
need of charity, v. 7. The particulars in the for¬
mer verse may be taken as acts of charity, that we
not only release those whom we have unjustly op¬
pressed, that is justice, but what we contribute (c
the rescue and ransom of those that are oppressed
by others, to the release of captives, and the pay¬
ment of the debts of the poor; but those in this
verse are plainly acts of charity. This then is the
fast that God has chosen. First, To provide food
for those that want it; that is put first as the most
necessary, and which the poor can but a little while
live without; it is to break thy bread to the hungry.
Observe, “ It must be thy bread, that which is
honestly got, not that which thou hast rebbed ethers
of; the’bread which thou thyself hast occasion frr.
ISAIAH
th ■ bread of thine allowance.” We must deny
ourselves, that we may have to give to him that
needeth. “Thy bread, which thou hast spared
from thyself and thy family, on the fast-day, if that
or the value of it be not given to the poor, >s the
miser’s fast, which he makes a hand of, it is fasting
for the world, not for God. This is the true fast,
to break thy bread to the hungry, not only to give
them that which is already broken meat, but to
break bread on purpose for them; to give them
loaves, and not to put them off with scraps.” Se¬
condly, To provide lodging for those that want it;
it is to take care of the floor that are cast out, that
are forced from their dwelling, turned out of house
and harbour; are cast out as rebels, (so some critics
render it,) that are attainted, and whom therefore
it is highly penal to protect; “If they suffer un-
justlv, make no difficulty of sheltering them; do not
only find out quarters for them, and pay for their
lodging elsewhere, but, which is a greater act of
kindness, bring them to thine own house, make
them thine own guests. Be not forgetful to enter¬
tain strangers, for though thou mayest not, as some
have done, thereby entertain angels, thou mayest
entertain Christ himself, who will recompense it in
the resurrection of the just. I was a stranger and
ye took me in.” Thirdly, To provide clothing for
those that want it; “ When thou seest the naked,
that thou cover him, both to shelter him from the
injuries of the weather, and to enable him to appear
decently among his neighbours; give him clothes to
come to church in, and in these and other instances
hide not thyself from thine own flesh.” Some un¬
derstand it more strictly of a man’s own kindred
and relations; “If those of thine own house and
family fall into decay, thou art worse than an infi¬
del if thou dost not provide for them,” 1 Tim. v. 8.
Others understand it more generally; all that par¬
take of the human nature are to be looked upon as
our own flesh, for have we not all one Father? And
for this reason we must not hide ourselves from
them, not contrive to be out of the way when a poor
petitioner inquires for us, not look another way
when a moving object of charity and compassion
presents itself; let us remember that they are flesh of
our fl sh, and therefore we ought to sympathize
with them, and in doing good to them we really do
good to our own flesh and spirit too in the issue; for
thus we lay ufi for ourselves a good foundation, a
good bmd , for the time to come.
3. Then shall thy light break forth as the
morning, and thy health shall spring forth
speedily; and thy righteousness shall go
before thee : the glory of the Lord shall be
thy rearward. 9. Then shalt thou call, and
the 1 ,ord shall answer ; thou shalt cry, and
he shall say, Here I am. If thpu take away
from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting
forth of the finger, and speaking vanity:
10. And if thou draw out thy soul to the
hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul ; then
shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy
darkness be as the noon-day: 1 1. And the
Lord shall guide thee continually, and sa¬
tisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy
bones: and thou shalt be like a watered
garden, and like a spring of water, whose
waters fail not. 1 2. And they that shall be
of thee shall build the old waste places:
thou shalt raise up the foundations of many
, LVIII. 271
generations; and thou shalt be called, The
Repairer of the breach, The Restorer of
paths to dwell in.
Here are precious promises for those to fens'
freely and cheerfully upon by faith, who keep the
fasts that God has chosen; let them know that God
will make it up to them. Here is,
I. A further account of the duty to be done, in
order to our interest in these promises; (v. 9, 10.)
and here, as before, it is required that we both do
justly and love mercy, that we cease to do evil and
learn to do well. 1. We must abstain from all acts
of violence and fraud; “ Those must be taken away
from the midst of thee, from the midst of thy per¬
son, out of thy heart;” (so some;) “thou must not
only refrain from the practice of injury, but mortify
in thee all inclination and disposition towards it.
Or, from the midst of thy people; those in authority
must not only not be oppressive themselves, but
must do all they can to prevent and restrain it in
all within their jurisdiction; they must not only
break the yoke (v. 6.) but take away the yoke, that
those who have been oppressed may never be re-
enslaved; (as they were, Jer. xxxiv. 10, 11.) they
must likewise forbear threatening, (Eph. vi. 9.)
and take away the putting forth oj the finger, which
seems to have been then, as sometimes with us, a
sign of displeasure, and tbe indication of a purpose
to correct. Let not the finger be put forth, to point
at those that are poor and in misery, and so to ex¬
pose them to contempt: such expressions of con¬
tumely as are provoking and the products of ill-
nature, ought to be banished from all societies; and
let them not speak vanity, flattery, or fraud, to one
another, but let all conversation be governed bv
sincerity. Perhaps that dissimulation, which is the
bane of friendship, is meant by the putting forth
of the finger, by teaching with the finger; (as Prov.
vi. 13.) or, it is putting forth the finger with the
ring on it, which was the badge of authority, and
which therefore they produced when they spake
iniquity, gave unrighteous sentences. 2. We must
abound in all acts of charity and beneficence. We
must not only give alms according as the necessities
of the poor require, but (1.) We must give freely
and cheerfully, and from a principle of charity; we
must draw out our soul to the hungry, (x>. 10.) not
only draw out the money, and reach forth the hand,
but do this from the heart, heartily, and without
grudging; from a principle of compassion, and with
a tender affection to such as we see to be in miser}-;
let the heart go along with the gift, for God loves a
cheerful giver, and so does a poor man too. When
our Lord Jesus healed and fed the multitude, it was
as having compassion on them. (2.) We must give
plentifully and largely, so as not to tantalize, but to
satisfy, the afflicted soul; “Do not only feed the
hungry, but gratify the desire of the afflicted, and,
if it lies in your power, make them easy. ” What
are we bom for, and what have we our abilities of
body, mind, and estate for, but to do all the good
we can in this world with them? And the poor we
have always with us.
II. Here is a full account of the blessings and
benefits which attend the performance of this duty.
If a person, a family, a people, be thus disposed to
everv thing that is good, let them know for their
comfort that they shall find God their bountiful Re¬
warder, and what they lay out in works of charitv
shall be abundantly made up to them.
1. God will suiprise them with the return of
mercy after great affliction, which shall be ns wel¬
come as the light of the morning after a long and
dark night; (y. 8.) “ Then shall thy light break
forth as the morning, and (v. 10.) thy light shah
rise in obscurity. Though thou hast been long
272
ISAIAH
buried alive, thou shalt recover thine eminency long
overwhelmed with grief, thou shalt again look plea¬
sant as the dawning day. ” Those that are cheerful
in doing good, God will make cheerful in enjoying
good; and this also is a special gift of God, Eccl.
ii. 24. They that have showed mercy shall find
mercy. Job, who in his prosperity had done a great
deal of good, had friends raised up for him by the
Lord, when he was reduced, who helped him with
their substance, so that his light rose in obscurity.
“ Not only thy light, which is sweet, but thy health
too, or the healing of the wounds thou hast long
complained of, shall spring forth speedily; all thy
grievances shall be redressed, and thou shalt renew
thy youth, and recover thy vigour.” Those that
have helped others out of trouble, God will help
when it is their turn.
2 God will put honour upon them: good works
shall be recompensed with a good name; this is in¬
cluded in that light which rises out of obscurity.
Though a man’s extraction be mean, his family
obscure, and he has no external advantages to gain
him honour, yet, if he do good in his place, that will
procure him respect and veneration, and his dark¬
ness shall by this means become as the noon-day;
he shall become very eminent, and shine bright in
his generation. See here, what is the surest way
for a man to make himself illustrious; let him study
to do good; he that would be the greatest of all,
and best-beloved, let him by humility and industry
make himself a servant of all. “ Thy righteous
ness shall then go before thee, it shall introduce
thee into the esteem of many, and make thee an
interest. Thy righteousness shall answer for thee;
(as Jacob says, Gen. xxx. 33.) it shall silence re¬
proaches, nay, it shall bespeak thee more praises
than thy humility can be pleased with.” He that
has given to the floor, his righteousness endures for
ever, that is, the honour of it, Ps. cxii. 9.
3. They shall always be safe under the divine
protection; “ Thy righteousness shall go before thee
as thy vanguard, to secure thee from enemies that
charge thee in the front, and the glory of the Lord
shall be thy rearward, the gathering host, to bring
up those of thee that are weary and are left behind,
and to secure thee from the enemies that, like
Amalek, fall upon thy rear.” Observe, How good
people are safe on all sides; let them look which
way they will, behind them, or before them; let
them look backward, or forward; they see them¬
selves safe, and find themselves easy and quiet from
the fear of evil; and observe what it is that is their
defence, it is their righteousness, and the glory of
the Lord; that is, as some suppose, Christ; for it is
by him that we are justified, and God is glorified.
He it is that goes before us, and is the Captain of
our salvation, as he is the Lord our Righteousness;
he it is that is our Rearward, on whom alone we
can depend for safety when our sins pursue us, and
are ready to take hold on us. Or, “ God himself in
his providence and grace shall both go before thee
as thy Guide to conduct thee, and attend thee as
thy Rearward to protect thee, and this shall be the
reward of thy righteousness, and so shall be for the
glory of the Lord as the Rewarder of it.”
4. God will always be nigh unto them, to hear
their prayers, v. 9. As, on the one hand, he that
shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, shall himself
cry, and God will not hear him; so, on the other
hand, he that is liberal to the poor, his prayers shall
come up with his alms for a memorial before God,
as Cornelius’s did; (Acts x. 4.) “ Then shalt thou
call, on thy fast-days, which ought to be days of
prayer, and the Lord shall answer, shall give thee
the things thou callest to him for; thou shalt cry
when thou art in any distress or sudden fright, and
he shall say. Here I am.” This is a very con-
, Lvni.
descending expression of God’s readiness to hear
prayer; when God calls to us by his word, it be¬
comes us to say, Here we are, what saith our Lord
unto his servants? But that God should say to us,
Behold me, here I am, is strange. When we cry
to him as if he were at a distance, he will let us
know that he is near, even at our right hand, nearer
than we thought he was; It is I, be not afraid.
When danger is near, our Protector is nearer, n
very present Help; “ Here I am, ready to give yru
what you want, and do for you what you desire;
what have ye u to say to me ?” God is attentive to
the prayers of the upright, Ps. cxxx. 2. No seonei
do they call to him than he answers, Beady, ready
Wherever they are praying, God says, “ Here 1
am hearing; I am in the midst of you, nigh unto
them in all things,” Dcut. iv. 7.
5. God will direct them in all difficult and doubt¬
ful cases; (v. 11.) The Lord shall guide thee con¬
tinually. While we are here in the wilderness of
this world, we have need of continual direction from
heaven, for if at any time we be left to ourselves, we
shall certainly miss our way; and therefore it is to
those who are good in God’s sight, that he gives the
wisdom which in all cases is profitable to direct, and
he will be to them instead of eyes, Eccl. ii. 26. His
providence will make their way plain to them, both
what is their duty, and what will be most for their
comfort.
6. God will give them abundance of satisfaction
in their own minds. As the world is a wilderness
in respect of wanderings, so that they need to be
guided continually, so also is it in respect of wants,
which makes it necessary that they have continual
supplies; as Israel in the wilderness had not only
the pillar of cloud, to guide them continually, but
manna and water out of the rock, to satisfy their
souls in drought, in a dry and thirsty land where no
water is, Ps. lxiii. 1. To a gocd man God gives
not only wisdom and knowledge, but joy; he is
satisfied in himself with the testimony of his con¬
science, and the assurances of God’s favour. ‘ ‘ These
will satisfy thy soul, will put gladness into thy heart,
even in the drought of affliction; these will make
fat the bones, and fill them with marrow; will give
thee that pleasure which will be a support to thee,
as the bones to the body, that joy of the Lord which
will be thy strength. He shall give thy bones rest,”
(so some read it,) “ rest from the pain and sickness
which they have laboured under, and been chasten¬
ed with;” so it agrees with that promise made to
the merciful, (Ps. xli. 3. ) The Lord shall make all
his bed in his sickness. “ Thou shalt be like a watered
garden, so flourishing and fruitful in graces and
comforts, and like a spring of water, like a garden
that has a spring of water in it, whose waters fail
not either in droughts or in frosts. ” The principle
of holy love in those that are good shall be a well
of living water, John iv. 14. As a spring of water,
though it is continually sending forth its streams, is
yet always full, so the charitable man abounds in
good as he abounds in doing good, and is never the
oorer for his liberality. He that waters shall
imself be watered.
7. They and their families shall be public bless¬
ings. It is a good reward to those that are fruitful
and useful, to be more so, and especially to have
those who descend from them to be so too. This
is here promised; (x>. 12.) “They that now are
of thee, thy princes, and nobles, and great men,
shall have such authority and influence as they
never had;” or, “ Those that hereafter shall be of
thee, thy posterity, shall be serviceable to their
generation, as thou art to thine.” It completes the
satisfaction of a good man, as to this world, to think
that those that come after him shall be doing good
when he is gone. (1.) They shall re-edify cities
273
ISA1A1
thu' hive been long in ruins; shall build the old
waste /daces, which had lain so long desolate, that
the rebuilding of them was quite despaired of. This
was fulfilled when the captives, after their return,
repaired the cities of Judah, and dwelt in them, and
m my of those in Israel too, which had lain waste
ever since the carrying away of the ten tribes.
(2. ) They shall carry on and finish that good work
which was begun long before, and shall be helped
over the obstructions which had retai-ded the pro¬
gress of it; they shall raise up to the top that build¬
ing, the foundation of which was laid long since, and
has been for many generations in the rearing. This
was fulfilled when the building of the temple was
revived after it had stood still for many years, Ezra
v. 2. Or, they shall raise up foundations which
shall continue for many generations yet to come;
they shall do that good which shall be of lasting
consequence. (3.) They shall have the blessing
and praise of all about them; “ Thou shalt be called,
(and it slndl be to thine honour,) the repairer of the
breach, the breach made by the enemy in the wall
of a besieged city, which whoso has the courage and
dexterity to make up, or make good, gains great
applause.” Happy they who make up the breach
at which virtue is running out, and judgments break¬
ing in. “ Thou shalt be the restorer of paths, safe
and quiet paths, not only to travel in, but to dwell
in; so safe and quiet, that people shall make no dif¬
ficulty of building their houses by the road-side.”
The sum is, That if they keep such fasts as God
has chosen, he will settle them again in their former
peace and prosperity, and there shall be none to
make them afraid. See Zech. vii. 5, 9. — viii. 3. — 5.
It teaches us, that those who do justly, and love
mercy, shall have the comfort of it in this world.
13. If thou turn away thy foot from the
sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my
holy day ; and call the sabbath a Delight,
the Holy of the Lord, Honourable; and
shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways,
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speak¬
ing thine own words : 1 4. Then shalt thou
delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause
thee to ride upon the high places of the
earth and feed thee with the heritage of
Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord
hath spoken it.
Great stress was always laid upon the due obser¬
vation of the sabbath-day, and it was particularly
required from the Jews when they were captives in
Babylon, because, by keeping that day in honour
of the Creator, they distinguished themselves from
the worshippers of the gods that have not made the
heaven and the earth. See ch. lvi. 1, 2. where
keeping the sabbath is joined, as here, with keeping
judgment and doing justice. Some, indeed, under¬
stand this of the day of atonement, which they think
is the fast spoken of in the former part of the chap¬
ter, and which is called a sabbath of rest, Lev.
xxiii. 32. But as the fasts before spoken of seem to
be those that were occasional, so this sabbath is
doubtless the weekly sabbath, that great sign be¬
tween God and his professing people; his appointing
it, a sign of his favour to them; and their observing
it, a sign of their obedience to him. Now observe
here,
1. How the sabbath is to be sanctified; (v. 13.)
and, there remaining still a sabbatism for the people
of God, this law of the sabbath is still binding to us
on our Lord’s day.
(1.) Nothing must be done that puts contempt
Vol. IV.— 2 M
, LVIIT.
upon the sabbath-day, or locks like having mean
thoughts of it, when God has so highly dignified it.
W e must turn away cur foot from the sabbath, from
trampling upon it, as profane, atheistical people do;
from travelling on that day; so some: we must turn
away our foot from doing our pleasure on that holv
day, from living at large, and taking a liberty to do
what we please on sabbath-days, without the c.on-
troul and restraint of conscience; or from indulging
ourselves in the pleasure of sense, in which the mo
deni Jews wickedly place the sanctification of the
sabbath, though it is as great a profanation of it as
any thing. On sabbath-days we must not do our
own ways, not follow our callings; not find our own
pleasure, not follow our sports and recreations; nay,
we must not speak our own words, words that con¬
cern either our callings or our pleasures; we must
not allow ourselves a liberty of speech on that day
as on other days, for we must then mind God’s ways,
make religion the business of the day; we must
choose the things that please him, and speak his
words, speak of divine things as we sit in the house,
and walk by the way; in all we say and do we must
put a difference between this day and other days.
(2.) Every thing must be done that puts an honour
on the day, and is expressive of our high thought*
of it; we must call it a delight, not a task and a bur
then; we must delight ourselves in it, in the re
straints it lays upon us, and the services it obliges
us to; we must be in our element when we are wor¬
shipping God, and in communion with him. How
amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! We
must not only count it a delight, but call it so, must
openly profess the complacency we take in the dav,
and the duties of it; we must call it so to God, in
thanksgiving for it, and earnest desire of his grace,
to enable us to do the work of the day in its day, be¬
cause we delight in it; we must call' it so to others,
to invite them to come, and share in the pleasure
of it; and we must call it so to ourselves, that we
may not entertain the least thoughts of wishing the
sabbath gone, that we may sell corn. We’ must
call it the Lord’s holy day, and honourable ; holy,
separated from common use, and devoted to God
and to his service; the holy of the Lord, the dav
which he has sanctified to' himself. Even in Old
Testament times the sabbath was called the Lord’s
day, and therefore is fitly called so still, and for a
further reason, it is the Lord Christ’s day, Rev. i.
10. It is holy, because it is the Lord’s day, and
upon both accounts it is honourable; it is a beauty
of holiness that is upon it, it is ancient, and its anti¬
quity is its honour; and we mugt make it appear that
we look upon it as honourable by honouring him,
that is, God, on that day. We then put honour
upon the day, when we give honour to him that in¬
stituted it, and to whose honour it is dedicated.
2. What the reward is of sabbath-sanctification,
v. 14. If we thus remember the sabbath-day to
keep it holy,
(1.) We shall have the comfort of it; the work
will be its own wages. If we call the sabbath a de¬
light, then shall we delight ourselves in the Lord;
he will more and more manifest himself to us as the
delightful Subject of our thoughts and meditations,
and the delightful Object of our best affections.
Note, The more pleasure we take in serving God,
the more pleasure we shall find in it. If we go
about duty with cheerfulness, we shall go from it
with satisfaction, and shall have reason to say, “ It
is good to be here, good to draw near to God.”
(2.) We shall have the honour of it; I -will make
thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; which
denotes not only great security, (as that, ch. xxxiii.
16. He shall dwell on high,') but great dignity and
advancement; “ Thou shalt ride in state, shalt ap¬
pear conspicuous, and the eyes of all thy neighbours
274
ISAIAH, L1X.
shall be upon thee.” It was said of Israel, when
God led them triumphantly out of Egypt, that he
made them to ride on the high ] daces oj the edrth,
Deut. xxxii. 12, 13. Those that honour God and
his sabbath, he will thus honour. If God by his
grace enable us to live above the world, and so to
manage it, as not only not to be hindered by it, but
to be furthered and carried on by it in our journey
toward heaven, then he makes us to ride on the
high places of the earth.
(3.) VVe shall have the profit ot it, I vj\\\ feed thee
with the heritage of Jacob thy father, with all the
blessings of the covenant, and all the precious pro¬
ducts of Canaan, which was a type of heaven, and
the heritage of Jacob. Observe, The heritage of
believers is what they shall not only be portioned
with hereafter, but fed with now; fed with the
hopes of it, and not flattered; fed with the earnests
and foretastes of it; and they that are so fed, have
reason to say that they are well fed. In order that
we may depend upon it, it is added, “ The mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it; you may take God’s
word for it, for he cannot lie nor deceive; what his
mouth has spoken his hand will give, his hand will
do, and not one iota or tittle of his good promise
shall fall to the ground.” Blessed, therefore, thrice
blessed, is he that doeth this, and lays hold on it, that
keeps the sabbath from polluting it.
CHAP. LIX.
In this chapter, we have sin appearing exceeding sinful,
and grace appearing exceeding gracious; and as what is
here said of the sinner’s sin? (v. 7, 8.) is applied to the
general corruption of mankind, (Rom. iii. 15.) so what
is here said of a redeemer, (v. 20.) is applied to Christ,
Rom. xi. 26. I. It is here charged upon this people,
that they had themselves stopped the current of God’s
favours to them, and the particular sins are specified
which kept good things from them, v. 1..8. II. It is
here charged upon them, that they had themselves pro¬
cured the judgments of God upon them, and they are
told both what the judgments were which they had
brought upon their own heads, (v. 9 . . 11.) and what the
sins were which provoked God to send those judgments,
v. 12 . . 15. III. It is here promised that, notwithstand¬
ing this, God would work deliverance for them, purely
for his own name’s sake, (v. 16. . 19.) and would reserve
ijiercy in store for them, and entail it upon them, v. 20, 21.
1. WJEHOLD, the Lord’s hand is not
shortened, that it cannot save ; nei¬
ther his ear heavy, that it cannot hear : 2.
But your iniquities have separated between
you and your God, and your sins have hid
his face from you, that he will not hear. 3.
For your hands are defiled with blood, and
your fingers with iniquity; your lips have
spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered per¬
verseness. 4. None calleth for justice, nor
avy pleadeth for truth : they trust in vanity,
and speak lies; thev conceive mischief, and
bring forth iniquity. 5. They hatch cocka¬
trice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he
that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that
which is crushed breakelh out into a viper.
6. Their webs shall not become garments,
neither shall they cover themselves with
their works: their works arc works of ini¬
quity, and the act of violence is in their
hands. 7. Their feet run to evil, and they
make haste to shed innocent blood : their
thoughts ctre thoughts of iniquity ; wasting
and destruction are in their paths. 3. The
j way of peace they know' not ; and there is
no judgment in their goings: they have
made them crooked paths; whosoever goeth
therein shall not know peace.
The prophet here rectifies the mistake of those
who had been quarrelling with God, because the)
had not the deliverances wrought for them whicli
they had been often fasting and praying fur, ch.
lviii. 3. Now here he shows,
I. That it was not owing to God; they had no
reason to lay the fault upon him, that they were not
saved out ot the hands of their enemies; for, 1. He
was still as able to help as ever; His hand is not
shortened, his power is not at all lessened, straiten¬
ed, or abridged; whether we consider the extent of
his power or the efficacy of it, God can reach as far
as ever, and with as strong a hand as ever. Note,
The church’s salvation comes from the hand of
God, and that is not waxed weak, nor at all shorten¬
ed. Is the Lord’s hand waxed short ? (says God tc
Moses, Numb. xi. 23.) No, it is not; he will not
have it thought so. Neither length of time, not
strength of enemies, nor weakness of instruments,
can shorten or straiten the power of God, with
which it is all one to save by many or by few. 2.
He was still as ready and willing to help as ever, ir
answer to prayer; his ear is not heavy, that it can
not hear. Though he has many prayers to hear
and answer, and though he has been long hearing
prayer, yet he is still as ready to hear prayer as
ever; the prayer of the upright is as much his de¬
light as ever it was, and the promises which are
pleaded, and put in suit, in prayer, are still yea and
amen, inviolably sure. More is implied than is ex¬
pressed; not only his ear is not heavy, but he is
quick of hearing, even before they call, he answers,
ch. lxv. 24. If our prayers be not answered, and
the salvation we wait for be not wrought for us, it is
not because God is weary of hearing prayer, but
because we are weary of praying; not because his
ear is heavy when we speak to him, but because otu
ears are heavy when he speaks to us.
II. That it was owing to themselves, they stood
in their own light, and put a bar in their own door;
God was coming toward them in ways of mercy,
and they hindered him; Your iniquities have kept
good things from you, Jer. v. 25. See what mis¬
chief sin does. 1. It hinders God’s mercies from
coming down upon us; it is a partition-wall that
separates between us and God. Notwithstanding
the infinite distance that is between God and man
by nature, there was a correspondence settled be¬
tween them, till sin set them at variance, justly pro¬
voked God against man, and unjustly alienated man
from God; thus it separates between them and God.
“ He is your God, yours in profession, and there¬
fore there is so much the more malignity and mis¬
chievousness in sin, which separates between you
and him.” Sin hides his face from us; (which de¬
notes great displeasure, Deut. xxxi. 17.) it pro¬
vokes him in anger to withdraw his gracious pre¬
sence, to suspend the tokens of his favour, and the
instances of his help; he hides his face, as refusing
to be seen or spoken with. See here sin in its co¬
lours, sin exceeding sinful, withdrawing the crea¬
ture from his allegiance to his Creator; and see sin
in its consequences, sin exceeding hurtful, separat
ing us from God, and so separating us not only from
all good, but to all evil, (Deut. xxix. 21.) which is
the very quintessence of the curse. 2. It hinders
1 our prayers from coming up unto God; it provokes
him to hide his face, that he will not hear, as he
] has said, ch. i. 15. If we regard iniquity in our
i heart, if we indulge it, and allow ourselves in it,
275
ISAIAH, LIX.
God will not hear our Jtrayers, Ps. lxvi. 18. We
cannot expect that he should countenance us while
we go on to affront him.
Now, to justify God in hiding his face from them,
and proceeding in his controversy with them, the
prophet shows very largely, in the following verses,
how many and great their iniquities were, accord¬
ing to the charge given him, (ch. lviii. 1.) To show
God’s p-eofile their transgressions; and it is a black
bill of indictment that is here drawn up against
them, consisting of many particulars, any one of
which was enough to separate between them and a
just and a holy God. L t us endeavour to reduce
these articles of impeachment to proper heads.
(1.) We must begin with their thoughts, for there
all sin begins, and thence it takes its rise; Their
thoughts are thoughts' of iniquity, v. 7. Their ima¬
ginations are so, only evil continually; their projects
and designs are so; they are continually c ntnving
some mischief or other, and how to compass the
gratification of some base lust, v. 4. They conceive
mischief in their fancy, purpose, counsel, and reso¬
lution; thus the embryo receives its shape and life;
and then they bring forth iniquity, put it in execu¬
tion when it is ripened for it; though it be in pain
that the iniquity is brought forth, through the op¬
positions of Providence and the checks ot their own
consciences, yet, when they have compassed their
wicked purpose, they look upon it with as much
pride and pleasure as if it were a man-child born
into the world; thus when lust has conceived, it
bringeth forth sin, Jam. i. 15. This is called, (r>.
5. ) hatching the cockatrice’ egg, and weaving the
spider’s web. See how the thoughts and contri¬
vances of wicked men are employed, and about
what they set their wits on work. [ 1. ] At the best,
it is about that which is foolish and frivolous; their
thoughts are vain, like weaving the spider’s web,
which the poor silly animal takes a great deal of
pains about, and when all is done, it is a weak, in¬
significant thing, a reproach to the place where it
is, and which the besom sweeps away in an instant:
such are the thoughts which worldly men entertain
themselves with, building castles in the air, and
pleasing themselves with imaginary satisfactions;
like the spider, which takes hold with her hands
very finely, (Prov. xxx. 28.) but cannot keep her
hold. [2.] Too often it is about that which is ma¬
licious and spiteful; they hatch the eggs of the
cockatrice or adder, which are poisonous, and pro¬
duce venomous creatures; such are the thoughts of
the wicked who delight in doing mischief. He that
eats of their eggs, that has any dealings with them,
dies, he is in danger of having some mischief or
other done him; and that which is crushed in order
to be eaten of, or which begins to be hatched, and
you promise yourself some useful fowl from it,
breaks out into a viper, which you meddle with at
your peril: happy they that have least to do with
such men. Even the spider’s web which they
wove, was woven with a spiteful design to catcb
flies in, and make a prey of them ; for, rather than
not be doing mischief, they will play at small game.
(2. ) Out of this abundance of wickedness in the
heart their mouth speaks, and yet it does not always
speak out the wickedness that is within, but, for
the more effectual compassing of the mischievous
design, it is dissembled, and covered with much fair
speech, (v. 3.) Your li/is have spoken lies; and
again, (t. 4.) They speak lies, pretending kindness,
where they intend the greatest mischief; or, by
slanders and false accusations they blasted the cre¬
dit and reputation of those they had a spite to, and
so did them a real mischief unseen, and perhaps by
suborning witnesses against them took from them
their estates and lives; for a false tongue is sharp
arrows and coals of juniper, and every thing that is
mischievous; Your longue has muttered perverse¬
ness. When they could not, for shame, speak their
malice against their neighbours aloud, or durst not,
for tear of being disproved and put to confusion,
they muttered it secretly. Backbiters are called
whisperers.
(3.) Their actions were all of a piece with theii
thoughts and words. They were guilty of shedding
innocent blood, a crime of the most heinous nature;
Your hands are defiled with blood; (v. 3.) for blood
is defiling, it leaves an indelible stain of guilt upon
the conscience, which nothing but the blood ot
Christ can cleanse it from; nor was this a case o*
surprise, or one that occurred when there was some
thing of a force put upon them; but, ( v . 7.) their
feet run to this evil, naturally and eagerly, and,
hurried on by the impetus of their malice and re¬
venge, they make haste to shed innocent blood, as
if they were afraid of losing an opportunity to do a
barbarous thing, Prov. i. 16. Jer. xxii. 17. 'Wasting
and destruction are in their paths. Wherever they
go, they carry mischief along with them, and the
tendency of their way is to lay waste and destroy,
nor do they care what havock they make; nor do
they only thirst after blood, but with other iniquity
are theiryfngrrs defiled; ( v . 3.) they wrong people
in their estates, and make every thing their own
that they can lay their hands on. They trust in
vanity; ( v . 4.) they depend upon their arts of co¬
zenage to enrich themselves with, which will prove
vanity to them, and their deceiving others will but
deceive themselves; their works, which they take
so much pains about, and have their hearts so much
upon, are all works of iniquity; their whole business
is one continued course of oppressions and vexations,
and the act of violence is in their hands, according
to the arts of violence that are in their heads, and
the thoughts of violence in their hearts.
(4.) No methods are taken to redress these
grievances, and reform these abuses; (t>. 4.) None
calls for justice, none complains of the violation of
the sacred laws of justice, nor seeks to right those
that suffer wrong, or to get the laws put in execu¬
tion against vice and profaneness, and those lewd
practices which are the shame, and threaten to be
the bane, of the nation. Note, When justice is not
done, there is blame to be laid not only upon the
magistrates that should administer justice, but upon
the people that should call for it: private persons
ought to contribute to the public good by discover¬
ing secret wickedness, and giving those an oppor¬
tunity to punish it, that have it in the power of their
hands; but it is ill with a state when princes rule
ill, and the people love to have it so. Truth is op¬
posed, and there is not any that pleads for it, not
any that has the conscience and courage to appear
in defence of an honest cause, and confront a pros¬
perous fraud and wrong. The way of peace is as
little regarded as the way of truth; they know it
not, they never study the things that make for
peace; no care is taken to prevent or punish the
breaches of the peace, and to accommodate matters
in difference among neighbours; they are utter
strangers to every thing that looks quiet and peace¬
able, and affect that which is blustering and turbu¬
lent. There is no judgment in their goings; they
have not any sense of justice in their dealings,
it is a thing they make no account of at all, but can
easily break through all its fences, if they stand in
the way of their malicious, covetous designs.
(5.) In all this they act foolishly, very foolishly,
and as much against their interest as against rea¬
son and equity. They that practise iniquity trust
in vanity, which will certainly deceive them, v. 4.
Their webs, which they weave with so much art
and industry, shall not become garments, neithn
shall they cover themselves, either for shelter cr for
ISAIAH, LIX.
276
ornament, with their works, v. 6. The/ may do
hurt to others with their projects, but can never do
any real service or kindness to themselves by them;
there is nothing to be got by sin, and so it will ap¬
pear when profit and loss come to be compared.
Those paths of iniquity are crooked paths, {v. 8.)
which will perplex them, but will never bring them
to their journey’s end; whosoever go therein, though
they say that they shall have peace notwithstanding
they go on, deceive themselves, for they shall not
know peace; as appears by the following verses.
9. Therefore is judgment far from us,
neither doth justice overtake us: we wait
for light, but behold obscurity ; for bright¬
ness, but we walk m darkness. 10. We
grope for the wall like the blind, and we
grope as if we had no eyes : we stumble at
noon-day as in the night ; we are in desolate
places as dead mew. 11. We roar all like
bears, and mourn sore like doves : we look
for judgment, but there is none ; for salva¬
tion, but it is far off from us. 12. For our
transgressions are multiplied before thee,
and our sins testify against us: for our trans¬
gressions are with us; and as for our ini¬
quities, we know them : 13. In transgress¬
ing and lying against the Lord, and depart¬
ing away from our God, speaking oppression
and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the
heart words of falsehood. 14. And judg¬
ment is turned away backward, and justice
standeth afar off : for truth is fallen in the
street, and equity cannot enter. 15. Yea,
truth faileth ; and he that departeth from
evil maketh himself a prey : and the Lord
saw it, and it displeased him that there teas
iso judgment.
The scope of this paragraph is the same with
that of the last, to show that sin is the great mis¬
chief-maker; as it is that which keeps good things
from us, so it is that which brings evil things upon
us. But as there it is spoken by the prophet, in
(rod’s name, to the people, for their conviction and
humiliation, and that God might be justified when
lie speaks, and clear when he judges; so here it
seems to be spoken by the people of God, as an ac¬
knowledgment of that which was there told them,
and an expression of their humble submission and
subscription to the justice and equity of God’s pro¬
ceedings against them. Their uncircumcised hearts
here seem to be humbled in some measure, and they
are brought to confess: the confession is at least ex-
t acted from them, that God has justly walked contrary
to them, because they had walked contrary to him.
1. They acknowledge that God had contended
with them, and had walked contrary to them.
Their case was very deplorable, v. 9, 10, 11. (1.)
T hey were in distress, trampled upon and oppressed
bv their enemies, unjustly dealt with, and ruled with
rigour; and God did not appear for them, to plead
neir just and injured cause; “ Judgment is far
from us, neither does justice overtake us, Though
as to our persecutors, we are sure that we have
right on our side, and they are the wrong-doers, yet
we are not relieved, we are not righted; we have
not done justice to one another, and therefore God
suffers our enemies to deal thus unjustly with us,
and we are as far as ever from being restored to our
right, and recovering our property again; oppres¬
sion is near us, and judgment is far from us; our
enemies are far from giving our case its due consi¬
deration, but still hurry us on with the violence of
their oppressions, and justice does not overtake
us to rescue us out of their hands.” (2.) Herein
their expectations were sadly disappointed, which
made their case the more sad; “We wait for light
as they that wait for the morning, but behold ob¬
scurity; we cannot discern the least dawning of the
day of our deliverance; we look for judgment, but
there is none ;(v. 11.) neither God nor man appears
for our succour; we look for salvation, because God
(we think) has promised it, and we have prayed for
it with fasting; we looked for it as for brightness, but
it is far off from us, as far off as ever, for aught we
can perceive, and still we walk in darkness; and the
higher our expectations have been raised, the sorer is
the disappointment.” (3.) They were quite at a loss
what to do to help themselves, and were at their
wit’s end; (x>. 10.) “ We gro/ie for the wall like the
blind, we see no way open for our relief, nor know
which way to expect it, or what to do in order to
it.” If we shut our eyes against the light of divine
truth, it is just with God to hide from our eyes the
things that belong to our peace; and, if we use not
our eyes as we should, to let us be as if we had no
eyes; they that will not see their duty, shall not
see their interest. Those whom God has given up
to a judicial blindness, are strangely infatuated;
they stumble at noon-day as in the night, they see
not either those dangers, or those advantages, which
all about them see; Quos Deus vult fierdere, eos
dementat — God infatuates those whom he means
to destroy. Those that love darkness rather than
light, shall have their doom accordingly. (4.)
They sunk into despair, and were quite overwhelm¬
ed with grief, the marks of winch appeared in
every man’s countenance; they grew melancholy
upon it, shunned conversation, and affected solitude;
We are in desolate places as dead men. The state
of the Jews in Babylon is represented by dead and
dry bones, (Ezek. xxxvii. 1.) and the explanation
of the comparison there, (v. 11.) explains this text.
Our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts. In
this despair, the sorrow and anguish of some were
loud and noisy; We roar like bears; the sorrow of
others was silent, and preyed more upon their spirits;
“ We mourn sore like doves, like doves of the val¬
leys; we mourn both for our iniquities, (Ezek. vii.
16.) and for our calamities.” Thus they own that
the hand of the Lord was gone out against them.
2. They acknowledge that they had provoked
God thus to contend with them, that he had done
right, for they had done wickedly, v. 12. — 15. (1.)
They owned that they had sinned, and that to this
day they were in a great trespass, as Ezra speaks,
(ch. x. 10.) “Our transgressions are with us; the
guilt of them is upon us, the power of them prevails
among us, we are not yet reformed, nor have we
parted with our sins, though they have done us so
much mischief ; nay, our transgressions are multi¬
plied, they are more numerous and more heinous
than they have been formerly; look which way we
will, we cannot look off them, all places, all orders
and degrees of men are infected; the sense cf our
transgression is with us, as David said, My sin is
ever before me; it is too plain to be denied or con¬
cealed, too bad to be excused or palliated. God is
a Witness to them: They are multiplied before thee,
in thy sight, under thine eye. We are witnesses against
ourselves: As for our iniquities, we know them, though
we mav have foolishly endeavoured to cover them,
nay, they themselves are witnesses, our sins stare us
in the face, and testify against us, so many have they
been, and so deeply aggravated.” (2.) They own
the great evil and malignity of sin, of their sin;
277
ISAIAH, LIX.
it is transgressing and lying against the Lord, v.
13. The sins of those that profess themselves God’s
people, and bear his name, are, upon this account,
worse than the sins of others, that in transgressing
they lie against the Lord , they falsely accuse him,
they misrepresent and belie him, as it he had dealt
hardly and unfairly with them; or, they perfidiously
break covenant with him, and falsify their most sa¬
cred and solemn engagements to him, that is lying
against him: it is departing away from our God, to
whom we are bound as our God, and to whom we
ought to cleave with purpose of heart; from him we
have departed, as the rebellious subject from his
allegiance to his rightful prince, and the adulterous
wife from the guide of her youth, and the covenant
of her God. (3.) They own that there was a
general decay of moral honesty; and it is not strange
that those who were false to their God were un¬
faithful to one another. They spake oppression,
declared openly for that, though it was a revolt
from their God, and a revolt from truth, by the
sacred bonds of which we should always be tied
and held fast. They conceived and uttered words
of falsehood; many an ill thing is conceived in the
mind, yet is prudently stifled there, and not suffered
to go any further; but these sinners were so impu¬
dent, so daring, that whatever wickedness they con¬
ceived, they gave it an imprimatur — a sanction,
and made no difficulty of publishing it; to think an ill
thing is bad, but to say it is much worse. Many a
word of falsehood is uttered in haste, for want of
consideration; but these were conceived and utter¬
ed, were uttered deliberately, and of malice pre¬
pense. They were words of falsehood, and yet
they are said to be uttered from the heart, because
though they differed from the real sentiments of the
heart, and therefore were words of falsehood, yet
they agreed with the malice and wickedness of the
heart, and were the natural language of that; it
was a double heart, Ps. xii. 2. Those who by the
grace of God keep themselves free from these
crimes, yet put themselves into the confession of
sin, because members of that nation which was
generally thus corrupted. (4.) They own that that
was not done, which might have been done, to
reform the land, and to amend what was amiss, v.
14. Judgment, that should go forward, and bear
down the opposition that is made to it, that should
run its course like a river, like a mighty stream, is
turned away backward, a contrary course; and ad¬
ministration of justice is become but a cover to the
greatest injustice; judgment, that should check the
proceedings of fraud and violence, is driven back,
and so they go on triumphantly. “Justice stands
afar off, even from our courts of judicature, which
are so crowded with the patrons of oppression, that
equity cannot enter, cannot have admission into the
court, cannot be heard, or at least will not be heeded.
Equity enters not into the unrighteous decrees which
they decree, ch. x. 1. Truth is fallen in the street,
and there it may lie to be trampled upon by every
foot of pride, and she has never a friend that will
lend a hand to help her up; yea, truth fails, in com¬
mon conversation, and in dealings between man and
man, so that one knows not whom to believe or
whom to trust.” (5.) They own that there was a
prevailing enmity in men’s minds to those that were
good; He that does evil goes unpunished; but he
that departs from evil makes himself a prey to those
beasts of prey that were before described; it is
crime enough with them for a man not to do as they
do, and they treat him as an enemy who will not
partake with them in their wickedness. He that
departs from evil is accounted mad; so the margin
reads it; sober singularity is branded as folly, and he
is thought next door to a madman, who swims
against the stream that runs so strong. (6.) They
own that all this cculd not but be very displeasing to
the God of heaven. The evil was done in his sight;
they knew very well, though they were not willing
to acknowledge it, that the Lord saw it; though it
was dune secretly, and gilded over with specious
pretences, yet it could not be concealed from his all-
seeing eye; all the wickedness that is in the world
is naked and open before the eyes of God. And as
he is of quicker eyes than not to see iniquity, so he
is of purer eyes than to behold it with the least ap¬
probation or allowance; He saw it and it displeased
him, though it was among his own professing peo¬
ple that he saw it; it was evil in Ins eyes, he saw
the sinfulness of all this sin, and that which was
most offensive to him was, that there was no judg¬
ment, no reformation; had he seen any signs of that,
though the sin displeased him, he would soon have
been reconciled to the sinners, upon their returning
from their evil way. Then the sin of a nation be¬
comes national, and brings public judgment, wher
it is not restrained by public justice.
16. And he saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no intercessor;
therefore his arm brought salvation unto
him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
1 7. F or he put on righteousness as a breast
plate, and a helmet of salvation upon his
head ; and he put on the garments of ven¬
geance for clothing, and was clad with
zeal as a cloak. 18. According to their
deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his
adversaries, recompense to his enemies; tc
the islands he will repay recompense. 19.
So shall they fear the name of the Lord
from the west, and his glory from the rising
of the sun. When the enemy shall come
in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall
lift up a standard against him. 20. And
the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto
them that turn from transgression in Jacob,
saith the Lord. 21. As for me, this is my
covenant with them, saith the Lord ; My
Spirit that is upon thee, and my words
which I have put in thy mouth, shall not
depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the
mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth oi
thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from hence¬
forth and for ever.
How sin abounded, we have read, to our great
amazement, in the former part of the chapter; how
grace does much more abound, we read in these
verses. And as sin took occasion from the com¬
mandment to become more exceeding sinful, so
grace took occasion from the transgression of the
commandment to appear more exceeding gracious.
Observe,
I. Why God wrought salvation for this provoking
people, notwithstanding their provocations; it was
purely for his own name’s sake; because there was
nothing in them either to bring it about, or to induce
him to bring it about for them, no merit to deserve
it, no might to effect it, he would do it himself,
would bo exalted in his own strength, for his own
glorv. 1. He took notice of their weakness and
wickedness; He sail) that there was no man that
would do any thing for the support of the bleeding
cause of religion and virtue among men, not a man
that would execute judgment, (Jer. v. 1.) that would
278
ISAIAH, L1X.
I(e stir himself in a work of reformation; those that
complained of the badness of the times, had not zeal
and courage enough to appear and act against it;
there was a universal corruption of manners, and
nothing done to stem the tide; most were wicked,
and these that were not so, were yet weak, and durst
not attempt any thing in opposition to the wicked¬
ness of the wicked. There was no intercessor; either
none to intercede with God, to stand in the gap, by
prayer to turn away his wrath; (it would have
pleased him to be thus met, and he wondered that
he was not;) or, rather, none to interpose for the
support of justice and truth, which were trampled
upon, and run down, {v. 14.) no advocate to speak
a good word for those who were made a prey of be¬
cause they kept their integrity, v. 15. They com¬
plained that God did not appear for them ; (r/;. lviii.
3.) but God with much more reason complains that
they did nothing for themselves, intimating how
reacly he would have been to do them good, if he
had found among them the least motion towards a
reformation. 2. He engaged his own strength and
righteousness for them; they shall be saved, for all
this; and,
(1.) Because they have no strength of their own,
not any active men that will set to it in good earnest,
to redress the grievances either of their iniquities or
of their calamities, therefore his own arm shall bring
salvation to him, to his people, or to him whom he
would raise up to be the Deliverer, Christ, the Power
of God, and Arm of the Lord, that Man of his right
hand, whom he made strong for himself. The work
of reformation (that is the first and principal article
of the salvation) shall be wrought by the immediate
influences of the divine grace on men’s consciences.
Since magistrates, and societies for reformation, fail
of doing their part, one will not do justice, nor the
other call for it, God will let them know that he can
do it without them, when his time is come thus to
prepare his people for mercy. And then the work
of deliverance shall be wrought by the immediate
operations of the Divine Providence on men’s affec¬
tions or affairs. When God stirred up the spirit of
Cyrus, and brought his people out of Babylon, not
by might nor by flower, but by the Sfiirit of the Lord
of hosts, then his own arm brought salvation, which
is never shortened.
(2. ) Because they have no righteousness of their
own to merit these favours, and to which God might
have an eye in working for them, therefore his own
righteousness sustained him, and bore him out in it.
Divine justice, which by their sins they had armed
against them, through grace appears for them.
Though they can expect no favour as due to them,
yet he will be just to himself, to his own purpose,
and promise, and covenant with his people: he will,
in righteousness, punish the enemies of his people;
see Deut. ix. 5. -Vo l for thy righteousness, but for
the wickedness of these nations, they are driven out.
In our redemption by Christ, since we had no righ¬
teousness of our own to produce, on which God
might proceed, in favour to us, he brought in a
righteousness bv the merit and mediation of his own
Son, (it is called the righteousness which is of God
by faith, Phil. iii. 9.) and this righteousness sus¬
tained him, and bore him out in all his favours to
us, notwithstanding our provocations. He put on
righteousness as a breastfilate, securing his own
honour, as a breastplate does the vitals, in all his
proceedings, bv the justice and equity of them; and
then he put a helmet, of salvation upon his head; so
sure is he to effect the salvation he intends, that he
takes salvation itself for his helmet, which therefore
must needs be impenetrable, and in which he ap¬
pears very illustrious, formidable in the eyes of his
enemies, and amiable in the eves of his friends.
When righteousness is his coat cf arms, salvation is
his crest. Tn allusion to this, among the pieces of a
Christian’s armour we find the breastplate of righ¬
teousness, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation;
(Eph. vi. 14. — 17. 1 Th ess. v. 8.) and it is called the
armour of God, because he wore it first, and so
fitted it for us.
(3.) Because they have no spirit or zeal to do any
thing for themselves, God will put on the garments
of vengeance for clothing, and clothe himself with
zeal as a cloak; he will make his justice upon the ene¬
mies of his church and people, and his jealousy for
his own glory and the honour of religion and \ irtue
among men, to appear evident and conspicuous ir.
the eye of the world; and in these he will show him
self great, as a man shows himself in his rich attire,
or in the distinguishing habit of his < ffice. If men
be not zealous against sin, God will, and will take
vengeance on it for all the injury: it has done to his
honour, and his people’s welfare; and this was the
business of Christ in the world, to take away sin,
and be revenged on it.
II. What the salvation is, that shall be wrought cut
by the righteousness and strength of God himself.
1. There shall be a present temporal salvation
wrought out for the Jews in Babylon, or elsewhere,
in distress and captivity. This is promised (y. 18,
19.) as a type of something further. When God’s
timeds come, he will do his own work, though those
fail that should forward it. It is here promised,
(1.) That God will reckon with his enemies, and
will render to them according to their deeds; to the
enemies of his people abroad, that have oppressed
them ; to the enemies of justice and truth at home,
that have oppressed them; for they also are God’s
enemies; and when the day of vengeance comes, he
will deal with both as they have deserved ; accord¬
ing to retribution, (so the word is,) the law of retri¬
butions; (Rev. xiii. 10.) or, according to former
retributions, as he has rendered to his enemies for¬
merly, accordingly he will now repay, fury to his
adversaries, recompense to his enemies; his fury
shall not exceed the rules of justice, as men’s fury
commonly does. Even to the islands, that lie most
remote, if they have appeared against him, he will
repay recompense; for his hand shall find out all his
enemies, (Ps. xxi. 8.) and his arrows reach them.
Though God’s people have behaved so ill, that they
do not deserve to be delivered, yet his enemies be¬
have so much worse, that they do deserve to be
destroyed.
(2.) That, whatever attempts the enemies of God’s
people may afterward make upon them, to disturb
their peace, they shall be baffled and brr tight to
naught; When the enemy shall come in like a food,
like a high spring-tide, or a land-flood, which
threatens to bear down all before them without con¬
trol, then the Spirit of the Lord by some secret,
undiscerned power, shall lift up a standard against
him, and so (as the margin reads it) put him to
flight. He that has delivered, will still deliver.
When God’s people are weak and helpless, and
have no standard to lift up against the invading
power, God will give a banner to them that fear
him, (Ps. lx. 4.) will by his Spirit lift up a standard,
which will draw multitudes together to appear on
the church’s behalf. Some read it, He shall come
(the name of the Lord, and his glory, before fore¬
seen in the Messiah promised) like a straight river,
the Spirit o f the Lord lifting him up for an Ensign.
Christ by the preaching of his gospel shall cover
the earth with the knowledge of God as with the
waters of a flood, the Spirit of the Lord setting up
Christ as a Standard to the Gentiles, ch. xi. 10.
(3.) That all this should redound to the glory of
God, and the advancement of religion in the world;
( v . 19.) So shall they fear the name of the Lord and
his glory, in all nations that lie eastward or west
279
ISAIAH, LX.
ward. The deliverance of the Jews out of captivity,
tnd the destruction brought on their oppressors,
would awaken multitudes to inquire concerning the
God of Israel, and induce them to serve and worship
him, and enlist themselves under the standard which
the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up. God’s appear¬
ances for his church shall occasion the accession of
many to it. This had its full accomplishment in
gospel-times, when many came from the east and
west, to fill up the places of the children o f the king¬
dom that shall be cast out when there were set up
eastern and western churches, Matth. viii. 11.
2. There shall be a more glorious salvation wrought
out by the Messiah in the fulness of time, which
salvation all the prophets upon all occasions, had in
view. We have here the two great promises re¬
lating to that salvation.
(1.) That the Son of God shall come to us to be
our Redeemer; (v. 20.) Thy Redeemer shall come;
it is applied to Christ, (Rom. xi. 26.) There shall
come the Deliverer. The coming of Christ as the
Redeemer is the summary of all the promises both
of the Old and New Testament, and this was the
redemption in Jerusalem which the believing Jews
looked for, Luke ii. 38. Christ is our Gael, our
next Kinsman, that redeems both the person and
the estate of the poor debtor. Observe, [1.] The
place where this Redeemer shall appear; he shall
come to Zion, for there, on that holy hill, the Lord
would set him up as his King, Ps. ii. 6. In Zion
the chief Corner-stone was to be laid, 1 Pet. ii. 6.
He came to histemfile there, (Mai. iii. 1.) there sal¬
vation was to be placed, ( ch . xlvi. 13.) for thence
the law was to go forth, ch. ii. 3. Zion was a type
of the gospel-church, for which the Redeemer acts
in all his appearances; The Redeemer shall come
fir the sake of Zion; so the LXX. read it. [2.]
The persons that shall have the comfort of the Re¬
deemer’s coming, that shall then lift up their heads,
knowing that their redemption draws nigh; he shall
come to those that turn from ungodliness to Jacob,
to those that are in Jacob, to the praying seed of
Jacob, in answer to their prayers; yet not to all that
are in Jacob, that are within the pale of the visible
church, but to those only that turn from transgres¬
sion, that repent and reform, and forsake those sins
which Christ came to redeem them from. The
sinners in Zion will fare never the better for the
Redeemer’s coming to Zion, if they go on still in
their trespasses.
(2.) That the Spirit of God shall come to us, to
be our Sanctifier, v. 21. In the Redeemer there
was a new covenant made with us, a covenant of
promises; and this is the great and comprehensive
promise of that covenant, that God will give and
continue his word and Spirit to his church and peo¬
ple throughout all generations. God’s giving the
Spirit to them that ask him, includes the giving of
them all good things, Luke xi. 13. Matth. vii. 11.
This covenant is here said to be made with them,
with them that turn from transgression; for they
>.hat cease to do evil shall be taught to do well. But
the promise is made to a single person, My Spirit
■hat is upon thee, being directed, either, [ 1 . ) To
Christ as the Head of the church, who received,
that he might give. The Spirit promised to the
church was first upon him, and from his head that
precious ointment descended to the skirts of his gar¬
ments; and the word of the gospel was first put into
his mouth; for it began to be spoken by the Lord.
And all believers are his seed, in whom he prolongs
his days, ch. liii. 10. Or, [2.] To the church; and
so it is a promise of the continuance and perpetuity
>f the church in the world to the end of time,
parallel to those promises, that the throne and seed
of Christ shall endure forever, Ps. lxxxix. 29, 36. —
xxii. 30. Observe, First, How the church shall be
kept up; in a succession, as the world of mankind
is kept up, by the sct-d and the seed’s seed; as one
generation passes away, another generation shall
come; instead of the fathers shall be the children.
Secondly, How long it shall be kept up ;frcm hence¬
forth and for ever, always, even unto the end of
the world; for the world being left to stand for the
sake of the church, we may be sure that as long as
it does stand, Christ will have a church in it, though
not always visible. Thirdly, By what means it shall
be kept up; by the constant residence of the Word
and Spirit in it. 1. The Spirit that was upon Christ
shall always continue in the hearts of the faithful;
there shall be some in every age on whom he shall
work, and in whom he shall dwell, and thus the
Comforter shall abide with the church for ever, John
xiv. 16. 2. The word of Christ shall always con¬
tinue in the mouths of the faithful; there shall be
some in every age, who, believing with the heart
unto righteousness, shall with the tongue make con¬
fession unto salvation. The word shall never de¬
part out of the mouth of the church, for there shall
still be a seed to speak Christ’s holy language, and
profess his holy religion. Observe, The Spirit and
the word go together, and by them the church is
kept up. For the word in the mouths of our minis¬
ters, nay, the word in our own mouths, will not profit
us, unless the Spirit work with the word, and give us
an understanding. But the Spirit does his work by
the word, and in concurrence with it; and whatever
is pretended to be a dictate of the Spirit must be
tried by the scriptures. On these foundations the
church is built, stands firm, and shall stand for
ever; Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone.
CHAP. LX.
This whole chapter is all to the same purport, all in the
same strain; it is a part of God’s covenant with his
church, which is spoken of in the last verse of the fore¬
going chapter, and the blessings here promised are the
fruits of the word and Spirit there promised. The long
continuance of the church, even unto the utmost ages
of time, was there promised, and here the large extent
of the church, even unto the utmost regions of the earth;
and both these tend to the honour of the Redeemer. It
is here promised, I. That the church should be enlight¬
ened and shined upon, v. 1, 2. IL That it should be
enlarged, and great additions made to it, to join in the
service of God, v. 3.. 3. III. That the new converts
should be greatly serviceable to the church, and to the
interests of it, v. 9.. 13. IV. That the church shall be
in great honour and reputation among men, v. 14. .16,
V. That it shall enjoy a profound peace and tranquillity,
v. 17, 18. VI. That the members of it being all righte¬
ous, the glory and joy of it shall be everlasting, v. 19. .22.
Now this has some reference to the peaceable and pros¬
perous condition which the Jews were sometimes in,
after their return out of captivity into their own land;
but it certainly looks further, and was to have its full
accomplishment in the kingdom of the Messiah, the en¬
largement of that kingdom by the bringing in of the
Gentiles into it, and the spiritual blessings in heavenly
things by Christ Jesus, with which it should be enriched,
and all these earnests of eternal joy and glory.
1. A RISE, shine; for thy light is come,
f\ and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon thee. 2. For, behold, the darkness
shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people : but the Lord shall arise upon thee,
and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 3.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and
kings to the brightness of thy rising. 4. Lift
up thine eyes round about, and see: all they
gather themselves together, they come to
thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy
daughters shall be nursed at thy side. 5.
280
ISAIAH, LX.
Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and
tlij7 heart shall fear, and be enlarged; be¬
cause the abundance of the sea shall be
converted unto thee, the forces of the Gen¬
tiles shall come unto thee. 6. The multitude
of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries
of Midian and Ephah ; all they from Sheba
shall come: they shall bring gold and in¬
cense ; and they shall shew forth the praises
of the Lord. 7. All the flocks of Kedar
shall be gathered together unto thee, the
rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee:
they shall come up with acceptance on mine
altar, and I will glorify the house of my
glory. 8. Who are these that fly as a cloud,
and as the doves to their windows ?
It is here promised that the gospel-temple shall
be very light, and very large.
I. It shall be very light; Thy light is come. When
the Jews returned out of captivity, they had light
and gladness, and joy and honour; they then were
made to know the Lord, and to rejoice in his great
goodness; and upon both accounts their light came.
When the Redeemer came to Zion, he brought
light with him, he himself came to be a Light. Now
observe, 1. What this light is, and whence it springs;
The Lord shall arise upon thee, (v. 2. ) the glory
of the Lord, (v. 1.) that shall be seen upon thee.
God is the Father and Fountain of lights, and it is
in his light that we shall see light. As far as we
have the knowledge of God in us, and the favour of
God towards us, our light is come. When God ap¬
pears to us and we have the comfort of his favour,
then the glory of the Lord rises upon us as the
morning-light; when he appears for us, and we
have the credit of his favour, when he shows us
some token for good, and proclaims his favour for
us, then his glory is seen upon us, as it was upon
Israel in the pillar of cloud and fire. When Christ
arose as the Sun of righteousness, and in him the
day-s/iring from on high visited us, then the
glory of the Lord was seen upon us, the glory as of
the First-begotten of the Father. 2. What a foil
there shall be to this light; Darkness shall cover the
earth; but, though it be gross darkness, darkness
that might be felt, like that of Egypt, that shall
overspread the people, yet the church, like Go¬
shen, shall have light at the same time. When the
case of the nations that have not the gospel shall be
very melancholy, those dark corners of the earth
being full of the habitations of cruelty to poor souls,
the state of the church shall be very pleasant. 3.
What is the duty which the rising of this light calls
for; “ Arise, shine; not only receive this light, and,”
(as the margin reads it) “ be enlightened by it, but
reflect this light; arise, and shine with rays borrow¬
ed from it.” The children of light ought to shine as
lights in the world: if God’s glory be seen upon us
to our honour, we ought not only with our lips, but
in our lives, to return the praise of it to his honour,
Matth. v. 16. Phil. ii. 15.
II. It shall be very large. When the Jews were
settled again in their own land after their captivity,
many of the people of the land joined themselves to
them; but it does not appear that there ever was
any such numerous accession to them as would an¬
swer the fulness of this prophecy; and therefore we
must conclude that this looks further, to the bring¬
ing of the Gentiles into the gospel-church; not their
flocking to one particular place, though under that
type it is here described. There is no place now
that is the centre of the church’s unity; but the [ ro-
mise respects their flocking to Christ, and connng
by faith, and hope, and holy love, into that society,
which is incorporated by the charter of his gospel,
and of the unity of which he only is the Centre; that
family which is named from him, Eph. iii. 1.5. The
gospel-church is expressly called Zion and Jerusa¬
lem, and under that notion all believers are said to
come to it: (Heb. xii. 22.) Ye are come unto mount
Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Je¬
rusalem; which serves for a key to this prophecy,
Eph. ii. 19. Observe,
1. What shall invite such multiudestothe church;
“ They shall come to thy light, and to the bright¬
ness of thy rising, v. 3. They shall be allured to
join themselves to thee,” (1.) “By the light that
shines upon thee,” the light of the glorious gospel,
which the churches hold forth, in consequence of
which they are called golden candlesticks; this light
which discovers so much of God and his good will
to man, by which light and immortality are brought
to light, this shall invite all the serious, well-affect¬
ed part of mankind to come, and join themselves to
the church, that they may have the benefit of this
light, to inform them concerning truth and duty.
(2.) “By the light with which thou shinest;” the
purity and love of the primitive Christians, thei:
heavenly-mindedness, contempt of the world, and
patient sufferings, were the brightness of the
church’s rising, which drew many into it. The
beauty of holiness was the powerful attractive by
which Christ had a willing people brought to him
in the day of his power, Ps. cx. 2.
2. What multitudes shall come to the church.
Great numbers shall come, Gentiles, or nations, of
them that are saved, as it is expressed with allusion
to this, Rev. xxi. 24. Arations shall be discipled;
(Matth. xxviii. 19.) and even kings, men of figure,
power, and influence, shall be added to the church.
They come from all parts; ( 'v . 4.) Uft up thine
eyes round about, and see them coming; devout men
out of every nation under heaven, Acts ii. 5. See
how white the fields are already to the harvest, John
iv. 35. See them coming in a body, as one man, and
with one consent; they gather themselves together,
that they may strenghen one another’s hands, and en¬
courage one another; Come and let us go, ch. ii. 3.
“ They come from the remotest parts; they come
to thee from far, having heard the report of thee, as
the queen of Sheba, or seen thy star in tire east, as
the wise men, and they will not be discouraged by
the length of the journey from coming to thee. There
shall come some of both sexes; sons and daughters
shall come in the most dutiful manner, as thy sons
and thy daughters, resolved to be of thy family, to
submit to the laws of thy family, and put themselves
under the tuition of it. They shall come to be
nursed at thy side; to have their education with
thee from their cradle.” The church’s children
must be nursed at her side, not sent out to be
nursed among strangers; there, where alone the
sincere milk of the word is to be had, must the
church’s new-born babes be nursed, that they may
grow thereby, 1 Pet. ii. 1, 2. They that would en¬
joy the dignities and privileges of Christ’s family,
must submit to the discipline of it.
3. What they shall bring with them, and wha.
advantage shall accrue to the church by their ac
cession to it. They that are brought into the church
by the grace of God, will be sure to bring all they
are worth in with them, which with themselves they
will devote to the honour and service of God, and
do good with in their places. (1.) The merchants
shall write holiness to the Lord upon their merchan¬
dise and their hire, as ch. xxiii. 18. “ The abund¬
ance of the sea, either the wealth that i» fetched out
of the sea, the fish, the pearls, or that which :s im
201
ISAIAH, LX.
ported by sea, it shall all be converted to thee and
iO thy use.” The wealth of the rich merchants
shall be laid out in works of piety and charity. (2.)
The mighty men of the nations shall employ their
night in the service of the church; “ The forces, or
troops, of the Gentiles shall come unto thie, to guard
thy coasts, strengthen thine interests, and, if occa¬
sion be, to fight thy battles.” The forces of the
Gentiles had often been against the church, but now
they shall be for it; for as God, when he pleases, can,
and, when we please him, will, make even our ene¬
mies to be at fieace with us, (Prov. xvi. 6.) so when
Christ overcomes the strong man armed, he divides
his spoils, and makes that to serve his interests,
which had been used against them, Luke xi. 22.
(3.) The wealth imported by land-carriage, as well
as that by sea, shall be made use of in the service
of God and the church; (v. 6. ) The camels and
dromedaries that bring gold and incense, gold to
make the golden altar of, and incense and sweet
erfumes to burn upon it; they of Midian and She-
a shall bring the richest commodities of their coun¬
try, not to trade with, but to honour God with, and
not in small quantities, but camel-loads of them.
This was in part fulfilled when the wise men of the
east, (perhaps some of the countries here mention¬
ed,) drawn by the brightness of the star, came to
Christ, and presented to him treasures of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh , Matth. ii. 11. (4.) Great
numbers of sacrifices shall be brought to God’s al¬
tar, acceptable sacrifices, and, though brought by
Gentiles, they shall find acceptance, v. 7. Kedar
was famous for flocks, and, probably, the fattest
rams were those of Nebaioth; they shall come up
with acceptance on God’s altar. God must be
served and honoured with what we have, according
as he has blessed us, and with the best we have.
This was fulfilled when by the decree of Darius the
governors beyond the rivers (perhaps of some of
these countries) were ordered to furnish the temple
at Jerusalem with bullocks, rams, and lambs, for
the burnt-offering of the God of heaven, Ezra vi. 9.
It had a further accomplishment, and we trust will
have, in the bringing in of the fulness of the Gen¬
tiles to the church, which is called the sacrificing
or offering ufi of the Gentiles unto God, Rom. xv.
16. The flocks and rams are precious souls; for
they are said to minister to the church, and to come
up as living sacrifices, presenting themselves to God
by a reasonable service, on his altar, Rom. xii. 1.
4. How God shall be honoured by the increase
of the church, and the accession of such numbers to
it. (1.) They shall intend the honour of God’s name
in it. When they bring their gold and incense, it
shall not be to show the riches of their country, or
to gain applause to themselves for piety and devo¬
tion, but to show forth the firaises of the Lord, v. 6.
Our greatest services and gifts to the church are
not acceptable, further than we have an eye to the
glory of God in them. And this must be our busi¬
ness in our attendance on public ordinances, to give
unto the Lord the glory due to his name; for there¬
fore, as these here, we are called out of darkness
into light, that we should show forth the firaises of
him that called us, 1 Pet. ii. 9. (2.) God will ad-
v ince the honour of his own name by it; so he has
said, (v. 7.) I will glorify the house of my glory.
The Church is the house of God’s glory, where he
manifests his glory to his people, and receives that
homage by which they do honour to him. And it
is for the glory of this house, and of him that keeps
house there, both that the Gentiles shall bring their
offerings to it, and that they shall be accepted
therein.
5. How the church shall herself be affected with
this increase of her numbers, v. 5. (1.) She shall
be in a transport of joy upon this account; “ Thou
Vol. IV. — 2 N
shall see, and flow together,” (or flow to and fro,)
“as in a pleasing agitation about it, surprised at it,
but extremely glad of it.” (2.) There shall be a
mixture of fear with this joy; “ Thine heart shall
fear, doubting whether it lie lawful to go into the
uncircumcisetl, and eat with them.” Peter was so
possessed with this fear, that lie needed a vision and
voice from heaven to help him over it, Acts x. 28.
But, (3.) “ When this fear is conquered, thy heart
shall be enlarged in holy love, so enlarged that theu
shalt have room in it for all the Gentile converts,
thou shalt not have such a narrow soul as thou hast
had, nor affections so confined within the Jewish
pale.” When God intends the beauty and pros¬
perity of his church, he gives this largeness of heart,
and an extensive charity. (4.) These converts
flocking to the church shall be greatly admired; ( v .
8.) Who are these that fly as a cloud? Observe,
[1.] How the conversion of souls is here described;
it is flying to Christ and to his church; for thither
we are directed; it is flying like a cloud, though in
great multitudes, so as to overspread the heavens,
yet with great unanimity, all as one cloud; they
shall come with speed, as a cloud flying on the wings
of the wind, and come openly, and in the view of
all, their very enemies Beholding them, (Rev. xi.
12.) and yet not able to hinder them. They shall
fly as doves to their windows, in great flights, many
together; thev fly on the wings of the harmless
dove, which flies low, denoting their innocency and
humility. They fly to Christ, to the church, to the
word and ordinances, as doves, by instinct, to their
own windows, to their own home; thither they fly
for refuge and shelter when they are pursued by the
birds of prey; and thither they fly for rest when
they have been wandering and are weary, as Noah’s
dove to the ark. [2. ] How the conversion of souls
is here admired; it is spoken of with wonder and
with pleasure; ITho are these? We have reason to
wonder that so many flock to Christ; when we see
them altogether, we shall wonder whence they all
come; and we have reason to admire with pleasure
and affection those that do flock to him; Who are
these? How excellent, how amiable are they ! What
a pleasant sight is it to see poor souls hastening to
Christ, with a full resolution to abide with him !
9. Surely the isles shall wait for me, and
the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons
from far, their silver and their gold with
them, unto the name of the Lord thy God,
and to the Holy One of Israel, because he
hath glorified thee. 10. And the sons of
strangers shall build up thy walls, and their
kings shall minister unto thee : for in my
wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have
I had mercy on thee. II. Therefore thy
gates shall be open continually: they shall
not be shut day nor night ; that men may bring
unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that
their kings may be brought. 12. For (he
nation and kingdom that will not serve thee
shall perish; yea, those nations shall be ut¬
terly wasted. 13. The glory of Lebanon
shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-
tree, and the box together, to beautify the
place of my sanctuary; and I will make the
place of my feet glorious. 14. The sons
also of them that afflicted thee shall come
bending unto thee; and all they that de-
282
ISAIAH, LX.
spised thee shall bow themselves down at
the soles of thy feet ; and they shall call thee,
The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy
One of Israel.
The promises made to the church in the foregoing
verses are here repeated, ratified, and enlarged upon ;
designed still for the comfort and encouragement of
the Jews after their return out of captivity ; but cer¬
tainly looking further, to the enlargement and ad¬
vancement of the gospel-church, and the abund¬
ance of spiritual blessings with which it shall be en¬
riched.
I. God will be very gracious and propitious to
them. We must begin with that promise, because
thence all the rest take rise. The sanctuary that
was desolate then begins to be repaired, when God
causes his face to shine ufion it, Dan. ix. 17. All
the favour that the people of God find with men, is
owing to the light of God’s countenance, and his fa¬
vour to them; (t». 10.) “ All shall now make court
to thee, for in my wrath I smote thee, while thou
wast in captivity.” (The sufferings of the church,
especially by its corruptions, decays, and divisions,
against which these promises here will be its relief,
are sad tokens of God’s displeasure.) “ But now in
my favour have I had mercy on thee, and therefore
have all this mercy in store for thee.”
1. Many shall be brought into the church, even
from far countries; (v. 9.) Surety the isles shall
wait for me, shall welcome the gospel, and shall at¬
tend God with their praises for it, and their ready
subjection to it. The shifts of Tarshish, transport-
ships, shall lie ready to carry members from far dis¬
tant regions to the church, or (which is equivalent) to
carry the ministers of the church to remote parts,
to preach the gospel, and to bring in souls to join
themselves to the Lord. Observe, (1.) Who are
brought; thy sons, such as are designed to be so,
those children of God that are scattered abroad, John
xi. 52. (2.) What they shall bring with them; they
live at such a distance, that they cannot bring their
flocks and their rams; but, like those who lived re¬
mote from Jerusalem, who, when they came up to
worship at the feast, because they could not bring
their tithes in kind, turned it into money; they shall
bring their silver and gold with them. Note,
When we give up ourselves to God, we must with
ourselves give up all we have to him. If we honour
him with our spirits, we shall honour him with our
substance. (3. ) To whom they shall devote and
dedicate themselves, and all they are worth; to the
name of the Lord thy God, to God as the Lord of
all, and the church’s God and King; even to the
Holy One of Israel, whom Israel worships as a
Holy One, in the beauty of holiness; because he has
glorified thee. Note, The honour God puts upon
his church and people, should not only engage us to
honour them, but invite us to join ourselves to them;
JVe will go with you, for God is with you, Zech.
viii. 23.
3. Those that come into the church shall be wel¬
come; for so spacious is the holy city, that though,
Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, yet still
there is room. “ Therefore thy gates shall be often
continually, (v. 11.) not only because thou hast no
reason to fear thy enemies, but because thou hast
reason to expect thy friends.” It is usual with us to
leave our doors open, or leave some to be ready to
open them, all night, if we look for a child or a guest
to come in late. Note, Christ is always ready to en-
.ertain those that come to him, is never out of
the wav, nor can they ever come unseasonably; the
gate of mercy is always open, night and dav, or
shall soon be opened, to them that knock. Minis¬
ters, the doorkeepers, must be always ready to ad¬
mit those that offer themselves to the Lord. God
not only keeps a good house in his church, but he
keeps open house; that, at any time, by the preach¬
ing of the word, in season and out of season, the forces
of the Gentiles, and the kings or commanders of
those forces, may be brought into the church. Lift
uft your heads, O ye gates, and let such welcome
guests as these come in.
4. All that are about the church shall be made
some way or other serviceable to it. Though do¬
minion is far from being founded in men’s grace, it is
founded in God’s; and he that made the inferior crea¬
tures useful toman, will make the nations of men use¬
ful to the church; The earth helped the woman; Ah
things are for your sakes. So here, (t. 10.)” Even
the sons of strangers that have neither knowledge of
thee, nor kindness for thee, that have always been
aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, even they shall
build up thy wall, and their kings shall in that and
other things minister unto thee, and not think it any
disparagement to them. ” This was fulfilled when the
king of Persia, and the governors of the provinces, by
his order, were aiding and assisting Nehemiah in
building the wall about Jerusalem. Rather than Je¬
rusalem’s walls shall lie still in ruins, the sons of the
stranger shall be raised up to build them. Even
those that do not belong to the church, may be a
protection to it. And the greatest of men should
not think it below them to minister to the church,
but rejoice that they are in a capacity, and have a
heart, to do it any service. Nay, it is the duty of
all to do what they can in their places to advance
the interests of God’s kingdom among men, it is at
their peril if they do not; for, (t>. 12.) The nation
and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish;
not that they must perish by the sword, or by human
anathemas; or as if this gave any countenance to the
using of external force for the propagating of the
gospel; or as if men might be compelled by penalties
and punishment to come into the church; bv no
means. But those who will not by faith submit to
Jesus Christ, the king of the church, and serve him,
they shall perish eternally, Ps. ii. 12. They that
will not be subject to Christ’s golden sceptre, to the
government of his word and Spirit, that will not be
brought under, or kept in, by the discipline of his
family, shall be broken in pieces by Ins iron rod;
Bring them forth, and slay them before me, Luke
xix. 27. Nations of such shall be utterly and eter¬
nally wasted, when Christ comes to take vengeance
on those that obey not his gospel, 2 Thess. i. 8.
5. There shall be abundance of beauty added to
the ordinances of divine worship; (r>. 13.) The glory
of Lebanon, the strong and stately cedars that grow
there, shall come unto thee, as of old to Solomon,
when he built the temple; (2 Chron. ii. lfi.^and
with them other timber shall be brought, proper
for the carved work thereof, which the enemy had
broken down, Ps. lxxiv. 5, 6. The temple, the
place of God’s sanctuary, shall be not cnly rebuilt,
but beautified. It is the place of his feet, where he
rests and resides, Ezek. xliii. 7. The ark is called
his footstool, because it was under the mercy-seat,
Ps. cxxxii. 7. This he will make glorious in the
eyes of his people and of all their neighbours The
glory of the latter house, to which this refers,
though in many instances inferior, was yet really
greater than the glory of the for mer, because Christ
came to that temple, Mai. lii. 1. It was likewise
adorned with goodly stones and gifs, (Luke xxi. 5. )
to which this" promise may have some reference;
yet so slightly did Christ speak of them there, that
we must suppose it to have its full accomplishment
in the beauties of holiness, and the graces and com¬
forts of the Spirit, with which gospel-' rdin in.-es
are adorned and enriched.
6. The church shall appear truly great and
283
ISAIAH, LX.
honourable, v. 14. The people of the Jews, after
their return out of captivity, by degress became
more considerable, and made a better figure, than
one would have expected, after they had been so
much reduced, and than any of the other nations
recovered, that had been in like manner humbled
by the Chaldeans. It is probable that many of
tnose who had oppressed them in Babylon, when
they were themselves driven out by the Persians,
made their court to the Jews for shelter and supply,
and were willing to scrape acquaintance with them.
It is further fulfilled, when those that have been
enemies to the church are wrought upon by the
grace of God to see their error, and come, and join
themselves to it; “ The sons of them that afflicted
thee, if not they themselves, yet their children,
shall crouch to thee, shall beg pardon for their folly,
and beg an interest in thy favour, and admission
into thy family,” 1 Sam. ii. 36. A promise like
this is made to the church of Philadelphia, Rev. iii.
9. And it is intended to be, (1.) A mortification
to the proud oppressors of the church, that have
afflicted her, and despised her, and taken a plea¬
sure in doing it; they shall be brought down, their
spirits shall be broken, and their condition shall be
so mean and miserable, that they shall be glad to
be obliged to those whom they have most studied
to disoblige. Note, Sooner or later God will pour
contempt upon those that put contempt upon his
people. (2.) An exaltation to the poor, oppressed
ones of the church; and this is tin honour that shall
be done them, they shall have an opportunity of
doing good to those who have done evil to them,
and saving those alive who have afflicted and de¬
spised them. It is a pleasure to a good man, and
he accounts it an honour, to show mercy to those
with whom he lias found no mercy. Yet this is not
all; “They shall not only become supplicants to
thee for their own interest, but they shall give ho¬
nour to thee; they shall call thee, The city of the
Lord; they shall at length be convinced that thou
art a favourite of Heaven, and the particular care
of the Div ine Providence. ” That city is truly great
and honourable, it is strong, it is rich, it is safe, it
is beautiful, it is the most desirable place that can
be to live in, which is the city of the Lord, which
he owns, in which he dwells, in which religion is
uppermost; such a one is Zion, it is the place which
God has chosen, to put his name there, it is the Zion
of the Holy One of Israel; therefore, we may be
sure, a holy city, else the Holy One of Israel would
never be called the Patron of it.
15. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and
hated, so that no man went through thee, I
will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy
of many generations. 1 6. Thou shalt also
suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt
suck the breasts of kings: and thou shalt
know that 1 the Lord am thy Saviour and
thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron
I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and
for stones iron : I will also make thy officers
peace, and thine exactors righteousness. 1 8.
Violence shall no more be heard in thy
land, wasting nor destruction within thy
borders: but thou shalt call thy walls Salva¬
tion, and thy gates Praise. 19. The sun
shall be no more thy light by day; neither
for brightness shall the moon give light unto
thee : but the Lord shall be unto thee an
everlasting light, and thy God thy glory;
20. Thy sun shall no more go down ; nei¬
ther shall thy moon withdraw itself : for the
Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and
the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
21. Thy people also shall be all righteous:
they shall inherit the land for ever, the
branch of my planting, the work of my
hands, that I may be glorified. 22. A little
one shall become a thousand, and a small
one a strong nation : 1 the Lord will
hasten it in his time.
The happy and glonous state of the church is
here further foretold, referring principally and
ultimately to the Christian church, and the spiritual
peace of that; but under the type of that little gleam
of outward peace, which the Jews sometimes en¬
joyed after their return out of captivity. This is
here spoken of,
I. As compared with what it had been; this made
her peace and honour the more pleasant, that her
condition had been much otherwise.
1. She had been despised; but now she should be
honoured, v. 15, 16. Jerusalem had been forsaken
and hated, abandoned by her friends, abhorred by
her enemies, no man went through that desolate
city, but declined it as a rueful spectacle; it was ar
astonishment and hissing. But now it shall be
made an eternal excellency, being reformed from
idolatry, and having recovered the tokens of God’s
favour, and it shall be the joy of good per pie for
many generations. Yet considering how short Jeru¬
salem’s excellency was, and how short it came ol
the vast compass of this promise, we must look for
the full accomplishment of it fn the pei-petual ex¬
cellencies of the gospel-church, far exceeding those
of the Old Testament church, and the glorious
privileges and advantages of the Christian religion,
which are indeed the joy of many generations.
T wo things are here spoken of as her excellency
and joy, in opposition to her having been forsaken
and hated. ( 1. ) She shall find herself countenanced
by her neighbours. The nations, and their kings,
that are brought to embrace Christianity, shall lay
themselves out for the good of the church, and
maintain its interests, with the tenderness and affec¬
tion that the nurse shows to the child at her breast;
(y. 16.) “ Thou shalt such the milk of the Gentiles;
not suck their blood, that is not the spirit of the gos¬
pel; thou shalt suck the breast of kings, who shall be
to thee as nursing fathers. ” (2. ) She shall find her¬
self countenanced by her God; “ Thou shalt know
that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer
shalt know it by experience: for such a salvation,
such a redemption, shall be wrought out for thee,
as plainly discovers itself to be the work of the
Lord, the work of a mighty one, for it is a great
salvation ; of the Mighty One of Jacob, for it secures
the welfare of all those that are Israelites indeed.”
They before knew the Lord to be their God, now
they know him to be their Saviour, their Redeemer.
Their Holy One now appears their Mighty One.
2. She had been impoverished; but now she shall
be enriched, and every thing shall be changed for
the better with her, v. 17. When those who were
raised out of the dust are set among princes, instead
of brass, they have money in their purses, they
have gold and silver vessels in their houses instead
of iron ones, and other improvements agreeable: so
much shall the spiritual glory of the New Testa¬
ment church exceed the external pomp and splen¬
dour of the Jewish economv, which had no glory in
comparison with that which quite excels it, 2 C< r.
-284
ISAIAH, LX.
lii. 10. When we had baptism in the room of cir¬
cumcision, the Lord’s supper in the room of the
passoser, and a gospel-ministry in the room of a
Levitical priesthood, we had gold instead of brass.
Sin turned gold into brass, when Rehoboam made
brazen shields instead of the golden ones he had
pawned; but God’s favour, when. that returns, will
turn brass again into gold.
3. She had been oppressed by her own princes,
which was sadly complained of, not only as her sin,
but as her misery; (ch. lix. 14.) but now all the
grievances of that kind shall be redressed; Cy. 17.)
<'/ will make thine officers peace; men of peace
shall be made officers, and shall be indeed justices,
not patrons of injustice, and justices of peace, not
instruments of troublt and vexation. They shall
be fieace, they shall sincerely seek thv welfare, and
by their means thou shalt enjoy good.” They shall
be fieace, for they shall be righteousness; and then
the peace is as a river, when the righteousness is as
the waves of the sea. Even exactors, whose busi¬
ness it is to demand the public tribute, though they
be exact, must not be exacting, but must be just to
the subject as well as to the prince, and, according
to the instructions John Baptist gave to the publi¬
cans, must exact no more than is appointed them,
Luke iii. 13.
4. She had been insulted by her neighbours, in¬
vaded, spoiled, and plundered; but now it shall be
so no more; (x'. 18.) “ Violence shall no more be
heard in thy land; neither the threats and triumphs
of those that do violence, nor the outcries and com¬
plaints of those that suffer violence, shall again be
heard, but every man shall peaceably enjoy his
own. There shall be no wasting or destruction,
either of persons or possessions, any where within
thy borders, but thy walls shall be called salvation,
they shall be safe, and means of safety to thee, and
thy gates shall be firaise, praise to thee, every one
shall commend thee for the good condition they are
kept in; and praise to thy God, who strengthens the
bars of thy gates,” Ps. cxlvii. 13. When God’s
salvation is upon the walls, it is fit that his praises
should be in the gates, the places of concourse.
II. As completed in what it shall be: it should
seem that in the close of this chapter we are direct¬
ed to look further yet, as far forward as to the glory
and happiness of heaven, under the type and figure
of the nourishing state of the church on earth,
which yet was never such as to come to any thing
near to what is here foretold; and divers of the
images and expressions here made use of we find in
the description of the new Jerusalem, Rev. xxi. 23.
— xxii. 5. As the prophets sometimes insensibly
pass from the blessings of the Jewish church to the
spiritual blessings of the Christian church, which
are eternal; so sometimes they rise from the church
militant to the church triumphant, where, and
where only, all the promised peace and joy and ho¬
nour will be in perfection.
1. God shall be all in all in the happiness here
promised; so he is always to true believers; (y. 19.)
The sun and the moon shall be no more thy light.
God’s people, when they enjoy his favour, and walk
in the light of his countenance, make little account
of sun and moon, and other lights of this world, but
could walk comfortably in the light of the Lord,
though they should withdraw their shining. In
heaven there shall be no occasion for sun or moon,
for it is the inheritance of the saints in light, such
light as will swallow up the light of the sun, as
easily as the sun does that of a candle. “ Idolaters
worshipped the sun and moon; (which some have
thought the most ancient and plausible idolatry;)
but those shall be no more thy light, shall no more
be idolized; but the Lord shall be to thee a constant
Light, both day and night, in the night of adversity,
as well as in the day of prosperity.” Those that
make God their only Light, shall have him their
all-sufficient Light; their Sun and Shield; thy God,
thy Glory. Mote, God is the Glory of those whose
God he is, and will be so to eternity. It is their
glory, that they have him for their God, and they
glory in it: it is to them instead of beauty. God’s
people are, upon this account, an honourable peo¬
ple, that they have an interest in God as theirs in
covenant.
2. The happiness here promised shall know no
change, period, or allay; (x>. 20.) “ The sun shall
no more go down, but it shall be eternal day, eternal
sunshine, with thee; that shall not be thy sun,
which is sometimes eclipsed, often clouded, and,
though it shine ever so bright, ever so warm, will
certainly set, and leave thee in the dark, in the cold,
in a few hours; but he shall be a Sun, a Fountain of
light to thee, who is himself the Father of all lights,
with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of
turning ,” James i. 17. We read of the sun’s stand¬
ing still once, and not hasting to go down, for the
space of a day, and it was a glorious day, never was
the like; but what was that to the day that shall
never have a night? Or if it had, it should be a
light night; for neither shall the moon withdraw
itself, it shall never wane, shall never change, but
be always at the full. The comforts and joys that
are in heaven, the glories provided for the soul, as
the light of the sun, and those prepared for the
glorified body too, as the light of the moon, shall
never know the least cessation or interruption; how
should they, when the Lord shall himself be thine
everlasting light — a light which never wastes, nor
can ever be extinguished. And the days of thy
mourning shall be ended, so as never to return; for
all tears shall be wiped away, and the founta.ns of
them, sin and affliction, dried up, so that sorrow
and sighing shall flee away for ever.
3. Those that are entitled to this happin ss, be¬
ing duly prepared and qualified for it, shall never
be put out of the possession of it; (y. 21.) Thy peo¬
ple, that shall inhabit this New Jerusalem, shall all
be righteous, all justified by the righteousness of
the Messiah, all sanctified by his Spirit; all that
people, that Jerusalem, must be righteous, must
have that holiness without which no man shall see
the Lord. They are all righteous, for we know
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God. There are no people on earth that are all
righteous; there is a mixture of some bad in the
best societies on this side heaven; but there are no
mixtures there. They shall be all righteous; they
shall be entirely righteous; as there shall be none
corrupt among them, so there shall be no corrup¬
tion in them; the spirits of just men shall there be
made perfect. And they shall be all the righteous
together, that shall replenish the New Jerusalem;
it is called the congregation of the righteous, Ps. i.
5. And because they are all righteous, therefore
they shall inherit the land for ever, for nothing but
sin can turn them out of it. The perfection of the
saints’ holiness secures the perpetuity of their hap¬
piness.
4. The glory of the church shall redound to the
honour of the church’s God; “They shall appear
to be the branch of my planting, the work of my
hands, and I will own them as such.” It was by
the grace of God that they were designed to this
happiness; they are the branch of his planting, or
of Ins plantations; he broke them off from the wild
olive, and grafted them into the good olive; trans¬
planted them out of the field, when they were as
tender branches, into his nursery; that, being now
planted in his garden on earth, they might shortly
be removed to his paradise in heaven. It was by
his grace likewise that they were prepared and fitted
ISAIAH, LXI.
285
tor this happiness; they are the work of his hands,
(Eph. ii. 10.) are wrought to the self-same thing, 2
Cor. v. 5. It is a work of time, and, when it. snail
be finished, will appear a work of wonder; and God
will be glorified, who began it, and earned it on; for
the Lord Jesus will then be admired in all them that
believe. God will glorify himself in glorifying his
chosen.
5. They will appear the more glorious, and God
will be the more glorified in them, if we compare
what they are with what they were; the happiness
they are arrived at with the smallness of their be¬
ginning; (v. 22.) A little one shall become a thous¬
and, and a small one a strong nation. The captives
that returned out of Babylon strangely multiplied,
and became a strong nation. The Christian church
was a little one, a very small one at first, the num¬
ber of their names was once but an hundred and
twenty; yet it became a thousand; the stone rut out
of the mountain without hands swelled so as to fill
the earth. The triumphant church, and every
glorified saint, will be a thousand out of a little one,
a strong nation out of a small one. The grace and
peace of the saints were at first like a grain of mus¬
tard seed, but they increase and multiply, and make
a little one to become a thousand, the weak to be as
David; when they come to heaven, and look back
upon the sandiness of their beginning, they will
wonder how they got thither. And so wonderful is
all this promise, that it needed the ratification with
which it is closed; I the Lord will hasten it in his
time — ill hat is here said relating to the Jewish and
Christian church, to the militant and triumphant
church, and to every particular believer. (1.) It
may seem too difficult to be brought about, and
therefore may be despaired of; but the God of al¬
mighty power has undertaken it; “ I the Lord will
do it, who can do it, and who have determined to do
it. ” It will be done by him whose power is irresisti¬
ble, and his purposes unalterable. (2.) It may
seem to be delayed, and put off, so long, that we are
*out of hopes of it; but as the Lord will do it, so he
will hasten it, will do it with all convenient speed;
though much time may be passed before it is done,
no time shall be lost; he will hasten it in its time, in
the proper time, in the season wherein it will be
beautiful; he will do it in the time appointed by his
wisdom, though not in the time prescribed by our
folly. And this is really hastening it; for though it
seem to tarry, it does not tarry if it come in God’s
time; for we are sure that that is the best time,
which he that believes will patiently wait for.
CHAP. LXI.
In this chapter, I. We are sure to find the grace of Christ,
published by himself to a lost world in the everlasting
gospel, under the type and figure of Isaiah’s province,
which was to foretell the deliverance of the Jews out of
Babylon, v. 1 . . 3. II. We think we find the glories of
the church of Christ, its spiritual glories, described un¬
der the type and figure of the Jews’ prosperity after their
return out of their captivity. 1. It is promised that the
decays of the church shall be repaired, v. 4. 2. That
thcce from without shall be made serviceable to the
church, v. 5. 3. That the church shall be a royal priest¬
hood, maintained by the riches of the Gentiles, v. 6. 4.
That she shall have honour and joy in lieu of all her
shame and sorrow, v. 7. 5. That her affairs shall pros¬
per, v. 8. 6. That posterity shall enjoy these blessings,
v. 9. 7. That righteousness and salvation shall be tne
eternal matter of the church’s rejoicing and thanksgiving,
v. 10, 11. If the Jewish church was ever thus blessed,
much more shall the Christian church be so, and all that
belong to iL
1. HHHE Spirit of the Lord God is upon
A me; because the Lord hath anoint¬
ed me to preach good tidings unto the meek :
he hath sent me to hind up the broken
hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that
are bound; 2. To proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance
of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil
of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness; that they might
be called Trees of Righteousness, The
Planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified.
He that is the best Expositorof scripture, has, no
doubt, given us the best exposition of these verses,
even our Lord Jesus himself, who read this in the
synagogue of Nazareth, (perhaps it was the lessrp
for the day,) and applied it entirely to himself, say
ing, This day is this scripture fu If lied in your ears;
(Luke iv. 17, 18, 21.) and the gracious words
which proceeded out of his mouth, in the opening
of this text, were admired by all that heard them.
As Isaiah was authorized and directed to proclaim
liberty to the Jews in Babylon, so was Christ, God’s
Messenger, to publish a more joyful jubilee to a lost
world. And here we are told,
I. How he was fitted and qualified for this work;
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, v. 1. The
prophets had the Spirit of God moving them at
times, both instructing them what to say, and ex¬
citing them to say it: but Christ had the Spirit al¬
ways resting on him -without measure; but to the
same intent that the prophets had, as a Spirit of
counsel, and a Spirit of courage, ch. xi. 1. — 3.
When he entered upon the execution of his pro¬
phetical office, the Spirit, as a dove, descended up¬
on him, Matth. iii. 16. This Spirit which was upon
him, he communicated to those whom he sent to
proclaim the same glad tidings, saying to them,
when he gave them their commission, Receive ye
the Holy Ghost, thereby ratifying it.
II. How he was appointed and ordained to it;
The Spirit of God is upon me, because the Lord
God has anointed me. What service God called
him to he furnished him for; therefore he gave him
his Spirit, because he had by a sacred and solemn
unction set him apart to this great office, as kings
and priests were of old destined to their offices by
anointing. Hence the Redeemer was called the
Messiah, the Christ, because he was anointed with
the oil of gladness above his fellows. He has sent
me; our Lord Jesus did not go unsent, he had a
commission from him that is the Fountain of power;
the Father sent him, and gave him commandment.
This is a great satisfaction to us, that, whatever
Christ said, he had a warrant from heaven for; his
doctrine was not his, but his that sent him.
III. What the work was, to which he was ap¬
pointed and ordained.
1. He was to be a Preacher, was to execute the
office of a prophet. So well pleased was he with
the good will God showed toward men through him,
that he would himself be the Preacher of it; that an
honour might thereby be put upon the ministry of
the gospel, and the faith of the saints might be con¬
firmed and encouraged. He must preach good
tidings (so gospel signifies) to the meek, to the peni
tent, and humble, and poor in spirit; to them th>
tidings of a Redeemer will be indeed good tidings,
pure gospel, faith ful sayings, and worthy of all ac¬
ceptation. The poor are commonly best disposed
to receive the gospel; (Jam. ii. 5.) and then it
likely to profit us, when it is received with meek
286
ISAIAH, LX1.
ness, as it ought to be; to such Christ preached good
tidings when tie said, Blessed are the meek.
2. He was to be a Healer; he was sent to bind u/i
the broken-hearted, as pained limbs are rolled to
give them ease, as broken bones and bleeding
wounds are bound up, that they may knit and close
again. Those whose hearts are broken for sin,
who are truly humbled under the sense of guilt and
dread of wrath, are furnished in the gospel of Christ
with that which will make them easy, and silence
their fears. Those only who have experienced the
pains of a penitential contrition, may expect the
pleasure of divine cordials' and consolations.
3. He was to be a Deliverer; he was sent as a Pro¬
phet to preach, as a Priest to heal, and as a King to
issue out proclamations; and those of two kinds;
(1.) Proclamations of peace to his friends; He
shall proclaim liberty to the captives, (as Cyrus did
to the Jews in captivity,) and the opening of the
prison to them that were bound. Whereas by the
guilt of sin we are bound over to the justice of God,
are his lawful captives, sold for sin till payment be
made of that great debt, Christ lets us know that
he has made satisfaction to divine justice for that
debt, that his satisfaction is accepted, and if we will
plead that, and depend upon it, and make over our¬
selves and all we have to him, in a grateful sense of
the kindness he has done us, we may by faith sue
out our pardon, and take the comfort of it; there is,
and shall be, no condemnation to us. And whereas
by the dominion of sin in us we are bound under the
power of Satan, sold under sin, Christ lets us know
that he has conquered Satan, has destroyed him that
had the power of death, and his works, and provided
for us grace sufficient to enable us to shake off the
yoke of sin, and to loose ourselves from those bands
of our neck. The Son is ready by his Spirit to make
us free; and then wo shall be free indeed, not only
discharged from the miseries of captivity, but ad¬
vanced to all the immunities and dignities of citi¬
zens. This is the gospel-proclamation, and it is
like the blowing of the jubilee-trumpet, which pro¬
claimed the great year of release, (Lev. xxv. 9, 40.)
in allusion to which it is here called the acceptable
year of the Lord, the time of our acceptance with
God, which is the original of our liberties; or it is
called tlie year of the Lord, because it publishes his
free grace, to his own glory, and an acceptable year,
because it brings glad tidings to us, and what cannot
but be very accept lble to those who know the ca¬
pacities and necessities of their own souls.
(2.) Proclamations of war against his enemies.
Christ proclaims the day of vengeance of our God;
the vengeance he takes, [1.] On sin and Satan,
death and hell, and all the powers of darkness, that
were to be destroyed in order to our deliverance;
these Christ triumphed over in his cross, having
spoiled and weakened them, shamed them, and
made a show of them openly, therein taking ven-
cance on them for all the injury they had done
oth to God and man, Col. ii. 15. [|2.] On those
of the children of men, that stand it out against
those fair offers; they shall not only be left, as they
deserve, in their captivity, but be dealt with as ene¬
mies; we have the gospel summed up, Mark xvi.
16. where that part of it. He that believes shall be
saved, proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord to
those that will accept of it; but the other part. He
that believes not shall be damned, proclaims the day
• f vengeance of our God, that vengeance which he
will take of those that obey not the gospel of Jesus
Christ, 2 Thess. i. 8.
4. He was to be a Comforter, and so he is, as
Preacher, Healer, and Deliverer; he is sent to com¬
fort all who mourn, and who, mourning, seek to
him, and not to the world, for comfort. Christ not
•inly provides comfort for them, and proclaims it.
but he applies it to them; he does by his Spirit
comfort them. There is enough in him to comfort
all who mourn, whatever their sore or sorrow is;
but tills comfort is sure to them who mourn in Zion,
who sorrow after a godly sort, according to God,
for his residence is in Zion; who mourn because of
Zion’s calamities and desolations, and mingle their
tears by a holy sympathy with those of all God’s
suffering people, though they themselves are not in
trouble; such tears God has a bottle for, (Ps. h i. 8.)
such mourners he has comfort in store for. As
blessings out of Zion are spiritual blessings, so
mourners in Zion are holy mourners; such as carry
their sorrows to the throne of grace, (for in Zion
was the mercy-seat,) and pour them out as Hannah
did before the Lord. To such as these Christ has
appointed by his gospel, and will give by his Spirit,
(t>. 3.) those consolations which will not only sup¬
port them under their sorrows, but turn them into
songs of praise. He will give them, (1.) Beauty
for ashes; whereas they lay in ashes, as was usual
in times of great mourning, they shall net only be
raised out of their dust, but made to look pleasant.
Note, The holy cheerfulness of Christians is their
beauty, and a great ornament to their profession.
Here is an elegant paronomasia in the original; He
will give them pheer — beauty, for epher — ashes; he
will turn tjieir sorrow into joy, as quickly and as
easily as you can transpose a letter; for he speaks,
and it is done. (2.) The oil of joy, which makes
the face to shine, instead of mourning, which disfi¬
gures the countenance, and makes it unlovely. This
oil of joy the saints have from that oil of gladness
with which Christ himself was anointed above h.s
fellows, Heb. i. 9. (3.) The garments of praise,
such beautiful garments as were worn cn thanks¬
giving days, instead of the spirit of heaviness, dim
ness, or contraction; open joys for secret mourn
ings. The spirit of heaviness they keep to them
selves; (Zion’s mourners weep in secret ;) but the
joy they are recompensed with, they are clothed with
as with a garment in the eve of others. Observe, *
Where God gives the oil of joy, he gives the gar¬
ment of praise. Those comforts which come from
God, dispose the heart to, and enlarge the heart in,
thanksgivings to God. Whatever we have the jcy
of, God must have the praise and glory of.
5. He was to be a Planter; for the church is
God’s husbandry. Therefore he will do all this for
his people, will cure their wounds, release them
out of bondage, and comfort them in their sorrows,
that they may be called trees of righteousness, the
■planting of the Lord, that they may be such, and
be acknowledged to be such; that they may be or¬
naments to God’s vineyard, and may be fruitful in
the fruits of righteousness, as the branches of God’s
planting, ch. lx. 21. All that Christ does for us,
is to make us God’s people, and some way servicea¬
ble to him as living trees, planted in the house of the
Lord, and flourishing in the courts of our God; and
all this, that he may be glorified; that we may be
brought to glorify him by a sincere devotion and an
exemplary conversation; for herein is our Father
glorified, that we bring forth much fruit ; and
that others also may take occasion from God’s fa¬
vour shining on his people, and his grace shining in
them, to praise him; and that he might be for ever
glorified in his saints.
4. And they shall build the old wastes,
they shall raise up the former desolations,
and they shall repair the waste cities, the
desolations of many generations. 5. And
strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
and the sons of the alien shall be your
ploughmen, and your vine-dressers. 6. But
287
ISAIAH, LX1.
V< shall be named the priests of the Lord ;
mt a shall call you the ministers of our God:
ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and
in their glory shall you boast yourselves. 7.
For your shame you shall have double, and
for confusion they shall rejoice in their por¬
tion : therefore in their land they shall pos¬
sess the double; everlasting joy shall be
unto them. 8. For I the Lord love judg¬
ment, 1 hate robbery for burnt-offering ; and
1 will direct their work in truth, and I
will make an everlasting covenant with
them. 9. And their seed shall be known
among the Gentiles, and their offspring
among the people: all that see them shall
acknowledge them, that they are the seed
which the Lord hath blessed.
Promises are here made to the Jews now returned
out of captivity, and settled again in their own land,
which are to be extended to the gospel-church, and
all believers, who through grace are delivered out
of spiritu il thraldom; for they are capable of being
spiritually applied.
1. It is promised that their houses shall be re¬
built, (v. 4.) that their cities shall be raised out of
the ruins in which they had long lain, and be fitted
up for their use again; They shall build the old
7i tastes; the old wastes shall be built, the waste ci¬
ties shall be re/iaired, the former desolations, even
the desolations of many generations, which, it was
f nrcd, would never Ire repaired, shall be raised ufi.
The setting up of Christianity in the world repaired
the decays of natural religion, and raised up those
desolations both of piety and honesty, which had
been for many generations the reproach of man¬
kind. An unsanctified soul is like a city that is
broken down, and has no walls, like a house in ruins;
but by the power of Christ’s gospel and grace it is
repaired, it is put in order again, and fitted to be an
habitation of God through the Spirit. And they
shall do this, they that are released out of captivity;
for we are brought out of the house of bondage, that
we m iy serve God, both in building up ourselves to
his glory, and in helping to buiid up his church on
earth.
2. They that were so lately servants themselves,
working for their oppressors, and lying at their
mercy, shall now have servants to do their work for
them and be at their command; not of their bre¬
thren, (they are all the Lord’s freemen,) but of the
strangers, and the sons of the alien, who shall keefi
their sheep, till their ground, and dress their gar-
d ‘ns, the ancient employments of Abel, Cain, and
A.lam; Strangers shall feed your flocks, v. 5.
When, by the grace of God, we attain to a holy in¬
difference as to all the affairs of this world, buying
2.9 though they possessed not, when, though our
hands are employed about them, our hearts are not
ent ingled with them, but reserved entire for God
and his service, then the sons of the alien are our
ploughmen and vine-dressers.
3. They shall not only be released out of their
captivity, but highlv preferred, and honourably em¬
ployed; (v. 6.) “While the strangers are keeping
your flocks, you shall he keeping the charge of the
sanctuary; instead of being slaves to your task¬
masters, you shall be named the priests of the Lord,
a high and holy calling.” Priests were princes’
peers, and in Hebrew were called by the same
name. You shall be the ministers of our God, as
the Levites were. Note, Those whom God sets at
liberty, he sets to work: he delivers them out of the
i hands of their enemies, that they may serve him,
Luke i. 74, 75. Ps. cxvi. 16. Rut his service is per¬
fect freedom, nay, it is the greatest honour. When
| God brought Israel out ( f Egypt, he took them to
be to him a kingdom of priests, Exod. xix. 6. And
the gospel-church is a royal priesthood, 1 Pet. ii. 9.
All believers are made to our God kings and priests;
and they ought to conduct themselves as such in
their devotions and in their whole conversation,
with holiness to the Lord written upon their foreheads,
that men may call them the priests of the Lord.
4. The wealth and honour of the Gentile con
verts shall redound to the benefit and credit of the
church, v. 6. The Gentiles shall be brought into
the church, those that were strangers shall become
fellow-citizens with the saints, and with themselves
they shall bring all they have, to be devoted to the
glory of God, and used in his service; and the
priests, the Lord’s ministers, shall have the advan¬
tage of it. It will be a great strengthening ancj
quickening, as well as a comfort and encourage
ment, to all good Christians, to see the Gentiles serv¬
ing the interest of God’s kingdom. (1.) They shall
eat the riches of the Gentiles, not which they have
themselves seized by violence, but which is fairly
and honourably presented to them, as gifts brought
to the altar, which the priests and their families
lived comfortably upon. It is not said, “ Ye shall
hoard the riches of the Gentiles, and treasure it,”
but, “ Ye shall eat it;” for there is nothing better
in riches than to use them, and to do good with
them. (2.) They shall boast themselves in their
glory. Whatever was the honour of the Gentile
converts before their conversion, their nobility, es¬
tates, learning, virtue, or places of trust and power,
it shall all turn to the reputation uf the church to
which they were joined themselves; and whatever
is their glory after their conversion, their holy zeal,
and strictness of conversation, their usefulness, their
patient suffering, and all the displays of that blessed
change which divine grace has made ir, them, shall
be very much for the glory of God, and therefore
all good men shall glory in it.
5. They shall have abundance of comfort and sa¬
tisfaction in their own bosoms; (y 7.) the Jews, no
doubt, were thus privileged after their return; they
were in a new world, and now knew how to value
their liberty and property, the pleasures of which
were continually fresh and blooming. Much more
do all those rejoice, whom Christ has brought into
the glorious liberty of God’s children, especially
when the privileges of their adoption shall be com¬
pleted in the resurrection of the body. (1.) They
shall rejoice in their portion; they shall not only
have their own again, but (which is a further gift
of God) they shall have the comfort of it, and a
heart to rejoice in it, Eccl. iii. 13. Though the
houses of the returned Jews, as well as their temple,
be much inferior to what they were before the cap¬
tivity, yet they shall be well pleased with them, and
thankful for them. It is a portion in their land,
their own land, the Holy land, Immanuel’s land,
and therefore they shall rejoice in it, having so lately
known what it was to be strangers in a strange land.
They that have God and heaven for their portion,
have reason to say that they have a worthy portion,
and to rejoice in it. (2.) Everlasting joy shall be
unto them; a joyful state of their people, which
shall last long, much longer than the captivity had
lasted. Yet that joy of the Jewish nation was so
much allayed, so often interrupted, and so soon
brought to an end, that we must look for the accom¬
plishment of this promise in the spiritual joy which
believers have in God, and the eternal joy they
hope for in heaven. (3. ) This shall be a doubli
recompense to them, and more than double, for all
the reproach and vexation they have lain under in
288
ISAIAH, LX1.
the land of their captivity; "For your shame you
shall have double honour, "and in your land you shall
possess double wealth, to what you lost; the blessing
of God upon it, and the comfort you shall have in it,
shall make an abundant reparation for all the dama¬
ges you have received. You shall be owned not only
as God’s sons, but as his first-born, (Exod. iv. 22.)
and therefore entitled to a double portion. ” As the
miseries of their captivity were so great, that in
them they are said to have received double for all
their sins, ( ch . xl. 2.) so the joys of their return shall
be so great, that in them they shall receive double
for all their shame. The former is applicable to
the fulness of Christ’s satisfaction, in which God
received double for all their sins; the latter to the
fulness of heaven’s joys, in which we shall receive
more than double for all our services and sufferings.
Job’s case illustrates this; when God turned again
his captivity, he gave him twice as much as he had
before.
6. God will be their faithful Guide, and a God in
covenant with them; ( v . 8.) I will direct their work
in truth. God by his providence will order their
affairs for the best, according to the word of his
truth; he will guide them in the ways of true pros¬
perity, by the rules of true policy; he will by his
grace direct the works of good people in the right
way, the true way that leads to happiness; he will
direct them to be done in sincerity, and then they
are pleasing to him. God desires truth in the in¬
ward parts; and if we do our works in truth, he
will make an everlasting covenant with us; for to
those that walk before him and are upright, he will
certainly be a God all-sufficient. Now as a reason
both of this and of the foregoing promise, that God
will recompense to them double for their shume,
those words come in in the former part of the verse,
I the Lord love judgment: he loves that judgment
should be done among men, both between magistrates
and subjects, and between neighbour and neighbour,
and therefore he hates all injustice; and when wrongs
•ire done to his people by their oppressors and per¬
secutors, he is displeased with them, not only be¬
cause they are done to his people, but because they
are wrongs, and against the eternal rales of equity.
If men do not do justice, he loves to do judgment
himself, in righting them that suffer wrong, and
punishing them that do it. God pleads his people’s
injured cause, not only because he is jealous for
them, but because he is jealous for justice. To illus¬
trate this, it is added, that he hates robbery for
burnt-offering; he hates injustice even in his own
people, that honour him with what they have in
their burnt-offerings, much more does he hate it
when it is against his own people; if he hates rob¬
bery when it is for burnt-offerings to himself, much
more when it is for burnt-offerings to idols, and
when not only his people are robbed of their estates,
but he is robbed of his offerings. It is a truth much
to the honour of God, that ritual services will never
atone for the violation of moral precepts, nor will
it justify any man’s robbery to say, “ It was for
burnt-offerings;” or Corban — It is a gift. Behold,
to obey is better than sacrifice, to do justly and love
mercy better than thousands of rams; nay, that rob¬
bery "is most hateful to God, which is covered with
this pretence, for it makes the righteous God to be
the Patron of unrighteousness. Some make this a
reason of the rejection of the Jews, upon the bring¬
ing in of the Gentiles, (y. 6.) because they were so
corrupt in their morals, and while they tithed mint
and cummin, made nothing of judgment and mercy;
(Matth. xxiii. 23.) whereas Goa loves judgment,
and insists upon that, and he hates both robbery for
burrt-offerings, and burnt-offerings for robbery
too, as that of the Pharisees, who made long pray¬
ers, that they might the more plausibly devour wi¬
dows’ houses. Others read these words thus, 1
hate rapine by iniquity, the spoil which the ene¬
mies of God’s people had unjustly made of them;
God hated this, and therefore would reckon with
them for it.
jl 7. God will entail a blessing upon their posterity
after them; (i\ 9.) Their seed, the children of these
Eersons themselves that are now the blessed of the
iord, or their successors in profession, the church’s
seed, shall be accounted to the Lord for a genera¬
tion, Ps. xxii. 30. ( 1. ) They shall signalize them
selves, and make their neighbours to take notice of
them; they shall be known among the Gentiles; shall
j distinguish themselves by the gravity, seriousness,
humility, and cheerfulness of their conversation, es
pecially by that brotherly love by which all men
j shall know them to be Christ’s disciples. And they
1 thus distinguishing themselves, God shall dignify
them, by making them the blessings of their age
and instruments of his glory, and by giving them
remarkable tokens of his favour, which shall make
them eminent, and gain them respect from all about
them. Let the children of godly parents love in
such a manner that they may be known to be such,
that all who observe them may see in them the
fruits of a good education, and an answer to the
prayers that were put up for them ; and then they
may expect that God will make them known, by
the fulfilling of that promise to them, that the gen¬
eration of the upright shall be blessed. (2.) God shall
have the glory of this, for every one shall attribute
it to the blessing of God; all that see them shall see
so much of the graceof God in them, and his favour
toward them, that they shall acknowledge them to
be the seed which the Lord has blessed, and doth
bless, for it includes both. See what it is to be bless¬
ed of God. Whatever good appears in any, it must
be taken notice of as the frait pf God’s blessing, and
he must be glorified in it.
10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my soul shall be joyful in niv God: for he
hath clothed me with the garments of sal¬
vation, he hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh
himself with ornaments, and as a bride
adorneth ^me//'with her jewels. 11. For
as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as
the garden causeth the things that are sown
in it to spring forth ; so the Lord God will
cause righteousness and praise to spring
forth before all the nations.
Some make this the song of joy and praise to be
sung by the prophet in the name of Jerusalem, con¬
gratulating her on the happy change of her circum
stances in the accomplishment of tbe foregoing pro¬
mises; others make it to be spoken by Christ in the
name of the New Testament church triumphing in
gospel grace. We may take in both, the former a
type of the latter. We are here taught to rejoice
with holy joy, to God’s honour.
I. In the beginning of this gr.d work, the clothing
of the church with righteousness and salvation; (v.
10. ) Upon this account I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. Those that rejoice in Gcd have cause to re
joice greatly, and we need not fear running into an
extreme in the greatness of our joy, when we make
God the Gladness of our joy. The first gospel
song begins like this, My soul doth magnify the
Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Sa
viour, Luke i. 46, 47. There is just matter for this
joy, and all the reason in the world why it should
terminate in God. for salvation and rightecusnev*
289
ISAIAH, LXJI.
arc wrought out and brought in, and the church is
clothed with it. The salvation God wrought for
the Jews, that righteousness of his in which he ap¬
peared for them, and that reformation which ap¬
peared among them, made them look as glorious in
the eyes of all wise men as if they had been clothed
in robes of state, or nuptial garments. ■ Christ has
clothed his church with an eternal salvation, (and
that is truly great,) by clothing it with the right¬
eousness both of justification and sanctification; the
clean linen is the righteousness of saints, Rev. xix.
8. Observe how these two are put together; those,
and those only, shall be clothed with the garments
of salvation hereafter, that are covered with the
r^be of righteousness now: and those garments are
rich and splendid clothing, like the priestly garments
(for sc the word signifies) with which the bride¬
groom decks himself; the brightness of the sun itself
is compared to them, Ps. xix. 5. He is as a bride¬
groom coming out of his chamber, completely dress¬
ed; such is the beauty of God’* grace in those that
are clothed with the robe of righteousness, that by
the righteousness of Christ are recommended to
God’s favour, and by the sanctification of the Spirit
have God’s image renewed upon them; they are
decked as a bride to be espoused to God, and taken
into covenant with him; they are decked as a priest
to be employed for God, and taken into communion
with him. •
2. In the progress and continuance of this good
work, v. 1 1. It is not like a day of triumph, which
is glorious for the present, but is soon over, no, the
righteousness and salvation with which the church
is clothed, are durable clothing; so are they said to
be, ch. xxiii. 18. The church, when she is pleas¬
ing herself with the righteousness and salvation that
Jesus Christ has clothed her with, rejoices to think
that these inestimable blessings shall both spring
for future ages, and spread to distant regions. (1.)
They shall spring forth for ages to come, as the
fruits of the earth which are produced every year
from generation to generation; as the earth, even
that which lies common, brings forth her bud, the
tender grass, at the return of the year, and as the
garden enclosed causes the things that are sown in
it to s/iring forth in their season, so duly, so con¬
stantly, so powerfully, and with such advantage to
mankind, will the Lord God cause righteousness and
firaise to sfiring forth, by virtue of the covenant of
grace, as, in the former case, by virtue of the cove¬
nant of providence. See what the promised blessings
are — righteousness and firaise; (for they that are
clothed with righteousness show forth the' praises of
him that clothed them;) these shall spring forth un¬
der the influence of the dew of divine grace. Though
it may sometimes be winter with the church, when
those blessings seem to wither, and do not appear,
yet the root of them is fixed, a spring-time will
come, when through the reviving beams of the ap¬
proaching Sun of righteousness they shall flourish
again. (2.) They shall spread far, and spring forth,
before all the nations; the great salvation shall be
published and proclaimed to all the world, and the
ends of the earth shall see it.
CHAP. LXII.
The business of prophets ivas both to preach and pray. In
this chapter, I. The prophet determines to apply himself
closely and constantly to this business, v. 1. II. God
appoints him and others of his prophets to continue to
do so, for the encouragement of his people during the
delays of their deliverance, v. 6, 7. III. The promises
are here repeated and ratified of the great things God
would do for his church; for -the Jews after their return
out of captivity, and for the Christian church when it
shall be set up in the world. 1. The church shall be
made honourable in the eyes of the world, v. 2. 2. It
shall appear to be very dear to God, precious and ho¬
nourable in his sight, v. 3.. 5. 3. It shall enjoy great
Vol. IV. - 20
plenty, v. 8, 9. 4. It shall be released out of cantivity.
and grow up again into a considerable nation, particu
larly owned and favoured by Heaven, v. 10.. 12.
1. ~g^OR Zion’s sake will 1 not hold my
JC peace, and far Jerusalem’s sake I
will not rest, until the righteousness thereof
go forth as brightness, and the salvation
thereof, as a lamp that burneth. 2 And tne
Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all
kings thy glory : and thou shalt be called by
a new name, which the mouth of the Lord
shall name. 3. Thou shalt also be a crown
of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a
royal diadem in the hand of thy God. 4.
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken:
neither shall thy land any more be termed
Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-
bah, and thy land Beulah : for the Lord
delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be
married. 5. For as a young man marrieth
a virgin, so shall thy sons many thee : and
as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride,
so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
The prophet here tells us,
I. What he will do for the church. A prophet,
as he is a seer, so he is a spokesman. This prophet
here resolves to perform that office faithfully, v. 1.
He will not hold his peace, he will not rest; he will
mind his business, will take pains, and never desire
to take bis ease; and herein he was a type of
Christ, who was indefatigable in executing the
office of a prophet, and made it his meat and drink
till he had finished his work. Observe here, 1.
What the prophet’s resolution is; He will not hold
his peace, he will continue instant in fireaching;
will not only faithfully deliver, but frequently re-
?eat, the messages he has received from the Lord.
f people receive not the precepts and promises at
first, he will inculcate them, and give them line
upon line; and he will continue instant in prayer,
he will never hold his peace at the throne of grace,
till he has prevailed with God for the mercies pro¬
mised; he will givf himself to prayer, and to the
ministry of the word, as Christ’s ministers must,
(Acts vi. 4. ) who must labour frequently in both, and
never be weary of this well-doing. The business
of ministers is to speak from God to his people,
and to God for his people; and in neither of these
must they be silent. 2. What is the principle of
this resolution— -for Zion’s sake, and for Jerusa¬
lem’s; not for the sake of any private interest of his
own, but for the church’s sake, because he has an
affection and concern for Zion, and it lies near his
heart: whatever becomes of his own house and fa¬
mily, he desires to see the good of Jerusalem, and
resolves to seek it all the days of his life, Ps. exxii.
8, 9.— cxxviii. 5. It is God’s Zion, and his Jerusa¬
lem, and it is therefore dear to him, because it is so
to God, and because God’s glory is interested in its
prosperity. 3. How long he resolves to continue
this importunity — till the promise of the church’s
righteousness and salvation, given in the foregoing
chapter, be accomplished. Isaiah will not himself
live to see the release of the captives out of Baby¬
lon, much less the bringing in of the gospel, in
which grace reigns through righteousness unto life
and salvation, yet he will not hold his peace till
these be accomplished, even the utmost of them,
because his prophecies will continue speaking cf
these things, and there shall in every age be a
remnant that shall continue to pray for them, as
290
ISAIAH, LX11.
successors to him, till the promises be performed,
and so the prayers answered that were grounded
upon them. Then the church’s righteousness and
salvation will go forth as brightness, and as a lam/i '
that burns; so plainly, that it will carry its own
evidence along with it; it will bring honour and
comfort to the church, which will hereupon both look
pleasant and appear illustrious; and it will bring
instruction and direction to the world, a light not
only to the eyes but to the feet, and to the paths of
those who before sat in darkness and in the shadow
of death.
II. What God will do for the church; the prophet
can but pray and preach, but God will confirm the
word, and answer the prayers.
1. The church shall be greatly admired; when
that righteousness which is her salvation, her praise,
and her glory, shall be brought forth, the Gentiles
shall see it. The tidings of it shall be carried to the
Gentiles, and a tender of it made them; ctiey may
so see this righteousness as to share in it, if it be not
their own fault; “ Even kings shall see and be in
love with the glory of thy righteousness,” (n. 2.)
shall overlook the glory of their own courts and
kingdoms, and look at, and look after, the spiritual
glory of the church as that which excels.
2. She shall be truly admirable. Great names
make men considerable in the world, and great re¬
spect is paid them thereupon; now it is agreed, that
Honor est in honorate — Honour is to be estimated
by the character and condition of him who confers
it. God is the Fountain of honour, and from him
the church’s honour comes; “ Thou shalt be called
by a new name, a pleasant name, such as thou wast
never called by before, no, not in the day of thy
greatest prosperity, and the reverse of "that which
thou wast called by in the day of thine affliction;
thou shalt have a new character, be advanced to a
new dignity, and those about thee shall have new
thoughts of thee.” This seems to be alluded to in
that promise (Rev. ii. 17.) of the white stone, and
in the stone a new name, and that (Rev. iii. 12.) of
the name of the city of my God, and my new name.
It is a name which the mouth of the Lord shall
name, who, we are sure, miscalls nothing, and who
will oblige others to call her by the name he has
given her; for his judgment is according to truth,
and all shall concur with it sooner or later. Two
names God shall give her. «
(1.) He shall call her hiscrown; (y. 3.) Thoushalt
be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, not on
his head, as adding any real honour or power to
him, as crowns do to those that are crowned with
them, but in his hand; he is pleased to account
them, and show them forth, as a glory and beauty
to him. When he took them to be his people, it
was that they might be unto him for a name, and
for a praise, and for a glory; (Jer. xiii. 11.)
“Thou shalt be a crown of glory and a royal dia¬
dem, through the hand, the good hand, of thy God
upon thee; he shall make thee so, for he shall be
to thee a Crown of glory, ch. xxviii. 5. Thou
shalt be so in his hand, under his protection; he
that shall put glory upon thee, shall create a de¬
fence upon all that glory, so that the flowers of
thy crown shall never be withered, nor its jewels
lost.”
(2.) He shall call her his spouse; (v. 4, 5.) this
is a yet greater honour, especially considering what
a forlorn condition she had been in. [1.] Her case
had been very melancholy; she was called for¬
saken, and her land desolate, during the captivity,
like a wQman reproachfully divorced, or left a dis¬
consolate widow. Such was the state of religion in the
world before the preaching of the gospel — it was in
a manner forsaken and desolate, a thing that no
man looked after, or had anv real concern for.
[2.] It should now be very pleasant, for God would
return in mercy to her. Instead of those two names
of reproach, she shall be called bv two honourable
names. First, She shall be called Hephzibah, which
signifies, My delight is in her; it was the name of
Hezekiah’s queen, Manasseh.’s mother: (2 King*
xxi. 1.) a proper name for a wife, who ought to be
her husband’s delight, Prov. v. 19. And here it is
the church’s Maker, that is her Husband; The
Lord delights in thee. God by his grace has
wrought that in his church, which makes her his
delight, she being refined, and reformed, and
brought home to him; and then by his providence
he does that for her, which makes it appear that she
is his delight, and that he delights to do her good.
Secondly, She shall be called Beulah, which signi¬
fies married, whereas she had been desolate, a con¬
dition opposed to that of the married wife; (ch. Kv.
1. ) “ Thy land shall be married; it shall become
fruitful again, and be replenished.” Though she has
long been barren, she shall again be peopled, shall
again be made to keep house, and to be a joyful
mother of children, Ps. cxiii. 9. She shall be mar¬
ried, For, 1. Her sons shall heartily espouse the land
■ of their nativity and its interests, which they had for a
long time neglected, as despairing ever to have any
comfortable enjoyment of it; Thy sons shall marry
thee, they shall live with thee, and take delight in
thee ; when tlfey were in Babylon, they seemed to have
espoused that land, for they were appointed to set¬
tle, and to seek the peace of it, Jer. xxix. 5. — 7.
But now they shall again marry their own land, as
a young man marries a virgin that he takes great
delight in, is extremely fond of, and is likely to have
many children by. It bodes well to a land, when
its own natives and inhabitants are pleased with it,
prefer it before other lands, when its princes marry
their country, and resolve to take their lot with it.
2. Her God (this is much better) shall betroth her to
himself in righteousness, Hosea ii. 19, 20. He will
take pleasure in his church; As the bridegroom re
joices over the bride, is pleased with his relation to
her and her affection to him, so shall thy God re j
joice over thee, he shall rest in his love to thee,
(Zeph. iii. 17.) he shall take pleasure in thee, (Ps.
cxlvii. 11.) and shall delight to do thee good with his
whole heart and his whole soul, Jer. xxxii. 41.
This is very applicable to the love Christ has for
his church, and for the complacency he takes in it;
which appears so bright in Solomon’s Song, anil
which will be complete in heaven.
6. I have set watchmen upon thy walls,
O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace day nor night: ye that make mention
of the Lord, keep not silence ; 7. And give
him no rest, till he establish, and till he
make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 8.
The Lord hath sworn by his right hand,
and by the arm of his strength, Surely I
will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine
enemies ; and the sons of the stranger shall
not drink thy wine for the which thou
hast laboured : 9. But they that have gath¬
ered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord •
and they that have brought it together
shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.
Two things are here promised to Jerusalem.
I. Plenty of the means of grace — abundance of
good preaching and good praying; (v. 6, 7 ) and this
shows the method God takes when he des.gns mercy
for a people; he first brings them to their duty, and
291
ISAIAH, LXI1.
pours out a spirit of prayer upon them, and then
brings salvation to them. Provision is made,
1. That ministers may do their duty as watch¬
men; it is here spoken ot as a token for good, as a
step toward further mercy, and an earnest of it,
that, in order to what he designed for them, he
would set watchmen on their waits, who should ne¬
ver hold their peace. Note,. (1.) Ministers are
watchmen on the church’s walls, for it is as a city
besieged, whose concern it is to have sentinels on
the walls, to take notice, and give notice, of the
motions of the enemy. It is necessary that, as
watchmen, they be wakeful and faithful, and will¬
ing to endure hardness. (2. ) They are concerned
to stand upon their guard day and night; they must
never be off their watch, as long as those for whose
souls they watch, are not out of danger. (3. ) They
must never hold their peace, they must take all
opportunities to give warning to sinners, in season,
out of season, and must never betray the cause of
Christ by a treacherous or cowardly silence; they
must never hold their peace at the throne of grace,
they must pray and not faint, as Moses lifted up
his hands, and kept them steady, till Israel had got
the victory over Amalek, Exod. xvii. 10, 12.
2. That people may do their duty. As those
that make mention of the Lord, let not them keep 1
silence neither, let not them think it enough that their
watchmen pray for them, but let them pray forthem-
seves ; all will be little enough to meet the approaching
mercy with due solemnity. Note, (1.) It is the
character of God’s professing people, that they may
make mention of the Lord, and continue to do so
even in bad times, when the land is termed forsaken
and desolate; they are the Lord’s remembrances;
(so the margin reads it;) they remember the Lord
themselves, and put one another in mind of him.
(2.) God’s professing people must be a praying
people, must be public-spirited in prayer, must
wrestle with God in prayer, and continue to do so;
“ Keep not silence, never grow remiss in the duty,
or weary of it;” Give him no rest — alluding to an
importunate beggar, to the widow that with her
continual coming wearied the judge into a compli¬
ance. God said to Moses, Let me alone; (Exod. j
xxxii. 10.) and Jacob to Christ, I will not let thee
go except thou bless me, Gen. xxxii. 26. (3.) God is
so far from being displeased with our pressing im¬
portunity, as men commonly are, that he invites
and encourages it, he bids us to cry after him; he is
not like those disciples who discouraged a peti¬
tioner, Matt xv. 23. He bids us make pressing
applications at the throne of grace, and give him
no rest, Luke xi. 5, 6. He suffers himself not only
to be reasoned with, but to be wrestled with. (4. )
The public welfare and prosperity of God’s Jerusa¬
lem is that which we should he most importunate
for at the throne of grace; we should pray for the
good of the church. [ 1. ] That it may be safe, that
he would establish it, that the interests of the
church may be firm, may be settled for the present,
and secured to posterity. [2.] That it may be
great, may be a praise in the earth; that it may
be praised, and God may be praised for it When
gospel-truths are cleared and vindicated, when
gospel-ordinances are duly administered in their
purity and power, when the church becomes emi¬
nent for holiness and love, then Jerusalem'is a praise
in the earth, then it is in reputation. (5.) We must
persevere in our prayers for mercy to the church,
till the mercy comes; we must do as the prophet’s
servant did, go yet seven times, till the promising
cloud appear, l'Kings xviii. 44. (6.) It is a good
sign that God is coming toward a people in ways
of mercy, when he pours out a spirit of prayer upon
them, and stirs them up to be fervent and constant
n their intercessions.
II. Plenty of all other good things, v 8. This
follows upon the former; when the people praise God,
when all the people praise him, then shall the earth
yield her increase, (Ps. lxvii. 5, 6. ) and outward
prosperity, crowning its piety, shall help to make
Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Observe, 1. The
great distress they had been in, and the losses they
had sustained; their corn had been meat for them¬
selves and their families; here was a double griev¬
ance, that they themselves wanted that which was
necessary to the support of life, and were in danger
of perishing for want of it, and that their enemies
were strengthened by it, had their camp victualled
with it, and so were the better able to do them a mis¬
chief. God is said to give their corn to their ene¬
mies, because he not only permitted it, but ordered
it, to be the just punishment both of their abuse of
plenty, and of their symbolizing with strangers, ch.
i. 7. The wine which they had laboured for, and
which in their affliction they needed, for the relief
of those among them that were of a heavy heart,
strangers drink it, to gratify their lusts with; this
sore judgment was threatened for their sins, Lev.
xxvi. 16. Deut. xxviii. 33. See how uncertain our
creature-comforts are, and how much it is our wis¬
dom to labour for that meat which we can never be
‘ robbed of. 2. The great fulness and satisfaction
i they should now be restored to; (v. 9.) They that
have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the Lord.
See here, (1.) God’s mercy in giving plenty, and
peace to enjoy it; that the earth yields her increase,
that there are hands to be employed in gathering it
in, and that they are not taken off by plague and
sickness, or otherwise employed in war; that stran¬
gers and enemies do not come, and gather it for
themselves, or take it from us when we have ga¬
thered it, that we eat the labour of our hands, and
the bread is not eaten out of our mouths, and espe¬
cially, that we have opportunity and a heart to ho¬
nour God with it, and that his courts are open to
us, and we are not restrained from attending on
him in them. (2.) Our duty in the enjoyment of this
mercy; we must gather what God gives, with care
and industry, we must eat it freely and cheerfully,
j not bury the gifts of God’s bounty, but make use of
them; we must, when we have eaten and are full,
bless the Lord, and give him thanks for his bounty
to us, and we must serve him with our abundance,
use it in works of piety and charity, eat it and
drink it in the courts of his holiness, where the
altar, the priest, and the poor, must all have their
share. The greatest comfort that a good man has
in his meat and drink is that it furnishes him with
a meat-offering and a drink-offering for the Lord
his God; (Joel ii. 14.) the greatest comfort that he
has in an estate is, that it gives him an opportunity
of honouring God and doing good. This wine is to
be drunk in the courts of God’s holiness, and there¬
fore moderately and with sobriety, as before the
Lord. 3. The solemn ratification of this promise;
The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by the arm
of his strength, that he will do this for his people;
God confirms it by an oath, that his people, who
trust in him and his word, may have strong conso¬
lation, Heb. vi. 17, 18. And since he can swear by-
no greater, he swears by himself; sometimes by his
being, As I live; (Ezek. xxxiii. 11.) sometimes by
his holiness; (Ps. lxxxix. 35.) here by his power,
his right hand, (which was lifted up "in swearing,
Deut. xxxii. 40.) and his arm of power; for it is a
geat satisfaction to those who build their hopes cn
od’s promise, to be sure that what he has promised
he is able to perform, Rom. iv. 21. To assure us
of this, he has sworn by his strength, pawning the
reputation of his omnipotence upon it; if he did net
do it, let it be said, It was because he could not,
which the Egyptians shall never say, (Numb. xiv.
292 ISAIAH, LX1II.
1 6. ) nor an v other. It is the comfort of God’s peo¬
ple, that his power is engaged for them; his right
hand, where the Mediator sits.
10. Go through, go through the gates;
prepare you the way of the people; cast up,
cast up the highway; gather out the stones;
lift up a standard for the people. 1 1 . Be¬
hold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the
end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of
Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh ; behold,
his reward is with him, and his work before
him. 12. And they shall call them, The
holy people, The redeemed of the Lord :
and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city
not forsaken.
This, as many like passages before, refers to the
deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon, and, under
the type and figure of that, to the great redemption
wrought out by Jesus Christ, and the proclaiming
of gospel-grace and liberty through him.
1. Way shall be made for this salvation; all diffi¬
culties shall be removed, and whatever might ob¬
struct it shall be taken out of the way, v. 10. The
gates of Babylon shall be thrown open, that they
may with freedom go through them; the way from
Babylon to the land of Israel shall be prepared,
causeways shall be made and cast up through wet
and mil'}’ places, and the stones gathered out from
places rough and rocky; in the convenient places
appointed tor their rendezvous, standards shall be
set up for their direction and encouragement, that
tiiev may embody for their greater safety. Thus
John Baptist was sent to prepare the ’way of the Lord,
Matth. iii. 3. And before Christ by his graces
and comforts comes to any for salvation, prepa¬
ration is made for him by repentance, which is call¬
ed the preparation of the gospel of peace; (Eph. vi.
15.) here the way is levelled by it, there the feet
are shod with it, which comes all to one, for both
are in order to a journey.
2. Notice shall be given of this salvation, v. 11,
12. It shall be proclaimed to the captives, that
they are set at liberty, and may go if they please;
it shall be proclaimed to their neighbours, to all
about them, to the end of the world, that God has
headed Zion’s just, injured, and despised cause.
..ot it be said to Zion, for her comfort, Behold, thy
salvation comes, thy Saviour, who brings salvation;
he will bring such a work, such a reward, in this
salvation, as shall be admired by all; a reward of
comfort and peace with him ; but a work of humilia¬
tion and reformation before him, to prepare his peo¬
ple for that recompense of their sufferings; and then, \
with reference to each, it follows, they shall be j
called, The holy people, and, The redeemed of the
Lord; the work before him, which shall be wrought
in them and upon them, shall denominate them a
holy people, cured of their inclination to idolatry,
tnd consecrated to God only; and the reward with
him, the deliverance wrought for them, shall de¬
nominate the redeemed of the Lord, so redeemed as
none but God could redeem them; and redeemed to
he his, their bonds loosed, that they might be his
servants. Jerusalem shall then be called, Sought
out, a city not forsaken; she had been forsaken for
many years, there were neither traders nor wor¬
shippers that inquired the way to Jerusalem as for¬
merly, when it was frequented by both; but now God
will again make it considerable; it shall be sought
cut, visited, resorted to, and court made to it, as
much as ever. When it is called a holy city, then
it is called sought out, for holiness puts an honour
and beauty upon any place or person, which draws
respect, and makes them to be admired, beloved,
and inquired after.
But this, being proclaimed to the end of the world,
must have a reference to the gospel of Christ,
which was to be preached to every creature; and it
speaks, (1.) The glory of Christ. It is published
immediately to the church, but is thence echoed to
every nation; Behold, thy salvation cometh. Christ
is not only the Saviour, but the Salvation itself; for
the happiness of believers is not only from him, but in
him, cA.xii. 2. His salvation consists both in the work
and in the reward which he brings with him ; for those
that are his shall neither be idle, nor lose their la¬
bour. (2.) The beauty of the church. Christians
shall be called saints, (l Cor. i. 2.) the holy people,
for they are chosen and called to salvation through
sanctification; they shall be called the redeemed of
the Lord, to him they owe their liberty, and there¬
fore to him they owe their service, and they shall
not be ashamed to own both. None are to be called
the redeemed of the Lord, but those that are the
holy people; the people of God’s purchase is a holy
nation. And they shall be called, Sought out; God
shall seek them out, and find them, wherever they
are dispersed, eclipsed, or lost in a crowd; men
shall seek them cut, that they may join themselves
to them, and not forsake them. It is good to asso¬
ciate with the holy people, that we may learn their
ways, and with the redeemed of the Lord, that we
may share in the blessings of the redemption.
CHAP. LXIII.
In this chapter, we have, I. God coming towards his people
in ways of mercy and deliverance, and this is to be joined
to the close of the foregoing chapter, where it was said
to Zion, Behold , thy salvation comes; for here it is showed
how it comes, v. 1 . . 6. II. God’s people meeting him
with their devotions, and addressing themselves to him
with suitable affections; and this part of the chapter is
carried on to the close of the next. In this, we have, 1.
A thankful acknowledgment of the great favours God
had bestowed upon them, v. 7. 2. The magnifying of
these favours, from the consideration of God’s relation to
them, (v. 8.) his compassionate concern for them, (v. 9.)
their unworthiness, (v. 10.) and the occasion which it
gave both him and them to call to mind former mercies,
v. 11.. 14. 3. A very humble and earnest prayer to
God to appear for them in their present distress, pleading
God’s mercy, (v. 15.) their relation to him, (v. 16.) their
desire toward him, (v. 17.) and the insolence of their
enemies, v. 18, 19. So that, upon the whole, we learn
to embrace God’s promises with an active faith, and
then to improve them, and make use of them, both in
prayers and praises.
1 . A VTHO is this that cometh from Edom,
TV with dyed garments from Bozrah?
this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling
in the greatness of his strength? I that speak
in righteousness, mighty to save. 2. Where¬
fore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy
garments like him that treadeth in the wine-
fat? 3. 1 have trodden the wine-press alone;
and of the people there teas none with me:
for I will tread them in mine anger, and
trample them in my fury: and their blood
shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I
•will staifi all my raiment. 4. For the day
of vengeance is in my heart, and the year
of my redeemed is come. 5. And I looked,
and there teas none to help; and I wondered
that there teas none to uphold; therefore
mine own arm brought salvation unto me ,
and my fury, it upheld me. 6. And I will
tread down the people in mine anger, and
29;-
ISAIAH, LXI11.
make them drunk in my fury, and 1 will
bring down their strength to the earth.
It is a glorious victory that is here inquired into
first, and then accounted for; 1. It is a victory ob¬
tained by the providence of God over the enemies
of Israel; over the Babylonians, (say some,) whom
Cyrus conquered, and God by him, and they will
have the prophet to make the first discovery of him
in his triumphant return, when he is in the country
of Edom: but this can by no means be admitted,
because the country of Babylon is always spoken of
as the land of the north, whereas Edom lays south
from Jerusalem, so that the conqueror would not re¬
turn through that country; the victory therefore is
obtained over the Edomites themselves, who had
triumphed in the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Chaldeans, (Ps. cxxxvii. 7.) and cut off those who,
making their way as far as they could from the
enemy, escaped to the Edomites, (Obad. xii. 13.)
and were therefore reckoned with when Babylon
was; for, no doubt, that prophecy was accomplished,
though we do not meet in history with the accom¬
plishment of it, (Jer. xlix. 13.) Bozrah shall become
a desolation. Yet this victory over Edom is put as
an instance or specimen of the like victories, ob¬
tained over other nations that had beCTi enemies to
Israel: this over the Edomites is named, for the sake
of the old enmity of Esau against Jacob, (Gen.
xxvii. 41.) and perhaps with an allusion to David’s
glorious triumphs over the Edomites, by which it
should seem, more than by any other of his victories,
he got him a name, Ps. lx. title, 2 Sam. viii. 13, 14.
But this is not all; 2. It is a victory obtained by the
grace of God in Christ over our spiritual enemies;
we find the garments dipped in blood adorning him
whose name is called The H ard of God, Rev. xix.
13. And who that is, we know well; it is he through
whom we are more than conquerors over those
principalities and powers which on the cross he
spoiled and triumphed over.
In this representation of the victory, we have,
•I. An admiring question put to the Conqueror, v.
1, 2. It is put by the church, or by the prophet in
the name of the church. He sees a mighty Hero
returning in triumph from a bloody engagement,
and makes bold to ask him two questions; 1. Who
is he? He observes him to come frttn the country
of Edom, to come in such apparel as was glorious
to a soldier, not embroidered or laced, but besmear¬
ed with blood and dirt: he observes him to come as
one either frighted or fatigued, but that he travels
in the greatness of his strength, altogether unbroken.
Triumphant and victorious he appears,
And honour in his looks and habit wears;
How strong he treads, how stately doth he go !
Pompous and solemn is his pace,
And full of majesty, his face:
Who is this mighty hero — who? Mr. Norris.
The question, Who is this? perhaps means the same
with that which Joshua put to the same Person,
when he appeared to him with his sword drawn?
(Josh. v. 13. ) Art thou for us or for our adver¬
saries? Or rather, the same with that which Israel
put in a way of adoration, (Exod. xv. 11.) Who is a
God like unto thee? 2. The other question is,
“ Wherefore art thou red in thine afifiarel? What
hard service hast thou been engaged in, that thou
carriest with thee these marks of toil and danger?”
Is it possible that one who has such majesty and ter¬
ror in his countenance, should be employed in the
mean and servile work of treading the wine-firess?
Surely it is not. That which is really the glory of
the Redeemer seems firima facie — at jfi?st, a dispar¬
agement to him, as it would be to a mighty prince
to do the work of the vine-dressers and husband -
men; for he took ufion him the form of a servant,
and carried with him the marks of servitudet®j5?>2
; II. An admirable answer returned by him:
1. He tells who he is; I that sfieak in righteous
ness, mighty to save. He is the Saviour. God was
Israel’s Saviour out of the hand of their oppressors;
the Lord Jesus is ours; his name, Jesus, signifies a
Saviour, for he saves his /ieo/ile from their sms. In
the salvation wrought, he will have us to take no¬
tice, (1.) Of the truth of his promise, which is
therein performed; he sfieaks in righteousness, and
will therefore make good every word that he has
spoken, with which he will have us to compare
what he does; that, setting the word and the work
the one over against the other, what he does may
ratify' what he has said, and what he has said may
justify what he docs. (2.) Of the efficacy of his
power, which is therein exerted; he is mighty to
save, able to tiring about the promised redemption,
whatever difficulties and oppositions may lie in the
way of it.
’Tie I who to my promise faithful stand,
1, who the powers of death, hell, and the grave,
Have, foil’d with this all-conquering hand,
I, who most ready um, and mighty too, to save.
Mr. Norris.
2. He tells how he came to appear in this hue;
(x>. 3. ) I have trodden the wine-firess alone. Being
compared to one that treads in the wine-fat, such is
his condescension, in the midst of his triumphs, that
he does not scorn the comparison, but admits it, and
carries it on. He does indeed tread the wine-firess,
but it is the great wine-firess of the wrath of God,
(Rev. xiv. 19.) in which we sinners deserved to
have been cast; but Christ was pleased to cast cur
enemies into it, and to destroy him that had the
fiower of death, that he might deliver us. And of
this, the bloody work which God sometimes made
among the enemies of the Jews, and which is here
foretold, was a type and figure.
Observe the account the Conqueror gives of his
victory.
(1.) He gains the victory purely by his own
strength; I have trodden the wine-firess alone, v. 3.
When God delivered his people, and destroyed
their enemies, if he made use of instruments, he did
not need them ; but among his people, for whom the
salvation was to be wrought, no assistance offered
itself; they were weak, and helpless, and had no
ability to do any thing for their own relief; they
were desponding and listless, and had no heart to do
any thing; they were not disposed to give the least
stroke or straggle for liberty; neither the captives
themselves, nor any of their friends for them; (x'. 5.)
“I looked, and there was none to lielfi, as one would
have expected, nothing of a bold, active spir it ap¬
peared among them; nay, there were not only none
to lead, but, which was more strange, there was
none to ufihold, none that would come in as a se-
coqjl, that had the courage to join with Cyras
against their oppressors; therefore mine arm brought
about the salvation; not by created might or fiower,
but by the Sfiirit of the Lord of hosts, my . wn arm. ”
Note, God can help, when all other helpers fail;
nay, that is his time to help, and therefore for that
very reason he will put forth his own power so much
the more gloriously. But this is most fully applica¬
ble to Christ’s victories over our spiritual enemies,
which he obtained by single combat. He trod the
wine-press of his Father’s wrath alone, and tri¬
umphed over principalities and powers in hi?nself,
Col. ii. 15. Of the fieofile there was none with him;
for when he entered the lists with the powers of
darkness, all his discifi/es forsook him, and fled.
There was none to helfi, none that could, none that
durst; and he might well wonder not only that
among the children of men, whose concern it was.
there was not only none to ufihold, but that there
were so many to oppose and hinder it if they could.
”e undertakes the war purely out of his own
294
ISAIAH
zeal; it is in his anger, it is in his fury, that he
treads down his enemies, ( v . 3.) and that fury up¬
holds him, and carries him on in this enterprize, v.
5. God wrought salvation for the oppressed Jews,
entirely because he was very angry with the op¬
pressing Babylonians, angry at their idolatries and
sorceries, their pride and cruelty, and the injuries
they did to his people; in which, as they increased
and grew more insolent and outrageous, his anger
increased to fury. Our Lord Jesus wrought out our
redemption, in a holy zeal for the honour of his Fa-
tner, the happiness of mankind, and a holy indigna¬
tion at the daring attempts Satan had made upon
both; this zeal and indignation upheld him through¬
out his whole undertaking.
Two branches there were of this zeal, that ani¬
mated him;
[1.] He had a zeal against his and his people’s
enemies; The day of vengeance is in my heart, (y.
4. ) the day fixed in the eternal counsels for taking
v engeance on them; this was written in his heart,
so that he could not forget it, could not let it slip;
his heart was full of it, and it lay as a charge, as a
weight, upon him, which made him push on this
holy war with so much vigour. Note, There is a
day fixed for divine vengeance, which may be long
deferred, but will come at last; and we may be con¬
tent to wait for it, for the Redeemer himself does,
though his heart is upon it.
[2. ] He had a zeal for his people, and for all that
lie designed to make sharers in the intended salva¬
tion; “ The year of my redeemed is come, the year
appointed for their redemption.” The year was
fixed for the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, and
God kept time to a day; (Exod. xii. 41.) so there
was for their release out of Babylon; (Dan. ix. 2. ) so
there was for Christ’s coming to destroy the works of
the devil; so there is for all the deliverances of the
church, and the Deliverer has an eye to it. Ob¬
serve, First, With what pleasure he speaks of his
people; they are his redeemed; they are his own,
dear to him. Though their redemption is not yet
wrought out, yet he calls them his redeemed, because
it shall as surely be done as if it were done already.
Secondly, With what pleasure he speaks of his peo¬
ple’s redemption; how glad he is that the time is
come, though he is likely to meet with a sharp en¬
counter. Now that the year of my redeemed is
come, Lo, I come; delay shall be no longer. JVow
mill I arise, saith the Lord. .Vow thou shalt see
■what I will do to Pharaoh. Note, The promised
salvation must be patiently waited for, till the time
appointed comes; yet we must attend the promises
with our prayers. Does Christ say. Surely I come
quickly; let our hearts reply, Even so, come; let the
year of the redeemed come.
(3. ) He will obtain a complete victory over them all.
[1.] Much is already done; for he now appears
red in his apparel; such abundance of blood is shed,
that the Conqueror’s garments are all stained with
it. This was predicted, long before, by dying Jacob,
concerning Shiloh, that is, Christ, that he should
•wash his garments in wise, and his clothes in the
blood of grapes, which perhaps this alludes to, Gen.
xlix. 11.
With ornamental drops bedeck’d I stood,
And writ my vict’ry with my eu’ray’s blood. Mr. Norris.
In the destruction of the antichristian powers we
meet with abundance of bloodshed, (Rev. xiv. 20.
— xix. 13.) which yet, according to the dialect of 1
prophecy, may be understood spirituallv, and doubt¬
less so may this here.
[2.] More shall yet be done; (y. 6.) I will tread
down the people, that yet stand it out against me, in
thine anger; for the victorious Redeemer, when the
liar of the Redeemer is come, will go cn conquering
, LXIII.
and to conquer, Rev. vi. 2. When he begins, he
will also make an end. Observe, How he will com
plete his victories over the enemies of his church
First, He will infatuate them; he will make them
drunk, so that there shall be neither sense nor
steadiness in their counsels; they shall drink of the
cup of his fury, and that shall intoxicate them : or,
he will make them drunk with their own blood.
Rev. xvii. 6. Let those that make themselves drunk
with the cup of riot, (and then they are in their
fury,) repent and reform, lest God make them drunk
with the cup of trembling, the cup of his fury.
Secondly, He will enfeeble them; he will bring
down their strength, and so bring them down to the.
earth; for what strength can hold out against Omni
potence?
7. I will mention the loving-kindnesses of
the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, ac¬
cording to all that the Lord hath bestowed
on us, and the great goodness toward the
house of Israel, which he hath bestow’ed on
them according to his mercies, and accord¬
ing to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses.
8. For he said, Surely they are my people,
children that will not lie: so he was their
Saviour. 9. In all their affliction he was
afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved
them : in his love and in his pity he redeemed
them: and he bare them, and carried them
all the days of old. 10. But they rebelled,
and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was
turned to be their enemy, and he fought
against them. 1 1 . Then he remembered
the days of old, Moses and his people, say¬
ing, Where is he that brought them up out
of the sea with the shepherd of his flock ?
w fie re is he that put his holy Spirit within
him ? 1 2. That led them by the right hand
of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the
water before them, to make himself an ever¬
lasting name ? 1 3. That led them through
the deep, as a horse in the wilderness, that
they should not stumble? 14. As a beast
goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the
Lord caused him to rest; so didst thou lead
thy people, to make thyself a glorious name.
The prophet is here, in the name of the church,
taking a review, and making a thankful recognition,
of God’s dealings with his church all along, ever
since he founded it, before he comes, in the latter
end of this chapter, and in the next, as a watchman
upon the walls, earnestly to pray to God for his
compassion toward her in her present deplorable
stat-e; and it was usual for God’s people, in their
prayers, thus to look back.
I. Here is a general acknowledgment of God’s
goodness to them all along, v. 7. It was said, in
general, of God’s prophets and people, ( ch . lxii. 6. )
that they make mention of the Ford; now here we
! are told what it is in God, that they do especially
J delight to make mention of, and that is, bis good¬
ness, which the prophet here so makes mention of,
as if he thought he could never say enough of it.
He mentions the kindness of God, (which neve?'
appeared so evident, so eminent, as in his love to
! mankind in sending his Son to save us, Tit. iii. 4. >
his loving-kindness, kindness that shows itself
ISAIAH, LXJ11.
295
every thing that is endearing; nay, so plenteous are
the springs, and so various the streams, of divine
mercy, that he speaks of it in the plural number,
At's loving-kindnesses; for if we would count the
fruits of his loving-kindness, they are more in num¬
ber than the sand. With his loving-kindnesses he
mentions his praises; the thankful acknowledgments
which the saints make of his loving-kindness, and
the angels too. It must be mentioned, to God’s
honour, what a tribute of praise is paid him by all
his creatures in consideration of his loving-kindness.
See how copiously he speaks, 1. Of the goodness
that is from God, the gifts of his loving-kindness;
all that the Lord has bestowed on us in particular,
relating to life and godliness, in our personal and
family capacity; let every man speak for himself,
speak as he has found, and he must own that he has
had a great deal bestowed upon him by the divine
Dounty. But we must also mention the favours be¬
stowed upon his church, his great goodness toward
the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them.
Note, We must bless God for the mercies enjoyed
by otliers, as well as for those enjoyed by ourselves,
and reckon that bestowed on ourselves, which is
bestowed on the house of Israel. 2. Of the goodness
that is in God. God does good because he is good;
what he bestows upon us, must be run up to the
original, it is according to his mercies, not according
to our merits, and according to the multitude of his
loving-kindnesses, which can never be spent. Thus
we should magnify God’s goodness, and speak ho¬
nourably of it, not only when we plead it, (as David,
Ps. li. 1.) but when we praise it.
II. Here is particular notice taken of the steps of
God’s mercy to Israel, ever since it was formed into I
a nation.
1. The expectations God had concerning them,
that they would conduct themselves well, v. 8.
When he brought them out of Egypt and took them
into covenant with himself, he said, “ Surely they
are my people, I take them as such, and am willing
to hope they will approve themselves so; children
that will not lie;” that will not dissemble with God
in their covenantings with him, nor treacherously
depart from him by breaking their covenant, and
starting aside like a broken bow. They said, more
than once, All that the Lord shall say unto us we
will do, and will be obedient; and thereupon he took
them to be his peculiar people, saying, Surely they
will not lie. God deals fairly and faithfully with
them, and therefore expects they should deal so
with him. They are children of the covenant, (Acts
iii. 25.) children of those that clave unto the Lord,
and therefore it may be hoped that they will tread
in the steps of their father’s constancy. Note, God’s
people are children that will not lie; for those that
will, are not his children, but the devil’s.
2. The favour he showed them, with an eye to
these expectations; So he was their Saviour out of
the bondage of Egypt, and all the calamities of their
wilderness-state, and many a time since he had been
their Saviour.
See particularly, (r>. 9. ) what he did for them as
their Saviour.
(1.) The principle that moved him to work salva¬
tion for them; it was in his love, and in his pity, out
of mere compassion to them, and a tender affection
for them, not because he either needed them, or
could be benefited by them. This is strangely ex¬
pressed here, In all their a ffliction he was afflicted;
not that the Eternal Mind is capable of grieving,
or God’s infinite blessedness of suffering the least
damage or diminution; (God cannot be afflicted;)
but thus he is pleased to show forth the love and
concern he has for his people in their affliction; thus
far he sympathizes with them, that he takes what
injury is done to them as done to himself, and will
reckon for it accordingly. Their cries move lum,
(Exod. iii. 7.) and he appears for them as vigorously
as if he were pained in their pain; Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? This is a matter of great com¬
fort to God’s people in their affliction, that God is
so far from afflicting willingly, (Lam. iii. 33.) that,
if they humble themselves under his hand, he is
afflicted in their affliction, as the tender parents are
I in the severe operations which the case of a sick
child calls for. There is another reading of these
words in the original; In all their affliction there
was no affliction; though they were in great afflic¬
tion, yet the property of it was so altered by the
grace of God sanctifying it to them for their good,
the rigour of it was so mitigated, and it was so allay¬
ed and balanced with mercies, they were so won¬
derfully supported and comforted under it, and it
proved so short, and ended so well, that it was in
effect no affliction. The troubles of the saints are
not that to them that they are to others, they are
not afflictions, bt>t medicines; saints are enabled to
call them light, and but for a moment, and, with an
eye to heaven as all in all, to make nothing of them.
(2.) The Person employed in their salvation; the
angel of his face, or presence. Some understand it
of a created angel; the highest angel in heaven, even
the angel of his presence, that attends next the
throne of his glory, is not thought too great, too
good, to be sent on this errand. Thus the little
ones’ angels are said to be those that always behold
the face of our Father, Matth. xviii. 10. But this
is rather to be understood of Jesus Christ, the eter¬
nal Word, that Angel of whom God spake to Moses,
(Exod. xxiii. 20.) whose voice Israel was to obey.
He is called Jehovah, Exod. xiii. 21. — xiv. 21, 24.
He is the Angel of the covenant, God’s Messenger
to the world, Mai. iii. 1. He is the Angel of God’s
face, for he is the express Image of his person; and
the glory of God shines in the face of Christ. He
that was to work out the eternal salvation, as an
earnest of that, wrought out the temporal salvations
that were typical of it.
(3. ) The progress and perseverance of this favour.
He not only redeemed them out of their bondage,
but he bare them, and carried them, all the days of
old; they were weak, but he supported them by his
power, sustained them by his bounty; when they
were burdened, and ready to sink, he bore them up,
in the wars they made upon the nations, he stood bv
them, and bore them out; though they were peevish,
he bore with them, and suffered their manners, Acts
xiii. 18. He carried them, as the nursing father
does the child, though they would have tired any
arms but his; he carried them as the eagle her
young upon her wings, Deut. xxxii. 11. And it was
a long time that he was troubled with them, (if we
may so speak,) it was all the days of old; his care of
them was not at an end, even when they were grown
up, and settled in Canaan. All this was in his love
and pity, ex mero motu — of his mere good-will; he
loved them because he would love them, as he says,
Deut. vii. 7, 8.
3. Their disingenuous conduct toward him, and
the trouble they thereby brought upon themselves;
(y. 10.) But they rebelled. Things looked verv
hopeful and promising; one would have thought that
they should have continued dutiful children to God,
and then there was no doubt but he would have con¬
tinued a gracious Father to them; but here is a sad
change on both sides, and on them be the breach.
(1.) They revolted from their allegiance to God,
and took ufi arms against him ; they rebelled, and
vexed his Holy Spirit with their unbelief and mur¬
muring, beside the iniquity of the golden calf; and
this had been their way and manner ever since.
Though he was ready to say of them. They will no.
lie, though he had done so much for them, borne
"96
ISAIAH, LXIII.
them and carried them, yet they thus ill requited
nim, like foolish people and unwise, Deut. xxxii. 6.
This grieved him, Ps. xcv. 10. The ungrateful
rebellions of God’s children against him are a vexa¬
tion to his Holy Spirit. (2.) Thereupon he justly
withdrew his protection, and not only so, but made
wav upon them, as a prince justly does upon the
rebels. He who had been so much their Friend,
was turned to be their Enemy, and fought against
them, by one judgment after another, both in the
wilderness, and after their settlement in Canaan.
See the malignity and mischievousness of sin; it
makes God an Enemy, even to those for whom he
has done the part of a good friend, and makes him
angry, who was ‘311 love and pity. See the folly of
sinners; they wilfullyleave himfor a Friend, who is
the most desirable Friend, and make him their
Enemy, who is the most formidable Enemy. This
refers especially to those calamities that were of
late brought upon them by their captivity in Babylon,
for their idolatries, and other sins. That which is
both the original, and the great aggravation of their
troubles, was, that God was turned to be their
Enemy.
4. A particular reflection made, on this occasion,
upon what God did for them, when he first formed
them into a people; Then he remembered the days
of old, v. 11. This may be understood either, (1.)
Of the people. Israel then (spoken of as a single
person) remembered the days of old, looked into
their Bibles, read the story of God’s bringing their
fathers out of Egypt, considered it more closelv than
ever they did before, and reasoned upon it, as Gideon
did; (Judg. vi. 13.) “ l There are all the wonders that
our fathers told us of ? Where is he that brought
them up out of Egypt ? Is he not as able to bring us
up out cf Babylon ? Where is the Lord God of
Elijah? Where is the Lord God of our fathers?”
This they consider as an inducement and an en¬
couragement to them to repent, and return to him:
their fathers were a provoking people, and yet found
him a pardoning God; and why may not they find
him so, if they return to him? They also use it as a
plea with God in prayer for the turning again of
their captivity, like that ch. li. 9, 10. Note, When
the present days are dark and cloudy, it is good to
remember the days of old, to recollect our own and
others’ experiences of the divine power and good¬
ness, and make use of them; to look back upon the
years of the right hand of the Most High, (Ps.
lxxvii. 5, 10.) and remember that he is God, and
changes not. Or, (2.) We may understand it of
God; he put himself in mind of the days of old, of
his covenant with Abraham; (Lev. xxvi. 42.) he
said. Where is he that brought Israel up out of the
sea? Stirring up himself to come and save them,
with this consideration, “Why should not I appear
for them now as I did for their fathers, who were as
undeserving, as ill-deserving, as they are?” See how
far off divine mercy will go, how far back it will
look, to find out a reason for doing good to his peo¬
ple, when no present considerations appear but
what make against them. Nay, it makes that a
reason for relieving them, which might have been
used as a reason for abandoning them. He might
have said, “ I have delivered them formerly, but
they have again brought trouble upon themselves,
(Prov. xix. 19.) therefore I will deliver them no
more.” Judg. x. 13. But no; mercy rejoices against
judgment, and turns the argument the other way;
“ I liave formerly delivered them, and therefore
will now.”
Which way soever we take it, whether the people
plead it with God, or God with himself, let us view
the particulars; they agree very much with the
confession and prayer which the children of the
captivity made upon a sclemn fast-day, (N,h. ix. 5,
&c.) which may serve as a comment on these verses
here, which call to mind Moses and his people; that
is, what God did by Moses for his people, especially
j in bringing them thi'ough the Red sea; for that is it
that is here most insisted on; for it was a work
which he much gloried in, and which his people
therefore may in a particular manner encourage
themselves with the remembrance of.
[1.] God led them by the right hand of Most s,
v. 12.) and the wonder-working rod in his hand;
Ps. lxxvii. 20. ) Thou leddest thy people like a flock
by the hand of Moses. It was not Moses that led
them, any more than it was Moses that fed them,
(John vi. 32.) but God by Moses; for it was he that
qualified Moses for, called him to, assisted and pros¬
pered him in, that great undertaking. Moses is
here called the shepherd of his flock; God was the
Owner of the flock, and the chief Shepherd of Is¬
rael; (Ps. lxxx. 1.) but Moses was a shepherd
under him; and he was inured to labour and pa¬
tience, and so fitted for this pastoral care, by his
being trained up to keep the flock of his father
Jethro. Herein he was a type of Christ the good
Shepherd, that lays down his life for the sheep;
which was more than Moses did for Israel, though
he did a great deal for them.
[2.] He put his holy Spirit within him; the Spirit
of God was among them, and not only his provi¬
dence, but his grace, did work for them ; (Neh. ix.
20.) Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them.
The Spirit of wisdom and courage, as well as the
Spirit of prophecy, was put into Moses, to qualify
him for that service among them, to which he was
called; and some of his spirit was put upen the
seventy elders, Numb. xi. If. This was a great
blessing to Israel, that they had among them not
only inspired writings, but inspired men.
[3.] He carried them safelv through the Red sec,
and thereby saved them out of the hands of Pharaoh.
Eirst, He divided the water before them, (r. 12.) so
that it gave them net only passage, but protection, not
only opened them a lane, but erected them a wall
on either side. Secondly, He led them through the
deep as a horse in the wilderness, or in the plain;
(x). 13.) they and their wives and children, with all
their baggage, went as easily and readily through
the bottom of the sea, though we may suppose it
muddy or stony, or both, as a horse goes along upon
even ground; so that they did not stumble, though
it was an untrodden path, which neither they nor any
one else ever went before. If God make us a way,
he will make it plain and level; the road he (pi ns
to his people he will lead them in. Thirdly, To
complete the mercy, he brought them up out of the
sea, v. 11. Though the ascent, it is likely, was
very steep, dirty, slippery, and unconquerable, (at
least by the women and children, and the men, cc-n
sidering how they were loaded, (Exod. xii. 34.) and
how fatigued,) yet God by his power brought them
up from the depths of the earth; and it was a kind
of resurrection to them; it was as life from the dead.
[4.] He brought them safe to a place of rest; As
a beast goes down into the valley, carefully and gra¬
dually, so the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest.
Many a time in their march through the wilderness
they had resting-places provided for them, by the
direction of the Spirit of the Lord in Moses, v. 11.
And at length they w'ere made to rest finally in Ca¬
naan, and the Spirit of the Lord gave them that
rest according to the promise. It is by the Spirit
of the Lord that God’s Israel are caused to return
to God, and repose in him as their Rest.
[5.] All this he did for them by his own power,
for his own praise. Eirst, It was by his own power,
as the God of nature, that has all the powers of
nature at his command; he did it with his glorious
arm; the arm of his gallantry, or bravery; so the
297
ISAIAH LXIII.
word signifies. It was not Moses’s red, but God’s
glorious arm, that did it. Secondly, It was for his
own praise; to make himself an everlasting nume, j
(r>. 12.) a glorious name, {v. 14.) that he might be
glorified, everlastingly glorified, upon this account,
’i'his is that which God is doing in the world with
Ins glorious arm, he is making to himself a glorious
name, and it shall last to endless ages, when the
most celebrated names of the great ones of the earth
shall be written in the dost.
15. Look down from heaven, and behold
from the habitation of thy holiness and of
thy glory : where is thy zeal and thy
strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of
thy mercies toward me ? are they restrain¬
ed? 16 Doubtless thou art our Father,
though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Is¬
rael acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord,
art our Father, our Redeemer; thy name is
from everlasting. 17. O Lord, why hast
thou made us to err from thy ways, and
hardened our heart from thy fear ?. Return
for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine
inheritance. 1 8. The people of thy holiness
have possessed it but a little while: our adver¬
saries have trodden down thy sanctuary. 1 9.
We are thine: thou never barest rule over
them; they were not called by thy name.
The foregoing praises were intended as an intro¬
duction to this prayer, which is continued to the end
of the next chapter, and it is an affectionate, impor-.
tunate, pleading prayer. It is calculated for the time
of the captivity. As they had promises, so they had
prayers, prepared for them against that time of
need; that they might take with them words in
turning to the Lord, and say unto him what he
himself taught them to say, in which they might
the better hope to prevail, the words being of God’s
own enditing. Some good interpreters think this
prayer looks further, and that it speaks the com¬
plaints of the Jews under their last and final rejec¬
tion from God, and destruction by the Romans; for
there is one passage in it, {ch. lxiv. 4.) which is
applied to the grace of the gospel by the apos¬
tle, (1 Cor. ii. 9.) that grace for the rejecting of
which they were rejected. In these verses, we
may observe,
I. The petitions they put up to God. 1. That
he would take cognizance of their case, and of the
desires of their souls toward him; Look down from
heaven, and behold. They know very well' that
God sees all, but they pray that he would regard
them, would condescend to favour them, would look
upon them with an eye of compassion and concern,
as he looked upon the affliction of his people in
Egypt, when he was about to appear for their de¬
liverance. In begging that he would only look down
upon them and behold them, they do in effect appeal
to his justice against theirenemies, and pray judgment
against them, as Jehoshaphat; (2Chron. xx. 11, 12.)
Behold, how they reward us. Wilt thou not judge
them? And they refer themselves to his mercy and
wisdom, as to the wav in which he will relieve them ;
(Ps.xxv.18.) Look ufion mine affliction and my pain.
Look down from the habitation of thy holiness and of
thy glory. God’s holiness is his glory. Heaven is his
habitation, the throne of his glory, where he most ma¬
nifests his glory, and whence he is said to look down
upon this earth, Ps. xxxiii. 14. His holiness is in a
special manner celebrated there by the blessed an¬
gels; {ch. vi. 3. Rev. iv. 8.) there his holy ones I
Vol. IV. — 2 P
[I attend him, and are continually about him; so that
it is the habitation of his holiness, which is an en¬
couragement to all his praying people, (who desire
to lie holy as he is holy,) that he dwells in a holy
place v 2. That he would take a course for their
relief; (v. 1'.) "Return; change thy way towards
us, and proceed not in thy controversy with us; re
turn in mercy, and let us have not only a gracious
look toward us, but thy gracious presence with us.”
God’s people dread nothing more than his depar¬
tures from them, and desire nothing more than his
returns to them.
II. The complaints they made to God. Two
things they complain of; 1.' That they were given
up to themselves, and God’s grace did not recover
them, v. 17. It is a strange expostulation, “ Why
hast thou made us to err from thy ways; many
among us, the generality of us; and this complaint
we have all of us some cause to make, that thou
hast hardened our heart from thy fear.” Some
make it to be the language of those among them,
that were impious and piofane; when the prophets
reproved them for the error of their ways, their
hardness of heart, and contempt of God’s word and
commandments, they with a daring impudence
charge their sin upon God, and make him the Author
of it; and why doth he then find fault? Note, Those
are wicked indeed, that lay the blame cf their wicked¬
ness upon God. But I rather take it tobe the language
of those among them, that lamented the unbelief
and impenitence of their people, not accusing God
of being the Author of them, but complaining of
them to him. They own that they had eimcd from
God’s ways, that their hearts had been hardened
from his fear, that they had not received the im¬
pressions which the fear of God ought to make
upon them; and this was the cause of all their
errors from his ways; or, from his fear; from the
true worship of God; and that is a hard heart in
deed, which is alienated from the service of a God
so incontestably great and good. Now this thej
complained of as their great misery and burthen,
that God had for their sins left them to this; had
permitted them to err from his ways, and had
justly withheld his grace, so that their hearts were
hardened from his fear. When they ask. Why
hast thou done this? it is not as charging him with
wrong, but lamenting it as a sore judgment. God
had made them to err, and hardened their hearts,
not only by withdrawing his Spirit from them, be¬
cause they had grieved, and vexed, and quenched
him, {v. 10.) but by a judicial sentence upon them,
{Go, make the heart of this people fat, ch. vi. 9,
10.) and by his providences concerning them, which
had proved sad occasions of their departure from
him. David complains of his banishment, that in it
he was in effect bidden to go serve other gods,
1 Sam. xxvi. 19. Their troubles had alienated many
of them from God, and prejudiced them against his
service; and because the rod of the wicked had
lain long on their lot, they were ready to put forth
their hand unto iniquity, (Ps. exxv. 3. ) and this was
the thing they complained most of; their afflictions
were their temptations, and to many of them in¬
vincible ones. Note, Convinced consciences com¬
plain most of spiritual judgments, and dread that most
in affliction, which draws them from Gcd and duty.
2. That they were given up to their enemies, arid
God’s providence did not rescue and relieve them;
{v. 18.) Our adversaries have trodden down thy
sanctuary. As it was a grief to them, that in their
captivity the generality of them had lost their affec¬
tions to God’s worship, and had their hearts har¬
dened from it by their affliction; so it was a further
grief, that they were deprived of their opportuni¬
ties of worshipping God in solemn assemblies.
They complained not so much of their adversaries
298 [SAIAI
treading down their houses and cities, as of their
treading down God’s sanctuary; because thereby
God was immediately affronted, and they were
robbed of the comforts they valued most, and took
most pleasure in.
III. The pleas they urge with God for mercy and
deliverance:
1. They plead the tender compassion God used to
show to his people, and his ability and readiness
to appear for them, v. 15. The most prevailing
arguments in prayer are those that are taken from
God himself; such these are; Where is thy zeal
and thy strength? God has a zeal for his own
glory, and for the comfort of his people; his name
is Jealous, and lie is a jealous God; and he has
strength proportionable, to secure his own glory,
and the interests of his people, in despite of all op¬
position. Now where are these? Have they not
formerly appeared? Why do they not appear now?
It cannot be, that divine zeal, which is infinitely
wise and just, should be cooled; that divine strength,
which is infinite, should be weakened. Nay, his
people had experienced not only his zeal and his
strength, but the sounding of his bowels, the yearn¬
ing of them, such a degree of compassion to them
as in men causes a commotion and toss within them,
as Hos. xi. 8. My heart is turned within me, my
refientings are kindled together; and Jer. xxxi. 20.
My bowels are troubled, or sound, for him. Thus
God is affected toward his people, thus he expresses
a multitude of mercies toward them; but where are
they now? Are they restrained? Ps. lxxvii. 9. Has
God, who so often remembered to be gracious, now
forgotten it? Has he in anger shut up his tender
mercies? It can never be. Note, We may ground
good expectations of further mercy upon our expe¬
riences of former mercy.
_ 2. They plead God’s relatio'n to them as their
Father; (v. 16.) “ Thy tender mercies are not re¬
strained, for they are the tender mercies of a father,
who, though he may be for a time displeased with
his child, will yet, through the force of natural
affection, soon be reconciled. Doubtless thou art
our Father, and therefore thy bowels will yearn
toward us.” Such good thoughts of God as these
we should always keep up in our hearts. However it
be, yet God is good; for he is our Father. (1.)
They own themselves fatherless, if he be not their
Father, and so cast themselves upon him with whom
the fatherless Jindeth mercy, Hos. xiv. 3. It was
the honour of their nation, that they had Abraham
to their father, (Matth. iii. 9.) who was the friend
of God, and Israel, who was a prince with God; but
what the better were they for that, unless they had
God himself for their Father? “Abraham and Is¬
rael cannot help us; they have not the power that
God has, they are dead long since, and are ignorant
of us, and acknowledge us not, they know not
what our case is, nor what our wants are, and there¬
fore know not which way to do us a kindness. If
Abraham and Israel were alive with us, they would
intercede for us, and advise us; but they are gone to
the other world, and we know not that they have any
communication at all with this world, and therefore
they are not capable of doing us any kindness, any
further than that we have the honour of being called
their children. ” When the father is dead, his sons
come to honour, and he knows it not; (Job xiv. 21.)
but thou, 0 Lord, art our Father still. The fathers
of our flesh may call themselves ex’er-loving, but
they are not ever-living; it is God only that is the
immortal Father, that always knows us, and is
never at a distance from us. “ Our Redeemer from
everlasting is thy name, the name by which we will
know and own thee; it is the name by which from
of old thou hast been known; thv people have
always looked upon thee as the God to whom they
, LXIV.
might appeal to right them, and plead their cause.
Nay,” (according to the sense some give of this
place,) “though Abraham and Israel not only can¬
not, but would not help us, thou wilt; they have not
the pity thou hast. We are so degenerate, and
corrupt, that Abraham and Israel would not own us
for their children, yet we fly to thee as cur Father.
Abraham cast out his son Ishmael; Jacob disin¬
herited his son Reuben, and cursed Simeon and
Levi; but our heavenly Father, in pardoning sin, is
God, and not man,” Hos. xi. 9.
3. They plead God’s interest in them, that he
was their Lord, their Owner and Proprietor; “We
are thy servants; what service we can do, thou art
entitled to, and therefore we ought not to serve
strange kings and strange gods; return for thy ser¬
vants’ sake.” As a father finds himself obliged by
natural affection to relieve and protect his child, so
a master thinks himself obliged in honour to rescue
and protect his servant; “ We are thine by the
strongest engagements, as well as the highest endear¬
ments. Thou hast borne rule over us, therefore,
Lord, assert thine own interest, maintain thine own
right; for roe are called by thy name, and therefore,
whither shall we go but to thee, to be righted and
protected? We are thine, save us; (Ps. cxix. 94.)
thine own, own us. We are the tribes of thine in¬
heritance, not only thy servants, but thy tenants; we
are thine, not only to do work for thee, but to pay
rent to thee. The tribes of Israel are God’s inheri¬
tance, whence issue the little.praise and worship that
he receives from this lower world; and wilt thou suf¬
fer thine own servants and tenants to be thus abused ?”
4. They plead that they had had but a short en¬
joyment of the land of promise and the privileges
of the sanctuary; (v. 18.) The people of thy holi¬
ness have possessed it but a little while. From Abra¬
ham to David were but fourteen generations,and fre m
David to the captivity but fourteen more; (Matth.
i. 17.) and that was but a little while in comparison
with what might have been expected from the pro¬
mise of the land of Canaan for an everlasting pos¬
session, (Gen. xvii. 8.) and from the power that
was put forth to bring them into that land, and
settle them in it; “Though we are the people of thy
holiness, distinguished from other people, and co n¬
secrated to thee, yet we are soon dislodged.” But
this they might thank themselves for; they were,
in profession, the people of God's holiness, but it
was their wickedness that turned them out of the
possession of that land.
5. They plead that those who had, and kept, pos¬
session of their land, were such as were strangers
to God, such as he had no service or honour from;
“ Thou never barest rule over them, nor did they
ever yield thee any obedience; they were not called
by thy name, but professed relation to other gods,
and were the worshippers of them. Will God suf¬
fer those that stand in no relation to him to trample
upon those that do? Some give another reading of
this; “ We are become as those whom thou didst
newer bear rule over, nor were called by thy name;
we are rejected and abandoned, despised and tram¬
pled upon, as if we never had been in thy sendee,
nor had thy name called upon us.” Thus the shield
of Saul was vilely cast away, as though he had not
been anointed with oil. But the covenant, that
seems to be forgotten, shall be remembered again.
CHAP. LXIV.
This chapter goes on with that pathetic pleading prayer,
which the church offered up to God in the latter part of
the foregoing chapter. They had argued from their co¬
venant relation to God and his interest and concern in
them; now here, I. They prav that God would appear
in some remarkable and surprising manner for them
against his and their enemies, v. 1,2. II. They plead
what God had formerly done, and was always ready to
ISAIAH, LXIV.
299
do, for his people, v. 3.«5. III. They confess them¬
selves to be sinful, and unworthy of God’s favour, and
that they had deserved the judgments they were now un¬
der, v. 6, 7. IV. They refer themselves to the mercy of
God as a Father, and submit themselves to his sove¬
reignty, v. 8. V. They represent the very deplorable
condition they were in, and earnestly pray for the par¬
don of sin, and the turning away of God’s anger, v. 9 . .
12. And this was not only intended for the use of the
captive Jews, but may serve for direction to the church
in other times of distress, what to ask of God, and how
to plead with him. Are God’s people at any time in af¬
fliction, in great affliction? Let them pray, let them thus
pray.
1. that thou wouldest rend the hea-
Vr vens, that thou wouldest come down,
that the mountains might flow down at thy
presence ; 2. As when the melting tire burn¬
etii, the fire causeth the waters to boil ; to
make thy name known to thine adversaries,
that the nations may tremble at thy pre¬
sence ! 3. When thou didst terrible things
which we looked not for, thou earnest down,
the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
4. For since the beginning of the world men
have not heard, nor perceived by the ear,
neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides
thee, ivhat he hath prepared for him that
waiteth for him. 5. Thou meetest him that
rejoiceth and worketh righteousness; those
that remember thee in thy ways: behold,
thou art wroth ; for we have sinned : in those
is continuance, and we shall be saved.
Here,
I. The petition is, that God would appear won¬
derfully for them now, v. 1, 2. Their case was re¬
presented, in the close of the foregoing chapter, as
very sad, and very hard, and in this case it was
time to cry, “ Help, Lord; O that God would mani¬
fest his zeal and his strength!” They had prayed,
(c/j. lxiii. 15.) that God would look down from hea¬
ven; here they pray that he would come down to
deliver them, as he had said, Exod. iii. 8.
1. They desire that God would in his providence
manifest himself both to them and for them. When
God works some extraordinary deliverance for his
people, he is said to shine forth, to show himself
strong; so, here, they pray that he would rend the
heavens, and come down; as when he delivered Da¬
vid, he is said to bow the heavens, and come down,
(Ps. xviii. 9.) to display his power, and justice, and
goodness, in an extraordinary manner, so that all
may take notice of them, and acknowledge them.
God’s people desire and pray, that, they themselves
having the satisfaction of seeing him, though his
way be in the sea, others may be made to see him
when his way is in the clouds. This is applicable
to the second coming of Christ, when the Lord him¬
self shall descend from heaven with a shout. Come,
Lord Jesus, come quickly.
2. Thev desire that he would vanquish all oppo¬
sition, and that it might be made to give way before
him; that the mountains might flow down at thy
firesencc, that the fire of thy wrath may burn so hot
against thine enemies, as even to dissolve the rocki¬
est mountains, and melt them down before it, as
metal in the furnace, which is made liquid, and
cast into what shape the operator pleases; so the
melting fire burns, v. 2. Let things be put into a
ferment, in order to a glorious revolution in favour
of the church, as the fire causes the waters to boil.
There is an allusion here, some think, to the volca¬
noes, or burning mountains, which sometimes send
forth such sulphureous streams as make the adja¬
cent rivers and seas to boil, which, perhaps, are
left as sensible intimations of the power of God’s
wrath, and warning-pieces of the final conflagration.
3. They desire that this may tend very much to
the glory and honour of God; may make his name
known, not only to his friends, (they knew it before,
and trusted in his power,) but to his adversaries
likewise, that they may know it, and tremble at
his presence, and may say, with the men of Bethshe
mesh, Who is able to stand before this Holy Lord
God? Who knows the {tower of his anger ? Note,
Sooner or later, God will make his name known to
his adversaries, and force those to tremble at his
presence, that would not come and worship in his
presence. God’s name, if it be not a strong hold
tor us, into which we may run and be safe, will be
a strong hold against us, out of the reach of which
we cannot run and be safe. The day is come, when
nations shall be made to tremble at the presence of
God, though they were ever so numerous and
strong.
II. The plea is, that God had appeared wonder¬
fully for his people formerly; and Thou hast, there¬
fore Thou wilt, is good arguing at the throne of
grace, Ps. x. 17.
1. They plead what he had done for his people
Israel in particular, when he brought them out of
Egypt, v. 9. He then did terrible things in the
plagues of Egypt, which they looked not for; they
despaired of deliverance, so far were they from any
thought of being delivered with such a high hand
and outstretched arm. Then he came down upon
mount Sinai in such terror, as made that and the
adjacent mountains to flow down at his presence, to
skip like rams, (Ps. cxiv. 4.) to tremble, so that
they were scattered, and the perpetual hills were
made to bow, Hab. iii. 6. In the many great sal¬
vations God wrought for that people, he did terrible
things which they looked not for, made great men,
that seemed as stately and strong as mountains, to
fall before him, and great opposition to give way.
See Judg. v. 4, 5. Ps. lxviii. 7, 8. Some refer this
to the defeat of Sennacherib’s powerful army, which
was as surprising an instance of the divine power as
the melting down of rocks and mountains would be.
2. They plead what God had been used to do,
and had declared his gracious purpose to do, for his
people in general. The provision he has made for
the safety and happiness of his people, even of all
those that seek him, and serve him, and trust in
him, is very rich and very ready, so that they need
not fear being either disappointed of it, for it is sure,
or disappointed in it, for it is sufficient.
(1.) It is very rich, v. 4. Men have not heard
nor seen what God has prepared for those that wait
for him. Observe the character of God’s people;
they are such as wait for him in the way of duty,
wait for the salvation he has promised and designed
for them. Observe where the happiness of this
people is bound up; it is what God has prepared for
them, what he has designed for them in his counsel,
and is in his providence and grace preparing for
them, and preparing them for; what he has done or
will do; so it may be read. Some of the Jewish
doctors have understood this of the blessings reserv¬
ed for the days of the Messiah, and to them the
apostle applies these words; and others extend them
to the glories of the world to come. It is all that
goodness which God has laid up for them that fear
him, and wrought for them that trust in him , Ps.
xxxi. 19. Of this it is here said, that since the be¬
ginning of the world, in the most prying and inqui¬
sitive ages of it, men have not, cither by hearing or
seeing, the two learning senses, come to the full
I knowiedge of it. None have seen, or heard, or can
300
ISAIAH, LXIV.
understand, but God himself, what the provision is,
that is made for the present and future felicity ot
holy souls. For, [l.J Much of it was concealed in
former ages; they knew it not, because the un¬
searchable riches of Christ were hid in God, were
hid from the wise and prudent; but in latter ages
they were revealed by the gospel; so the apostle
applies this, (1 Cor. ii. 9.) for it follows, (v. 10.)
But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit;
compare Rom. xvi. 25, 26. with Eph. iii. 9. That
which men had not heard since the beginning of the
world, they should hear before the end of it, and at
the end of it should see, when the vail shall be rent
to introduce the glory that is yet to be revealed.
God himself knew what he had in store for be¬
lievers, but none knew beside him. [2.] It cannot
be fully comprehended by human understanding,
no, not when it is revealed; it is spiritual, and re¬
fined from those ideas which our minds are most
apt to receive in this world of sense; it is very great,
and will far outdo the utmost of our expectations.
Even the present peace of believers, much more
their future bliss, is such as passes all conception
and expression, Phil. iv. 7. None can comprehend
it but God himself, whose understanding is infinite.
Some give another reading of these words, referring
their transcendency not so much to the work itself
as to the Author of it; Neither has the eye seen a
god beside thee which doth so, (or has done, or can
do so,) for him that waits for him. W.e must infer
from God’s works of wondrous grace, as well as
from his works of wondrous power, from the kind
things, as well as from the great things, he does,
that there is no god like unto him, nor any among
the sons of the mighty to be compared with him.
(2.) It is very ready, (y. 5.) “ Thou meetest him
that rejoices, and works righteousness; meetest him
with that good which thou hast prepared for him,
(y. 4.) and dost not forget those that remember thee
in thy ways.” Sec here what communion there is
between a gracious God and a gracious soul: [1.]
What God expects from us, in order to our having
communion with him. First, We must make con¬
science of doing our duty in every thing, we must
work righteousness, must do that which is good,
and which the Lord our God requires of us, and
must do it well. Secondly, We must be cheerful in
doing our duty ; we must rejoice and work righteous¬
ness, must delight ourselves in God and in his law,
must be pleasant in his service, and sing at our
work. God loves a cheerful giver, a cheerful wor¬
shipper; we must serve the Lord with gladness.
Thirdly, We must conform ourselves to all the
methods of his providence concerning us, and be
suitably affected with them: must remember him in
his ways, in all the ways wherein he walks, whether
he walks towards us, or walks contrary to us; we
must mind him, and make mention of him, with
thanksgiving, when his ways are ways of mercy, for
in a day of prosperity we must be joyful, with pa¬
tience and submission when he contends with us; In
the way oj' thy judgments we have waited for thee;
and in a day of adversity wc must consider. [2. ]
We are here told what we must expect from God,
if we thus attend him in the way of duty; Thou
meetest him. This speaks the friendship, fellow¬
ship, and familiarity, to which God admits them;
he meets them to converse with them, to manifest
himself to them, and to receive their addresses,
Exod. xx. 24. — xxix. 43. It denotes likewise his
freeness and forwardness in doing them good; he
will prevent them with the blessings of his goodness,
will rejoice to do good to them that rejoice in work¬
ing righteousness, and wait to be gracious to those
that wait for him. He meets his penitent people
with a pardon, as the father of the prodigal met his
returning son, Luke xv. 20. He meets his praying
people with an answer of peace, while they are
yet speaking, ch. lxv. 24.
3. They plead the unchangeableness of God’s fa¬
vour, and the stability of his promise, notwithstand¬
ing tlie sins of his people, and his displeasure against
them fortheir sins; “ Behold, thou hast many a time
been wroth with us, because we have sinned, and
we have been under the tokens of thy wrath; but
in those, those ways of thine, the ways of mercy in
which we have remembered thee, in those is con¬
tinuance;" or, “in those thou art ever,” (his mercy
endures for ever,) “ and therefore we shall at last
be saved, though thou art wroth, and we have sin¬
ned.” This agrees with the tenor of God’s cove¬
nant, that if w e forsake the law, he will chasten our
transgression with a rod, but his loving-kindness
he will not utterly take away, his covenant he will
not break, (Ps. lxxxix. 30, See. jandby thishispeople
have been many a time saved from ruin, when they
were just upon the brink of it; see Ps. lxxviii. 38.
And by this continuance of the covenant we hope to
be saved, for its being an everlasting covenant is all
our salvation. Though God has been angry with
us for our sins, and justly, yet his anger has endured
but for a moment, and has been soon over; but in
his favour is life, because in it is continuance; in
the ways of his favour he proceeds and perseveres,
and on that we depend for our salvation; see ch.
liv. 7, 8. It is well for us, that our hopes of salva¬
tion are built not upon any merit or sufficiency of
our own, (for in that there is no certainty, even
Adam in innocency did not abide,) but upon God’s
mercies and promises, for in .those, we are sure, is
continuance.
6. But we are all as an unclean thing , and
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ; and
we all do fade as a leaf ; and our iniquities, like
the wind, have taken us away. 7. And
there is none that calleth upon thy name, that
stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for
thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast con¬
sumed us, because of our iniquities. ~<l. But
now, O Lord, thou art our F ather : we are
the clay, and thou our Potter; and we all are
the work of thy hand?! 9- Be not wroth very
sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for
ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are
all thy people. 10. Thy holy cities area
wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem
a desolation- 11. Our holy and our beauti¬
ful house, where our fathers praised thee, is
burnt up with fire : and all our pleasant things
are laid waste. 12. Wilt thou refrain thyself
for these things, O Lord ? wilt thou hold thy
peace, and afflict us very sore ?
As we have the Lamentations of Jeremiah, so
here we have the Lamentations of Isaiah; the sub¬
ject of both is the same — the destruction of Jerusa¬
lem by the Chaldeans, and the sin of Israel that
brought that destruction; only with this difference,
Isaiah sees it at a distance, and laments it by the
Spirit of prophecy, Jeremiah saw it accomplished.
In these verses,
I. The people of God in their affliction confess
and bewail their sins, thereby justifying God in their
afflictions, owning themselves unworthy of his mer¬
cy, and thereby both improving their troubles, and
preparing for deliverance. Now that they were un¬
der divine rebukes for sin, they had nothing to trust
to but the mere mercy of God and the continuance
301
ISAIAH, LXIV.
of that, for amonf themselves there is none to help,
none to uphold, none to stand in the gap and make
intercession, for they are all polluted with sin, and
therefore unworthy to intercede, all careless and re¬
miss in duty, and therefore unable and unfit to do it.
1. There was a general corruption of manners
among them; (v. 6.) We are all as an unclean thing,
or, as an unclean person, as one overspread with a
leprosy, who was to be shut out of the camp. The
body of the people were like one under a ceremonial
pollution, who was not admitted into the courts of
the tabernacle; or, like one labouring under some
loathsome disease, from the crown of the head to
the sole of the foot, nothing but ivounds and bruises,
ch. i. 6. We are all by sin become not only ob¬
noxious to God’s justice, but odious to his holiness;
for sin is that abominable thing which the Lord
hates, and cannot endure to look upon. Even all
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ; ( 1. ) The best
of our persons are so; we are all so corrupt and pol¬
luted, that even those among us who pass for righ¬
teous men, in comparison with what our fathers
were, who rejoiced and wrought righteousness, (y.
5. ) are but as filthy rags, fit to be cast to the dung¬
hill; The best of them is as a brier. (2.) The best
of our performances are so; there is not only a ge¬
neral corruption of manners, but in devotion too;
those which pass for the sacrifices of righteousness,
when they come to be inquired into, are the torn,
and the lame, and the sick, and therefore are pro¬
voking to God, as nauseous as filthy rags. Our per¬
formances, though they be ever so plausible, it we
depend upon them as our righteousness, and think
to merit by them at God’s hands, they are as filthy
rags; rags, and will not cover us; filthy rags, and
will but defile us. True penitents cast away their
idols as filthy rags, (ch. xxx. 22.) odious in their
sight; here they acknowledge even their righteous¬
ness to be so in God’s sight, if he should deal with
them in strict justice. Our best duties are so de¬
fective, and so far short of the rule, that they are as
rags, and so full of sin and corruption cleaving to
them, that they are as filthy rags. When we would
do good, evil is present with us; and the iniquity of
our holy things would be our ruin, if we were under
the law.
2. There was a general coldness of devotion
among them, v. 7. The measure was filled by
the abounding iniquity of the people, and nothing
was done to empty it. (1. ) Prayer was in a manner
neglected; “ There is none that calls on thy name,
none that seeks to thee for grace to reform us, and
take away sin, or for mercy to relieve us, and take
away the judgments which our sins have brought
upon us.” Therefore people are so bad, because
they do not pray; compare Ps. xiv. 3, 4. They are
altogether become filthy, for they call not upon the
I^ord. It bodes ill to a people, when prayer is re¬
strained among them. (2.) It was very negligently
performed; if there was here and there one that
called on God’s name, it was with a great deal of
indifference; There is none that stirs up himself to
take hold of God. Note, [1.] To pray is to take
hold of God, by faith to take hold of the promises,
and the declarations God has made of his good-will
to us, and to plead them with him; to take hold of
him as of one who is about to depart from us,
earnestly begging of him not to leave us; or of one
that is departed, soliciting his return; to take hold
of him, as he that wrestles takes hold of him he
wrestles with; for the seed of. Jacob wrestle with
him, and so prevail. But when we take hold of God,
it is as the boatman with his hook takes hold on
the shore as if he would pull the shore to him, but
really it is to pull himself to the shore; so we pray,
not to bring God to our mind, but to bring ourselves
'o his. [2.] Those that would take hold of God in
| prayer so as to prevail with him, must stir up
themselves to do it; all that is within us must be
employed in the duty, (and all little enough) cur
thoughts fixed, and our affections flaming. In order
hereunto, all that is within us must be engaged, and
summoned into the service; we must stir up the g ft
that is in us, by an actual consideration cf the im¬
portance ol the work that is be fore us, and a close
application of mind to it; but how can we expect
that God should come to us in ways of mercy, when
there are none that do this, when those that profess
to be intercessors are mere triflers?
II. They acknowledge their afflictions to be the
fruit and product c t their own sins and God’s wrath.
1. 1 hey brought their troubles upon themselves
by their own tolly; “We are all as an unclean
thing, and therefore we do all fade away as a leaf;
(t\ 6.) we not only wither and lose our beauty, but
we fall and dropoff,” (so the word signifies) “as
leaves in autumn; our profession of religion withers,
•and we grow dry and sapless; our prosperity withers
and comes to nothing; we fall to the ground, as
despicable and contemptible; and then our iniquities
like the wind have taken us away, and hurried us
into captivity, as the winds in autumn blow off, and
then blow away, the faded, withered leaves,” Ps. i.
3, 4. Sinners are blasted, and then carried awav,
by the malignant and violent wind of their own
iniquity; it withers them, and then ruins them.
2. God brought their troubles upon them bv his
wrath, ( v . 7.) Thou hast hid thy face from us; been
displeased with us, and refused to afford us any suc¬
cour. When they made themselves as an unclean
thing, no wonder that God turned his face away from
them, as loathing them. Yet this was not all ; Thou
hast consumed us because of our iniquities. This is
the same complaint with that, (Ps. xc. 7, 8.) We
are consumed by thine anger; thou hast melted tts,
so the word is. God had them in the furnace, not
to consume them as dross, but to melt them as gold,
that they might be refined and new-cast.
III. They claim relation to God as their God,
and humbly plead it with him, and in consideration
of it cheerfully refer themselves to him; (v. 8.)
“ Sut now, O Lord, thou art our Father: though
we have conducted ourselves very undutifully and
ungratefully toward thee, yet still we have owned
thee as our Father; and though thou hast corrected
us, yet thou hast not cast us off; foolish and careless
as we are, poor and' despised, and trampled upon
as we are by our enemies, yet still thou art our
Lather; to thee therefore we return in our repent¬
ance, as the prodigal arose, and came to his father;
to thee we apply ourselves by prayer; from whom
should we expect relief and succour but from our
Father? It is the wrath of a Father that we are
under, who will be reconciled, and not keep his
anger for ever.” God is their Father, 1. By crea¬
tion; he gave them their being, formed them into a
people, shaped them as he pleased; We are the
clay, and thou our Potter, therefore we will net
quarrel with thee, however thou art pleased to deal
with us, Jer. xviii. 6. Nay, therefore we will hope
that thou wilt deal well with us, thjit thou who
madest us will new-make us, new-form us, though
we have unmade and deformed ourselves. W e are
all as an unclean thing, but we are all the work of
thy hands, therefore do away our uncleanness, th.it
we may be fit for thy use, the use we were made
for. We are the work of thy hands, therefore for¬
sake us not, Ps. cxxxviii. 8.’ 2. By covenant; this
is pleaded, v. 9. “ Behold , see, we beseech thee,
we are all thy people, all the people thou hast in the
world that make open profession of thy name. We
are called thy people, our neighbours look upon us
as such, and therefore what we suffer reflects upon
thee; and the relief that our case requin s is ex-
ISAIAH, LXV.
pected from thee. We are thy people; and should
not a fieofile seek unto their God ? eh. viii. 19. We
are thine; save us,” Ps. cxix. 94. Note, When we
are under providential rebukes from God, it is
good to keep fast hold of our covenant relation to
him.
IV. They are importunate with God for the
turning away of his anger, and the pardoning of
their sins; (x\ 9 ) “Be not wroth very sore, O
Lord, though we have deserved that thou shouldest,
neither remember iniquity for ever against us.”
They do not expressly pray for the removal of the
judgment they were under, as to that, they refer
themselves to God. But, 1. They pray that God
would be reconciled to them, and then they can be
easy, whether the affliction be continued or re¬
moved; “ Be not wroth to extremity, but let thine
anger be mitigated by the clemency and compassion
of a father.” They do not say, Lord rebuke us not,
for that may be necessary, but, Not in thine anger,
not in thy hot displeasure. It is but in a little wrath
that God hides his face. 2. They pray that they
may not be dealt with according to the desert of
their sin; Neither remember iniquity for ever.
Such is the evil of sin, that it deserves to be remem¬
bered for ever; and this is that which they depre¬
cate, that consequence of sin, which is for ever.
Those make it to appear that they are truly hum¬
bled under the hand of God, who are more afraid
of the terror of God’s wrath and the fatal conse¬
quences of their own sin, than of any judgment
whatsoever, looking upon these as the sting of death.
V. They lodge in the court of heaven a very
melancholy representation, or memorial of the
melancholy condition they were in, and the ruins
they were groaning under.
1. Their own houses were in ruins, v. 10. The
cities of Judah were destroyed by the Chaldeans,
and the inhabitants of them were carried away, so
that there was none to repair them or take any no¬
tice of them; which would in a few years make
them look like perfect deserts; Thy holy cities are a
wilderness. The cities of Judah are called holy
cities, for the people were unto God a kingdom of
priests. The cities had synagogues in them, in
which God was served; and therefore they lament¬
ed the ruins of them, and insisted upon this in
pleading with God for them, not so much that they
were stately cities, rich or ancient ones, but that
they were holy cities, cities in which God’s name
was known, professed, and called upon; these cities
are a wilderness, the beauty of them is sullied, they
are neither inhabited nor visited, as formerly; They
have burnt ufi all the synagogues of God in the
land, Ps. lxxiv. 8. Nor was it only the lesser cities
that were thus left as a wilderness unfrequented,
but even Zion is a wilderness, the city of David
itself lies in ruins, Jerusalem, that was beautiful for
situation and the joy of the whole earth, is now de¬
formed, and is become the scorn and scandal of the
whole earth; that noble city is a desolation, a heap
of rubbish. See what devastations sin brings upon
a people; and an external profession of sanctity will
be no fence against them; holy cities, if they become
wicked cities, will be soonest of all turned into a
wilderness, Amos iii. 2.
2. God’s house was in ruins, v. 11. This they
lament most of all, that the temfile was burned with
fire; but, as soon as it was built, they were told
what their sin would bring it to; (2 Chron. vii. 21.)
This house which is high shall be an astonishment.
Observe how pathetically they bewail the ruins of
the temple; (1.) It was their holy and beautiful
house; it was a most sumptuous building, but the
holiness of it was, in their eye, the greatest beauty
of it, and, consequently, the profanation of it was
he saddest part of its desolation, and that which
grieved them most, that the sacred services which
used to be performed there, were discontinued.
(2.) It was the place where their fathers praised
God with their sacrifices and songs; what pity is it
that that should lie in ashes, which had been for so
many ages the glory of their nation! It aggravated
their present disuse of the songs of Zion, that their
fathers had so often praised God with them. They
interest God in the cause, when they plead that it
was the house where he had been praised, and put
him in mind too of his covenant with their fathers,
by taking notice of their fathers praising him. (3. )
With it all their pleasant things were laid waste;
all their desires and delights, all those things which
were employed by them in the service of God,
which they had a great delight in: not only the fur¬
niture of the temple, the altars and table, but
especially the sabbaths and new moons, and all
their religious feasts, which they used to keep with
gladness; their ministers and solemn assemblies,
these were all a desolation. Note, God’s people
reckon their sacred things their most delectable
things; rob them of holy ordinances and the means
of grace, and you lay waste all their pleasant things;
What have they more? Observe here how God
and his people have their interests twisted and in¬
terchanged; when they speak of the cities for their
own habitation, they call them thy holy cities, for
to God they were dedicated; when they speak of
the temple wherein God dwelt, they call it our
beautiful house, and its furniture our pleasant things,
for they had heartily espoused it, and all the inter¬
ests of it. If thus we interest God in all our con¬
cerns by devoting them to his service, and interest
ourselves in all his concerns by laying them near
our hearts, we may with satisfaction leave both
with him, for he will perfect both.
VI. They conclude with an affectionate expos¬
tulation, humbly arguing with God concerning their
present desolations; (r>. 12.) “ Wilt thou refrain
thyself for these things? Or, Const thou contain
thyself at these things ? Canst thou see thy temple
ruined, and not resent it, not revenge it? Has the
jealous God forgotten to be jealous, (Ps. lxxiv. 22.)
Arise, O God, plead thine own cause. Lord, thou
art insulted, thou art blasphemed; and wilt thou
hold thy peace, and take no notice of it? Shall the
highest affronts that can be done to heaven, pass
unrebuked?” When we are abused, we hold our
peace, because vengeance does not belong to us,
and because we have a God to refer our cause to.
When God is injured in his honour, it may justly be
expected that he should speak in the vindication of
it; his people prescribe not to him what he shall
sav, but their prayer is, (as here,) Ps. lxxxiii. 1.
Keep not thou silence, O God and Ps. cix. 1.
“ Hold not thy peace , 0 God of my praise. Speak
for the conviction of thine enemies, speak for the
comfort and relief of thy people; for wilt thou afflict
us very sore, or afflict us for ever ? It is a sore
affliction to good people, to see God’s sanctuary laid
waste, and nothing done toward the raising of it out
of its ruins. But God has said that he will not con¬
tend for ever, and therefore his people may depend
upon it, that their afflictions shall be neither to
extremity, nor to eternity, but light, and for a mo¬
ment.
CHAP. LXV.
We are now drawing toward the conclusion of this evan¬
gelical prophecy, ihf two last chapters of which direct
us to look as far forward as the new heavens and the
new earth, the new world which the gospel-dispensation
should bring in, and the separation that should by it be
made between the precious and the vile; For judgment
(says Christ) am I come into this world. And why
should it seem absurd that the prophet here should spealt
of that to which all the prophets bare witness ? 1 Pel. i.
303
ISAIAH, LXV.
iO, 11. The rejection of the Jews, and the calling in of the
Gentiles, are often mentioned in the New Testament, as
that which was foreseen and foretold by the prophets,
»1cts x. 43. — xiii. 40. Rom. xvi. 26. In this chapter, we
have, I. The preventing of the Gentiles with the gospel
call, v. I. II. The rejection of the Jews for their obsti¬
nacy and unbelief, v. 2.. 7. III. The saving of a rem¬
nant of them, by bringing them into the gospel church,
v. 8 . . 10. IV. The judgments of God, that should pur¬
sue the rejected Jews, v. 11.. 16. V. The blessings
reserved for the Christian church, which should be its
joy and glory, v. 17.. 25. But these things are here
prophesied of under the type and figure of the difference
God would make between some and others of the Jews,
after their return out of captivity, between those that
feared God and those that did not; with reproofs of the
sins then found among them, and promises of the bless¬
ings then in reserve for them.
1. TAM sought of them that asked not for
JL me ; 1 am found of them that sought
me not : I said, Behold me, behold me, un¬
to a nation that was not called by my name.
2. I have spread out my hands all the day
unto a rebellious people, which walketh in
a way that was not good, after their own
thoughts. 3. A people that provoketh me
to anger continually to my face; that sacri-
ficeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon
altars of brick; 4. Which remain among
the graves, anti lodge in the monuments ;
which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abomi¬
nable things is in their vessels ; 5. Which
say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me ;
for I am holier than thou. These are a
smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all
the day. 6. Behold, .it is written before
me ; I will not keep silence, but will recom¬
pense, even recompense into their bosom,
7. Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your
fathers together, saith the Lord, which
have burnt incense upon the mountains,
and blasphemed me upon the hills: there¬
fore will I measure their former work into
'heir bosom.
The apostle Paul (an expositor we may depend
upon) has given us the true sense of these verses,
and told us what was the event they pointed at, and
were fulfilled in, namely, the calling in of the Gen¬
tiles, and the rejection of the Jews, by the preach¬
ing of the gospel, Rom. x. 20, 21. And he observes,
that herein Esaias is very bold, not only in fore¬
telling a thing so improbable ever to be brought
about, but in foretelling it to the Jews, who would
take it as a gross affront to their nation, and therein
Moses’s words would be made good, (Deut. xxxii.
21. ) / will provoke you to jealousy by them that are
no people.
I. It is here foretold that the Gentiles, who had
been afar off, should be made nigh, v. 1. Paul
reads it thus, I was found of them that sought me
not, I was made manifest to them that asked not for
me. Observe what a wonderful and blessed change
was made with them, and how they were surprised
into it, 1. Those who had long been without God in
the world, shall now be set a-seeking him; those
who had not said, Where is God my Maker? shall
now begin to inquire after him : neither they nor
their fathers had called upon his name, but either
lived without prayer, or prayed to stocks and stones,
the work of men’s hands. But now they shall be
baptized, and call on the name of the Lord, Acts ii.
21. With what pleasure docs the great God here
speak of his being sought unto, and how does he
glory in it; especially by those who in time past had
not asked for him! For there is joy in heaven over
great sinners who repent. 2. God shall prevent
their prayers with his blessings; I am found of them
that sought me not. This happy acquaintance and
correspondence between God and the Gentile world
began on his side; they came to know God because
they were known of him, (Gal. iv. 9.) to seek God
and find him because, they were first sought and
found of him. Though in after-communion God is
found of those that seek him, (Prov. viii. 17.) yet
in the first conversion he is found of those that seek
him not; for therefore we love him, because he first
loved us. The design of the bounty of common
providence to them, was, that they might seek the
Lord, if haply they should feel after him, and find
him, Acts xvii. 27. But they sought him not, still
he was to them an unknown God, and yet God was
found of them. 3. God gave the advantages of a
divine revelation to them who had never made a
profession of religion; I said, Behold me, behold me,
gave them a sight of me, and invited them to take
the comfort and benefit of it, who were not called
by my name, as the Jews for many ages had been.
When the apostles went about from place to place,
preaching the gospel, this was the substance of
what they preached: “ Behold God, behold him,
turn toward him, fix the eyes of your minds upon
him, acquaint yourselves with him, admire him,
adore him; look off your idols that you have made,
and look upon the living God who made you.”
Christ in them said. Behold me, behold me with an
eye of faith; look unto me and be ye saved. And
this was said to those that had long been lo-ammi,
and lo-r.uhamah, (Hos. i. 8, 9.) not a people, and
that had not obtained mercy, Rom. ix. 25, 26.
II. It is here foretold that the Jews, who had long
been a people near to God, should be cast off and set
at a distance, v. 2. The apostle applies this to the
Jews in his time, as a seed of evil-doers; (Rom. x.
21.) But to Israel he saith, Jill day long have I
stretched forth my hand unto a disobedient and gain¬
saying people. Where observe, 1. How the Jews
were courted to the divine grace. God himself, by
his prophets, by his Son, by his apostles, stretched
forth his hands to them, as Wisdom did, Prov. i.
24. God spread out his hands to them, as one rea¬
soning and expostulating with them; not only beck¬
oned to them with the finger, but spread out his
hands, as being ready to embrace and entertain
them; reaching forth the tokens of his favour to
them, and importuning them to accept of them.
When Christ was crucified, his hands were spread
out and stretched forth, as if he were preparing to
receive returning sinners into his bosom; and this
all the day, all the gospel-day; he waited to be
gracious, and was not weary of waiting; even those
that came in at the eleventh hour of the day were
not rejected. 2. How they contemned the invita¬
tion; it was given to a rebellious and gainsaying
people; they were bidden to the wedding supper,
and would not come, but rejected the counsel of
God against themselves. Now here we have,
(1.) The bad character of this people; the world
shall see that it is not for nothing that they are re¬
jected of God; no, it is for their whoredoms that
they are put away. Their character in general is
such as one would not expect them to deserve, who
had been so much the favourites of Heaven. [1.]
They were very wilful; right or wrong they would
do as they had a mind. “ They generally walk on
in a way that is not good, not the right wav, not a
safe way, for they walk after their own thoughts,
their own devicesand desires.” If our guide be our
own thoughts, our way is not likely to be good; for
304
ISAIAH, LXV.
every imagination of the thought of our hearts is
only evil. God had told them his thoughts, what
his mind and will were, but they would walk, after
their own thoughts, would do what they thought
best. [2.] They were very provoking! this was
God’s complaint of them all along— they grieved
him, they vexed his Holy Spirit, as if they would
contrive how to make him their Enemy. They
provoke me to anger continually to my face. They
cared not what affront they gave to God, though it
were in his sight and presence, in a downright con¬
tempt of his authority, and defiance of his justice;
and this continually ; it had been their way and
manner ever since they were a people; witness the
day of temptation in the wilderness.
The prophet speaks more particularly of their
iniquities, and the iniquities of their fathers, as the
ground of God’s casting them off, v. 7. Now he
gives instances of both.
First, The most provoking iniquity of their fa¬
thers was, idolatry; this, the prophet tells them,
was provoking God to his face; and it is an iniquity
which, as appears by the second commandment,
God often visits upon the children. This was the
sin that brought them into captivity, and, though
the captivity pretty well cured them of it, yet, when
the final ruin of that nation came, that was again
brought into the account against them; for in the
day when God visits, he will visit that, Exod. xxxii.
34" Perhaps there were many, long after the cap¬
tivity, who, though they did not worship other gods,
were yet guilty of the disorders here mentioned; for
they married strange wives. 1. They forsook
God’s temple, and sacrificed in gardens or groves,
that they might have the satisfaction of doing it in
their own way, for they liked not God’s institutions.
2. They forsook God’s altar, and burned incense
upon bricks, altars of their own contriving; they
burned incense according to their own inventions,
which were of no more value, in comparison with
God’s institution, than an altar of bricks in compari¬
son with the golden altar which God appointed
them to- burn incense on: or upon tiles, so some read
it; such as they covered their flat-roofed houses
with, and on them sometimes they burned incense
to their idols, as appears, 2 Kings xxxiii. 12. where
we read of altars on the top of the upper chamber
of Ahaz, and Jer. xix. 13. of their burning incense
to the host of heaven upon the roofs of their houses.
3. “ They use necromancy, or consulting with the
dead, and, in order to that, they remain among the
graves, and lodge in the monuments ,” to seek for
the living to the dead, ( ch . viii. 19. ) as the witch of
Endor. Or, They used to consult the evil spirits
that haunted the sepulchres. 4. They violated the
laws of God about their meat, and broke through
the distinction between clean and unclean, before it
was taken away by the gospel. They ate swine's
flesh; some indeed chose rather to die than to do
it, as Eleazer and the seven brethren in the story
of the Maccabees. But it is probable that many ate
of it, especially when it came to be a condition of
life. In our Saviour’s time, we read of a vast herd
of swine among them; which gives us cause to sus¬
pect that there were many then who made so little
conscience of the law as to eat swine’s flesh, for
which they were justly punished in the destruction
of the swine. And the broth, or pieces, of other for¬
bidden meats, called here abominable things, was
in their vessels, and made use of for food. The
forbidden meat is called an abomination, and they
that meddle with it arc said to make themselves
abominable. Lev. xi. 42, 43. Those that durst not
eat the meat, yet made bold with the broth, because
they would come as near as might be to that which
was forbidden, to show how they coveted the for¬
bidden fruit. Perhaps this is here put figuratively
for all forbidden pleasures and profits which are
obtained by sin, that abominable thing which the
Lord hates; they loved to be dallying with it, to be
tasting of its broth. But those who thus take a
pride in venturing upon the borders of sin, and the
brink of it, are in danger of falling into the depths
of it. But,
Secondly, The most provoking iniquity of the
Jews in cur Saviour’s time was, their pride and hy¬
pocrisy, that sin of the scribes and Pharisees,
against which Christ deni unced so many woes, y. 5.
They say, “Standby thyself, keep off;” (get thee
to thine, so the ( riginal is;) “ keep to thy own com¬
panions, b\it come not near to me, lest tin u pollute
me; touch me not, I will not allow thee any fami¬
liarity with me, for I am holier that: thou, and
therefore thou art not good enough to converse with
me; lam not as other men are, nor even as this
J mblican .” This they were ready to say to every'
one they met with, so that, in saying, I am holier
than thou, they thought themselves holier than any;
not only very good, as good as they should be, as
good as they needed to be, but better than any of
their neighbours. These are a smoke in my nose,
(says God,) such a smoke as comes not frem a
quick fire, which soon becomes glowing and pleasant,
but from a fire of wet wood, which burns all the
day, and is nothing but smoke. Note, Nothing in
men is more odious and offensive to God than a
proud conceit of themselves, and contempt of others;
for commonly those are most unholy of all, that
think themselves holier than any.
(2.) The controversy God had with them for
this. The proof against them is plain; Behold, it
is written before me, v. 6. It is written, to be re¬
membered against them in time to ccme; for they
may not perhaps be immediately reckoned with.
The sins of sinners, and particularly the vainglo¬
rious boasts and scorns of hypocrites, are laid up in
store with God, Deut. xxxii. 34. And what is
written shall be read and proceeded upon; “ I will
not keep silence always, though I may keep silence
long.” They shall not think him altogether such a
one as themselves, as sometimes they have done;
but he will recompense, even recompense into their
bosom. Those basely abuse religion, that honoura¬
ble and sacred thing, who make their profession of
it the matter of their pride, and the jealous God
will reckon with them for it; the profession they
boast of shall but serve to aggravate their condem¬
nation. [1.] The iniquity of their fathers shall
come against them; not but that their own sin. de¬
served whatever judgments God brought upon
them, and much heavier; and they owned it, Ezra
ix. 13. But God would not have wrought so great
a desolation upon them, if he had not therein had
an eye to the sins of their fathers. Therefore in
the last destruction of Jerusalem God is said to
bring upon them the blood of the Old Testament
martyrs, even that of Abel, Matth. xxiii. 35. God
will reckon with them, not only for their fathers
idols but for their high places, their burning incens,
upon the mountains and the hills, though perhaps it
was to the true God only. This was blaspheming
or reproaching God, it was a reflection upon the
choice he had made of the place where he would
record his name, and the promise he had made,
that there he would meet them, and bless them.
[2.] Their own with that shall bring ruin upon
them; Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your
fathers together, the one aggravating the other,
constitute the former work, which though it may
seem to be overlooked and forgotten, shall be mea¬
sured into their bosom. God will render into the
bosom, not only of his open enemies, (Ps. lxxix. 12.)
but of his false and treacherous friends, the reproach
wherewith they have repreae ted /,im.
3G&
ISAIAH, LXV.
8. Thussaith the Lord, As the new wine
is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy
it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for
my servants1 sakes, that 1 may not destroy
them all. 9. And 1 will bring forth a seed
out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor
of my mountains: and mine elect shall in¬
herit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
1 0. And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and
the valley of Achor a place for the herds to
lie down in, for my people that have sought
me.
This is expounded by St. Paul, Rom. xi. 1. — 5,
where, when upon occasion of the rejection of the Jews,
it is asked, Hath God then cast away his people? he
answers, No; for, at this time there is a remnant ac¬
cording to the election of grace. This prophecy lias
reference to that distinguished remnant. When
that hypocritical nation is to be destroyed, God wi 1
separate and secure to himself some from among
them; some of the Jews shall be brought to em¬
brace the Christian faith, shall be added to the
church, and so be saved. And our Saviour has
told us, that for the sake of these elect, the days of
the destruction of the Jews should be shortened, and
a stop put to the desolation, which otherwise would
have proceeded to that degree, that no flesh should
be saved, Matth. xxiv. 22. Now,
1. This is illustrated here by a comparison, v. 8.
When a vine is so blasted and withered, that there
seems to be no sap or life in it, and therefore the
dresser of the vineyard is inclined to pluck it up, or
cut it down, yet, if ever so little of the juice ot the
grape, fit to make new wine, be found, though but
in one cluster, a stander-by interposes, and says,
Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it; there is life in
the root, and hope that yet it may become good for
something. Good men are blessings to the places
where they live; and sometimes God spares whole
cities and nations for the sakeof a few such in them.
How ambitious should we be of this honour, not only
to be distinguished from others, but serviceable to
others!
2. Here is a description of those that shall make
up this saved saving remnant; (1.) They are such
as serve God; It is for my servant’s sake, (v. 8.)
and they are my servants that shall dwell there, v.
9. God’s faithful servants, however they are looked
upon, are the best friends their country has; and
those who serve him, therein serve their generation.
(2.) They are such as seek God; as make it the
end of their lives to glorify God, and the business of
their lives to call upon him. It is for my people
that have sought ?ne. They that seek God shall
find him, and shall find him their bountiful Re¬
warder.
3. Here is an account of the mercy God has in
store for them. The remnant that shall return out
of captivity shall have a happy settlement again in
their own land, and that by an hereditary right, as
a seed out of Jacob, in whom the family is kept up
and the entail preserved; and from whom, as from
the seed sown, shall spring a numerous increase;
and these typify the remnant of Jacob that shall be
incorporated into the gospel-church by faith. (1.)
They shall have a good portion for themselves;
They shall inherit my mountains, the holy moun¬
tains on which Jerusalem and the temple were built:
or, the mountains of Canaan, the land of promise, ty¬
pifying the covenant of grace, which all God’s ser¬
vants, his elect, both inhabit and inherit; they make
it their refuge, their rest and residence, so they
dwell in it, are at home in it; and they have taken
Vol. iv. — 2 Q
it to bev their heritage for ever, and it shall be to
them an inheritance incorruptible. God’s chosen,
the spiritual seed of praying Jacob, shall be the in¬
heritors of his mountains of bliss and joy, and shall
be carried safe to them through the vale of tears.
(2. ) 1 hey shall have a green pasture for their flocks,
v. 10. Sharon and the valley of Achor shall again be
as well replenished as ever they were, with cattle.
Sharon lay westward, near Joppa. Achor lay east¬
ward, near Jordan; which intimates, that they shall
recover the possession of the whole lurid, that they
shall have wherewith to stock it all, and that they
shall peaceably enjoy it, and there shall be none to
disturb them, or make them afraid. Gospel-ordi¬
nances are the fields and valleys where the sheep
of Christ shall go in and out, and find pasture,
(John x. 9.) and where they are made to lie down,
(Ps. xxiii. 2.) as Israel’s herds in the valley of
Achor, Hos. ii. 15.
11. But ye are they that forsake the
Lord, that forget my holy mountain, that
prepare a table for that troop, and that fur¬
nish the drink-offering unto that number.
12. Therefore will I number you to the
sword, and ye shall all bow down to the
slaughter: because when I called, ye did
not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear;
but did evil before mine eyes, and did
choose that wherein I delighted not. 13.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hun¬
gry: behold, my servants shall drink, but
ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants
shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: 14.
Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of
heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart,
and shall howl for vexation of spirit. 1 5.
And ye shall leave your name for a curse
unto my chosen : for the Lord God shall
slay thee, and call his servants by another
name : 16. That he who blesseth himself in
the earth, shall bless himself in the God of
truth ; and he that sweareth in the earth,
shall swear by the God of truth; because
the former troubles are forgotten, and be¬
cause they are hid from mine eyes.
Here the different states of the godly and wicked,
of the Jews that believed, and of those that still per¬
sisted in unbelief, are set the one over against the
other, as life and death, good and evil, the blessing
and the curse.
I. Here is the fearful doom of those that persisted
in their idolatry after the deliverance out of- Baby¬
lon, and in infidelity after the preaching of the gos¬
pel of Christ. The doom is the same upon both;
(v. 12.) “ I will number you to the sword, as sheep'
for the slaughter, and there shall be no escaping,
no standing out, ye shall all bow down to it.” God’s
judgments come, 1. Regularly, and are executed
according to the commission. Those fall by the
sword, that are numbered or counted out to it, and
none besides. Though the sword seems to devour
promiscuously one as well as another, yet it is made
to know its number, and shall not exceed. 2. Ir¬
resistibly; the strongest and most stout-hearted sin¬
ners shall be forced to bow before them; for none
ever hardened their hearts against God, and pros¬
pered. Now observe what the sins are, that num¬
ber them to the sword.
306
ISAIAH, LXV.
(1.) Idolatry was the ancient sin; (v. 11.) “ Ye
are they , who instead of seeking- we, and serving me
as my people, forsake the Lord, disown him, and
cast him off to 'embrace other gods; who forget my
holy mountain, (the privileges it confers, and the
obligations it lays you under,) to burn incense upon
the mountains of your idols, (u. 7.) and have de¬
serted the only living and true God.” They pre-
fiared a table for that troofi of deities, which the
heathen worship, and pour out drink-offerings to
that numberless number of them; for they that
thought one God too little, never thought scores and
hundreds sufficient, but were still adding to the
number of them, till they had as many gods as
cities, and their altars were as thick as heaps in the
furrows of the field, Hos. xii. 11. Some take Gad
and Meni, which we translate a troop and a num¬
ber, to be the proper names of two of their idols,
answering to Jupiter and Mercury; whatever they
were, their worshippers spared no cost to do them
honour; they prepared a table for them, and filled
out mixed wine for drink-offerings to them; they
would pinch their families rather than stint their
devotions, which should shame the worshippers of
the true God out of their niggardliness.
(2.) Infidelity was the sin of the latter Jews;
(r. 12.) When I called ye did not answer; which
l efers to the same that v. 2. did, I have stretched
out my hands to a rebellious people; and that is ap¬
plied to those who rejected the gospel. Our Lord
Jesus himself called, (he stood and cried, John vii.
37.) but they did not hear, they would not answer;
they were not convinced by his reasonings, nor
moved by his expostulations; both the fair warnings
he gave them of death and ruin, and the fair offers
he made them of life and happiness, were slighted,
and made no impression upon them. Yet this was
not all; Ye did evil before mine eyes, not by sur¬
prise, or through inadvertency, but with delibera¬
tion; Ye did choose that wherein I delighted not; he
means, which he utterly detested and abhorred.
It is not strange that those who will not be persuaded
to choose that which is good, persist in their choice
and pursuit of that which is evil. See the malignity
of sin; it is evil in God’s eyes, highly offensive to
him, and yet it is committed before his eyes, in his
sight and presence, and in contempt of him; it is
likewise a contradiction to the will of God; it is
doing that, of choice, which we know will displease
him.
II. The aggravation of this doom, from the con¬
sideration of the happy state of those that were
brought to repentance and faith. The blessedness
of those that serve God, and the woful condition of
those that rebel against him, are here set the
one over against the other, that they may serve as
a foil to each other, v. 13. — 16. 1. God’s servants
may well think themselves happy, and for ever in¬
debted to that free grace which made them so,
when they see how miserable some of their neigh¬
bours are, for want of that grace, who are hardened,
and likely to perish for ever in unbelief, and what a
narrow escape they had of being among them. See
ch. lxvi. 24. 2. It will add to the grief of those that
perish, to see the happiness of God’s servants, whom
they had hated and vilified, and looked upon with the
utmost disdain; and especially to think that they
might have shared in their bliss, if it had not been
their own fault. It made the torment of the rich
man in hell the more grievous, that he saw Abra¬
ham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom; (Luke
xvi. 23. j see Luke xiii. 28. Sometimes the provi¬
dence of Gocj makes such a difference as this be¬
tween good and bad in this world, and the pros¬
perity of the righteous becomes a grievous eye-sore
and vexation of heart to the wicked, Ps. cxii. 10.
It will, however, be so in the great day; We fools
counted his life madness, and his end without ho¬
nour; but now, how is he numbered with the saints,
and his lot is among the chosen l
Now the difference of their states here lies in two
things:
(1.) In point of comfort and satisfaction. [1.] God’s
servants shall eat and drink; they shall have the
bread of life to feed, to feast upon continually, shall
be abundantly replenished with the goodness of his
house, and shall want nothing that is good for them.
Heaven’s happiness will be to them ; n everlasting
feast; they shall be filled with that which now they
hunger and thirst after. But those who set their
hearts upon the world, and place their happiness
in that, shall be hungrv and thirsty, always empty,
always craving; for it is not bread, it surfeits, but it
satisfies not. In communion with God, and depen¬
dence upon him, there is full satisfaction, but in
sinful pursuits there is nothing but disappointment.
[2.] God’s servants shall rejoice and sing for joy of
heart; they have constant cause for joy, and there
is nothing that may be an occasion of grief to them,
but they have an allay sufficient for it. As far as
faith is an act and exercise, they have a heart to
rejoice, and their joy is their strength. They shall
rejoice in their hope, because it shall not make
them ashamed. Heaven will be a world of ever¬
lasting joy to all that are now sowing in tears. But,
on the other hand, they that forsake the Lord shut
themselves out from all true joy, for they shall be
ashamed of their vain confidence in themselves, and
their own righteousness, and the hopes they had
built thereon. When the expectations of bliss,
wherewith they had flattered themselves, are frus¬
trated, O what confusion will fill their faces! Then
shall they cry for sorrow of heart, and howl fot
vexation of spirit; perhaps in this world, when
their laughter shall be turned into mourning and
their joy into heav iness; at furthest, in that world,
where the torment will be endless, easelcss, and
remediless; nothing but weeping, and wailing, and
gnashing of teeth, to eternity. Let these two be
compared; JVow he is comforted, and Thou art tor¬
mented; and which of the two will we choose to
take our lot with?
(2.) In point of honour and reputation, v. 15, 16.
The memory of the just is, and shall be, blessed,
but the name of the wicked shall rot. [1.] The
name of the idolaters and unbelievers shall be left
for a curse, shall be loaded with ignominy, and made
for ever infamous. It shall be used in giving bad
characters — Thou art as cruel as a Jew; and in im¬
precations — God make thee as miserable as a Jew.
It shall be for a curse to God’s chosen, for a warn¬
ing to them ; they shall be afraid of falling under
the curse upon the Jewish nation; of perishing by
the same example of unbelief. The curse of those
whom God rejects, should make his chosen stand in
awe. The Lord God shall slay thee; he shall quite
extirpate the Jews, and cut them off from being a
people; they shall no longer live as a nation, nor
ever be incorporated again. [2.] The name of
God’s chosen shall become a blessing; He shall call
his servants by another name. The children of the
covenant shall no longer be called Jews, but Chris¬
tians; and to them, under that name, all the pro¬
mises and privileges of the new covenant shall be
secured. This other name shall be an honourable
name; it shall not be confined to one nation, but
with it men shall bless themselves in the earth, all
the world over. God shall have servants out of all
nations, that shall all be dignified with this new
name. First, They shall give honour to God both
in their prayers and in their solemn oaths; in their
addresses for his favour as their felicity, and their
appeals to his justice as their Judge. This is a part
of the homage we owe to God; we must bless our-
307
ISAIAH, LXV.
stives in him, we must reckon that we have enough
to make us happy, that we need no more, and can
desire no more, it we have him for our God. It is
of great consequence to determine what that is,
which we bless ourselves in, which we most please
ourselves with, and value ourselves by our interest
in. Worldly people bless themselves in the abun¬
dance they have of this world’s goods; (Ps. xlix. 18.
Luke xii. 19.) but God’s servants bless themselves
in him, as a God all-sufficient for them. He is their
Crown of glory and Diadem of beauty, their Strength
and Portion. By him also they shall swear, and not
by any creature or any false god. To his judgment
they shall refer themselves, from whom every
man’s judgment doth proceed. Secondly, They
shall give honour to him as the God of truth; the
God of the Amen; so the word is. Some understand
it of Christ, who is himself the Amen, the faithful
Witness, (Rev. iii. ,14. ) and in whom all the pro¬
mises are yea and amen, 2 Cor. i. 20. In him we
must bless ourselves, and by him we must swear
unto the Lord, and covenant with him. He that is
blessed in the earth, (so some read it,) shall be bless¬
ed in the true God, for Christ is th% true God, and
eternal life, 1 John v. 20. And it was promised of
jpld that in him should all the families of the earth
be blessed, Gen. xii. 3. Some read it, He shall
bkss himself in the God of the faith ful fieofile; in
God as the God of all believers; desiring no more
than to share in the blessings wherewith they are
blessed, to be dealt with as he deals with them.
Thirdly, They shall give him honour as the Author
of this blessed change, which they have the experi¬
ence of; they shall think themselves happy in hav¬
ing him fur their God, who has made them to forget
their former troubles, the remembrance of them
being swallowed up in their present comforts; be¬
cause they are hid from God’s eyes, they are quite
taken away; for if there were any remainder of
their troubles, God would be sure to have his eye
upon it, in compassion to them and concern for
them. They shall no longer feel them, for God
will no longer see them : He is pleased to speak as
it he would make himself easy by making them
easy; and therefore they shall with a great deal of
satisfaction bless themselves in him.
17. For, behold, I create new heavens,
and a new earth: and the former shall not
be remembered, nor come into mind. 1 8.
But be you glad and rejoice for ever in that
which I create: for, behold, I create Jeru¬
salem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 1 9.
And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in j
my people : and the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard in her, nor the voice of
crying. 20. There shall be no more thence
an infant of days, nor an old man that hath
not filled his days : for the child shall die a
hundred years old ; but the sinner, being a
hundred years old, shall be accursed. 21.
And they shall build bouses, and inhabit
them ; and they shall plant vineyards, and
eat the fruit of them. 22. They shall not
build, and another inhabit; they shall not
plant, and another eat : for as the days of
a tree are the days of my people, and mine
elect shall long enjoy the work of their
hands. 23. They shall not labour in vain,
nor bring forth for trouble: for they are the
'eed of the blessed of the Lord, and their
| Offspring with them. 24. And it shah come
to pass, that before they call, 1 will answer;
and while the}' are yet speaking, I will
j hear. 25. The wolf and the lamb shall
I feed together, and the lion shall eat straw
J like the bullock : and dust shall be the ser-
J pent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor de-
| stroy in all my holy mountain, saith the
Lord.
If these promises were in part fulfilled when the
Jews, after their return cut of captivity, were set¬
tled in peace in their own land, and brought as it
were into a new world, yet they were to have their
full accomplishment in the gospel-church, militant
first, and at length triumphant; The Jerusalem that
is from above is free, and is the mother of us all.
In the graces and comforts which believers have in
and from Christ, we are to look for this new heaven
and new earth. It is in the gospel that old things
are fast away, and all things are become new, and
bv it that those who are in Christ are new creatures,
2 Cor. v. 17. It was a mighty and happy change
that was described, v. 16. that the former troubles
were forgotten; but here it rises much higher, even
the former world shall be forgotten, and shall no
more come in mind. They that were converted to
the Christian faith were so transported with the
comforts of it, that all the comforts they were be¬
fore acquainted with, became as nothing to them;
not only their foregoing griefs, but their foregoing
joys, were lost and swallowed up in this. The
glorified saints will therefore have forgotten this
world, because they will be entirely taken up with
the other. Tor, behold, I create new heavens and a
new earth. See how inexhaustible the divine power
is; the same God that created one heaven and earth,
can create another. See how entire the happiness
of the saints is; it shall be all of a piece: with the
new heavens God will create them (if they have
occasion for it to make them happy) a new earth
too. The world is yours, if you be Christ’s, 1 Cor.
iii. 22. When God is reconciled to us, which gives
us a new heaven, the creatures too are reconciled to
us, which gives us a new earth. The future glory
of the saints will be so entirely different from "what
they ever knew before, that it may well be called
new heavens, and a new earth, 2 Pet. iii. 13. Be¬
hold, I ma/ce all things new, Rev. xxi. 5.
1. There shall be new joys. For, (1.) All the
church’s friends, and all that belong to her, shall
rejoice; (y. 18.) You shall be glad and rejoice for
ever in that which I create. The new tilings which
God creates in and by his gospel, are, and shall be,
matter of everlasting joy to all believers. My ser¬
vants shall rejoice; (v. 13.) at last they shall, though
now they mourn. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. (2. ) The church shall be the matter of their
joy; so pleasant, so prosperous, shall her condition
be; I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her fcofle
a joy. The church shall not only rejoice, but be
rejoiced in. Those that have sorrowed with the
church, shall rejoice with her. (3. ) The prosperity
of the church shall be a rejoicing to God himself,
who has fleasure in the frosferity of his servants;
(v. 19.) I will rejoice in Jerusalem’s joy, and will
joy in my feofle; for in all their affliction he was a f¬
flicted. God will not only rejoice in the church’s well¬
doing, but will himself rejoice to do her good, and
rest in his love to her, Zech. iii. 17. What God
rejoices in, it becomes us to rejoice in. (4.) There
shall be no allay of this joy, nor any alteration of
this happy condition of the church ; The voice of
weefiing shall be no more heard in her. If this re¬
late to any state of the church in this life, it means
308
ISAIAH, LXV.
no more than that the former occasions of grief shgll
not return, but God’s people shall long enjoy an
uninterrupted tranquillity. But in heaven it shall
have a full accomplishment, in respect both of the
perfection and the perpetuity of the promised joy;
there all tears shall be wi fieri away.
2. There shall be new life, v. 20. Untimely
dtaths by the sword or sickness shall be no more
known as they have been, and by this means there
shall be no more the voice of crying, v. 19. When
there shall be no more death, there shall be no more
sorrow, Rev. xxi. 4. As death has reigned by sin,
s> life shall reign by righteousness, Rom. v. 14, 21.
(I.) Believers through Christ shall be satisfied with
l,fe, though it be ever so short on earth. If an in¬
i' .nt end its days quickly, yet it shall not be reckon¬
ed to die untimely, for the shorter its life is, the
1 mger will its rest be; though death reign over them
l hat. have not sinned after the similitude of yldam’s
rrungression, yet they, dying in the arms of Christ,
t!ie second Adam, and belonging to his kingdom,
are not to be called infants of days, but even the
child shall be reckoned to die a hundred years old,
for he shall rise again at full age, shall rise to eter¬
nal life. Some understand it of children who in
their childhood are so eminent for wisdom and
grace, and by death nipt in the blossom, that they
may be said to die a hundred years old. And as for
old men, it is promised that they shall Jill their days
with the fruits of righteousness, which they shall
still bring forth in old age; to show that the Lord is
upright, and then it is a good old age. An old man,
who is wise, and good, and useful, may truly be said
to have filled his days. Old men, who have their
hearts upon the world, have never filled their days,
never have enough of this world, but would still
continue longer in it. But that man dies old and
satur dierum—full of days, who, with Simeon,
having seen God’s salvation, desires now to depart
in peace. (2.) Unbelievers shall be unsatisfied and
unhappy in life, though it be ever so long. The
sinner, though he live to be a hundred years old,
shall be accursed; his living so long shall be no token
t > him of the divine favour and blessing, nor shall it
be any shelter to him from the divine wrath and
curse; the sentence he lies under will certainly be
executed, and his long life is but a long reprieve;
n iy, it is itself a curse to him, for the longer he lives,
the more wrath he treasures up against the day of
wrath, and the more sins he will have to answer
for. So that the matter is not great, whether our
lives on earth be long or short, but whether we liv e
the lives of saints or the lives of sinners.
3. There shall be a new enjoyment of the com¬
forts of life; that, whereas before it was very uncer-
t tin and precarious, their enemies inhabited the
houses which they built, and ate the fruit of the trees
which they planted, now it shall be otherwise; they
shall build houses, and inhabit them, shall plant
vineyards, and eat the fruit of them, v. 21, 22. This
intimates that the labour of their hands shall be
blessed and be made to prosper; they shall gain what
they aimed at; and what they have gained shall be
preserved and secured to them; they shall enjoy it
comfortably, and nothing shall imbitter it to them,
and they shall live to enjoy it long. Strangers shall
not break in upon them, to expel them, and plant
themselves in their room, as sometimes they have
done; Mine elect shall wear out, or long enjoy, the
work of their hands; it is honestly get, and it will
wear well; it is the work of their hands, which they
themselves have laboured for, anil it is most com¬
fortable to enjoy that, and not to eat the bread of
idleness or bread of deceit; if we have a heart to en¬
joy it, that is the gift of God’s grace; (Eccl. iii.
1 3. ) and if we live to enjoy it long, it is the gift of
God’s providence, for that is here promised; As the
days of a tree, are the days of my people; as the
days of an oak, ( ch . vi. 13.) whose substance is in it,
though it cast its leaves; though it be stripped every
winter, it recovers itself again, and lasts many ages;
as the days of the tree of life; so the LXX. Christ
is to them the tree of life, and in him believers enjoy
all those spiritual comforts which are typified by
the abundance of temporal blessings here promised;
and it shall not be in the power of their enemies to
deprive them of these blessings, or disturb them in
the enjoyment of them.
4. There shall be a new generation rising up in
their stead, to inherit and enjoy these blessings; ( v .
23. ) They shall not labour in vain, for they shall
not only enjoy the work of their hands themselves,
but they shall leave it with satisfaction to those that
shall come after them, and not with such a melan¬
choly prospect as Solomon did; (Eccl. ii. 18, 19.)
They shall not beget and bring forth children fi r
trouble; for they are themselves the seed of the
blessed of the Lord, and there is a blessing entailed
upon them by descent from their ancestors, which
their offspring with them shall partake of, and shall
be, as well as they, the seed of the blessed of the
Lord. They shall not bring forth for trouble; for,
(1.) God will make their children that rise up com*
forts to them; they shall have the joy of seeing them
walk in the truth. (2.) He will make the times
that come after comfortable to their children; as
they shall be good, so it shall be well with them;
they shall not be brought forth to days of trouble;
nor shall it ever be said, Blessed is the womb that
bare not. In the gospel-church Christ’s name shall
be borne up by a succession; A seed shall serve him,
(Ps. xxii. 30.) the seed of the blessed of the Lord.
5. There shall be a goed correspondence be¬
tween them and their God; (i1. 24.) Even before
they call, J will answer. God will prevent their
prayers with the blessings of his goodness; David
did but say, I will confess, and God forgave, Ps.
xxxii. 5. The father of the prodigal met him in
his return; While they are yet speaking, before they
have finished their prayer, I will give them the
thing they pray for, or the assurances and earnests
of it. These are high expressions of God’s readi¬
ness to hear prayer; and this appears much more in
the grace of the gospel than it did under the law;
we owe the comfort of it to the mediation of Christ
as our Advocate with the Father, and are obliged in
gratitude to give a ready ear to God’s calls.
6. There shall be a good correspondence between
them and their neighbours; (v. 25.) The wolf and
the lamb shall feed together, as they did in Noah’s
ark. God’s people, though they are as sheep in the
midst of wolves, shall be safe and unhurt; tor God
will not so much break the power, and tie the
hands, of their enemies, as formerly; but he will
turn their hearts, will alter their dispositions by his
grace. When Paul, who had been a persecutor of
the disciples, (who, being of the tribe of Benjamin,
ravened as a wolf, Gen. xlix. 27.) joined himself to
them and became one of them, then the wolf and
the lamb feel together. So also when the enmity
between the Jews and Gentiles was slain, all hostili¬
ties ceased, and they fed together as one sheepfold
under Christ the great Shepherd, John x. 16. The
enemies of the church ceased to do the mischief
they had done, and its members ceased to be so
quarrelsome with, and injurious to, one another as
they had been, so that there was none either from
without or from within to hurt or destroy, none to
disturb it, much less to ruin it, in all the holy moun¬
tain; as was promised, ch. xi. 9. For, (1.) Men
shall be changed; the lion shall no more be a beast
of prey, as perhaps he never wtuld have been if sin
had not entered, but shall eat straw like the bullock,
shall know his owner, and his master's crib, as the
309
ISAIAH, LXVI.
ox does. When those that lived by spoil and ra¬
pine, and coveted to enrich themselves, right or
wrong, are brought by the grace of God to accom¬
modate themselves to their condition, to live by ho¬
nest labour, and to be content with such things as
they have; when they that stole steal no more, but
work with their hands the tiling that is good, then
this is fulfilled, that the lion shall eat straw like the
bullock. (2.) Satan shall be chained, the dragon
bound; for dust shall be the serfient’s meat again.
That great enemy, when he has been let loose, has
glutted and regaled himself with the precious blood
of saints, who by his instigation have been persecu¬
ted, and with the precious souls of sinners, who by
his instigation have become persecutors, and have
ruined themselves for ever; but now he shall be con¬
fined to dust, according to the sentence, On thy belly
shall thou go, and dust shalt thou eat, Gen. hi, - 1,4.
All the enemies of God’s church, that are subtle
and venomous as serpents, shall be conquered and
subdued, and be made to lick the dust. Christ shall
reign as Zion’s King, till all the enemies of his king¬
dom be made his footstool, and theirs too. In the
holy mountain above, and there only, shall this pro¬
mise have its full accomplishment, that there shall
be none to hurt or destroy.
CHAP. LXVI.
The scope of this chapter is much the same as that of the
foregoing chapter, and many expressions of it are the
same; it therefore looks the same way, to the different
state of the good and bad among the Jews, at their return
out of captivity; but that typifying the rejection of the
Jews in the days of the Messiah, the conversion of the
Gentiles, and the setting up of the gospel-kingdom in the
world. The first verse of the chapter is applied by Ste¬
phen to the dismantling of the temple by the planting of
the Christian church; ( Acts vii. 49, 50.) which may
serve as a key to the whole chapter. We have here, I.
The contempt God puts upon ceremonial services in
comparison with moral duties, and an intimation therein
of lus purpose shortly to put an end to the temple and
sacrifice, and reject those that adhered to them, v. 1 . . 4.
II. The salvation God will in due time work for his peo¬
ple, out of the hands oftheir oppressors, (v. 5. ) speaking
terror to the persecutors, (v. 6.) and comfort to the per¬
secuted, a speedy and complete deliverance, (v. 7 . . 9.) a
joyful settlement, (v. 10, 11.) the accession of the Gen¬
tiles to them, and abundance of satisfaction therein, v.
12.. 14. III. The terrible vengeance which God will
bring upon the enemies of his church and people, v.
15.. 18. IV. The happy establishment of the church
upon large and sure foundations, its constant attendance
on God, and triumph over its enemies; v. 19 . . 25. And
we may well expect that this evangelical prophet, here,
in the close of his prophecy, should (as he does) look as
far forward as to the latter days, to the last day, to the
days of eternity.
1. f ■ ^HUS saith the Lord, The heaven
_L is my throne, and the earth is my
footstool : where is the house that ye build
unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
2. For all those things hath my hand made,
and all those things have been, saith the
Lord : but to this man will I look, even to
him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and
trembleth at my word. 3. He that killeth
an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacri¬
ficed! a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck ;
lie that offereth an oblation, as if he offered
swine’s, blood ; he that burneth incense, as if
he blessed an idol : yea, they have chosen
their own ways, and their soul delighteth in
their abominations. 4. I also will choose
their delusions, and will bring their fears
upon them; because when I called, none
did answer; when I spake, they did not
hear: but they did evil before mine eyes,
and chose that in which I delighted not.
Here,
I. Tile temple is slighted in comparison with a
gracious soul, v. 1, 2. The Jews in the prophet’s
time, and afterward, in Christ’s time, gloriid much
in the temple, and promised themselves great
things from it; to humble them therefore, and to
shake their vain confidence, both the prophets and
Christ foretold the ruin of the temple, that God
would leave it, and then it would soon be desolate.
After it was destroyed by the Chaldeans, it soon re¬
covered itself, and the ceremonial services were re¬
vived with it; hut by the Romans it was made a
perpetual desolation, and the ceremonial law was
abolished with it. That the world might be pre¬
pared for this, they were often told, as here, of
what little account the temple was with God.
1. That he did not need it. Heaven is the throne
of his glory and government; there he sits, infinitely
exalted in the highest dignity and dominion, above
all blessing and praise. The earth is his footstool,
on which he stands, overruling all the affairs of it
according to his will. If God has so bright a throne,
so large a footstool, where then is the house they can
build unto God, that can be the residence of his
glory, or, where is the jxlace of his rest ? What sa¬
tisfaction can tlie Eternal Mind take in a house
made with men’s hands? What occasion lias he,
as we have, for a house to repose himself in, who
faints not, neither is weary, who neither slumbers
nor sleeps? Or, if he had occasion, he would not
tell us, (Ps. 1. 12.) for all these things hath his hand
made, heaven and all its courts, earth and all its bor¬
ders, and all the hosts of both. All these things
have been, have had their beginning, by the power
of God, who was happy from eternity before they
were, and therefore could not be benefited by them.
All these things are; so some read it; they still con¬
tinue, upheld bv the same power that made them;
so that our goodness extends not to him. If he would
have had a house for himself to dwell in, he would
have made one himself when he made the world; and
if he had made one, it would have continued to this
day, as other creatures do, according to his ordi¬
nance: so that he had no need of a temple made with
hands.
2. That he would not need it, so as he would a
humble, penitent, gracious heart. He has a heaven
and earth of his own making, and a temple of man’s
making; but he overlooks them all, that he may
look with favour to him that is poor in spirit, hum¬
ble and serious, self-abasing and self-denying, whose
heart is truly contrite for sin, penitent for it, in pain
to get it pardoned, and that trembles at God’s
word, not as Felix did, with a transient qualm that
was over when the sermon was done, but with an
habitual awe of God’s majesty and purity, and an
habitual dread of his justice and wrath; such a heart
is a living temple for God, he dwells there, and it is
the place of his rest; it is like heaven and earth, his
throne and his footstool.
II. Sacrifices are slighted when they come from
ungracious hands; the sacrifices of the wicked is not
only unacceptable, but it is an abomination to the
Lord; (Prov. xv. 8.) this is largely shown here, v.
3, 4. Observe,
1. How detestable their sacrifices were to God.
The carnal Jews, after cvieir return out of captivity,
though they relapsed nqt to idolatry, grew very
careless and loose in the service of God; they
brought the torn, and the lame, and the sick, for
sacrifice, (Mai. i. 8, 13.) and this made their servi¬
ces abominable to God; they had no regard to their
sacrifices, and therefore how could they think God
310 ISAIAH, LXV1.
should have any regard to them? The unbelieving
Jews, after the gospel was preached, and in it no¬
tice given of the offering up of the great Sacrifice,
which put an end to all the ceremonial services,
continued to offer sacrifices, as if the law of Moses
had been still in force, and could have made the
coiners thereunto perfect: this was an abomination;
tie that kills an ox for his own table, is welcome to
do it; bill he that now kills it, and thus kills it for
God’s altar, is as if he slew a man; it is as great an
offence to God as murder itself; he that does it,
does in effect set aside Christ’s sacrifice, treads un¬
der foot the blood of the covenant, and makes him¬
self accessary to the guilt of the body and blood of
the Lord; setting up what Christ died to abolish.
He that sacrifces a lamb, if it be a corrupt thing,
and not the male in his flock, the best he has, if he
think to put God off with any thing, he affronts him,
instead of pleasing him; it is as if he cut off a dog’s
neck; a creature in the eye of the law so vile, that
whereas an ass might be redeemed, the price of a
dog was never to be brought into the treasury;
Dent, xxiii. 18. He that offers an oblation, a meat¬
offering, or drink-offering, is as if he thought to
make atonement with swine’s blood; a creature that
must not be eaten or touched, the broth of it was
abominable, (cA. Ixv. 4.) much more the blood of it.
He that burns incense to God, and so puts contempt
upon the incense of Christ’s intercession, is as if he
blessed an idol; it was as great an affront to God
as if they had paid their devotions to a false god.
Hypocrisy and profaneness are as provoking as
idolatry.
2. What their wickedness was, which made their
sacrifices thus detestable; it is because they have
chosen their own ways, the ways of their own wick¬
ed hearts, and not only their hands do, but their soul
delights in, their abominations; they were vicious
and immoral in their conversations, chose the way
cf sin rather than the way of God’s commandments,
and took pleasure in that which was provoking to
God; this made their sacrifices so offensive to Gcd,
ch. i. 11. — 15. Those that pretend to honour God
by a profession of religion, and yet live wicked lives,
put an affront upon him, as if he were the Patron
of sin. And that which was an aggravation of their
wickedness, was, that they persisted in it, notwith¬
standing the frequent calls given them to repent and
reform; they turned a deaf ear to all the warnings
of divine justice and all the offers of divine grace;
IVhen I called, none did answer, as before, ch. Ixv.
12. And the same follows here that did there;
They did evil before mine eyes. Being deaf to what
he said, they cared not what he saw, but chose that
in which they knew he delighted not. How could
they expect to please him in their devotions, who
took no care to please him in their conversations,
but, on the contrary, designed to provoke him?
3. The doom passed upon them for this; They
chose their own ways, therefore, says God, I also will
-'loose their delusions; They have made their choice,
(as Mr. Gataker paraphrases it,) and now I will
make mine; they have taken what course they pleased
with me, and I will take what course I please with
them. 1 will choose their illusions, or mockeries;
so some. As they have mocked God, and disho¬
noured him by their wickedness, so God will give
them up to tlieir enemies, to be trampled upon and
insulted by them. Or, They shall be deceived by
those vain confidences with which they have de¬
ceived themselves. God will make their sin tlieir
punishment; they shall be beaten with their own
r id, and hurried into ruin by their own delusions.
God will bring their fears upon them, will bring
upon them that which shall be a terror to them,
that which they themselves have been afraid of, and
thought to escape by sinful shifts. Unbelieving
hearts, and unpurified, unpacified consciences, need
no more to make them miserable, than to have their
own fears brought upon them.
5. Hear the word of the Lord,* ye that
tremble at his word; Your brethren that
hated you, that cast you out for my name’s
sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified : but
he shall appear to your joy, and they shall
be ashamed. 6. A voice of noise from the
city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the
Lord that rendereth recompense to his en¬
emies. 7. Before she travailed, she brought
forth ; before her pain came, she was deli¬
vered of a man child. 8. Who hath heard
such a thing 1 who hath seen such things 1
Sf&ll the earth be made to bring forth in one
day 1 or shall a nation be born at once? lor
as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth
her children. 9. Shall I bring to the birth,
and not cause to bring forth 1 saith the Lord:
shall 1 cause to bring forth, and shut ihe
womb? saith thy God. 10. Rejoice ye with
Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that
love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that
mourn for her: 1 1 . That ye may suck, and be
satisfied with the breasts of her consolations,
that ye may milk out, and be delighted with
the abundance of her glory. 1 2. For thus
saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace
to her like a river, and the glory of the Gen¬
tiles like a flowing stream: then shall ye
suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and
be dandled upon her knees. 13. As one
whom his mother comforteth,so will I com¬
fort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jeru¬
salem. 1 4. And when ye see this, your heart
shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish
like an herb; and the hand of the Lord
shall be known toward his servants, and
his indignation towards his enemies.
The prophet, having denounced God’s judgments
against an hypocritical nation, that made a jest of
God’s word, and would not answer him when he
called to them, here turns his speech to those that
trembled at his word, to comfort and encourage
them; they shall not be involved in the judgments
that are coming upon their unbelieving nation. Min¬
isters must distinguish thus, that, when they speak
terror to the wicked, they may not make the hearts
of the righteous sad ■ Bone Christiane, hoc nihil ad
te — Good Christian, this is nothing to thee. The
prophet having assured those that trembled at God’s
word, of a gracious look from him, (v. 2.) here
brings them a gracious message from him. The
word of God has comforts in store for those that by
true humiliation for sin are prepared to receive
them. There were those (v. 4.) who, when God.
spake, would not hear; but if some will not, others
will. If the heart tremble at the word, the ear
will be open to it. Now what is here said to them?
I. Let them know that God will plead their just
but injured cause against their persecutors; (v. 5.)
Your brethren that hated you, said, Let the Lord
be glorified. But he shall appear to your joy. This
perhaps might have reference to the case of some
of the Jews at their return cut of captivity; but no-
ISAIAH ,*LXVI. 3il
thing like it appears in the history, and therefore it
is rather to be referred to the first preachers and
professors of the gospel among the Jews, to whose
case it is very applicable. Observe, 1. How the
faithful servants of (rod were persecuted; their bre¬
thren hated them. The apostles were Jews by birth,
and yet even in the cities of the Gentiles, the Jews
they met with there were their most bitter and im¬
placable enemies, and stirred ii/i the Gentiles against
them. The spouse complains, (Cant. i. 6.) that her
mother’s children were angry with her. Pilate up¬
braided cur Lord Jesus with this, Thine own nation
have delivered thee unto me, John xviii. 35. Their
brethren, who should have loved them, and encou¬
raged them, for their work’s sake, hated them, and
cast them out of their synagogues, excommunicated
them, as if they had been the greatest blemishes,
who really were the greatest blessings of their
church and nation. This was a fruit of the old en¬
mity in the seed of the serfient against the seed of
the woman. They that hated Christ hated his dis¬
ciples, because they supported his kingdom and in¬
terest; (John xv. 18.) and they cast them out for his
name’s sake, because they were called by his name,
and called upon his name, and laid out themselves
to advance his name. Note, It is no new thing for
church-censures to be misapplied, and for her artil¬
lery, that was intended for her defence, to be turned
against her best friends, by the treachery of her go¬
vernors. And they that did this said, Let the Lord
be glorified; they pretended conscience, and a zeal
for the honour of God and the church in it, and did
it with all the formalities of devotion. Our Saviour
explains this, and seems to have reference to it,
John xvi. 2. They shall put you out of their syna¬
gogues, and whosoever kills you will think that he
does God service. In nomine Domini incipit omne
malum — In the name of the Lord commences evil
of every kind. Or, we may understand it as spoken
in defiance of God. “ You say God will be glorified
in your deliverance, let him be glorified then; let
him make speed, and hasten his work; ( ch . v. 19.)
let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.”
Some take it to be the language of the profane Jews
in captivity, bantering their brethren that hoped for
deliverance, and ridiculing the expectations they
often comforted themselves with, that God would
shovtlv be glorified in it. They thus did what they
could to shame the counsel of the poor, Ps. xiv. 6.
2. How they were encouraged under these perse¬
cutions; “ Let your faith and patience hold out yet
a little while; your enemies hate you and oppress
you, your brethren hate you and cast you out, but
your Father in heaven loves veu, and will appear
for you when no one else will or dare. His provi¬
dence shall order things so as shall be for comfort
to you, he shall appear for your joy, and for the
confusion of those that abuse you and trample on
vou; they shall be ashamed of their enmity to you.”
This was fulfilled, when, upon the signals given of
Jerusalem’s approaching ruin, the Jews’ hearts fail¬
ed them for fear; but the disciples of Christ, whom
thev had hated and persecuted, lifted up their heads
with joy, knowing that their redemption drew nigh,
Luke xxi. 26, 28. Though God seem to hide him¬
self. he will in due time show himself.
II. Let them know that God’s appearances for
them will be snch as will make a great noise in the
world; (u. 6.) There shall be a voice of noise from
the city, from the temple. Some make it the joyful
and triumphant voice of the church’s friends; others
the frightful, lamenting voice of her enemies, sur¬
prised in the city, and fleeing in vain to the temple
for shelter. These voices do but echo to the voice
of the Lord, who is now rendering a recompense to
his enemies; and those that will not hear him speak¬
ing this terror, shall hear them returning the alarms
of it in dolefuPshrieks. We may well think what
a confused noise there was in the city and temple,
when Jerusalem, after a long siege, was at last taken
by the Romans. Some think this prophecy was
fulfilled in the prodigies that went before that de¬
struction of Jerusalem, related by Josephus in his
History of the wars of the Jews; fib. 7. cap. 31.)
that the temple doors flew open suddenly of their
own accord, and the priests heard a noise of motion
or shifting in the most holy place, and presently a
voice, saying, Let us depart hence. And some time
after, one Jesus Bar-Annas went up and down the
city, at the feast of tabernacles, continually cry¬
ing, A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a
voice from the four witids; a voice against Jerusa¬
lem, and the temple; a voice against all this people.
III. Let them know that God will set up a church
for himself in the world, which shall be abundantly
replenished in a little time; (v. 7.) Before she tra¬
vailed she brought forth. This is to be applied in
the type to the deliverance of the Jews out of theii
captivity in Babylon, which was brought about very
easily and silently, without any pain or struggle,
such as was when they were brought out of Egypt:
that was done by might and power, (Deut. iv. 34. )
but this by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, Zecli.
iv. 6. The man-child of the deliverance is rejoiced
in, and yet the mother was never in labour for it;
before her pain came she was delivered. This is
altogether surprising, uncommon, and without pre¬
cedent, unless in the story which the Egyptian mid¬
wives told of the Hebrew women, (Exod. i. 19.)
that they were lively, and were delivered ere the
midwives came in unto them. But shall the earth be
made to bring forth her fruits in one day ? No, it
is the work of some weeks in the spring to renew
the face of the earth, and cover it with its products.
Some read it to the same purport with the next
clause, Shall a land be brought forth in one day,
nr shall a nation be born at oncer Is it to be ima¬
gined that a woman at one birth should bring chil¬
dren sufficient to people a country, and that thev
should in an instant grow up to maturity? No; some¬
thing like this was done in the creation; but Gcd
has since rested from all such works, and leaves se¬
cond causes to produce their effects gradually. Ni¬
hil facit per saltum — He does nothing abruptly.
Yet in this case, as soon as Zion travailed, she
brought forth. Cyrus’s proclamation was no sooner
issued out, than the captives were formed into a
body, and were ready to make the best of their
way to their own land. And the reason is given,
(y. 9.) because it is the Lord’s doing; he under¬
takes it, whose work is perfect. If he bring to the
birth in preparing his people for deliverance, he
will cause to bring forth in the accomplishment cf
the deliverance. When every thing is ripe and
ready for their release, and the number of their
months is accomplished, so that the children are
brought to the birth, shall not I then give strength
to bring forth, but leave mother and babe to perish
together in the most miserable case? How wdl this
agree with the divine pity? Shall I begin a work,
and not go through with it? How will that agree
with the divine power and perfection? Am I he that
causes to bring forth, (so the following clause mav
be read,) and shall I restrain her? Does God cause
mankind, and all the species of living creatures, to
propagate, and replenish the earth, and will he re¬
strain Zion? Will he not make her fruitful in a
blessed offspring to replenish the church? Or, Am
I he that begat, and should I restrain from bringing
forth? Did God beget the deliverance in his pur¬
pose and promise, and will he not bring it forth in
the accomplishment and performance of it? But
this was a figure of the setting up of the Christian
church in the world, and the replenishing of that
M2 ISAIAH, LX VI.
family with children, which was to be named from
Jesus Christ. When the Spirit was poured out, and
the gospel went forth from Zion, multitudes were
converted in a little time, and with little pains, com¬
pared with the vast product. The apostles, even
before they travailed, brought forth, and the chil¬
dren born to Christ were so numerous, and so sud¬
denly and easily produced, that they were ra¬
ther like the dew from the morning’s womb than
like the son from the mother’s womb, Ps. cx. 3.
The success of the gospel was astonishing; that
light, like the morning, strangely diffused itself till
it took hold even of the ends of the earth. Cities
and nations were born at once to Christ The same
day that the Spirit was poured out, there were
three thousand souls added to the church. And
when this glorious work was once begun, it was car¬
ried on wonderfully, beyond what could be imagined ;
so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
He that brought to the birth in conviction of sin, caus¬
ed to bring forth in a thorough conversion to God.
IV. Let them know that their present sorrows
shall shortly be turned into abundant joys, v. 10, 11.
Observe,
1. How the church’s friends are described; they
are such as love her, and mourn with her and for
her. Note, All that love God love Jerusalem: they
love the church of God, and lay its interest very
near their heart. They admire the beauty of the
church, take pleasure in communion with it, and
heartily espouse its cause. And they that have a
sincere affection for the church, have a cordial sym¬
pathy with her in all the cares and sorrows of her
militant state. They mourn for her, all her griev¬
ances are their griefs; if Jerusalem be in distress,
their harps are hung on the willow-trees.
2. How they are encouraged: Rejoice with her,
and again and again, I say. Rejoice. This intimates
that Jerusalem shall have cause to rejoice; the days
of her mourning shall be at an end, and she shall be
comforted according to the time that she has been
afflicted. It is the will of God, that all her friends
should join with her in her joys, for they shall share
with her in those blessings that will be the matter
of her joy. If we suffer with Christ, and sorrow
with his church, we shall reign with him, and re¬
joice with her. We are here called, (1.) To bear
our part in the church’s praises: “ Come, rejoice
with her, rejoice for joy with her, rejoice greatly,
rejoice and know why you rejoice; rejoice on the
davs appointed for public thanksgiving. You that
mourned for her in her sorrows, cannot but from
the same principles rejoice with her in her joy.”
(2.) To take our part in the church’s comforts. We
must suck and be satisfed with the breasts of our
consolations; the word of God, the covenant of
grace, especially the promises of that covenant, the
ordinances of God, and all the opportunities of at¬
tending on him, and conversing with him, are the
breasts, which the church calls and counts the
breasts of her consolations, where her comforts are
laid up, and whence by faith and prayer they are
drawn; with her therefore we must suck from these
breasts, by an application of the promises of God to
ourselves, and a diligent attendance on his ordinan¬
ces; and with the consolations which are drawn
hence we must be satisfied, and not be dissatisfied,
though we have ever so little of earthly comforts.
It is the glory of the church, that she has the Lord
for her God, that to her pertain the adoption and
service of God; with the abundance of this glory
we must be delighted. We must take more plea¬
sure in our relation to God, and communion with
him, than in all the delights of the sons and daugh¬
ters of men. Whatever is the glory of the church,
must be our glory and joy, particularly her purity,
unity, and increase.
V. Let them know that he who gives them this
call to rejoice, will give them cause to do so, and
hearts to do so, v. 12 _ 14.
1. He will give them cause to do so. For, (1.)
They shall enjoy a long, uninterrupted course of
prosperity; I will extend, or am extending, peace
to her, all good to her, like a river that runs in a
constant stream, still increasing till it be swallowed
up in the ocean. The gospel brings with it wher¬
ever it is received in its power, such peace as this,
which shall go on like a river, supplying souls with
all good, and making them fruitful, as a river does
the lands it passes through, such a river of peace as
the springs of the world’s comforts cannot send
forth, ana the dams of the world’s troubles cannot
stop or drive back, or its sands rack up; such a river
of peace as will carry us to the ocean of boundless
and endless bliss. (2. ) There shall be large and
advantageous additions made to them; The glory
of the Gentiles shall come to them like a flowing
stream. Gentile converts shall come pouring into
the church, and swell the river of her peace and
prosperity; for they shall bring their glory with
them; their wealth and honour, their power and in¬
terest shall all be devoted to the service of God, and
employed for the good of the church; “Then shall
you suck from the breasts of her consolations; when
you see such crowding for a share in those comforts,
you shall be the more solicitous and the more vigor¬
ous to secure your share; not for fear of having the
less for others’ coming in to partake of Christ,”
(there is no danger of that, he has enough for all,
and enough for each,) “ but their zeal shall provoke
you to a holy jealousy.” It is well when it does so,
Rom. xi. 14. 2 Cor. ix. 2. (3.) God shall be glo¬
rified in all; and that ought to be more the matter
of our joy than any thing else; (i>. 14.) The hand
of the Lord shall be known toward his servants, the
protecting, supporting hand of his almighty power,
the supplying, enriching hand of his inexhaustible
goodness, the benefit which his servants have by
both these, shall be known to his glory as well as
theirs. And to make this the more illustrious, he
will at the same time make known his indignation
toward his enemies. God’s mercy and justice shall
be both manifested and for ever magnified.
2. God will not only give them cause to rejoice,
but will speak comfort to them, will speak it to their
hearts; and it is he only that can do that, and make
it fasten there. See what he will do for the comfort
of all the sons of Zion. (1.) Their country shall be
their tender nurse; Ye shall be carried on her sides,
under her arms, as little children are, and shall be
dandled upon her knees, as darlings are, especially
when they are weary and out of humour, and must
be got to sleep. Those that are joined to the church,
must be treated thus affectionately; the Great Shep¬
herd gathers the lambs in his arms, and carries them
in his bosom , and so must the under-shepherds, that
they may not be discouraged. Proselytes should be
favourites. (2.) God will himself be their power¬
ful Comforter; as one whom his mother comforts,
when he is sick or sore, or upon any account in sor¬
row, so will I comfort you; not only with the ra¬
tional arguments which a prudent father uses, but
with the tender affections and compassions of a lov¬
ing mother, that bemoans her afflicted child when
it has fallen and hurt itself, that she may quiet it
and make it easy, or endeavours to pacify it after
she has chidden it and fallen out with it: (Jer. xxxl
20.) Since I spake against him, my bowels are trou¬
bled for him; he is a dear son, he is a pleasant
child. Thus the mother comforts. Thus you shall
be comforted in Jerusalem, in the favours bestowed
on the church, which you shall partake of, and
in the thanksgivings offered by the church, which
you shall concur with. (3.) They shall feel the
313
ISAIAH
blessed efitc.; of this comfort in their own souls;
(v. 13.) When you see this, what a happy state
ihe church is restored to, not only your tongues
and your countenances, but your hearts shall re¬
joice. This was' fulfilled in the wonderful satis¬
faction which Christ’s disciples had in the success
„f their ministry. Christ, with an eye to that, tells
‘liem, (John xvi. 22.) Your hearts shall rejoice,
and your joy no man taketh from you. Then
your' bones, that were dried and withered, (the
marrow of them quite exhausted,) shall recover a
youthful strength and vigour, and shall flourish like
an herb. Divine comforts reach the inward man,
they are marrow and moistening to the bones, Prov.
iii. 8. The bones are the strength of the body; those
shall be made to flourish with these comforts; The
joy of the Lord will be your strength, Neh. viii. 10.
1 5. For, behold, the Lord will come with
fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind,
to render his anger witli fury, and his rebuke
with flames of fire. 16. For by fire and by
his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh:
and the slain of the Lord shall be many.
1 7. They that sanctify themselves, and pu¬
rify themselves in the gardens, behind one
tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and
the abomination, and the mouse, shall be
consumed together, saith the Lord. 1 8. For
I know their works and their thoughts : it
shall come, that I will gather all nations and
tongues ; and they shall come, and see my
glory. 19. And I v/ill set a sign among
them, and I will send those that escape of
them unto the nations, to Tarshish,Pul, and
Lnd, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Ja¬
van, to the isles afar off, that have not heard
my fame, neither have seen my glory ; and
they shall declare my glory among the Gen¬
tiles. 20. And they shall bring all your
brethren for an offering unto the Lord, out
of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots,
and in litters, and upon mules, and upon
swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem,
saith the Lord, as the children of Israel
bring an offering in a clean vessel into the
house of the Lord. 21 . And I will also take
of them for priests, and for Levites, saith the
Lord. 22. For as the new heavens and
the new earth, which I will make, shall re¬
main before me, saith the Lord, so shall
vour seed and your name remain. 23. And
it shall come to pass, that from one new
moon to another, and from one sabbath to
another, shall all flesh come to worship be¬
fore me, saith the Lord. 24. And they
shall go forth, and look upon the carcases
of the men that have transgressed against
me; for their worm shall not die, neither
shall their fire be quenched ; and they shall
be an abhorring unto all flesh.
These verses, like the pillar of cloud and fire, have
a dark side towards the enemies of God’s kingdom,
and all that are rebels against his crown, and a bright
Vol. iv. — 2 R
, LX VI.
side towards his faithful, loyal subjects. Probably,
it refers to the Jews in captivity in Babylon, of whom
some are said to have been sent thither for their
hurt; and those arc they with whom God hert
threatens to proceed in his controversy, who hated
to be reformed, and therefore should be ruined by
the calamity, Jer. xxiv. 9. Others were sent thither
for their good, and they should have the trouble
sanctified to them, should in due time get well
through it, and see many a good day after it. Di¬
vers of the expressions here used are accommodated
to that glorious dispensation ; but doubtless it looks
further, to the judgment for which Christ did come
once, and will come again, into this world; and to
the distinction which his word in both makes between
the 1 irecious anil the vile.
I. Christ will appear to the confusion and terror
of all those that stand it out against him ; sometimes
in temporal judgments. The Jews that persisted in
infidelity were cut off by fire, and by his sword; the
ruin was very extensive, the Lord then fileaded with
all fesh; and it being his sword with which they are
cut off, they are called his slain, sacrificed to his jus¬
tice: and they shall be many. In the great day, the
wrath of God will be his fire and sword, with which
he will cut off and consume all the impenitent; and
his word, when it takes hold of sinners’ consciences,
burns like fire, and is sharper than any two-edged
sword. Idolaters will especially be contended with in
the day of wrath, v. 17. Perhaps some of those'who
returned out of Babylon, retained such instances of
idolatry and superstition as are here mentioned; had
their idols in their gardens, (not daring to set them
up publicly in the high places,) and there fiurfied
themselves, as the worshippers of the true God used
to do, when they went about their idolatrous rites,
one after another, or, as we read it, behind one tree
in the midst; behind Ahad, or Ehad, some idol that
they worshipped by that name; and in honour of
which they ate swine’s flesh, which was expressly
forbidden by the law of God ; and other abominations,
as the mouse, or some other like animal. But it
may refer to all those judgments which the wrath
of God, according to the word of God, will bring
upon provoking sinners, that live in contempt of God,
and are devoted to the world and the flesh — they
shall be consumed together. From the happiness
of heaven we find expressly excluded all idolaters,
and whosoever worketh abomination, Rev. xxi. 27.
— xxii. 15. In the day of vengeance, secret wick¬
edness will be brought to light, and brought to the
account; for, ( v . 18.) I know their works, and their
thoughts; God knows both what men do, and from
what principle, and with what design they do it;
and therefore is fit to judge the world, because he
can judge the secrets of men, Rom. ii. 16.
II. He will appear to the comfort and joy of all
that are faithful to him in the setting up of his king¬
dom in this world, the kingdom of grace, the earnest
and first-fruits of the kingdom of glory. The time
shall come that he will gather all nations and tongues
to himself, that they might come and see his glory
as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ, v. 18. This
was fulfilled when all nations were to be discipled,
and the gift of tongues bestowed in order thereunto.
The church had hitherto been confined to one na¬
tion, and in one tongue only God was worshipped;
but in the days of the Messiah the partition-wall
shall be taken down, and those that had been stran¬
gers to God shall be brought acquainted with him,
and shall see his glory in the gospel, as the Jews had
seen it in the sanctuary. As to this, it is here pro¬
mised,
1. That some of the Jewish nation should, by the
grace of God, be distinguished from the rest, and
marked for salvation : I will not only set up a gather¬
ing ensign among them, to which the Gentiles shall
si 4 ISAIAH, LXV1.
seek, (as is promised, ch. xi. 12.) but there shall be
those among them on whom I will set a differencing
sign; for so the word signifies. Though they are a
corrupt, degenerate nation, yet God will set apart a
remnant of them, that shall be devoted to him, and
employed for him, and a mark shall be set upon
them, with such certainty will God own them, Ezek.
ix. 4. The sen’ants of God shall be sealed in their
foreheads, Rev. vii. 3. The Lord knows them
*hat are his; Christ’s sheep are marked.
2. That those who are themselves distinguished
thus by the grace of God, shall be commissioned to
invite others to come and take the benefit of that
grace: those that escape the power of those preju¬
dices by which the generality of that nation is kept
in unbelief, they shall be sent unto the nations, to
carry the gospel among them, and preach it to every
creature. Note, Those who themselves have es¬
caped the wrath to come, should do all they can to
snatch others also as brands out of the burning. God
chooses to send those on his errands that can deliver
their message feelingly and experimentally, and
warn people of their danger by sin, as those who
have themselves narrowly escaped the danger. ( 1. )
They shall be sent unto the nations, divers of which
are here named, Tarshish, and Pul, and Lud, &c.
It is uncertain, nor are interpreters agreed, what
couriers are here intended; Tarshish signifies in
general the sea, jet some take it for Tarsus in Cili¬
cia; Pul is mentioned sometimes as the name of one
of the kings of Assyria, perhaps some part of that
country might likewise bear that name; Lud is sup¬
posed to be Lydia, a warlike nation, famed for
archers; the Lydians are said to handle and bend
the bow, Jer. xlvi. 9. Tabul, some think, is Italy
or Spain; and Javan most agree to be Greece, the
Iones; and the Isles of the Gentiles, that were peo-
led by the posterity of Japhet, (Gen. x. 5.) proba-
lv, are here meant by the isles afar off, that have
not heard my name, neither have seen my glory. In
Judah only God was known, and there only his name
was great for many ages; other countries sat in
darkness, heard not the joyful sound, saw not the
jovful light. This deplorable state of theirs seems
to be spoken of here with compassion; for it is pity
that any of the children of men should be at such a
distance from their Maker as not to hear his name
and see his glory. In consideration of this, (2.)
Those that are sent to the nations shall go upon
God’s errand, to declare his glory among the Gen¬
tiles; the Jews that shall be dispersed among the
nations shall declare the glory of God’s providence
concerning their nation all .along, by which many
shall be invited to join with them, as also by the
appearances of God’s glory among them in his ordi¬
nances; some out of all languages of the nations shall
take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, entreat¬
ing him to take notice of them, to admit them into
his company, and to stay a little while for them, till
they are ready, for we will go with you, having
heard that God is with you, Zech. viii. 23. Thus
the glory of God was in part declared among the
Gentiles; but more clearly and fully by the apostles
and preachers of the gospel, who were sent into all
the world, even to the isles afar off, to publish the
glorious gospel of the blessed God. They went forth
and preached every where, the Lord working with
them, Mark xvi. 20.
3. That many converts shall hereby be made, t1.
20. They shall bring all your brethren (for pro¬
selytes ought to be owned and embraced as brethren)
for an offering unto the Lord. God’s glory shall
not be in vain declared to them, but by it they shall
be both invited and directed to join themselves to
the Lord. They that are sent to them shall succeed
so well in their negociation, that thereupon there shall
be as great a flocking to Jerusalem, as used to be at
the time of a solemn feast, when all the males from
all parts of the country were to attend there, and
not to appear empty. "Observe, (1.) The conve-
niencies that they shall be furnished with for their
coming; some shall come upon horses, because they
came from far, and the journey was too long to travel
on foot, as the Jews usually did to their feasts; per¬
sons of quality shall come in chariots, and the aged
and sickly, and little children, shall be brought in
litters or covered wagons; and the yc.ung men on
mules and swift beasts. This intimates their zeal
and forwardness to come; they shall spare no trouble
or charge to get to Jerusalem ; the se that cannot ride
on horseback shall come in litters; and in such haste
shall they be, and so impatient of delay, that those
that can shall ride upon mules and swift beasts.
These expressions are figurative, and these various
means of conveyance are heaped up to intimate (say-,
the learned Mr. Gataker) the plentiful affording < t
all gracious helps requisite for the bringing of God’,
elect home to Christ. All shall be welcome, and
nothing shall be wanting for their assistance and
encouragement (2.) The character under which
they shall be brought; they shall come, not as for¬
merly they used to come to Jerusalem, to be offerers,
but to be themselves an offering unto the Lord,
which must be understood spiritually, of their being
presented to God as living sacrifices, Rom. xii. 1.
The apostle explains this, and perhaps refers to it,
Rom. xv. 16. where he speaks of his ministering
the gospel to the Gentiles, that the offering up, or
sacrificing of the Gentiles might be acceptable. They
shall offer themselves, and those who are the instru¬
ments of their conversion shall offer them, as the
spoils which they have taken for Christ, and which
are devoted to his service and honour. They shall
be brought as the children of Israel bring an offer¬
ing in a clean vessel, with great care, that they be
holy, purified from sin, and sanctified to God. It is
said of the converted Gentiles, (Acts xv. 9.) that
their hearts were purified by faith. Whatever was
brought to God was brought in a clean vessel, a ves¬
sel appropriated to religious uses. God will be
served and honoured in the way that he has ap¬
pointed, in the ordinances of his own institution,
which are the proper vehicles for these spiritual
offerings. When the soul is offered up to Gcd, the
body must be a clean vessel for it, possessed in sanc¬
tification and honour, and not in the lusts of tin-
cleanness; (] Thess. iv. 4, 5.) and converts to Christ
are not only purged from an evil conscience, but
have their bodies also washed with pure water,
Heb. x. 22.
Now this may refer, [1.] To the Jews, deveut
men, and proselytes out of every nation under hea¬
ven, that flocked together to Jerusalem, expecting
the kingdom of the Messiah to appear, Acts ii. 5,
6, 10. They came from all parts to the holy moun¬
tain of Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord, and
there many of them were brought to the faith of
Christ by the gift of tongues poured cut on the apos¬
tles. Methinks, there is some correspondence be¬
tween that history and this prophecy. The eunuch
some time after came to worship at Jerusalem in his
chariot, and took home with him the knowledge cf
Christ and his holy religion. [2.] To the Gentiles,
some of all nations, that should be converted to
Christ, and so added to the church, which, though
a spiritual accession, is often in prophecy repre¬
sented by a local motion. The apostle says cf all
true Christians, that they are come to mount Zion,
and the heavenly Jerusalem; (Htb. xii. 22.) which
passage explains this, and shews that the meaning
of all this parade is only that they shall be brought
into the church by the grace rf God, and in the use
of the means of that grace, as can fully, safi ly, and
comfortably, as if they were carried in chariots an- 1
ISAIAH. LXV1.
31 b
litters. Thus God shall persuade Japhet, and he
shall dwell in the tents of Shem, Gen. ix. 27.
4. That a gospel-ministry shall be set up in the
church, it being thus enlarged by the addition of
such a multitude of members to it; (v. 21.) I will
take of them, of the proselytes, of the Gentile con¬
verts, for priests and for Levites, to minister in holy
tilings, and to preside in their religious assemblies,
which is very necessary for doctrine, worship, and
discipline. Hitherto the priests and Levites were
all taken from among the Jews, and were all of one
tribe; but in gospel-times God will take of the con¬
verted Gentiles to minister to him in holy things,
to teach the people, to bless them in the name of the
Lord, to be the stewards of the mysteries of God
as the priests and Levites were under the law, to be
pastors and teachers, or bishops, to give themselves
to the word and prayer; and deacons to serve tables,
and, as the Levites, to take care of the outward
business of the house of God, Phil. i. 1. Actsvi. 2. — 4.
The apostles were all Jews, and so were the seventy
disciples; the great apostle of the Gentiles was him¬
self a Hebrew of the Hebrews; but when churches
were planted among the Gentiles, they had minis¬
ters settled, who were of themselves elders in ewerjj
church, (Acts xiv. 23. Tit. i. 5.) which made the
ministry to spread the more easily, and to be the
more familiar, and if not the more venerable, yet the
more acceptable; gospel-grace, it might be hoped,
would cure people of those corruptions which kept
a prophet from having honour in his own country.
God says, I will take, not all of them, though they
are all in a spiritual sense made to our God kings and
priests, but of them, some of them. It is God’s
work originally to choose ministers by qualifying
them for, and inclining them to, the service, as well
as to make ministers by giving them their commis¬
sion. I will take them, I will admit them, though
Gentiles, and will accept of them and their minis¬
trations. This is a great honour and advantage to
the Gentile church, as it was to the Jewish church,
that God raised ufi of their sons for prophets, and
their young men for JVazarites, Amos ii. 11.
5. That the church and ministry, being thus set¬
tled, shall continue and be kept up in a succession
from one generation to another, v. 22. The change
that will lie made by the setting up of the kingdom
of the Messiah, is here described to be, (1.) A veiy
great and universal change; it shall be a new world,
the new heavens, and the new earth, promised be¬
fore, ch. lxv. 17. Old things are passed away, be¬
hold, all things are become new, (2 Cor. v. 17. ) the
old covenant of peculiarity is set aside, and a new
covenant, a covenant of grace, established, Heb.
viii. 13. We are now to serve in newness of the spirit,
and not in the oldness of the letter, Rom. vii. 6. New
commandments are given relating both to heaven
and earth, and new promises relating to both, and
both together make a New Testament; so that they
are new heavens and new earth, that God will cre¬
ate, and these a preparative for the new heavens
and new earth designed at the end of time, 2 Pet. iii.
13. (2.) A change of God’s own making: he will
create the new heavens and the new earth. The
change was made by him that had authority to
make new ordinances, as well as power to make
new worlds. (3.) It will be an abiding, lasting
change; a change never to be changed; a new
world that will be always new, and never wax old, as
that does, which is ready to vanish away. It shall
remain before me unalterable; for the gospel dis¬
pensation is to continue to the end of time, and not
to be succeeded by any other. The kingdom of
Christ is a kingdom that cannot be moved; the laws
and privileges of it are things that cannot be shaken,
but shall for ever remain, Heb. xii. 27, 28. It shall
therefore remain, because it is before God; it is
under his eye, and care, and special protection. (4.)
It will be maintained in a seed that shall serve
Christ; Your seed, and in them, your name, shall
remain — a seed of ministers, a seed of Christians;
as one generation of both passes away, another gene¬
ration shall come, and thus the name of Christ with
that of Christians, shall continue on earth while the
earth remains, and his throne as the days of heaven.
The gates of hell, though they fight against the
church, shall not prevail, nor wear out the saints
of the Most High.
6. That the public worship of God in religious
assemblies shall be carefully and constantly attend¬
ed upon by all that are thus brought as an offering
to the Lord, v. 23. This is described in expressions
suited to the Old Testament dispensation, to show
that though the ceremonial law should be abolished,
and the temple-services should come to an end, yet
God should be still as regularly, constantly, and ac¬
ceptably worshipped as ever. Heretofore Jews only
went up to appear before God, and they were bound
to attend only three times a year, and the males only;
but now all flesh, Gentiles as well as Jews, women
as well as men, shall come and worship before God
in his presence, though not in his temple at Jerusa¬
lem, but in religious assemblies dispersed all the
world over, which shall be to them as the taberna¬
cle of meeting was to the Jews. God will in them
record his name, and though but two or three come
together, he will be among them, will meet them,
and bless them. And they shall have the benefit of
these holy convocations frequently, every new moon,
and every sabbath, not, as formerly, at the three
annual feasts only. There is no necessity of one cer¬
tain place, as the temple was of old. Christ is our
Temple, in whom by faith all believers meet, and
now that the church is so far extended, it is impos¬
sible that all should meet at one place; but it is fit
that there should be a certain time appointed, that
the service may be done certainly and frequently,
and a token thereby given of the spiritual commu¬
nion which all Christian assemblies have with each
other, by faith, hope, and holy love. The new
moons and the sabbaths are mentioned, because,
under ihe law, though the yearly feasts were to be
celebrated at Jerusalem, yet the new moons and the
sabbaths were religiously observed all the country
over, in the schools of the prophets first, and after¬
ward in the synagogues, (2 Kings iv. 23. Amos viii.
5. Acts xv. 21.) according to the model of which
Christian assemblies seem to be performed. Where
the Lord’s day is weekly sanctified, and the Lc rd’s
Supper monthly celebrated, and both duly attended
on, there this promise is fulfilled, there the Chris¬
tian new moons and sabbaths are observed. See
here, that God is to be worshipped in solemn assem¬
blies, that it is the duty of all, as they have oppor¬
tunity, to wait upon God in those assemblies; all
Jlesh must come; though flesh, weak, conupt, and
sinful, let them come that the flesh may be morti¬
fied. In worshipping God, we present ourselves
before him, and are in a special manner in his pre¬
sence. For doing this, there ought to be stated
times, and are so; and we must see that it is our
interest as well as our duty constantly and conscien¬
tiously to observe these times.
7. That their thankful sense of God’s distinguish
ing favour to them, should be very much increased
by the consideration of the fearful doom and de¬
struction of those that persist and perish in their in¬
fidelity and impiety, v. 24. Those that have been
worshipping the Lord of hosts, and rejoicing before
him in the goodness of his house, shall, in order to
affect themselves the more with their own happi¬
ness, take a view of the misery of the wicked. Ob¬
serve, (1.) Who they are, whose misery is here
described; they are men that hate transgressed
316
ISAIAH, LXV1.
against God, not only broken liis laws, but broken
covenant with him, and thought themselves able to
contend with him. It may be meant especially of
the unbelieving Jews that rejected the gospel of
Christ. (2.) What their misery is; it is here repre¬
sented by the frightful spectacle of a field of battle,
covered with the carcases of the slain, that lie rot¬
ting above ground, full of worms crawling about
them, and feeding on them; and if you go to burn
them, they are so scattered, and it is such a noisome
iece of work to get them together, that it would
e endless, and the fire would never be quenched;
so that they are an abhorring to all fiesh, nobody
cares to come near them. Now this is sometimes
accomplished in temporal judgments, and perhaps
never nearer the letter than in the destruction of
Jerusalem and the Jewish nation by the Romans, in
which destruction it is computed that above two
millions, first and last, were cut off by the sword,
beside what perished by famine and pestilence. It
may refer likewise to the spiritual judgments that
came upon the unbelieving Jews, which St. Paul
looks upon, and shows us, Rom. xi. 8, &c. They
became dead in sins, twice dead ; the church
of the Jews was a carcase of a church, all its mem¬
bers were putrid carcases, their worm died not.
; their own consciences made them continually un¬
easy; and the fire of their rage against the gospel
was not quenched, which was their punishment as
well as their sin; and they became, more than ever
any nation under the sun, an abhorring to all fiesh.
But our Saviour applies it to the everlasting misery
and torment of impenitent sinners in the future state,
where their worm dies not, and their fire is not
quenched; (Mark ix. 44. ) for the soul, whose con¬
science is its constant tormentor, is immortal, and
the God, whose wrath is its constant terror, is eter¬
nal. (3.) What notice shall be taken of it; they
that worship God shall go forth, and look upon
them, to affect their own hearts with the love of
their Redeemer, when they see what misery they
are redeemed from. As it will aggravate the mise¬
ries of the damned, to see others in the kingdom of
heaven, and themselves thrust out, (Luke xiii. 28.)
so it will illustrate the joys and glories of the bless¬
ed, to see what becomes of them that died in their
transgression, and it will elevate their praises to
think that they were themselves as brands plucked
out of that burning. T o the honour of that free grace
which thus distinguished them, let the redeemed of
the Lord with all humility, and not without a holy
trembling, sing their triumphant songs.
AN
EXPOSITION,
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
JEREMIAH.
The Prophecies of the Old Testament, as the Epistles of the New, are placed rather according to the‘<
bulk than their seniority; the longest first, not the eldest. There were divers prophets, and writing
ones, that were contemporaries with Isaiah, as Micah; or a little before him, as Hosea, and Joel, and
Amos, or soon after him, as Habakkuk and Nahum are supposed to be: and yet the prophecy of Jere¬
miah, who began many years after Isaiah had finished, is placed next to his, because there is so much
in it: where we meet with most of God’s word, there let the preference be given; and yet those of lesser
gifts are not to be despised or excluded. Nothing now occurs to be observed further concerning pro¬
phecy in general; but concerning this prophet Jeremiah we may observe,
I. That he was betimes a prophet; he began young, and therefore could say it from his own experience,
that it is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth, the yoke both of service and of affliction, Lam.
iii. 27. Jerome observes, that Isaiah, who had more years over his head, had his tongue touched with
a coal of fire, to purge away his iniquity; (ch. vi. 7.) but that when God touched Jeremiah’s mouth,
who was yet but young, nothing was said of the purging of his iniquity, ( ch . i. 9.) because, by reason
of his tender years, he had not so much sin to answer for.
II. That he continued long a prophet; some reckon fifty years, others above forty. He began in the 13th
year of Josiah, when things went well under that good king, but he continued through all the wicked
reigns that followed; for when we set out for the service of God, though the wind may be fair and fa¬
vourable, we know not how soon it may turn and be tempestuous.
III. That he was a reproving prophet, was sent in God’s name to tell Jacob of their sins, and to warn
them of the judgments of God that were coming upon them; and the critics observe, that therefore his
style and manner of speaking is more plain and rough, and less polite, than that of Isaiah and some
other of the prophets. Those that are sent to discover sin, ought to lay aside the enticing words of
man’s wisdom. Plain dealing is best when we are dealing with sinners, to bring them to repentance.
IV. That he was a ■weeping prophet; so he is commonly called, not only because he penned the Lamen¬
tations, but because he was all along a mournful spectator of the sins of his people, and of the desolating
judgments that were coming upon them. And for this reason, perhaps, those who imagined our Saviour
to be one of the prophets, thought him of any of them to be most like to Jeremiah, (Matth. xvi. 14. )
because he was a man of sorrows and actjuainted with grief.
V. That lie was a suffering prophet; he was persecuted by his own people more than any of them, as we
shall find in the story of this book; for he lived and preached just before the Jews’ destruction by the
Chaldeans, when their character seems to have been the same as it was just before their destruction by
the Romans, when they killed the Lord Jesus, and persecuted his disciples, pleased not God, and were
contrary to all men, for wrath was come upon them to the uttermost, 1 Thess. ii. 15, 16. The last ac
count we have of him, in his history, is, that the remaining Jews forced him to go down with them into
Egypt; whereas the current tradition is, among Jews and Christians, that he suffered martyrdom. Hot-
tinger, out of Elmakin, an Arabic historian, relates, that he, continuing to prophesy in Egypt against
the Egyptians and other nations, was stoned to death; and that long after, when Alexander entered
Egypt, he took up the bones of Jeremiah where they were buried in obscurity, and carried them to
Alexandria, and buried them there. The prophecies of this book, which we have in the nineteen
first chapters, seem to be the heads of the sermons he preached in a way of general reproof for sin, and
denunciation of judgment; afterward they are more particular and occasional, and mixed with the his¬
tory of his day, but not placed in due order of time. With the threatenings are intermixed many gra
cious promises of mercy to the penitent, of the deliverance of the Jews out of their captivity, and some
that have a plain reference to the kingdom of the Messiah. Among the Apocryphal writings, an epis
tie is extant, said to be written bv Jeremiah to the captives in Babylon, warning them against the wor¬
ship of idols, by exposing the vanity of them, and the folly of idolaters. It is in Baruch, ch. vi. But it
is supposed not to be authentic; nor has it, I think, any thing like the life and spirit of Jeremiah’s writ
ings. It is also related concerning Jeremiah, (2 Mac. ii. 4.) that when Jerusalem was destroyed by the
Chaldeans, he, by direction from God, took the ark and altar of incense, and carrying them to mount
N eb >, lodged them in a hollow cave there, and stopped the door; but some that followed him, and
thought that they had marked the place, could not find it: he blamed them for seeking it, telling them
that the place should be unknown till the time that God should gather his people together again. But
I know not what credit is to be given to that story, though it is there said to be found in the records.
We cannot but be concerned, in the reading of Jeremiah’s prophecies, to find that they were so little
regarded by the men of that generation; but let us make use of that as a reason why we should regard
them the more; for they are written for our learning too, and for warning to us and to our land.
318
JEREMIAH, I.
CHAP. I.
In this chapter we have, I. The general inscription or title
of this book; with the time of the continuance of Jere¬
miah’s public ministry, v. 1 . . 3. II. The call of Jere¬
miah to the prophetical office, his modest objection
against it answered, and an ample commission given
him for the execution of it, v. 4 . . 10. III. The visions
of an almond-rod and a seething-pot, signifying the ap¬
proaching ruin of Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldeans,
v. II. . 16. IV. Encouragement given to the prophet to
go on undauntedly in his work, in an assurance of God’s
resence with him, v. 17 . . 19. Thus is he set to work
y one that will be sure to bear him out.
1. y I^HE words of Jeremiah the son of
JL Hilkiah, of the priests that were in
Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin: 2.
To whom the word of the Lord came in
the days of Josiah the son of Araon king
of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
3. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the
son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end
of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of
Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying
away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
We have here as much as it was thought fit we
should know of the genealogy of this prophet, and
the chronology of his prophecy.
1. We are told what family the prcmhet was of.
He was the son of Hilkiah: not that Hilkiah, it is
supposed, that was High Priest in Josiah’s time,
(for then he would have been called so, and not, as
here, one of the firiests that were in Anathoth ,) but
another of the same name. Jeremiah signifies one
raised up by the Lord. It is said of Christ, that he
is a prophet whom the Lord our God raised up
unto us, Deut. xviii. 15, IS. He was of the priests,
and, as a priest, was authorized and appointed to
teach the people; but to that authority and appoint¬
ment God added the extraordinary commission of a
prophet. Ezekiel was also a priest. Thus God
would support the honour of the priesthood at a
time when, by their sins and God’s judgments upon
them, it was sadly eclipsed. He was of the priests
in Anathoth; a city of priests, which lay about
three miles from Jerusalem. Abiathar had his
country house there, 1 Kings ii. 26.
2. We have the general date of his prophecies;
the knowledge of which is requisite to the under¬
standing of them. (1.) He began to prophesy in
the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign, v. 2. Josiah,
in the twelfth year of his reign, began a work of
reformation, applied himself with all sincerity to
purge Judah ami Jerusalem from the high places,
and the groves, and the images, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 3.
And very seasonably then was this young prophet
raised up to assist and encourage the young king in
that good work. Then the word of the Lord came
to him; not only a charge and commission to him to
prophesy, but a revelation of the things themselves
which He was to deliver. As it is an encourage¬
ment to ministers to be countenanced and protected
by such pious magistrates as Josiah was, so it is a
great help to magistrates, in any good work of re¬
formation, to be advised and animated, and to have
a great deal of their work done for them, by such
faithful, zealous ministers as Jeremiah was. Now,
one would have expected when these two joined
forces, such a prince, and such a prophet, (as in a
.ike case, Ezra v. 1, 2.) and both young, such a
complete reformation would have been brought about
and settled, as would have prevented the ruin of the
church and state; but it proved quite otherwise. In
the. eighteenth year of Josiah we find there were a
cv I at many of the relics of idolatry, that were not I
purged out; for what can the best princes and pro-
hets do to prevent the ruin of a people that hate to
e reformed? And therefore, though it was a time
of reformation, Jeremiah continued to forett.ll the
destroying judgments that were coming upon them;
for there is no symptom more threatening to any
people than fruitless attempts of reformation. Jo¬
siah and Jeremiah would have healed them, but
they would not be healed. (2.) He continued to
prophesy through the reigns of Jehoiakim and Ze¬
dekiah, who reigned eleven years apiece; he pro¬
phesied to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive,
(v. 3.) that great event which he had so often pro¬
phesied of. He continued to prophesy after that,
ch. xl. 1. But the computation here is made to end
with that, because it was the accomplishment of
many of his predictions; and from the thirteenth
of Josiah to the captivity was just forty years. Dr.
Lightfoot observes, that as Moses was so long with
the people, a teacher in the wilderness, till they
entered into their own land; Jeremiah was so long
to their own land a teacher, before they went intc
the wilderness of the heathen; and he thinks that
therefore a special mark is set upon the last forty
years of the iniquity of Judah, which Ezekiel bore
forty days, a dav for a year, because, during all that
time, they had Jeremiah prophesying among them,
which was a great aggravation of their impenitency.
God, in this prophet, suffered their manners, their
ill manners, forty years, and at length sware in
his wrath that they should not continue in his rest.
4. Then the word of the Lord came un¬
to me, saying, 5. Before I formed thee
in the belly I knew thee; and before
thou earnest forth out of the womb I sanc¬
tified thee; and I ordained thee a prophet
unto the nations. 6. Then said I, Ah,
Lord God! behold, I cannot speak; for I
am a child. 7. But the Lord said unto me,
Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to
all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I
command thee thou shalt speak. 8. Be not
afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to
deliver thee, saith the Lord. 9. Then the
Lord put forth his hand, and touched my
mouth: and the Lord said unto me, Be¬
hold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10. See, I have this day set thee over the
nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out,
and to pull down, and to destroy, and to
throw down, to build, and to plant.
Here is,
I. Jeremiah’s early designation to the work and
office of a prophet, which God gives him notice of
as a reason for his early application to that business;
(v. 4, 5.) The word of the Lord came to him, with a
satisfying assurance to himself that it was the word
of the Lord, and not a delusion; and God told him,
1. That he had ordained him a prophet to the na¬
tions, or, against the nations; the nation of the Jews
in the first place, who are therefore now reckoned
among the nations, because they had learned their
works, and mingled themselves with them in theii
idolatries, which otherwise they should net have
been, Numb, xxiii. 9. Yet he was given to be a
prophet, not to Jews only, but to the neighbouring
nations; to whom he was to send yokes, (ch. xxvii.
3.) and whom he must make to drink of the cup of
[ the Lord’s anger, ch. xxv. 17. He is still in his
| writings a prophet to the nations (to ctm nations
JEREMIAH. 1.
319
among the rest,) to tell them what the national
judgments are which may be expected for national
sins. It would be well for the nations, would they
take Jeremiah for their prophet, and attend to the
warnings he gives them. 2. That, before he was
born, even in his eternal counsel, he had designed
him to be so. Let him know, that He who gave
him his commission, is the same that gave him his
being, that formed him in the belly, and brought
him forth out of the womb, and therefore was his
rightful Owner, and might employ him, and make !
use of him, as he pleased; and that this commission
was given him in pursuance of the purpose God
bad purposed in himself concerning him, before he
was born; “I knew thee, and I sanctified thee ; I
determined that thou shouldest be a prophet, and set
t’lec apart for the office.” Thus St. Paul says of
himself, that God had se/iarated him from his mo¬
ther’s womb, to be a Christian, and an apostle, Gal.
i. 15. Observe, ( 1. ) The great Creator knows what
use to make of every man before he makes him; he
has made all for himself , and of the same lumps of
clay designs a vessel oj honour or dishonour, as he
pleases, Rom. ix. 21. (2.) What God has design¬
ed men for, he will call them to; for his purposes
cannot be frustrated. Known unto God are all his
own works beforehand, and his knowledge is in¬
fallible and his purpose unchangeable. (3.) There
is a particular purpose and providence of God con¬
versant about his prophets and ministers; they are
by special counsel designed for their work, and what
they are designed for they are fitted for; I that knew
thee, sanctified thee. God destines them to it, and
forms them for it, then when he first forms the
spirit of man within him; Propheta nascitur, non
fit — A man is not educated unto a ] iro/ihet , but
originally formed for the office.
II. His modest declining of this honourable em¬
ployment, v. 6. Though God had predestinated
liim to it, yet it was news to him, and a mighty sur¬
prise to hear that he should be a prophet to the na¬
tions. We know not what God intends us for, but
He knows. One would have thought he should
have catched at it as a piece of preferment, for so it
was; but he objects against it, disables himself;
“Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak to great
men and multitudes, as prophets must; I cannot
speak finely or fluently ; cannot word things well, as
a message from God should be worded; I cannot
speak with any authority, nor can expect to be
heeded, for I am a child, and my youth will be des¬
pised.” Note, It becomes us when we have any
service to do for God, to be afraid lest we misma¬
nage it, and lest it suffer, through our weakness and
unfitness for it; it becomes us likewise to have low
thoughts of ourselves, and to be diffident of our own
sufficiency. Those that are young should consider
that they are so; should be afraid, as Eliliu was, and
not venture beyond their length.
III. The assurance God graciously gave him,
that he would stand by him, and carry him on in his
work.
1. Let him not object that he is a child, he shall
be a prophet for all that; ( v . 7.) “Say not any¬
more I am a child: it is true thou art; but,” (1.)
“ Thou hast God’s precept, and let not that hinder
thee from obeying it. Go to all to whom I shall
send thee, and speak whatsoever I command thee.”
Note, Though a sense of our own weakness and insuf¬
ficiency should make us go humbly about our work,
vet it should not make us draw back from it when
God calls us to it. God was angry with Moses even
for his modest excuses, Exod. iv. 14. (2.) “Thou
hast God’s presence ; and let not thy being young dis¬
courage thee from depending upon it. Tliough thou
art a child, thou shalt be enabled to go to all to
whom I shall send thee, though they were ever so
great, and ever so many. And whatsoever J com¬
mand thee, thou shalt have judgment, memory, and
language, wherewith to speak it, as it should be
spoken. ” Samuel delivered a message from God to
Eli, when he was a little child. Note, God can,
when he pleases, make children prophets, and or¬
dain strength out of the mouths of babes and suck¬
lings.
2. Let him not object that he shall meet with
many enemies and much opposition; God will be
i his protector; (v. 8.) “ Be not af rad of their faces;
though they look big, and so think to outface thee,
and put thee out of countenance, yet be not afraid
to speak to them; no, not to speak that to them
which is mist unpleasing; thou speakest in the
name of the King of kings, and by authority from
him, and with that thou mayest face them down.
Though they look angry, be not afraid of their dis¬
pleasure, nor disturbed with apprehensions of the
consequences of it. Those that have messages to
deliver from God, must not be afraid of the face of
man, Ezek. iii. 9. And thou hast cause both to be
bold and easy; for lam with thee, not only to assist
thee in thy work, but to deliver thee out of the
hands of the persecutors: and if God be for thee,
who can be against thee?” If God do not deliver his
ministers from trouble, it is to the same effect if he.
support them under their trouble. Mr. Gataker
well observes here, That earthly princes are not
wont to go along with their ambassadors; but God
goes along with those whom he sends, and is, by
his powei'ful protection, at all times, and in all
place's, present with them; and with this they ought
to animate themselves, Acts xviii. 10.
3. Let him not object that he cannot speak as be¬
comes him — God will enable him to speak.
(1.) To speak intelligently, and as one that had
acquaintance with God, v. 9. He having now a vision
of the divine glory, the Lord put forth his hand, and
by a sensible sign conferred upon him so much of
the gift of the tongue as was necessary for him; he
touched his mouth, and with that touch opened his
lips, that his mouth should show forth God’s praise;
and with that touch sweetly conveyed his words
into his mouth, to be ready to him upon all such
occasions; so that he could never want words who
was thus furnished by Him that made man’s mouth.
God not only put knowledge into his head, but words
into his mouth; for there are words which the Holy
Ghost teaches, 1 Cor. ii. 13. It is fit God’s mes¬
sage should be delivered in his own words, that it
may be delivered punctually; (Ezek. iii. 4.) Speak
with my words. And those that faithfully do so
shall not want instructions as the case requires;
God will give them a mouth and wisdom in that
same hour, Matth. x. 19.
(2.) To speak powerfully, and as one that had
authority from God, v. 10. It is a strange commis¬
sion that is here given him; See, I have this day
set thee over the nations, and over the kingdoms;
which sounds very great, and yet Jeremiah is a poor,
despicable priest still; he is not set over the king¬
doms as a prince, to rule them by the sword, but as
a prophet, by the power of the word of God. Those
that would from hence prove the Pope’s supremacy
over kings, and his authority to depose them, and
dispose of their kingdoms at his pleasure, must
prove that he has the same extraordinary Spirit of
prophecy that Jeremiah had, else how can he have
the power that Jeremiah had by virtue of that
Spirit? And vet the power that Jeremiah had, who,
notwithstanding his power, lived in meanness and
contempt, and under oppression, would not content
these proud men. Jeremiah was set over the na¬
tions, the Jewish nation in the first place, and other
nations, some great ones besides, against whom he
prophesied; was set over them, not to demand tri-
320
JEREMIAH, I.
bute from them, or to enrich himself with theii
spoils, but to root out, and pull down, and destroy,
and yet withal to build and plant. [1.] He must
attempt to reform the nations, to root out, and pull
down, and destroy idolatry and other wickedness
among them, to extirpate those vicious habits and
customs which had long taken root, to throw down
the kingdom of sin, that religion and virtue might
be planted and built among them. And to the in¬
troducing and establishing of that which is good, it
is necessary that that which is evil be removed.
[2. ] He must tell them that it would be well or ill
with them, according as they were, or were not,
reformed. He must set before them life and death,
good or evil, according to God’s declaration of the
method lie takes with kingdoms and nations, ch.
xviii. 7, 10. He must assure those who persisted
in their wickedness, that they should be rooted and
destroyed, and those who repented, that they should
be built and planted. He was authorized to read
the doom of nations, and God would ratify it, and
fulfil it, (Isa. xliv. 26.) would do it according to
his word, and therefore is said to do it by his word.
It is thus expressed, partly to show how sure the
word of prophecy is — it will as certainly be accom¬
plished as it it were done already; and partly to put
an honour upon the prophetical office, and make it
look truly great, that others may not despise pro¬
phets, nor they disparage themselves. And yet
more honourable does the gospel-ministry look, in
that declarative power Christ gave his apostles, to
remit and retain sin, (John xx. 23.) to bind and
loose, Matth. xviii. 18.
1 1 . Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest
thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond-
tree. 12. Then said the Lord unto me,
Thou hast .well seen: for I will hasten my
word to perforin it. 13. And the word of
the Lord came unto me the second time,
saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see
a seething-pot, and the face thereof is to¬
ward the north. 1 4. Then the. Lord said
unto me, Out of the north an evil shall
break forth upon all the inhabitants of the
land. 15. For, lo, I will call all the fami¬
lies of the kingdoms of the north, saith the
Lord; and they shall come, and they shall
set every one his throne at the entering of
the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the
walls thereof round about, and against all
the cities of Judah. 16. And I will utter
my judgments against them touching all
their wickedness, who have forsaken me,
and have burnt incense unto other gods,
and worshipped the works of their own
hands. 17. Thou therefore gird up thy loins,
and arise, and speak unto them all thai I
command thee: be not dismayed at then
faces, lest I confound thee before them. 18.
For, behold, I have made thee this day a
defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen
walls, against the whole land; against the
kings of Judah, against the princes thereof,
against the priests thereof, and against the
people of the land. 19. And they shall
fight against thee, but they shall not prevail
against thee; for I am with thee, saith ihe
Lord, to deliver thee.
Here,
I. God gives Jeremiah, in vision, a view of ‘.he
principal errand he was to go upon, which was to
foretell the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by
the Chaldeans, for their sins, especially their idola¬
try. This was at first represented to him, in a way
proper to make an impression upon him, that he
might have it upon his heart in all his dealings with
this people.
1. He intimates to him that the people wen
ripening apace for ruin, and that ruin was hasten
ing apace toward them. God, having answered
his objection, that he was a child, goes on to initiat'
him in the prophetical learning and language; and,
having promised to enable him to speak intelligibly
to the people, he here teaches him to understand
what God says to him ; for prophets must have eyes
in their heads as well as tongues, must be seers as
well as speakers; he therefore asks him, “ Jert
miah, what seest thou? Look about thee, and ob
serve now.” And he was soon aware of what was
presented to him; I see a rod, denoting affliction
and chastisement; a correcting rod hanging overus:
and it is a rod of an almond-tree, which is one <f
the forwardest trees in the spring, is in the bud and
blossoms quickly, when other trees are scarcely
broken out; it flourishes, says Pliny, in the month
of January, and bv March has ripe fruits; hence it
is called in the Hebrew, Shakedh, the hasty treej
whether this rod that Jeremiah saw had already
budded, as some think, or whether it was strippee
and dry, as others think, and yet Jeremiah knew it
to be of an almond-tree, as Aaron’s rod was, is un¬
certain; but God explained it in the next words;
(t». 12.) Thou hast well seen. God lommended
him that he was so observant, and so quick of ap¬
prehension, as to be aware, though it was the first
vision he ever saw, that it was a rod of an almond-
tree; that his mind was so composed as to be able to
distinguish. Prophets have need of good eyes; and
those that see well shall be commended, and not
those only that speak well. “ Thou hast seen a
hasty tree, which signifies that I will hasten my
word to perform it.” Jeremiah shall prophesy
that which he himself shall live to see accomplish¬
ed. We have the explication of this, Ezek. vii.
10, 11. “ The rod hath blossomed, pride hath
budded, violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness.
The measure of Jerusalem’s iniquity fills very fast;
and as if their destruction slumbered too long, they
waken it, they hasten it, and I will hasten to per¬
form what I have spoken against them. ”
2. He intimates to him whence the intended ruin
should arise; Jeremiah is a second time asked, IV hat
seest thou? He sees a seething-pot upon the fire,
( v . 13.) representing Jerusalem and Judah in great
commotion, like boiling water, by reason of the de¬
scent which the Chaldean army made upon them;
made like a fiery oven, (Ps. xxi. 9.) all in a heat,
wasting away as boiling water does, and sensibly eva-
poratingand growingless and less;readyto boil over,
to be thrown out of their own city and land, as out
of the pan into the fire, from baa to worse. Some
think that those scoffers referred to this, who said,
(Ezek. xi. 3.) The city is the caldron, and we be
the fiesh. Now the mouth or face of the furnace cr
hearth, over which this pot boiled was toward the
north; for thence the fire and fuel were to come,
that must make the pot boil thus. So the vision is
explained, v. 14. Out of the north an evil shall
break forth, or shall be opened. It had been long
designed by the justice of God, and long deserved
by the sin of the people, and yet hitherto the divine
patience had restrained it, and held it in, as it were;
321
JEREMIAH, 1.
the enemies had intended it, and God had checked
them; but now all restraints shall be taken off, and
t ie evil shall break forth; the direful scene shall
open, and the enemy shall come in like a flood. It
sh ill be a universal calamity, it shall come u/ion all
the inhabitants of the land, from the highest to the
lowest, for they have all corrupted their way. Look
for this storm to arise out of the north, whence fair
weather usually comes, Job xxxvii. 22. When
there was friendship between Hezekiah and the
king of Babylon, they promised themselves many
advantages out of the north; but it proved quite
otherwise, out of the north their trouble arose.
Thence sometimes the fiercest tempests come,
whence we expected fair weather. This is further
explained, v. 15. where we may observe, (1.) The
raising of the army that shall invade Judah, and
lav it waste; I will call all the families of the king¬
doms of the north, saith the Lord. All the northern
crowns shall unite under Nebuchadnezzar, and join
with him in this expedition. They lay dispersed,
but God, who has all men’s hearts in his hand, will
bring them together; they lie at a distance from
Judah, but God, who directs all men’s steps, will
call them, and they shall come, though they be ever
so far off. God’s summons shall be obeyed; they
whom he calls shall come. When he has work to
do of any kind, he will find instruments to do it,
though he send to the utmost parts of the earth for
them. And that the armies brought into the field
may be sufficiently numerous and strong, he will
call not only the kingdoms of the north, but all the
families of those kingdoms into the service; not one
able-bodied man shall be left behind. (2.) The
advance of this army; the commanders of the troops
of the several nations shall take their post in carry¬
ing on the siege of Jerusalem, and the other cities
of Judah. They shall set every one his throne, or
seat. When a city is besieged, we say, The ene¬
my sits down before it; they shall encamp some at
the entering of the gates, others against the walls
round about, to cut off both the going out of the
mouths, and the coming in of the meat, and so to
starve them.
3. He tells him plainly what was the procuring
cause of all these judgments; it was the sin of Jeru¬
salem, and of the cities of Judah; (v. 16. ) I will
fiass sentence upon them; so it may be read; or give
judgment against them, this sentence, this judg¬
ment, because of all their wickedness; that is it that
plucks up the flood-gates, and lets in this inunda¬
tion of calamities. They have forsaken God, and
revolted from their allegiance to him, and have
burnt incense to other gods, new gods, strange gods,
and all false gods, pretenders, usurpers, the crea¬
tures of their own fancy, and they have worshipped
the works of their own hands. Jeremiah was young,
had looked but little abroad into the world, and
perhaps did not know, nor could have believed,
what abominable idolatries the children of his peo-
le were guilty of; but God tells him, that he might
now what to level his reproofs against, and what
to ground his threatenings upon, and that he might
himself be satisfied in the equity of the sentence
which, in God’s name, he was to pass upon them.
11. God excites and encourages Jeremiah to ap¬
ply himself with all diligence and seriousness to his
business. A great trust is committed to him; he is
sent, in God’s name, as a herald at arms, to pro¬
claim war against his rebellious subjects; for God is
pleased to give warning of his judgments before¬
hand, that sinners may be awakened to meet him
oy repentance, and so turn away his wrath, and
that, if they do not, they may be left inexcusable.
With this trhst Jeremiah has a charge given him;
(xc 17. ) “ Thou, therefore, gird up thy loins; free
thyself from all those things that would unfit thee
VoL. IV. — 2 S
for, or hinder thee in, this service; buckle to it with
readiness and resolution; and be not entangled with
doubts about it.” He must be quick — Arise, and
lose no time; he must be busy — Arise, and speak
unto them in season, out of season; he must be bold
— Be not dismayed at their faces, as before, v. 8.
In a word, he must be faithful; it is required of am¬
bassadors that they be so.
In two things he must be faithful. 1. He must
speak all that he is charged with; Speak all that 1
command thee. He must forget nothing as minute,
or foreign, or not worth mentioning; every word of
God is weighty. He must conceal nothing for fear
of offending; lie must alter nothing under pretence
of making it more fashionable or more palatable,
but without addition or diminution, declare the whole
counsel of God. 2. He must speak to all that he is
chargedfygainst ; he must not whisper it in a corner
to a few particular friends that will take it well,
but he must appear against the kings of Judah, if
they be wicked kings, and bear his testimony
against the sins even of the princes thereof; for the
greatest of men are not exempt from the judgments,
either of God’s hand, or of his mouth. Nay, he
must not spare the priests thereof; though he him¬
self was a priest, and was concerned to maintain the
dignity of his order, yet he must not therefore flat¬
ter them in their sins. He must appear against the
people of the land, though they were his own people,
as far as they were against the Lord.
And two reasons are here given why he should
do thus: (1.) Because he had reason to fear the
wrath of God, if he should be false; “ Be not dis¬
mayed at their faces, so as to desert thine office, or
shrink from the duty of it, lest J confound and dis¬
may thee before them; lest I give thee up to thy
faint-heartedness.'’ Those that consult their own
"credit, ease, and safety, more than their work and
duty, are justly left of God to themselves, and to
bring upon themselves the shame of their own
cowardliness. Nay, lest I reckon with thee for thy
faint-heartedness, and break thee to pieces; so some
read it. Therefore this prophet says, ch. xvii. 17.
Lord, Be not thou a terror to me. Note, The fear
of God is the best antidote against the fear of man.
Let us always be afraid of offending God, who after
he has killed has power to cast into hell, and then
we shall be in little danger of fearing the faces of
men that can but kill the body, Luke xii. 4, 5.
See Neh. iv. 14. It is better to have all the men
in the world our enemies than God our Enemy.
(2.) Because he had no reason to fear the wra .h
of man if he were faithful; for the God whom he
served, would protect him, and bear him out, so
that they should neither sink his spirits, nor drive
him off from his work, should neither stop his
mouth, nor take away his life, till he had finished!
his testimony, v. 18. This young stripling of a
prophet is made by the power of God, as an im¬
pregnable city, fortified with iron pillars and sur¬
rounded with walls of brass; he sallies out upon
them in reproofs and threatenings, and keeps them
in awe. They set upon him on every side; the
kings and princes batter him with their power, the
priests thunder against him with their church-cen¬
sures, and the people of the land shoot their arrows
at him, even slanderous and bitter words; but lie
shall keep his ground, and make Ms part good with
them; he shall still be a curh upon them; (x>. 19.)
They shall fight against thee, but they shall not
prevail to destroy thee, for I am with thee to deliver
thee out of their hands; nor shall they prevail to
defeat the word that God sends them by Jere¬
miah, nor to deliver themselves, it shall take hold
of them, for God is against them to destroy
them. Note, Those who are sure that they have
God with them, (as he is if they be with him,)
JEREMIAH, II.
522
need not, ought not, to be afraid, whoever is against
tnem.
CHAP. II.
U is probable that this chapter was Jeremiah’s first ser¬
mon alter his ordination; and a most livel>, pathetic
sermon it is as any we have in all the books of the pro¬
phets. Let him not say, I cannot speak , Jor I am a child;
for Uod having touched his mouth, and put his words
into it none can speak better. The scope of the chapter
is to show tJod’s people their transgressions, even the
house of Jacob their sins; it is all by way of reproof and
conviction, that they might be brought to repent of their
sins and so prevent the ruin that was coming upon them.
The* charge drawn up against them is very high, the ag¬
gravations black, the arguments used for their conviction
verv close and pressing, and the expostulations very
pungent and affecting. The sin which they are most
particularly charged with here, is idolatry, forsaking the
true tiod, their own God, for other false gods. Now
they are told, I. That this was ungrateful to God, who
hat/ been so kind to them, v. 1 . .8 I I. That it was
without precedent, that a nation should change their
sod v 9.. 13. III. That hereby they had disparaged
and* ruined themselves, v. 14.. 19. IV. That they had
broken their covenants, and degenerated from their good
hptrinninss v 20,21. V. That their wickedness was too
plain to be concealed, and too bad to be excused, v. 22,
23 25. VI. That they persisted wilfully and obstinately
in ’it and were irreclaimable and indelatigable in their
idolatries v. 2i, 25, 33, 36. VII. That they shamed
themselves by their idolatry, and should shortly be made
ashamed of it when thev should find their idols unable to
help™hem v. 26.. 29 37. VIII. That they had not
been convinced and reformed by the rebukes of Provi¬
dence v 30 IX. That they had put a great contempt
upon mod, v. 31, 32. X. That with their idolatries they
had mixed the most unnatural murders, shedding the
blood of Ihe poor innocents, v. 34. I hose h“r^s 'vt'r®
hard indeed, that were untouched and unhumbled when
their sins were thus set in order before them. O that by
meditating on Ibis chapter we might be brought to re¬
pent of our spiritual idolatries, giving that place in our
souls to the world and the flesh, which should have been
reserved for God only ?
1. -m/fOREOVER, the word of the Lord
i’l l, came to me, saying, 2. Go, and
cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 1 hus
saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kind¬
ness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals,
when thou Wen test after me in the wilder¬
ness, in a land that was not sown. 3. Israel
was holiness unto the Lord, and the hrst-
fruits of his increase : all that devour him
shall offend ; evil shall come upon them,
saith the Lord. 4. Hear ye the word oi
the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the
families of the house of Israel: 5. Ihus
saith the Lord, What iniquity have your
fathers found in me, that they are gone tar
from me, and have walked after vanity, and
are become vain ? 6. Neither said they.
Where is the Lord that brought us up out
of the land of Egypt, that led us through the
wilderness; through a land of deserts, and
of pits; through a land of drought, and ot
the shadow of death, through a land that
no man passed through, and where no man
dwelt ? 7. And 1 brought you into a plen¬
tiful country, to eat the fruit thereof, and
the goodness thereof: but when ye entered,
ye defiled my land, and made my heritage
an abomination. 8. The priests said not,
Where is the Lord? and they that handle
the law knew me not: the pastors also
transgressed against me, and the prophets
prophesied by Baal, and walked after things
that do not. profit.
Here is, ... ,
I. A command given to Jeremiah to go and carry
a message from God to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
He was charged in general ( ch . i. 17.) to go, and
speak to them; here he is particulary charged to go,
and speak this to them. Note, It is good for minis¬
ters by faith and p raver to take out a fresh com¬
mission, when they address themselves solemnly to
any part of their work. Let a minister carefully
compare what he has to deliver with the word of
God, and see that it agrees with it, that lie may be
able to say, not only The Lord sent me, but, He
sent me to speak this. He must go from Anathoth,
where he lived in a pleasant retirement, spending
his time (it is likely) among a few friends, and in
the study of the law, and must make his appearance
at Jerusalem, that noisy, tumultuous city, and fry
in their ears, as a man in earnest, and that would
be heard; “Cry aloud, that all may hear, and none
may plead ignorance. Go close to them, and cry
in the ears ot those that have stopped their ears.
II The message he was commanded to, deliver.
He must upbraid them with their horrid ingratitude
in forsaking a God who had been of old so kind to
them; that this might either make them ashamed,
and bring them to repentance, or might justify God
in turning his hand against them.
1. God here puts them in mind of the favours he
had of old bestowed upon them, when they were
first formed into a people; (v. 2.) “ / remember for
thy sake, and I would have thee to remember it, and
improve the remembrance of it for thy good; 1 can¬
not forget the kindness of thy youth, and the love of
thine esliousals This may be understood,
( 1. ) Of the kindness thev had for God ; it was not
such indeed as thev had any reason to boast of, or
to plead with God 'for favour to be showed them;
(for many of them were very unkind and provoking,
and when they did return, and inquire early after
God, they did but flatter him;) yet God is pleased
to mention it, and plead it with them; for though it
was but little love that they showed him, he took it
kindly. When they believed the Lord and his ser¬
vant 'Moses, when' they sang God’s praise at the
Red sea, when at the foot of mount Sinai, they pro¬
mised, All that the Lord shall say unto us we will
do, and will be obedient; then was the kindness oj
their youth, and the love of their espousals XV hen
they seemed so forward for God, he said, Sui ely
they are my people, and will be faithful to me, chil¬
dren that will not lie. Note, Those that begin well,
and promise fair, but do not perform and persevere,
will justly be upbraided with their hopeful and pro¬
mising beginnings. God remembers the kindness
of our youth, and the love of our espousals, the zeal
we then seemed to have for him, and the affection
wherewith we made our covenants with him, the
buds and blossoms that never came to perfection;
and it is good for us to remember them, that wt
may remember whence we are fallen, and return to
our first love, Rev. ii. 4, 5. Gal. lv. 15.
In two things appeared the kindness of their
youth ri.l That they followed the direction of
the pillar of cloud and'fire in the wilderness; and
though sometimes they spake of returning into
Egypt, or pushing forward into Canaan, v et they
did neither, but for forty years together went after
Godin the wilderness, and trusted him topioude
for them, though it was a land that was not sown.
This God took kindlv, and took notice of it to their
praise long after, that though much was amiss
323
JEREMIAH, II.
among them, yet they never forsook the direction I
they were under. Thus, though Christ often chid
his disciples, yet he commended them, at parting,
for continuing with him, Luke xxii. 28. It must be
the strong affection of the youth, and the espousals,
that will carry us on to follow God in a wilderness,
with an implicit faith, and an entire resignation;
and it is a pity that those who have so followed him,
should ever leave him. [2.] That they entertain¬
ed divine institutions, set up the tabernacle among
them, and attended the service of it. Israel teas'
then holiness to the Lord, they joined themselves to
him in covenant as a peculiar people. Thus they
began in the Spirit, and God puts them in mind of
it, that they might be ashamed of ending in the Jiesh.
Or, it may be understood, (2.) Of God’s kind-
tiess to them; of that he afterwards speaks largely;
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, Hos. xi.
1. He then espoused that people to himself with
all the affection with which a young man marries a
virgin, (ch. lxii. 5.) for the time was a time of love,
Ezek. xvi. 8.
[1.] God appropriated them to himself; though
they were a sinful people, yet by virtue of the cove¬
nant made with them, and the church setup among
them, they were holiness to the Lord, dedicated to
his honour, and taken under his special tuition: they
were the Ji rst -fruits of his increase, the first consti¬
tuted church he had in the world; these were the
first-fruits, but the full harvest was to lie gathered
from among the Gentiles. The first-fruits of the
increase were God’s part of it, were offered to him,
and he was honoured with them; so were the people
of the Jews; what little tribute, rent, and homage
God had from the world, he had it chiefly from
them; and it was their honour to be thus set apart
from God. This honour have all the saints, they
are the first-fruits of his creatures. Jam. i. 18.
[2.] Having espoused them, he espoused their
cause, and became an Enemy to their enemies,
Exod. xxiii. 22. Being the first-fruits of his in¬
crease, all that devoured him, (so it should be read,)
did offend, they tresfiassed, they contracted guilt,
and evil befell them; as those were reckoned offend¬
ers, that devoured the first-fruits, or any thing else
that was holy to the Lord, that embezzled them,
or converted them to their own use, Lev. v. 15.
Whoever offered any injury to the people of God,
did it at their jieril; their God was ready to avenge
their quarrel, and said to the proudest of kings.
Touch not mine attainted, Ps. cv. 14, 15. Exod.
xvii. 14. He had in a special manner a controversy
with those that attempted to debauch them, and
draw them off from being holiness to the Lord; wit¬
ness his quarrel with the Midianites about the mat¬
ter of Peor, Numb. xxv. 17, 18.
[3.] He brought them out of Egypt with a high
hand and great terror, (Deut. iv. 34.) and yet with
a kind hand and great tenderness led them through
a vast howling wilderness, (y. 6.) a land of deserts
and pits; or of graves, terram sepulchralem — a se¬
pulchral land, where there was ground, not to feed
them, but to bury them; where there was no good
to be expected, for it was a land of drought, but all
manner of evil to be feared, for it was the shadow
of death; in that darksome valley they walked forty
years; but God was with them, his rod, in Moses’s
hand, and his staff, comforted them, and even there
God prepared a table for them, (Ps. xxiii. 4, 5.)
gave them bread out of the clouds, and drink out of
the rocks. It was a land abandoned by all man¬
kind, as yielding neither road nor rest; it was no
riiovoughfare, for no man passed through it; no set¬
tlement, for no man dwelt there; for God will teach
his people to tread untrodden paths, to dwell alone,
and to be singular. The difficulties of the journey
are thus insisted on, to magnify the power and good- \
ness of God in bringing them, through all, safe to
their journey’s end at last. All God’s spiritual Is¬
rael must own their obligations to him for a safe
conduct through the wilderness of this world, no
less dangerous to the soul than that was to the body.
[4.] At length he settled them in Canaan; ( v . 7.)
I brought you into a plentiful country; which would
be the more acceptable after they had been for so
many years in a land of drought. They did eat
the fruit thereof, and the goodness thereof, and were
allowed so to do. I brought you into a lund of Car¬
mel; so the word is; Carmel was a place of extra¬
ordinary fi-uitfulness; Canaan was as one great fruit¬
ful field, Deut. viii. 7.
[5.] God gave them the means of knowledge and
grace, and communion with him; this is implied, v.
8. They had priests that handled the law, read it,
and expounded it to them; that was part of their
business, Deut. xxxiii. 8. They had pastors to
guide them, and take care of their affairs, magis¬
trates and judges; they had prophets to consult God
for them, and to make known his mind to them.
2. He upbraids them with their horrid ingrati¬
tude, and the ill returns they had made him for
these favours; let them all come, and answer to this
charge; (u. 4.) it is exhibited in the name of God
against all the families of the house of Israel, for
they can none of them plead Not guilty.
(1.) He challenges them to produce any instance
of his being unjust and unkind to them. Though he
had conferred favours upon them in some things,
yet, if in other things he had dealt hardly with
them, they had not been altogether without ex¬
cuse. He therefore puts it fairly to them to show
cause for their deserting him; (y. 5.) “ What ini¬
quity have your fathers found in me, or you either?
Have you, upon trial, found God a hard Master?
Have his commands put any hardship upon you, or
obliged you to any thing unfit, unfair, or unbecom¬
ing you? Have his promises put any cheats upon
you, or raised your expectations of tilings which you
were afterward disappointed of? You that renounce
your covenant with God, can vou say that it was a
hard bargain, and that which you could not live
upon? You that forsake the ordinances of Gcd, can
you say that it was because they were a wearisome
service, or work that there was nothing to be got
by? No, the disappointments you have met with,
were owing to yourselves, not to God. The yoke
of his commandments is easy, and in keeping of
them there is great reward .” Note, Those that for¬
sake God cannot say that he has ever given them
any provocation to do so: for this we may safely ap¬
peal to the consciences of sinners; the slothful ser¬
vant that offered such a plea as this, had it over¬
ruled out of his own mouth, Luke xix. 22. Though
he afflicts us, we cannot say that there is iniquity in
him, he doeth us no wrong; the ways of the Lord
are undoubtedly equal, all the iniquity is in our ways.
(2.) He charges them with being very unjust and
unkind to him notwithstanding.
[1.] They had quitted his service; “ They are
gone from me, nay, they are gone far from me. ”
They studied how to estrange themselves from God
and their duty, and got as far as they could rut of
the reach of his commandments and their own con¬
victions. Those that have deserted religion, com¬
monly set themselves at a greater distance from it,
and in a greater opposition to it, than those that
never knew it.
[2.] They had quitted it for the service of idols,
which was so much the greater reproach to God
and his service; they went from him, not to mend
themselves, but to cheat themselves; they have
walked after vanity, that is, idolatry; for an idol is
a vain thing, it is nothing in the world, 1 Cor. viii.
4. Deut. xxxii. 21. Jer. xiv. 22. Tdolatrous woe
324
JEREMIAH, II.
ships are vanities, Acts xiv. 15. Idolaters are vain,
for they that make idols are like unto them, (Ps.
cxv. 8. ) as much stocks and stones as the images they
worship, and good for as little.
[3.] They had witli idolatry introduced all man¬
ner of wickedness. When they entered into the
good land which God gave them,' they defiled it, (x>.
7. ) by defiling themselves, and disfitting themselves
for the service of God. It was God’s land, they
were but tenants to him, sojourners in it. Lev. xxv.
23. It was his heritage, for it was a holy land, Im¬
manuel’s land; but they made it an abomination,
even to God himself, who was wroth, and greatly
abhorred Israel.
[4.] Having forsaken God, though they soon
found that they had changed for the worse, yet they
had no thoughts of returning to him again, nor took
any steps towards it. Neither the people nor the
priests made any inquiry after him, took no thought
about their duty to him, nor expressed any desire
to recover his favour. First, The people said not,
I Vhere is the Lord ? v. 6. Though they were train¬
ed up in an observance of him as their God, and
had been often told that he brought them out of the
land of Egypt, to be a peculiar people to himself,
yet they never asked after him, nor desired the
knowledge of his ways. Secondly, The priests said
not, Where is the Lord? v. 8. They whose office
it was to attend immediately upon him, were in no
concern to acquaint themselves with him, or ap¬
prove themselves to him. They who should have
instructed the people in the knowledge of God, took
no care to get the knowledge of him themselves.
The scribes, who handled the law, did not know
God nor his will, could not expound the scriptures
at all, or not aright. The pastors, who should have
kept the flock from transgressing, were themselves
ringleaders in transgression: They have transgress¬
ed against me. The pretenders to prophecy pro¬
phesied by Baal, in his name, to his honour, being
backed and supported by the wicked kings, to con¬
front the Lord’s prophets. Baal’s prophets joined
with Baal’s priests, and walked alter the things
which do not profit, after the idols which can be no
way helpful to their worshippers. See how the best
characters are usurped, and the best offices liable to
corruption; and wonder not at the sin and ruin of a
people when the blind are leaders of the blind.
9. Wherefore I will yet plead with you,
saith the Lord, and with your children’s
children will I plead. 10. For pass over
the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto
Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if
there be such a thing: 11. Hath a nation
changed their gods, which are yet no gods ?
but my people have changed their glory for
that which doth not profit. 1 2. Be astonish¬
ed, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly
afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord.
13. For my people have committed two
evils ; they have forsaken me, the fountain
of living waters, and hewed them out cis¬
terns, broken cisterns, that can hold no
water.
The prophet having shown their base ingratitude
in forsaking God, here shows their unparalleled
fickleness and folly; ( v . 9.) I will yet plead with
you. Note, Before God punishes sinners, he pleads
with them, to bring them to repentance. Again,
When much has been said of the evil of sin, still
there is more to be said, when one article of the
charge is made good, there is another to be uiged;
when we have said a great deal, still we have yet to
speak on God’s behalf, Job xxxvi. 2. Those that
deal with sinners, for their conviction, must urge a
variety of arguments, and follow their blow. God
had before pleaded with their fathers, and asked
why they walked after vanity, and became vain, v.
5. Now he pleads with them, who persisted in that
vain conversation received by tradition from tlnir
fathers, and with their children’s children, with all
that in every age tread in their steps. Let those
that forsake God know that he is willing to argue
the case fairly with them, that he may be justified
when he speaks. He pleads that with us, which
we should plead with ourselves.
I. He shows that they acted contrary' to the usage
: of all nations; their neighbours were more firm and
faithful to their false gods than they were to the
true God. They were ambitious of being like the
nations, and yet in tins they were unlike them. He
challenges them to produce an instance of any na¬
tion that had changed their gods, ( v . 10, 11.) or
were apt to change them. Let them survey either
the old records, or the present state, of the isles of
Chittim, Greece, and the European islands, the
countries that were more polite and learned; and of
Kedar, that lay south-east, (as the other north-west
from them,) which were more rude and barbarous;
and they should not find an instance of a nation that
had changed their gods, though they had never
done them any kindness, nor could do, for they were
no gods. Such a veneration had they for their
gods, so good an opinion of them, and such a respect
for the choice their fathers had made, that though
they were gods of wood and stone, they would not
change them for gods of silver and gold, no not for
the living and true God. Shall we praise them for
this? Mre praise them not. But it may well be urged,
to the reproach of Israel, that they who were the
only people that had no cause to change their God,
were yet the only people that had changed him.
Note, Men are with difficulty brought i fT that reli
gion which they had been brought up in, though
ever so absurd and grossly false. The zeal and con
stancy of idolaters should shame Christians out oi
their coldness and inconstancy.
II. He shows that they acted contrary to the die
tates of common sense, in that they not only chang¬
ed, (it may sometimes be our duty and wisdom to
do so,) but that they changed for the worse, and
made a bad bargain for themselves. 1. They part-
i ed from a God who was their Glory ; who made them
truly glorious, and every way put honour upon
them, one whom they might with a humble confi¬
dence glory in as theirs, who is himself a glorious
God, and the glory of those whose God he is; he
was particularly the glory of his people Israel, for
his glory had often appeared on their tabernacle.
2. They closed with gods that could do them no
good; gods that do not profit their worshippers.
Idolaters change God’s glory into shame, (Rom. i.
23.) and so they do their own; in dishonouring him,
they disgrace and disparage themselves, and are
enemies to their own interest. Note, Whatever
they turn to who forsake God, it will never do them
any good; it will flatter them and please them, but
it cannot profit them.
Heaven itself is here called upon to stand amazed
at the sin and folly of those apostates from God ; ( v .
12,13.) Be astonished, 0 ye heavens, at this. The
earth is so universally corrupt, that it will take no
notice of it; but let the heavens and heavenly bodies
be astonished at it. Let the sun blush to see such
ingratitude, and be afraid to shine upon such un¬
grateful wretches. They that forsook God, wor¬
shipped the host of heaven, the sun, morn, nd stars,
but these, instead of being pleased with the adcra-
325
JEREMIAH, II.
ions that were paid to them, were astonished, and
horribly afraid; and would rather have been very
desolate, utterly exhausted, as the word is, and de-
j rived of their light, than that it should hat e given
rccasion to any to worship them. Some refer it to
he angels of heaven; if they rejoice at the return
>f souls to God, we may suppose that they are as-
onished and horribly afraid at the revolt of souls
Yom him. The meaning is, that the conduct of
.his people toward God was such as, (1.) We may
well admire and wonder at, that ever men, who pre¬
tend to reason, should do a thing so very absurd.
2. ) Such as we ought to have a hoi)' indignation at
is impious, and a high affront to our Maker, whose
lonour every good man is jealous for. (3.) Such as
.ve may tremble to think of the consequences of;
what will tie in the end hereof. Be horribly afraid
.o think of the wrath and curse which will be the
portion of those who thus throw themselves out of
God’s grace and favour. Now what is it that is to
ae thought of with all this horror? . t is this; “My
fieo/ile, whom I have taught, and should have ruled,
have committed two great evils, ingratitude and
folly; they have acted contrary both to their duty
and to their interest. [1.] They have affronted
their God, by turning their back upon him, as if he
were not worthy their notice; “ They have forsaken
me, the Fountain of living waters, in whom they
have an abundant and constant supply of all the
comfort and relief they stand in need of, and they
have it freely.” God is their Fountain of life, Ps.
xxxvi. 9. There is in him an all-sufficiency of
grace and strength; all our springs are in him, and
our streams from him; to forsake him is, in effect, to
deny this; he has been to us a bountiful Benefactor,
a Fountain of living waters, overflowing, ever-
flowing, in the gifts of his favour; to forsake him is
to refuse to acknowledge his kindness, and to with¬
hold that tribute of love and praise, which his kind¬
ness calls for. [2.] They have cheated themselves;
they forsook their own mercies, but it was for lying
vanities; they took a great deal of pains to hew them
out cisterns, to dig pits or pools in the earth or rock,
which they would carry water to, or which should
veceive the rain; but they proved broken cisterns,
alse at the bottom, so that they could hold no wa¬
ter. When they came to quench their thirst there,
they found nothing but mud and mire, and the filthy
sediment of a standing lake. Such idols were to
their worshippers, and such a change did they ex¬
perience, who turned from God to them. If we
make an idol of any creature, wealth, or pleasure,
or honour, if we place our happiness in it, and pro¬
mise ourselves the comfort and satisfaction m it
which are to be had in God only, if we make it our
joy and love, our hope and confidence, we shall
find it a cistern, which we take a great deal of pains
to hew out and fill, and at the best it will hold but a
little water, and that dead and flat, and soon cor¬
rupting, and become nauseous. Nay, it is a broken
cistern, that cracks and cleaves in hot weather, so
that the water is gone when we have most need of
it, Job vi. 15. Let us therefore with purpose of
heart cleave to the Lord only, for whither else shall
we go? He has the words of eternal life.
14. Is Israel a servant? is he a horne-
Dorn slave? why is he spoiled? 15. The
young lions roared upon him and yelled,
and they made his land waste: his cities are
burnt without inhabitant. 16. Also the chil¬
dren of Noph and Tahapanes have broken
the crown of thy head. 17. Hast thou not
procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast
f irsaken the Lord thy God, when he led
thee by the way? 10. And now, what hast
thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the
waters of Sihor? Or what hast thou to do
in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters
of the river ? 1 9. Thine own wickedness
shall correct thee, and thy backslidings
shall reprove thee: know, therefore, and
see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that
thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and
that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord
God of hosts.
The prophet further to evince the folly of their
forsaking God, shows them what mischiefs they
had already brought upon themselves by it; it had
already cost them dear, for to this were owing all
the calamities their country was now groaning un¬
der; which were but an earnest of more and greater
if they repented not. See how they smarted for
their folly.
I. Their neighbours, who were their professed
enemies, prevailed against them, and that was in
consequence of their sin.
1. They were enslaved, and lost their liberty;
(x>. 14.) Is Israel a servant ? No, Israel is my son,
my first-born; (Exod. iv. 22.) they are children,
they are heirs; nay, their extraction is noble, they
are the seed of Abraham, God’s friend, and of Jacob
his chosen. Is he a home-born slave? No, he is
not the son of the bond-woman, but of the free; they
were designed for dominion, not for servitude.
Every thing in their constitution carried on it the
marks of freedom and honour; why then is he spok¬
ed of his liberty? Why is he used as a servant, as a
home-born slave? W'hy does he make himself a
slave to his lusts, to his idols, to that which does net
profit? v. 11. What a thing is this, that surh a
birth-right should be sold for a mess of pottage1
Such a crown profaned, and laid in the dust! Why
is he made a slave to the oppressor? God provided
that a Hebrew servant should be free the seventh
year, and that their slaves should be of the heathen,
not of their brethren, Lev. xxv. 44, 46. But, not
withstanding this, the princes made slaves of their
subjects, and masters of their servants, (ch. xxxiv.
11.) and so made their country mean and miserable,
which God had made happy and honourable. The
neighbouring princes and powers broke in upon
them, and made some of them slaves even in their
own country, and perhaps sold others for slaves into
foreign countries. And how came they thus to lose
their liberties? For their iniquities they sold them¬
selves, Isa. 1. 1. We may apply this spiritually ; Is
the soul of man a servant? Is it a home-born slat e?
No, it is not; why then is it spoiled > It is because
it has sold its own liberty, and enslaved itself to
divers lusts and passions, which is a lamentation,
and should be for a lamentation.
2. They were impoverished, and had lost theii
wealth. God brought them into a plentiful country,
(v. 7.) but all their neighbours made a prey of it.
(u. 15.) young lions roar aloud over him, and yell;
they are a continual terror to him; sometimes one.
potent enemy, and sometimes another, and some-
times many in confederacy, fall upon him, and
triumph over him. They carry off the fruits of his
land, and make that waste, bum his cities, when
first they have plundered them, so that they remain
without inhabitant, either because there are no
houses to dwell in, or because those that should
dwell in them are carried into captivity.
3. They were abused, and insulted over, and
beaten by every body; ( v . 16.) “ Even the children
of JVoph and Tahapanes, despicable people, not
326
JEREMTAH, II.
famed for military courage or strength, have broken
(he crown of thy head, or fed upon it. In all their
struggles with thee they have been too hard for
thee, and thou hast always come off with a broken
head. The principal part of thy country, that
which lay next Jerusalem, has been, and is, a prey
to them.” How calamitous the condition of Judah
had been of late, in the reign of Manasseh, we find,
2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. and perhaps it had not now
much recovered itself.
4. All this was owing to their sin; ( v . 17.) Hast
thou not procured this unto thyself? By their sin¬
ful confederacies with the nations, and especially
their conformity to them in their idolatrous customs
and usages, they had made themselves very mean
and contemptible, as all those do that have made a
profession of religion, and afterward throw it off.
Nothing now appeared of that, which, by their con¬
stitution, made them both honourable and formida¬
ble, and therefore nobody either respected them or
feared them. But this was not all; they had pro¬
voked God to give them up into the hands of their
enemies, and to make them a scourge to them and
give them success against them; and thus thou hast
procured it to thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the
Lord thy God, revolted from thine allegiance to
him, and so thrown thyself out of his protection; for
protection and allegiance go together. Whatever
trouble we are in at any time, we may thank our¬
selves for it; for we bring it upon our own head by
our forsaking God, “ Thou hast forsaken thy God,
at the time that he was leading thee by the way;”
(so it should be read;) “ then, when he was leading
thee on to a happy peace and settlement, and thou
wast within a step of it, then thou forsookest him,
and so didst put a bar in thine own door.”
II. Their neighbours, that were their pretended
friends, deceived them, distressed them, and helped
them not; and this also was owing to their sin.
1. They did in vain seek to Egypt and Assyria
for help; ( v . 18.) “ What hast thou to do in the way
of Egypt? When thou an under apprehensions of
danger, thou art running to Egypt for help, Isa.
xxx. 1, 2. — xxxi. 1. Thou art for drinking the wa¬
ters of Sihor,” that is, Ni/us. “ Thou reliest upon
their multitude, and refreshest thyself with the fair
promises they make thee; at other times thou art
in the way of Assyria, sending or going with all
speed to fetch recruits thence, and thinkest to sa¬
tisfy thyself with the waters of the river Euphrates;
but what hast thou to do there? What wilt thou
get by applying thyself to them? They shall help
in vain, shall be broken reeds to thee, and what
thou thoughtest would be to thee as a river, will be
but a broken cistern.”
■ 2. This also was because of their sin; the judg¬
ment shall unavoidably come upon them which their
sin has deserved; and then to what purpose is it to
call in for help against it? (v. 19.) “ Thine own
wickedness shall correct thee, and then it is impossi¬
ble for them to save thee; know and see therefore,
upon the whole matter, that it is an evil thing that
thou hast forsaken God, for that is it that makes
thine enemies enemies indeed, and thy friends
friends in vain.” Observe here, (l.)The nature
of sin; it is forsaking the Lord as our God; it is the
soul’s alienation from him, and aversion to him.
Cleaving to sin is leaving God. (2.) The cause of
sin; it is because his fear is not in us. It is for want
of a good principle in us, particularly for want of
the fear of God; this is at the lvittom of our apos-
ticv from him; therefore men forsake their duty to
God, because they stand in no awe of him, nor have
any dread of his displeasure. (3.) The malignity
of sin; it is an evil thing and a bitter. Sin is an
evil thing, an evil that has no good in it, an evil that
is the root and cause of all other evil; it is evil in¬
deed, for it is not only the greatest contrariety to
the divine nature, but the greatest corruption of the
human nature. It is bitter; a state ot sin is the
gall of bitterness, and every sinful way will be bit¬
terness in the latter end; the wages of it is death,
and death is bitter. (4.) The fatal consequences of
sin; as it is in itself evil and bitter, so it has a direct
tendency to make us miserable; “ Thine own wick¬
edness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall
reprove thee; not only destroy and ruin thee here¬
after, but correct and reprove thee now; they will
certainly bring trouble upon thee; the punishment
will so inevitably follow the sin, that the sin shall
itself be said to punish thee. Nay, the punishment,
in its kind and circumstances, shall so directly an¬
swer to the sin, that thou mayest read the sin in the
punishment; and the justice of the punishment shall
be so plain, that thou shalt not have a word to say
for thyself, thy own wickedness shall convince thee
and stop thy mouth for ever, and thou shalt be
forced to own that the Lord is righteous. ” (5. ) The
use and application of all this; “Know therefore,
and see it, and repent of thy sin, that so the iniquity
which is thy correction, may not be thy ruin.”
20. For of old time I have broken thy
yoke, mid hurst thy bands ; and thou saidst,
I will not transgress; when upon every
high hill, and under every green tree, thou
wanderest, playing the harlot. 21. Yet I
had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a
right seed : how then art thou turned into
the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto
me ? 22. For though thou wash thee with
nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine
iniquity is marked before me, saith the
Lord God. 23. How canst thou say, 1
am not polluted, I have not gone after Baa¬
lim ? See thy way in the valley, know what
thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary
traversing her ways ; 24. A wild ass used
to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind
at her pleasure ; in her occasion who can
turn her away? All they that seek her wil
not weary themselves ; in her month they
shall find her. 25. Withhold thy foot from
being unshod, and thy throat from thirst:
but thou saidst, There is no hope : no ; for 1
have loved strangers, and after them will I
go. 26. As the thief is ashamed when he
is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed ;
they, their kings, their princes, and their
priests, and their prophets. 27. Saying to
a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone,
Thou hast brought me forth : for they have
turned their back unto me, and not their
face; but in the time of their trouble they
will say, Arise, and save us. 28. But where
ore thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let
them arise, if they can save thee in the time
of thy trouble: for accord ins: to the number
of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
In these verses, the prrplv t goes on with his
charge against this backsliding people; observe
here,
I. The sin itself that he charges them with —
JEREMIAH, II.
3 2.
id ilatry, that great provocation which they were so
r toriously guilty of. 1. They frequented the places
oi idol- worship; (u. 20.) ujion every high hill, and
under every green tree, in the high places and the
gloves, such as the heathen had a foolish fondness
ai d veneration for; thou wanderest first to one and
th -n to another, like one unsettled, and still uneasy
and unsatisfied; but, in all, playing the harlot, wor¬
shipping false gods, which is spiritual whoredom,
and was commonly accompanied with corporal
whoredom too. Note, They that leave God, wan¬
der endlessly, and a vagrant lust is inevitable. 2.
They made images for themselves, and gave divine
honour to them; ( v . 26, 27.) not only the common
people, but even the kings and princes, who should
nave restrained the people from doing ill, and the
priests and prophets, who should have taught them
to do well, were themselves so wretchedly sottish
and stupid, and under the power of such a strong
delusion, as to say to a stock, “ Thou art myfather;
thou art my god, the author of my being, to whom
I owe duty, and on whom I have a dependence;”
saying to a stone, to an idol made of stone, “ Thou
hast begotten me, or brought me forth; therefore
protect me, provide for me, and bring me up.”
What greater affront could men put upon God who
is our Father that has made us? It was a downright
disowning of their obligations to him. What greater
affront could men put upon themselves anti their
own reason, than to acknowledge that which is in
itself absurd and impossible, and by making stocks
and stones their parents, to make themselves no
better than stocks and stones? When these were
first made the objects of worship, they were sup¬
posed to be animated by some celestial power or
spirit; but by degrees the thought of this was lost,
and so vain did idolaters become in their itnagina-
tion, even the princes and priests themselves, that
the very idol, though made of wood and stone, was
supposed to be their father, and adored accordingly.
3. They multiplied these dunghillrdeities endlessly;
(u. 28.) According to the number of thy cities are
thy gods, O Judah. When they had forsaken that
God who is one, and all-sufficient for all, (1.) They
wei e not satisfied with any gods they had, but still
desired more; that idolatry being in this respect of
the same nature with covetousness, which is spi¬
ritual idolatry, that the more men have the more
they would have; which is a plain evidence, that
what men make an idol of they find to be insuffi¬
cient and unsatisfying, and that it cannot make the
comers thereunto perfect. (2.) They could not
agree in the same god; having left the Centre of
unity, they fell into endless discord; one city fancied
one deity, and another another, and each was anx¬
ious to have one of its own, to be near them, and to
take special care of them. Thus did they in vain
seek that in many gods, which is to be found in one
God only.
II. The proof of this; no witnesses need be called,
it is proved by the notorious evidence of the facts.
1. They went about to deny it, and were ready to
plead JVot guilty. They pretended that they would
acquit themselves from this guilt, theywashed them¬
selves with nitre, and took much soap, offered many
things in excuse and extenuation of it, v. 22. They
pretended that they did not worship these as gods,
but as demons, and mediators between the immor¬
tal God and mortal men; or, that it was not divine
honour that they gave them, but civil respect; that
they sought to evade the convictions of God’s word,
and to screen themselves from the dread of his
wrath. Nay, some of them had the impudence to
deny the thing itself; they said, lam not polluted,
1 have not gone after Baalim, v. 23. Because it
was done secretly, and industriously concealed,
(Ezek. viii. 12.) they thought it could never be
I proved upon them, and they had front enough to
deny it. In this, as in other things, their way was
like that of the adulterous woman, that says, I have
done no wickedness, Prov. xxx. 20.
2. Notwithstanding all their evasions, they are
convicted of it, and found guilty; “How canst thru
deny the fact, and say, I have not gone after Baalim ?
How canst thou deny the fault, and say, lam not
polluted? The prophet speaks with wonder at their
impudence; “How canst thou put on a face to say
so, when it is certain?” (1.) “God’s omniscience is
a witness against thee. ThineA.niquity is marked
before me, saith the Lord God; Tt is laid up and hid¬
den, to be produced against thee in the day of judg¬
ment; sealed up among his treasures,” Dcut. xxxii.
34. Job xxi. 19. Hos. xiii. 12. “It is imprinted
deep, and stained before me;” so sorqe read it.
“Though thou endeavour to wash it out, as mur¬
derers to get the stain of the blood of the person slain
out of their clothes, yet it will never be got rut;”
God’s eye is upon it, and we are sure that his judg¬
ment is according to truth. (2.) “Thine own con¬
science is a witness against thee. See thy way in
the valley;” (they had worshipped idols, not onlv
on the high hills, but in the valleys, (Isa. lvii. 5, 6. )
in the valley over against Beth-peor, (so some,)
where they worshipped Baal-peor; (Deut. xxxiv. 6.
Numb. xxv. 3.) as if the prophet looked as far back
as the iniquity of Tear; but if it mean any particular
valley, surely it is the valley of the son of Hinnom,
for that was the place where they sacrificed their
children to Moloch, and which therefore witnessed
against them more than any other; “ look into that
valley, and thou canst not but know what thou hast
done.”
III. The aggravations of this sin with which they
are charged, which speak it exceeding sinful.
1. God had done great things for them, and yet
they revolted from him, and rebelled against him;
(u. 20. ) Of old time I have broken thy yoke, and
burst thy bands; this refers to the bringing of them
out of the land of Egypt, and the house oj bondage,
which they would not remember, {v. 6.) but Ciod
did; for when he told them that they should have no
other gods before him, he prefixed this as a reason,
I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the
land of Egypt! These bends of theirs, which' Gcd
had loosed, should have bound them for ever to him;
but they had ungratefully broken the bonds of duty
to that God who had broken the bonds of their
slavery.
2. They had promised fair, but had not made
good their promise; “ Thou saidst, I will not trans¬
gress; then when the mercy of thy deliverance was
tresh, thou wast so sensible of it, that thou wast
willing to lay thyself under the most sacred ties to
continue faithful to thy God, and never to forsake
him.” Then they said, JVay but we will serve the
Lord, Josh. xxiv. 21. How often have we said that
we would not transgress, we would not offend any
more, and yet we have started aside, like a deceitful
bow, and repeated and multiplied our transgressions!
3. They had wretchedly degenerated from what
they were when God first formed them into a peo¬
ple; ( v . 21.) I had planted thee a noble vine. The
constitution of their government both in church and
state was excellent, their laws righteous, and all the
ordinances instructive, and very significant; and a
generation of good men there was among them when
they first settled in Canaan; Israel served the Lord,
and kept close to him, all the days of Joshua, and
the elders that out-lived Joshua; (Josh. xxiv. 31.)
they were then wholly a right seed, likely to re¬
plenish the vineyard they were planted in with
choice vines: but it proved otherwise; the very nex.
generation knew not the Lord, nor the works whicl
he had done, (Judg. ii. 10. ) and so they were worse
323
JEREMIAH, II.
and worse till they became the degenerate plants of
a strange vine; they were now the reverse < f what
they were at first; their constitution was quite bro¬
ken, and there was nothing in them of that good
which one might have expected from a peop e so
happily formed, nothing of the purity and piety of
their ancestors. Their vine is as the vine of Sodom;
Deut. xxxii. 32. This may fitly be applied to the
nature of man; it was planted by its great Author a
noble vine, a right seed; (God made men upright,)
but it is so universally corrupt, that it is become the
degenerate plant of a strange vine, that bears gall
and wormwood, and it is so to God, it is highly dis¬
tasteful and offensive to him.
4. They were violent and eager in the pursuit of
their idolatries, doted on their idols, and were fond
of new ones, and they would not be restrained from
them neither by the word of God, nor by his pro¬
vidences; so strong was the impetus with which they
were carried out after this sin. They are here com¬
pared to a swift dromedary traversing her ways, a
female of that species of creatures hunting about for
a male, (v. 23.) and, to the same purport, a wild
ass used to the wilderness, ( v . 24.) not tamed by
labour, and therefore very wanton, snuffing up the
wind at her pleasure when she comes near the lie-
ass, and on such an occasion who can turn her away ?
Who can hinder her from that which she lusts after?
They that seek her then, will not weary themselves
for her, for they know it is to no purpose; but will
have a little patience till she is big with young, till
that month comes which is the last of the months
that she fulfils, (Job xxxix. 2.) when she is heavy
and unwieldy, and then they shall find her, and she
cannot outran them. Note, (1.) E iger lust is a
brutish thing, and those that will not be turned away
from the gratifying and indulging of it by reason and
conscience and honour, are to be reckoned as brute
beasts and no better; such as were born, and still
are, like the wild ass’s colt, let them not be looked
upon as rational creatures. (2. ) Idolatry is strangely
intoxicating, and those that are addicted to it will
with great difficulty be cured of it. That lust is as
headstrong as any other. (3.) There are some so
violently set upon the prosecution of their lusts, that
it is to no purpose to attempt to give check to them :
they that do it, weary themselves in vain. Ephraim
is joined to idols, let him alone. (4.) The time will
come when the most fierce will be tamed, and the
most wanton will be manageable; when distress and
anguish come upon them, then their ears will be
open to discipline, that is the month in which you
may find them, Ps. cxli. 5, 6.
5. They were obstinate in their sin, and, as they
could not be restrained, so they would not be re¬
formed, v. 25. Here is, (1.) Pair warning given
them of the ruin that this wicked course of life would
•certainly bring them to at last, with a caution there¬
fore not to persist in it, but to break off from it; he
would certainly bring them into a miserable cap¬
tivity, when their feet should be unshod, and they
should be forced to travel barefoot, and when they
would be denied fair water by their oppressors, so
that their throat should be dried with thirst; this
will be in the end hereof. They that affect strange
gods, and strange ways of worship, will justly be
made prisoners to a strange king in a strange land.
Take up in time therefore; thy running after thy
idols will run the shoes off thy feet, and thy panting
after them will bring thy throat to thirst; withhold
therefore thy foot from these violent pursuits, and
thy throat from these violent desires. One would
think that it should effectually check us in the
career, to consider what it will bring us to at last.
(2.) Their rejecting of this fair warning; they said
to those that would have persuaded them to repent
and reform, “ There is no hope, no, never expect to
work upon us, or prevail with us to cast away oul
idols, for we have loved strangers, and after them
we will go; we are resolved we will, and therefore
trouble not yourselves or us any more with v< nr
admonitions, it is to no purpose. There is no hope
that we should ever break the corrupt habit and dis¬
position we have got, and therefore we may as well
yield to it as go about to get the mastery of it.’’
Note, Their case is very miserable, who have
brought themselves to such a pass, that their err
ruptions triumph over their convictions; thev know
they should reform, but own they cannot, and there
fore resolve they will not. But as we must not
despair of the mercy of God, but believe that suffi¬
cient for the pardon of our sins, though ever sc
heinous, if we repent, and sue for that mercy, so
neither must we despair of the grace of (Jed, but
believe that able to subdue our corruptions, though
ever so strong, if we pray for and improve that
grace. A man must never say, There is no hope, as
long as he is on this side hell.
6. They had shamed themselves by their sin, in
putting confidence in that which would certainly
deceive them in the day of their distress, and putting
him away, that would have helped them; (v. 26 —
28.) As the thief is ashamed when, notwithstanding
all his arts and tricks to conceal his theft, he is found,
and brought to punishment, So are the house of
Israel ashamed, not with a penitent shame for the
sin they had been guilty of, but with a penal shame
for the disappointment they met with in that sin.
They will be ashamed when they find,
(1.) That they are forced to cry to the God whom
they had put contempt upon. In their prosperity
they had turned the back to God, and not the face;
they had slighted him, acted as if they had forgotten
him, or did what they could to forget him, would
not look toward him, but looked another way; they
went from him as fast and as far as they could; but
in the time of their trouble they will find no satisfac¬
tion but in applying themselves to him ; then they
will say, Arise, and save us. Their fathers had
many a time taken this shame to themselves, (Judg.
iii. 9. — iv. 3. — x. 10.) yet they would not be per¬
suaded to cleave to God, that they might have come
to him in their trouble with the more confidence.
(2.) That they have no relief from the gods they
have made their court to. They will be ashamed
when they perceive that the gods they have made
cannot serve them, and that the God who made
them will not serve them. To bring them to this
shame, if so be they might thereby be brought to
penitence, they are here sent to the gods whom they
served, as Judg. x. 14. They cried to God, Arise,
and save us; God says of the idols, “ Let them arise,
and save thee, for thou hast no reason to expect that
I should. Let them arise, if they can, from the
places where they are fixed; let them try whether
they can save thee: but thou wilt be ashamed when
thou findest that they can do thee no good, for
though thou hadst a god for every city, yet thy cities
are b’urnt without inhabitant,” v. 15. Thus i' is
the folly of sinners to please themselves with that
which will certainly be their grief, and pride them¬
selves in that which will certainly be their shame.
29. Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye
all have transgressed against me, saitli the
Lord. 30. In vain have I smitten your
children: they received no correction: your
own sword hath devoured your prophets,
like a destroying lion. 31. O generation,
see ye the word of the Lord: Have I been
a wilderness unto Israel ? a land of darkness ’>
Wherefore say my people, W e are lords ; we
JEREMIAH. 11.
329
\\ ill come no more unto thee ? 32. Can a
maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her
attire? yet my people have forgotten me
days without number. 33. Why trimmest
thou thy way to seek love ? therefore hast
thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
34. Also in thy skirts is found the blood of
the souls of the poor innocents : I have not
found it by secret search, but upon all these.
35. Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent,
surely his anger shall turn from me: behold
I will plead with thee, because thou sayest,
I have not sinned. 36. Why gaddest thou
about so much to change thy way? thou
also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou
wast ashamed of Assyria. 37. Yea, thou
shalt go forth from him, and thy hands upon
thy head: for the Lord hath rejected thy
confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in
them.
The prophet here goes on in the same strain,
aiming to bring a sinful people to repentance, that
their destruction might be prevented.
1. He avers the truth ot the charge; it was evi¬
dent beyond contradiction, it was the greatest ab¬
surdity imaginable in them to think of denying it;
(v. 29.) “ Wherefore will you plead with me, and
put me upon the proof of it, or wherefore will you go
about to plead any thing in excuse of the crime, or
to obtain a mitigation of the sentence? Your plea
will certainly be overruled, and judgment given
against you: "you know you have all transgressed,
one as well as another; why then do you quarrel
with me for contending with you?”
2. He aggravates it from the consideration both
of their incorrigibleness and of their ingratitude.
(1.) They had been wrought upon by the judg¬
ments of God which they had been under; (v. 30.)
In vain have I smitten your children, the children
or people of Judah. They had been under divine
rebukes of many kinds. God therein designed to
bring them to repentance, but it was in vain, they
did not answer God’s end in afflicting them; their
consciences were not awakened, nor their hearts
softened and humbled, nor were they driven to seek
unto God, they received no instruction by the cor¬
rection, were not made the better by it; and it is a
great loss thus to lose an affliction; they did not re¬
ceive, they did not submit to, or comply with, the I
correction, but their hearts fretted against the Lord,
and so they were smitten in vain. Even the chil¬
dren, the young people, among them, (so it may be
taken,) were smitteA in vain; they were so soon
prejudiced against repentance, that they were as
untractable as the old ones that had been long ac- I
customed to do evil.
(2.) They had not been wrought upon by the
word of God, which he had sent them in the mouth
of his servants the prophets, nay, they had killed
the messengers for the sake of the message; Your
own sword has devoured your prophets like a de¬
stroying lion; you have put them to death for their
faithfulness, with as much rage and fury, and with
as much greediness and pleasure, as a lion devours
his prey. The prophets, who were their greatest
Dlessings, were treated by them as if they had been
the plagues of their generation, and this was their
measure-filling sin, (2Chron. xxxvi. 16.) they killed
their own prophets, 1 Thess. ii. 15.
(3.) They had not been wrought upon by the ,
VOL. IV. - 2 T
favours God had bestowed upon them; (n. 31.) “ O
I generation ,” (he does not call them, as he might,
O faithless and perverse generation, 0 generation
; °J vipers, but speaks gently, O ye men ot this gene¬
ration,) “see ye the word of the lord, do not only
hear it, but consider it.diligently, apply your minds
closely to it.” As we are bid to hear the rod,
(Micah vi. 9.) for that has its voice, so are we bid
to see the word, f r that has its visions, its views. It
| intimates, that what is here said is plain and un¬
deniable; you may see it to be very evident; it is
written as with a sun-beam, so that he that runs
may read it; Have I been a wildertiess to Israel, a
\ land oj darkness ? Note, None of those who have
had any dealings with God ever had reason to com¬
plain oi him as a wilderness, or a land of darkness.
He has blessed us with the fruits of the earth, and
therefore we cannot say that he has been a wilder¬
ness to us, a dry and barren land, that (as Mr. Gata
ker expresses it) he has held us to hard meat, as
cattle fed upon the common; no, his sheep have
been led into green pastures. He has also blessed
us with the lights of heaven, and has not withheld
them, so that we cannot say, He has been to us a
land of darkness. He has caused his sun to shine,
as well as his rain to fall, upon the evil and un¬
thankful. Or, the meaning is, in general, that the
service of God has not been to any either as an un
pleasant or an unprofitable service. God sometimes
has led his people through a wilderness, and a land
of darkness, but he himself was then to them all that
which they needed, he so fed them with manna, and
led them by a pillar of fire, that it was to the m a
fruitful field and a land of light. The world is, to
those who make it their home and their portion, a
wilderness, and a land of darkness, vanity and vexa¬
tion of spirit; but those that dwell in God, ha,re the
lines fallen to them in pleasant places.
(4. ) Instead of being wrought upon by these, they
were grown intolerably insolent and imperious.
They say, lYe are lords, we will come no more unto
thee. Now that they were become a potent king¬
dom, or thought themselves such, they set up for
themselves, and shook off their dependence upon
God. This is the language of presumptuous sin¬
ners, and it is not only very impious and profane, but
very unreasonable and foolish. [1.] It is absurd for
us, who are subjects, to say, We are lords, (that is,
rulers,) and we will come no more to God to receive
commands from him; for as he is King of old, so
he is King for ever, and we can never pretend to be
from under his authority. [2.] It is absurd for us,
who are beggars, to say. We are lords, that is, We
are rich, and we will come no more to God, to re¬
ceive favours from him, as if we could live without
him, and need not to be beholden to him. God
justly takes it ill, when those to whom he has been
a bountiful Benefactor, care not either for hearing
from him or speaking to him.
3. He lays the blame of all their wickedness upon
their forgetting God; (v. 32.) They have forgotten
me; they have industriously banished the" thoughts
of God out of their minds, justled those thoughts cut
with thoughts of their idols, and avoided all those
things that would put them in mind of God. (1.)
Though they were his own people, in covenant with
him, and professing relation to him, and had the
tokens of his presence in the midst of them, and cf
his favour to them, yet they forgot him. (2.) They
had long neglected him, days without number, time
out of mind, as we say. They had not for a great
while entertained any serious thoughts of him; so
that they seem quite to have forgotten him, and re¬
solved never to remember him again. How many
days of our lives have passed without suitable re¬
membrance of God? Who can number these empty
days? (3.) They had not had such a regard and af
330
JEREMIAH, II.
fection to him, as young ladies generally have to their
tine clothes; Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a
bride her attire? No, their hearts are upon them,
the)r value them so much, and themselves upon
them, that they are ever and anon thinking and
speaking of them; when they are to appear in pub¬
lic, they do not forget any of their ornaments, but
fiut every one in its place, as they are described,
si. iii. 18, &c. And yet my people have for¬
gotten me. It is sad that any should be more in
love with their fine clothes than with their God;
and should rather leave their religion behind them,
or part with that, than leave any of their ornaments
behind them, or part with them. Is not God our
Ornament? Is he not a Crown of glory, and a Dia¬
dem of beauty, to his people? Did we look upon
him to be so, and upon our religion as an ornament
of grace to our head, and chains about our neck,
(Prov. i. 9.) we should be as mindful of them as
ever any maid was of her ornaments, or a bride of
ner attire; we should be as careful to preserve them,
and as fond to appear in them.
4. He shows them what a bad influence their
sins had had upon others; the sins of God’s profess¬
ing people harden and encourage those about them
in their evil ways, especially when they appear for¬
ward and ringleaders in sin; (y. 33.) Why trimmest
thou thy way to seek love? There is an allusion here
to the practice of lewd women who strive to recom¬
mend themselves by their ogling looks and gay
dress, as Jezebel, who painted her face, and tired
her head. Thus had they courted their neighbours
into sinful confederacies with them, and communion
in their idolatries, and had taught the wicked ones
their ways, their ways of mixing God’s institutions
with their idolatrous customs and usages, which
was a great profanation of that which was sacred,
and made the ways of their idolatry worse than that
of others. Those have a great deal to answer for,
who, bv their fellowship with the unfruitful works
of darkness, make wicked ones more wicked than
otherwise they would be.
5. He charges them with the guilt of murder added
to the guilt of their idolatry; (i>. 34.) Also in thy
skirls is found the blood of the souls, the life-blood
of the poor innocents, which cried to heaven, and
for which God was now making inquisition. The
reference is to the children that were offered in sa¬
crifice to Moloch; or, it may be taken more gene-
r .11 v for all the innocent blood which Manasseh shed,
and with which he had filled Jerusalem, (2 Kings
xxi. 16.) the righteous blood, especially the blood
of the prophets and others that witnessed against
their impieties. This blood was found not by secret
search, not by digging, (so the word is,) but upon
all these it was above ground. This intimates that
the guilt of this kind, which they had contracted,
was certain and evident, not doubtful, or which would
bear a dispute; and that it was avowed and bare¬
faced, and which they had not so much sense either
of shame or fear as to' endeavour to conceal; which
wish great aggravation of it.
6. He overrules their plea of JVot guilty. Though
this matter be so plain, yet thou sayest, Because I
am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me;
and again, Thou sayest I have not sinned, (v. 35.)
therefore I will plead with thee, and will convince
thee of thy mistake. Because they deny the charge,
and stand upon their own justification, therefore
God will join issue with them, and plead with them,
both by his word and by his rod. Those shall
be made to know how much they deceived them¬
selves. (1.) Who say that they have not offended
God, that they are innocent, though thev have been
guiltv of the grossest enormities. (2.) Who expect
that God will be reconciled to them, though thev do
not repent and reform. They own that they had
been under the tokens of God’s anger, but they
think that it was causeless, and that they by plead¬
ing innocency had proved it to be so, and therefore
they conclude that God will immediately let fall his
action, and his anger shall be turned from them.
This is very provoking, and God will plead with them,
and convince them that his anger is just, for the)
have sinned and he will never cease his controversy,
till they, instead of justifying themselves thus, hum¬
ble, and judge, and condemn themselves.
7. He upraids them with the shameful disappoint¬
ments they met with, in making creatures their
confidence, while they made God their Enemy, v. 36,
37. It was a piece of spiritual idolatry they were
often guilty of, that they trusted in an arm of flesh,
and their hearts therein departed from the Lord.
Now here he shows them the folly of it. (1. ) They
were restless, and unsatisfied in the choice of their
confidences; “ Why gaddest thou about so much
to change thy way? Doubtless it is because thou
meetest not with that in those thou didst confide in,
which thou promisedst thyself.” Those that make
God their Hope, and walk in a continual deptnd-
ance upon him, need not gad about to change their
way; for their souls may return to him, and repose
in him as their Rest: Hut they that trust in crea
tures will be perpetually uneasy, like Noah’s dove
that found no rest for the sole of her foot. Every
thing they trust to fails them, and then they think
to change for the better, but thev will be still dis¬
appointed. They first trusted to Assyria, and when
that proved a broken reed, they depended upon
Egypt, and that proved no better. Creatures being
vanity, they will be vexation of spirit to all these that
put their confidence in them ; they gadabout, seeking
rest, and finding none. (2.) They were quite dis¬
appointed in the confidences they made choice rf;
the prophet tells them they should be; Thou shah
be ashamed of Egypt, which theu now trustest in, as
formerly thou wast of Assyria, who distressed them,
and helped them not, 2 Chron. xxr iii. 20. The Jews
were a peculiar people in their profession of religion,
and for that reason none of the neighbouring nations
cared for them, nor could heartily love them; and
yet the Jews were still courting them and confiding
mthem, and were well enough served when deceived
by them. See what will come of it; (u. 37.) Thou
shall go forth from him, thine ambassadors or envoys
shall return from Egypt re infecta — disappointed,
and therefore with their hands upon their heads,
lamenting the desperate condition of their people.
Or, Thou shall go forth from hence, into captivity
in a strange land, with thine hands upon thine
head, holding it because it aches, ( Ubi dolor, ibi di¬
gitus — Where the pain is the finger will be applied )
or as people ashamed, for 1 amar, in the height of
her confusion, laid her hand on her head, 2 Sam. xiii.
19. “And Egypt, that thou reliest on, shall not he
able toprevent it, or to rescue thee cut of captivi¬
ty.” They that will not lay their hand on their
heart in godly sorrow, which works life, shall be
made to lay their hand on their head in the sorrow
of the world, which works death. And no wonder
that Egvpt cannot help them , when God will not.
If the Lord do not help thee, whence should I?
The Egyptians are broken reeds, for the Lord has
rejected thy confidences; he will not make use of
them for thy relief, will neither so far honour them,
nor so far give countenance to thy confidence in
them, as to appoint them to be the instruments rf
any good to thee, and therefore thou shall not pros¬
per in them; they shall not stand thee in thy stead,
nor give thee any satisfaction. As there is no coun¬
sel or wisdom that can prevail against the Lord, so
there is none that can prevail with ut him. Some
read it, The Lord has rejected thee f r 'hii confi¬
dences; because th u hast dealt so unfaithfully with
331
JEREMIAH, III.
him as to trust in their creatures, nay, in his ene¬
mies, when thou shouldest have trusted in him only,
he has abandoned thee to thy destruction from which
thou though test thus to have sheltered thyself; and
then thou canat not prosper, for none ever either
hardened himself against God, or estranged him¬
self from God, and prospered.
CHAP. III.
The foregoing chapter was wholly taken up with reproofs,
and threatenings against the people of God, for their
apostacies from him; but in this chapter, gracious invi¬
tations and encouragements are given them to return and
repent, notwithstanding the multitude and greatness of
their provocations, which are here aggravated, to mag-
• nify the mercy of God, and to show that as sin abounded
grace did much more abound. Here, I. It is further
showed how bad they had been, and how well they de¬
served to be quite abandoned, and yet how ready God
was to receive them into his favour, upon their repent¬
ance, v. 1 . . 5. II. The impenitence of Judah, and their
persisting in sin, are aggravated from the judgments of
God upon Israel, which they should have taken warning
by, v. 6. . II. III. Great encouragements are given to
these backsliders to return and repent; and promises
made of great mercy which God had in store for them,
and which he should prepare them for by bringing them
home to himself, v. 12. .. 19. IV. The charge renewed
against them for their apostacy from God, and the invi¬
tation repeated to return and repent, to which are here
added the words that are put in their mouth, which they
should make use of in their return to God, v. 20 . . 25.
1. r i^HEY say, If a man put away his
I wife, and she go from him, and be¬
come another man’s, shall he return unto
her again? shall not that land be greatly
[Kill u ted: but thou hast played the harlot
with many lovers •, yet return again to me,
saith the Loud. 2. Lift up thine eyes unto
the high places, and see where thou hast
not been lien with: in the ways hast thou
sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilder¬
ness; and thou hast polluted the land with
thv whoredoms, and with thy wickedness.
3. Therefore the showers have been with-
holden, and there hath been no latter rain ;
and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou re-
fusedst to be ashamed. 4. Wilt thou not
from this time cry unto me, My father, thou
art the guide of my youth ? 5. Will he re¬
serve his anger for ever ? will he keep it to
the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and
done evil things as thou couldest.
These verses some make to belong to the sermon
in the foregoing chapter, and they open a door of
hope to those who receive the conviction of the re¬
proofs we had; therefore God wounds, that he may
heal. Now observe here,
I. How basely this people had forsaken God, and
gone a whoring from him. The charge runs very
high here:
1 . They had multiplied their idols, and their idola¬
tries. To have admitted one strange god among
them had been bad enough, but they were insatiable
in their lustings after false worships; Thou hast
f ilayed the harlot with many lovers, v. 1. She was
became a common prostitute to idols; not a foolish
deity was set up in all the neighbourhood, but the
Jews would have it quickly. Where was a high
filar; in the country, but they had an idol in it? v. 2.
S' a , In repentance, it is good to make sorrowful
reflections upon the particular acts of sin we have
been guilty of, and the several places and companies
where it has been committed, that we may give
glory to God, and take shame to ourselves, by a
particular confession of it.
2. They had sought opportunity for their idola¬
tries, and had sent about to inquire for new gods;
In the high ways hast thou sat for them, as Tamar
when she put on the disguise of a harlot , (Gen.
xxxviii. 14. ) and as the foolish woman, that sits to
call fiassengers, who go right on their way, Prov.
ix. 14, 15. As the Arabian in the wilderness: the
Arabian huckster, (so some,) that courts customers,
or waits for the merchants to get a good bargain
and forestall the market; or, the Arabian thief (so
others,) that watches for his prey; so had they
waited either to court new gods to come among
them, the newer the better, and the more fond they
were of them, or to court others to join with them
in the idolatries: they were not only sinners, but
Satans; not only traitors themselves, but tempters to
others.
3. They were grown very impudent in sin. They
not only polluted themselves, but their land, with
their whoredoms and with their wickedness; (v. 2.)
for it was univ ersal and unpunished, and so became
a national sin. And yet, (u. 3.) '■'■Thou hadst a
whore’s forehead, a brazen face of thy own. Thou
refusedst to be ashamed; thou didst enough to shame
thee for ever, and yet wouldest not take shame to
thyself.” Blushing is the colour of virtue, or at
least a relick of it; but those that are past shame,
(we say,) are past hope. Those that have an adul¬
terer’s heart, if they indulge that, will come at length
to have a whore’s forehead, void of all shame and
modesty.
4. They abounded in all manner of sin. They
polluted the land not only with their whoredoms,
their idolatries, but with their wickedness, or malice,
(y. 2. ) sins against the second table : for how can we
think that those should be true to their neighbour,
that are false to their God? “Nay, (x>. 5.) thou hast
spoken and done evil things as thou couldest; and
wouldest have spoken and done worse, if thou hadst
known how; thy will was to do it, but thou lackedst
opportunity.” Note, Those are wicked indeed, that
sin to the utmost of their power; that never refuse
to comply with a temptation because they shotild
not, but because they cannot.
II. How gently God had corrected them for their
sins. Instead of raining fire and brimstone upon
them, because, like Sodom, they had avowed their
sin, and had gone after strange gods, as Sodom after
strange flesh, he only withheld the showers from
them, and that only one pan of the year, there has
been no latter rain; which might serve as an intima¬
tion to them of their continual dependence upon God;
when they had the former rain, that was no security
to them for the latter, but they must still look up to
God: but it had not this effect.
III. How justly God might have abandoned them
utterly, and refused ever to receive them again,
though they should return; this would have been
but according to the known rale of divorces, v. 1.
They say, it is an adjudged case, nay, it is a case in
which the law is very express, and it is what everv
body knows and speaks of, (Deut. xxiv. 4.) that if
a woman be once put away for whoredom, and be
joined to another man, her first husband shall never,
upon any pretence whatsoever, take her again to be
his wife; such playing fast and loese with the mar¬
riage-bond would be a horrid profanation of that
ordinance, and would greatly pollute that land.
Observe what the law says in this case; They say,
every one will say, and subscribe to the equity of
the law in it: for every man finds something in him¬
self, that forbids him to entertain one that is another
332
JEREMIAH, Ill.
man’s. And in like manner they had reason to ex¬
pect that God should refuse ever to take them to be
his people again, who had not only been joined to
one strange god, but had played the harlot with
many lovers. If we had to do with a man like our¬
selves, after such provocations as we have been
guilty of, he would have been implacable, and we
might have despaired of his being reconciled to us.
IV. How graciously he not only invites them, but
directs them, to return to him.
1. He encourages them to hope that they should
find favour with him, upon their repentance;
“Though thou hast been bad, yet return again to
me” v. 1. This implies a promise that he will re¬
ceive them; “ Return, and thou shalt be welcome.”
God has not tied himself by the laws which he
made, nor has he the peevish resentment that men
have; he will be more kind to Israel, for the sake
of his covenant with them, than ever any injured
husband was to an adulterous wife; for in receiving
penitents, as much as in any thing, he is God, and
not man.
2. He therefore kindly expects that they will re¬
pent, and return to him, and he directs them what
to sty to him; (y. 4.) “ Wilt thou not from this
time cry unto me? Wilt not thou, who hast been
in such relation to me, and on whom I have laid
such obligations, wilt not thou cry to me? Though
thou hast gone a whoring from me, yet, when thou
findest the folly of it, surely thou wilt think of re¬
turning to me; now at least, now at last, in this thy
day. \Vilt thou not at this time, nay, wilt thou not
from this time and forward, cry unto me? What¬
ever thou hast said or done' hitherto, wilt thou not
from this time apply thyself to me? From this time
of conviction and correction; now that thou hast
been made to see thy sins, (v. 2.) and to smart for
them, (v. 3.) wilt thou not now forsake them, and
return to me, saying, I will go and return to my
first husband, for then it was better with me than
now?” Hos. ii. 7. Or, “ From this time that thou
hast had so kind an invitation to return, and as¬
surance that thou shalt be well received; will not
this grace of God overcome thee? Now that par¬
don is proclaimed, wilt thou not come in, and take
the benefit of it? Surely thou wilt.”
(1.) He expects they will claim relation to God,
as theirs; Wilt thou not cry unto me, My Father,
thou art the guide of my youth? [1.] They will
surelv come toward him as a Father, to beg his par¬
don for their undutiful conduct to him, ( Father , I
have sinned,') and will hope to find in him the ten¬
der compassions of a Father towards a returning
prodigal. They will come to him as a Father, to
whom they will make their complaints, and in
whom thev will put their confidence for relief and
succour. They will now own him as their Father,
and themselves fatherless without him; and there¬
fore hoping to find mercy with him, as those peni¬
tents, Hos. xiv. 3. [2.] They will come to him
as the Guide of their youth, as their Husband; for
so that relation is described, Mai. ii. 14. “Though
thou hast gone after many lovers, surely thou wilt
at length remember the love of thine espousals, and
return to the husband of thy youth.” Or, it may
betaken more generally; as, my Father, thou art the
Guide of my youth. Youth needs a guide. In our
return to God, we must thankfully remember that
he was the Guide of our youth, in the way of com¬
fort; and we must faithfully covenant that he shall
be our Guide from henceforward in the way of
dutv, and that we will follow his guidance, and give
up ourselves entirely to it; that in all doubtful cases
we will be determined by our religion.
(2.) He expects they will appeal to the mercy of
God, and crave the benefit of that mercy, (t>. 5. )
that they will reason tnus with themselves for their
| encouragement to return to him; “ Will he reserve
his anger for ever? Surely he will not, for lie has
proclaimed his name gracious and merciful.” Re¬
penting sinners may encourage themselves with this,
that though God chide, he will not always chide;
though he be angry, he will not keep his anger tu
the end, but that though he cause grief, he will
have compassion, and may thus plead for reconcilia¬
tion. Some understand this as describing the ir
hypocrisy, and the impudence of it; “ Though th< u
hast a whore’s forehead, (y. 3.) and art still doing
evil as thou const, (y. 5.) yet art thou not ever and
anon crying to me. My Father?” Even when they
were most addicted to idols, they pretended a re¬
gard to God and his service, and kept up the forms
of godliness and devotion. It is a shameful thing
for men thus to call God Father, and yet to do the
works of the devil; (as the Jews, John viii. 44. ) to
call him the Guide of their youth, and yet give up
themselves to walk after the flesh ; and to flatter
themselves with the expectation that his anger
shall have an end, while they are continually trea¬
suring up to themselves wrath against the day of
wrath.
6. The Loud said also unto me in the
days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen l hat
which backsliding Israel hath done? she
is gone up upon every high mountain, and
under every green tree, and there hath played
the harlot. 7. And I said, after she had
done all these things, Turn thou unto me :
but she returned not. And her treacherous
sister Judah saw it. 8. And I saw, when
for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel
committed adultery, I had put her away, and
given her a bill of divorce ; yet hey treach¬
erous sister Judah feared not, but went and
played the harlot also. 9. And it came to
pass through the lightness of her whoredom,
that she defiled the land, and committed
adultery with stones and with stocks. 1 0.
And yet for all this her treacherous sister
Judah hath not turned unto me with her
whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.
11. And the Lord said unto me, The
backsliding Israel hath justified herself
more than treacherous Judah.
The date of this sermon must be observed, in
order to the right understanding of it; it was in the
days of Josiah, who set on foot a blessed work of
reformation, in which he was hearty, but thepccple
were not sincere in their compliance with it; to re¬
prove them for that, and warn them of the conse¬
quences of their hypocrisy, is the scope of that
which God here said to the prophet, and which he
delivered to them. The case of the two kingdoms
of Israel and Judah is here compared, the ten tribes
that revolted from the throne of David and the tem¬
ple of Jerusalem, and the two tribes that adhered to
both. The distinct history of those two kingdoms
we have in the two books of the Kings, and here
we have an abstract of both, as far as relates to this
matter.
1. Here is a short account of Israel, the ten tribes.
Perhaps the prophet had been just reading the his¬
tory cf that kingdom, when God came to him, and
said. Hast thou seen what backsliding Israel has
done? v. 6. For he could not see it otherwise than
in history, they having bf.en carried into captivity
333
JEREMIAH, III.
long before he was bom: but what we read in the
histories of scripture should instruct us and affect
us, as if we ourselves had been eye-witnesses of it.
She is called backsliding Israel, because that king¬
dom was first founded in an apostacy from the di¬
vine institutions, both in church and state. Now he
had seen concerning them,
(1.) That they were wretchedly addicted to
idolatry; they had played the harlot upon every
high mountain, and under every green tree; (y. 6. )
they had worshipped other gods in their high places
an 1 groves; and no marvel, when from the first they
had worshipped God by the images of the golden
calves at Dan and Bethel. The way cf idolatry is
down-hill: they that are in love with images, and
will have them',' soon become in love with other gods,
and will have them too; for how should they stick at
the breach of the first commandment, who make
no conscience of the second?
(2.) That God by his prophets had invited and
encouraged them to repent and reform; (v. 7.)
'■ After she had done all these things, for which she
might justly have been abandoned, yet I said unto
her, Turn thou unto me, and I will receive thee.”
Though they had forsaken both the house of David,
and the house of Aaron, who both had their autho¬
rity jure divino—from God, without dispute, yet
God sent his prophets among them, to call them to
return to him, to the worship of him only, not in¬
sisting so much as one would have expected upon
their return to the house of David, but pressing their
return to the house of Aaron: we read not that
E!ij ih, that great reformer, ever mentioned their
return to the house of David, while he was anxious
for their return to the faithful service of the true
God according as they had it among them. It is
serious piety that God stands upon more than even
his own rituals.
(3.) That, notwithstanding this, they had per¬
sisted in their idolatries; but she returned not, and
God saw it; he took notice of it, and was much dis¬
pleased with it, v. 7, 8. Note, God keeps account,
whether we do or no, how often he has called to us
to turn to him, and we have refused.
(4.) That he had therefore cast them off, and
given them up into the hands of their enemies; ly.
8.) IVhen I saw (so it may be read) that for all the
actions wherein she had committed adultery, I must
dismiss her, I gave her a bill of divorce. God di¬
vorced them when he threw them out of his pro¬
tection, and left them an easy prey to any that
would lay hands on them; when he scattered all
their synagogues and schools of the prophets, and
excluded them from laying any further claim to the
covenant made with their fathers. Note, Those
will justly be divorced from God, that join them¬
selves to such as are rivals with him. For proof
of this, go, and see what God did to Israel.
2. Let us now see what was the case of Judah,
tne kingdom of the two tribes; she is called thy
treacherous sister Judah; a sister, because descend¬
ed from the same common stock, Abraham and
Jacob; but as Israel had the character of a back¬
slider, so Judah is c died treacherous, because,
though she professed to keep close to God when
Israel was backslidden, (she adhered to the kings
and priests that were of God’s own appointing, and
did not withdraw from her allegiance, so that it was
expected she should deal faithfully,) yet she proved
treacherous and false, and unfaithful to her profes¬
sions and promises. Note, The treachery of those
who pretend to cleave to God, will be reckoned for,
as well as the apostacy of those who openly revolt
fr m him. Judah saw what Israel did, and what
came of it, and should have taken warning: Israel’s
captivity was intended for Judah’s admonition, but
it had not the designed effect. Judah feared not,
but thought herself safe because site had Levites to
be her priests, and sons of David to be her kings.
Note, It is an argument of great stupidity and seen
rity, when we are not awakened to a holy fear by
the judgments of God upon Others. It is here
charged on Judah,
(1.) That when they had a wicked king that de¬
bauched them, they heartily concurred with him in
his debaucheries. Judah was forward enough to
p lay the harlot, to worship any idol that was intro¬
duced among them, and to join in any idolatrt us
usage; so that through the lightness (or, as seme
read it, the vileness and baseness ) of her whoredom,
or, as the margin reads it, by the fame and report
of her whoredom, her notorious whoredom, tor
which she was become infamous, she defiled the
land, and made it an abomination to God; for she
committed adultery with stones and stocks, with the
basest idols, those made of wood and stone. In the
reigns of Manasseh and Anion, when they were dis¬
posed to idolatry, the people were so too, and all the
country was corrupted with it, and none feared the
ruin which Israel by this means had brought upon
themselves.
(2.) That when they had a good king tin t re¬
formed them, they did not heartily concur with him
in the reformation: that was the present case. God
tried whether they would be good in a good r< ign,
but the evil disposition was still the same; They
returned not to me with their whole heart, but
feigned/y, v. 10. Josiah went further in destroying
idolatry than the best of his predecessors had done,
and for his own part he turned to the Lord with
all his heart and with all his soul; so it is said of
him, 2 Kings xxiii. 25. The people were forced
to an external compliance with him, and joined with
him in keeping a very solemn passover, and in re¬
newing their covenants with God; (2 Chron. xxxiv.
32 — xxxv. 17.) but they were not sincere in it, nor
were their hearts right with God. For this reason
God at that very time said, I will remove Judah
out of my sight, as 1 removed Israel, (2 Kings
xxiii. 27.) because Judah was not removed from
their sin by the sight of Israel’s removal from their
land. Hypocritical and ineffectual reformations
bode ill to a people. We deceive ourselves, if we
think to deceive God by a feigned return to him ; I
know no religion without sincerity.
3. The case of these sister-kingdoms is compared,
and judgment given upon the comparison, that of
the two Judah was the worse; (t>. 11.) Israel has
justifed herself more than Judah, she is not so bad
as Judah is. This comparative justification will
stand Israel in little stead; what will it avail us to
say, We are not so bad as others, when yet we are
not really good ourselves? But it will serve as ar
aggravation of the sin of Judah, which was in twe
respects worse than that of Israel. (1.) More was
expected from Judah than from Israel; so that
Judah dealt treacherously, they vilified a more
sacred profession, and falsified a more sclemn pre¬
mise, than Israel did. (2.) Judah might have taken
warning by the ruin of Israel for their idolatry, and
would not. God’s judgments upon others, if they
be not means of our reformation, will help to aggra¬
vate our destruction. The prophet Ezekiel (ch
xxiii. 11.) makes the same comparison between
Jerusalem and Samaria, that this prophet litre
makes between Judah and Israel, nay, and (Ezek.
xvi. 48.) between Jerusalem and Sodom, and Jem
salem is made the worst of the three.
1 2. Go, and proclaim these words toward
the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding
Israel, saith the Loro, and I will not cause
mine anger to fall upon you; for I am me’
334
JEREMIAH, III.
ciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep
anger for ever. 13. Only acknowledge
thine iniquity, that thou hast transgiessed
against the Lord thy God, and hast scat¬
tered thy ways to the strangers under every
green tree, and ye have not obeyed my
voice, saith the Lord. 14. Turn, O back¬
sliding children, saith the Lori,; for I am
married unto you : and I will take you one
of a city, and two of a family, and l will
bring you to Zion : 1 5. And I will give you
pastors according to my heart, which shall
feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16. And it shall come to pass, when ye be
multiplied and increased in the land, in those
days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more,
The ark of the covenant of the Lo rd ; neither
shall it come to mind, neither shall they re¬
member it, neither shall they visit it, neither
shall that be done any more. 1 7. At that time
they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the
Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered
unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusa¬
lem: neither shall they walk any more after
the imagination of their evil heart. 18. In
those days the house of Judah shall walk
with the house of Israel, and they shall
come together out of the land of the north
to the land that I have given for an inheri¬
tance unto your fathers. 19. But I said,
How shall I put thee among the children,
and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly
heritage of the hosts of nations ? And I
said, Thou shalt call me, My father ; and
shalt not turn away from me.
Here is a great deal of gospel in these verses, both
that which was always gospel, God’s readiness to
pardon sin, and to receive and entertain returning,
repenting sinners, and those blessings which were in
a special manner reserved for gospel- times, the
forming and founding of the gospel-church, bv bring¬
ing into it the children of tiocl that were scattered
abroad, the superseding of the ceremonial law, and
the uniting of Jews and Gentiles, typified by the
uniting of Israel and Judah in their return out of
captivity.
The prophet is directed to proclaim these words
toward the north, for they are to call to backsliding
Israel, the ten tribes that were carried captive into
Assyria, which lay north from Jerusalem. That
way he must look, to show that God had not for¬
gotten them, though their brethren had, and to up¬
braid the men of Judah with their obstinacy in re¬
fusing to answer the calls given them. One might
as well call to them who lay many hundred miles
olf in the land of the north; they will as soon hear
as these unbelieving and disobedient people; back¬
sliding Israel will sooner accept of mercy, and have
the benefit of it, than treacherous Judah. And
perhaps the proclaiming of these words toward the
north, looks as far forward as the preaching of re¬
pentance and remission of sins unto all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem, Luke xxiv. 47. A call
tc Israel in the land of the north, is a call to others
vn that land, even as many as belong to the election
■I grace; when it was suspected that Christ would
go to the dispersed Jews among the Gentiles, it was
concluded that he would teach the Gentiles, John
vii. 35. So here,
I. There is an invitation given to backsliding Israel,
and in them to the backsliding Gentiles, to return
unto God, the God from whom they had revolted;
{y. 12.) Return, thou backsliding Israel. Andagair,
(v. 14.) “ Turn , 0 backsliding children, repent ot
our backslidings, return to your allegiance; ccme
ack to that good way which you have missed, and
out of which you have turned aside.” Pursuant to
this invitation, 1. They are encouraged to return;
Repent, and be converted, and your sins shall be
blotted out. Acts iii. 19. You have incurred Gcd’s
displeasure, but return to me, and I will not cause
mine anger to full upon you.” God’s anger is rea¬
dy to fall upon sinners, as a lion falls on his prey,
and there is none to deliver; as a mountain of lead
falling on them, to sink them past recovery into the
lowest hell. But if they repent it shall be turned
away, Isa. xii. 1. I will not keep mine anger for
ever, but will be reconciled, for lam merciful. We
that are sinful, were for ever undone, if God were
not merciful; but the goodness of his nature encou¬
rages us to hope that if we by repentance undo what
we have done against him, he will by a pardon un¬
say what he has said against us. 2. They are di¬
rected how to return; (v. 13.) “ Only acknowledge
"Thine iniquity, own thyself in a fault, and thereby
take shame to thyself, and give glory to God.” 1
will not keep my anger for ever; (that is a previ¬
ous promise;) you shall be delivered from that an¬
ger of God which is everlasting, from the wrath to
come; but upon what terms? Very easy and rea¬
sonable ones. Only acknowledge thy sins '; if we con¬
fess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
them. This will aggravate the condemnation of
sinners, that the terms of pardon and peace were
brought so low, and yet they would not come up to
them. If the prophet had bid them do some great
thing, would they not have done it? How
much more when he says, Only acknowledge thine
iniquity? 2 Kings v. 13. In confessing sin, (1.) We
must own the corruption of our nature; Acknow¬
ledge thine iniquity ; the perverseness and irregu
lantv ot thy nature. (2.) We must own our actual
sins, “ that thou hast transgressed against the Lord
thy God, hast affronted him and offended him.”
(3. ) We must own the multitude of cur transgres¬
sions, “ that thou hast scattered thy ways to the
strangers, run hither and thither in pursuit of thine
idols, under every green tree. Wherever thou hast
rambled, thou hast left behind thee the marks of
thy folly. (4.) We must aggravate cur sin frem
the disobedience that there is in it to the divine law.
The sinfulness of sin is the worst thing in it; “ Ye
have not obeyed my voice, acknowledge that, and
let that humble you more than any thing else.”
II. Here are precious promises made to these
backsliding children, if they do return; which were
in part fulfilled in the return of the Jews out of their
captivity, many that belonged to the ten tribes hav¬
ing perhaps joined themselves to those of the two
tribes, in the prospect of their deliverance, and re¬
turning with them ; but is to have its full accom¬
plishment in the gospel-church, and the gathering
together of the children of God that were scattered
abroad to that. “ Return, for though you are back¬
sliders, yet you are children; nay, though a treache¬
rous wife, yet a wife, for lam married to you, (v.
14.) and will not disown the relation.” Thus God
remembers his covenant with their fathers, that
marriage-covenant, and in consideration of that he
remembers their land, Lev. xxvi. 42.
1. He premises to gather them together from all
places whither they are dispersed and scattered
abroad; (John xi. 52.) I will take you , one of a city.
335
JEREMIAH, III.
and two of a family, or clan; and I will bring you
to Zion. All those that by repentance return to
their duty, shall return to their former comfort.
I bserve, (1.) Godwill graciously receive those that
r. turn to him, nay, it is he that by his distinguishing
grace takes them out from among the rest that per¬
sist in their backslidings; if he had left them, they
had been undone. (2.) Of the many that have
backslidden from God, there are but few, very few
in comparison, that return to him, like the glean¬
ings of the vintage; one of a city, and two of a
country; Christ’s flock is a little flock, and few
there be that find the strait gate. (3.) Of those
few, though dispersed, yet not one shall be lost.
Though there be but one in a city, God will find
out that one; he shall not be overlooked in a crowd,
lout shall be brought safe to Zion, safe to Heaven.
The scattered Jews shall be brought to Jerusalem,
and those of the ten tribes shall be as welcome
there as those of the two. God’s chosen, scattered
all the world over, shall be brought to the gospel-
church, that mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem,
that holy hill on which Christ reigns.
2. He promises to set those over them that shall
be every way blessings to them; (n. 15.) I will give
you pastors after my heart , alluding to the charac¬
ter given of David, when God pitched upon him to
be king; (1 Sam. xiii. 14.) The Lord hath sought
him a man after his own heart. Observe, (1.) When
a church is gathered it must be governed. I will
bring them to Zion, not to live as they list, but to
be under discipline, not as wild beasts, that range at
pleasure, but as sheep that are under the direction
of a shepherd. I will give them fiastors, magis¬
trates and ministers; both are God’s ordinance for
the support of his kingdom. (2.) It is well with a
people when their pastors are after God’s own
heart; such as they should be, such as he would
have them be, who shall make his will their rule in
all their administrations; and such as endeavour in
some measure to conform to his example; who rule
for him, and, as they are capable, rule like him.
(3.) Those are pastors after God’s own heart, who
make it their business to feed the flock, not to feed
themselves, and fleece the flocks, but to do all they
can for the good of those that are under their
charge; who feed them with wisdom and under¬
standing, wisely and understanding^, as David fed
them, in the integrity of his heart, and by the skil-
fulness of his hand, Ps. lxxviii. 72. Those who are
not only pastors, but teachers,. must feed them with
the word of God, which is wisdom and understand¬
ing, which is able to make us wise to salvation.
3. He promises that there should be no more oc¬
casion for the ark of the covenant, which had been
so much the glory of the tabernacle first, and after¬
ward of the temple, and was the token of God’s
presence with them; that shall be set aside, and
there sh ill be no more inquiry after, nor inquiring
of, it; (v. 16.) When ye be multifilied and increased
in the land, when the kingdom of the Messiah shall
be s"t up, which by the accession of the Gentiles
will bring into the church a vast increase, (and the
days of the Messiah the Jewish masters themselves
acknowledge to be here intended,) then they shall
say no more , The ark of the covenant of the Lord,
they sh ill have it no more among them to value, or
value themselves upon, because thev shall have a
pure spiritual way of worship set up, in which there
shall be no occasion for any of those external ordi¬
nances; with the ark of the covenant the whole ce-
r -monial law shall be set aside, and all the institu¬
tions of it, for Christ, the Truth of all those types,
exhibited to us in the word and sacraments of the
New Testament, will be to us instead of all. It is
very likely (whatever the Jews suggest to the con¬
trary) that the ark of the covenant was in the sc- i
! cond temple, being restored by Cyrus with the
other vessels of the house of the Lord, Ezra i. 7.
But in the gospel-temple Christ is the Ark, he is the
Propitiatory, or Mercy-seat; and it is the spiritual
presence of God in his ordinances that we are now
to expect. Many expressions are here used con
corning the setting aside of the ark, that it shall net
come to mind, that they shall not remember it, that
they shall not visit it, that none of these things shall
be any more done; for the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in s/iirit and in truth, John iv.
24. But this variety of expressions is used, to show
that the ceremonies of the law of Moses should be
totally and finally abolished, never to be used any
more, but that it would be with difficulty that those
who had been so long wedded to them should be
weaned from them; and that they would not quite
let them go till their Holy city and Holy house
should both be levelled with the ground.
4. He promises that the gospel-church, here call¬
ed Jerusalem, shall become eminent and conspicu¬
ous, v. 17. Two things shall make it famous. (1.)
God’s special residence and dominion in it. It shall
be called, The throne of the Lord; the throne of his
glory, for that shines forth in the church; the throne
of his government, for that also is erected there,
there he rules his willing people by his word and
Spirit, and brings every thought into obedience to
himself. As the gospel got ground, this throne of
the Lord was set up there where Satan’s seat had
been. It is especially the throne of his grace, for
they that by faith come to this Jerusalem, come to
God the Judge of all, and to Jesus the Mediator of
the new covenant, Heb. xii. 22, 23. (2.) The ac¬
cession of the Gentiles to it. All the nations shall
be discipled, and so gathered to the church, and
shall become subjects to that throne of the Lord
which is there set up, and devoted to the honour of
that name of the Lord which is there both mani¬
fested and called upon.
5. He promises that there shall be a wonderful
reformation wrought in those that are gathered to
the church; They shall not walk any more after the
imagination of their evil hearts. They shall not
live as they list, but live by rules; not do according
to their own corrupt appetites, but according to the
will of God. See what leads in sin, the imagination
of our own evil hearts; and what sin is, it is walk¬
ing after that imagination, being governed by fancy
and humour; and what converting grace does, it
takes us off from walking after our own inventions,
and brings us to be governed by religion and right
reason.
6. That Judah and Israel shall be happily united
in one body, v. 18. They were so in their return
out of captivity, and their settlement again in Ca¬
naan; The house of Judah shall walk with the house
of Israel, as being perfectly agreed, and become
one stick in the hand of the Lord, as E*ekiel also
foretold, ch. xxxvii. 16, 17. Both Assyria and Chal¬
dea fell into the hands of Cyrus, and his proclama¬
tion extended to all the Jews in all his dominions.
And therefore we have reason to think that many
of the house of Israel came with those of Judah out
of the land of the north; though at first there re¬
turned but forty-two thousand (whom we have an
account of, Ezra ii.) yet Josephus says, ( Aniiq . lib.
11. cafi. 4.) that some few years after, under Da¬
rius, Zerubbabel went, and fetched up above foui
millions of souls, to the land that was given for an
inheritance to their fathers. And we never read of
such animosities and enmities between Israel and
Judah as had been formerly. This happy coales¬
cence between Israel and Judah in Canaan, was a
type of the uniting of Jews and Gentiles in the ges-
pel-church, when, all enmities being slain, thev
i should become one sheepfold under one shepherd.
336
JEREMIAH, III.
III. Here is some difficulty started, that lies in the |
way of all this mercy; but an expedient is found to I
get over it.
1. God asks, How shall I do this for thee? Not
as if God showed favour with reluctancy, as he i
punishes with a How shall I give thee up. ? Hos. xi.
8, 9. No, though he is slow to anger, he is swift to
show mercy. But it intimates that we are utterly j
unworthy of his favours, that we have no reason to
expect them, that there is nothing in us to deserve
them, that we can lay no claim to them, and that
he contrives how to do it in such a way as may save
the honour of his justice and holiness in the govern¬
ment of the world; means must be devised, that his
banished be not for ever expelled from him, 2 Sam.
xiv. 14i How shall I do it? (1.) Even backsliders, if
they return and repent, shall be put among the chil¬
dren; and who could ever have expected that? Be¬
hold, what manner of love is this! 1 John iii. 1. How
should we, who are so mean and weak, so worthless
and unworthy, and soprovoking, ever be put among
the children? (2.) Those whom God puts among
the children, to them he will give the pleasant land,
the land of Canaan, that glory of all lands, that
goodly heritage of the hosts of nations, which na¬
tions and their hosts wish for, and prefer to their
own country; or which the hosts of the nations have
now got possession of: it was a type of heaven,
where there are pleasures for ever more; now who
could expect a place in that pleasant land, that has
so often despised it, (Ps. cvi. 24. ) and is so unwor¬
thy of it, and unfit for it? Is this the manner of men?
2. He does himself return answer to this question;
But I said. Thou shall call me. My Father. God
does himself answer all the objections that are taken
from our unworthiness, or they would never be got
over. (1.) That he may put returning penitents
among the children, he will give them the Spirit
of adoption, teachingthem tocry,Abba, Father, Gal. j
tv. 6. “ Thou shall call me. My Father; thou shalt j
return to me, and resign thyself to me as a Father,
and that shall recommend thee to my favour.” (2.)
That he may give them the pleasant land, he will
put his fear in their hearts, that they may never
turn from him, but may persevere to the end.
20. Surely as a wife treacherously de-
parteth from her husband, so have ye dealt
treacherously with me, O house of Israel,
saith the Lord. 21. A voice was heard
upon the high places, weeping and supplica¬
tions of the children of Israel: for they have
perverted their way, and they have forgotten
the Lord their God. 22. Return, ye back¬
sliding children, and I will heal your back¬
slidings, Behold, we come unto thee; for
thou art the Lord our God. 23. Truly in
vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and
from the multitude of mountains: truly in
the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
24. For shame hath devoured the labour of
our fathers from our youth; their flocks and
their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25. We lie down in our shame, and ourcon-
fusioncoverethus: forwehavesinned against
the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from
our youth even unto this day, and have not
obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.
Here is,
I. The charge God exhibits against Israel for
their treacherous departures from him, v. 20. As
an adulterous wife elopes from her husband, so hav*
they gone a whoring from God. They were joined
to God by a marriage covenant, but they broke that
covenant, they dealt treacherously with God, who
had always dealt kindly and faithfully with them.
Treacherous dealing with men like ourselves is bad
enough, but to deal treacherously with God is to
deal treasonably.
II. Their conviction and confession of the truth
of this charge, v. 21. When God reproved them
for their apostaev, there were some among them,
even such as God would take, and bring to Zion,
whose voice was heard upon the high places, weep¬
ing and praying, humbling themselves before the
God of their fathers, lamenting their calamities and
their sins, the procuring cause of them; for this is
that which they lament, for this they bemoan them¬
selves, that they have perverted their way, and for¬
gotten the Lord their God. Note, 1. Sin isthe/;f?'-
verting of our way, it is turning aside to crooked
ways, and perverting that which is right. 2. For¬
getting the Lord our God is at the bottom of all sin.
If men would remember God, his eye upon them,
and their obligation to him, they would net trans¬
gress as they do. 3. By sin we embarrass ourselves,
and bring ourselves into trouble, for that also is the
perverting of our way, Lam. iii. 9. 4. Prayers
and tears well become those whose consciences tell
them that they have perverted their way and for¬
gotten their God. When the foolishness of man
perverts his way, his heart is apt to fret against the
Lord, (Prov. xix. 3.) whereas it should be melted
and poured out before him.
III. The invitation God gives them to return to
him; (t>. 22.) Return, ye backsliding children. He
calls them children, in tenderness and compassion
to them; foolish and froward as children, yet his
sons; whom though he corrects he will not disinhe¬
rit; for though they are refractory children, (so
some render it,) yet they are children. God bears
with such children, and so must parents. When
they are convinced of sin, (v. 21.) and humbled for
that, then they are prepared, and then they are in¬
vited, to return; as Christ invites those to him that
are weary and heavy laden. The promise to those
that return is, “I will heal your buckslidings; I will
comfort you under the grief you are in for your back-
slidings, deliver you out of the troubles you have
brought yourselves intoby your backslidings, and cure
you of vour refractoriness, and bent to backslide.”
God will heal our backslidings by his pardoning mer¬
er, his quieting peace, and his renewing grace.
IV. The ready consent they give to this invita¬
tion, and their cheerful compliance with it; Behold,
we come unto thee. This is an echo to God’s call;
as a voice returned from broken walls, so this from
broken hearts. God says. Return; they answer,
Behold, we come. It is an immediate, speedy an¬
swer, without delay, not, “We will come hereaf¬
ter,” but, “We do come now; we need not take
time to consider of it.” Not, “We come toward
thee,” but, “ We come to thee , we will make a tho¬
rough turn of it. ” Observe how unanimous they
are; We come, one and all.
1. They come devoting themselves to God as
theirs; “ Thou art the Lord our God, we take thee
to be ours, we give up ourselves to thee to be thine;
whither shall we go but to thee? It is our sin and
folly that we have gone from thee. It is very com¬
fortable, in ourretumsto God after our backsliding,
to look up to him as ours in covenant.
2. They come disclaiming all expectations of re¬
lief and succour but from God only; “In vain is
salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the mul¬
titude of the mountains; we now see our folly in re¬
lying upon creature-confidences, and will never so
deceive ourselves any more.” They worshipped
33;
JEREMIAH, IV.
their idols upon hills and mountains, (v. 6.) and
they had a multitude of idols upen their mountains,
which they had sought unto and put a confidence
in; but now they will have no more to do with them.
In vain do we look for any thing that is good from
them, while from God we may look for every thing
that is good; even salvation itself. Therefore,
3. They come defending upon God only as their
God; In the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
H a is the Lord, and he only can save; he can save
when all other succours and saviours fail; and he is
our God, and will in his own way and time work
salvation for us. It is very applicable to the great
salvation from sin, which Jesus Christ wrought out
for us; that is the salvation of the Lord, his great
salvation.
4. They come justifying God in their troubles,
and judging themselves for their sins, v. 24, 25. (1.)
They impute all the calamities they had been under
to their idols, which had not only done them no
good, but had done them abundance of mischief, all
the mischief that had been done them; Shame, (the
idol, that shameful thing,) has devoured the labour
of our fathers. Note, [1.] True penitents have
learned to call sin shame; even the beloved sin,
which has been as an idol to them, which they have
oeen most pleased with and firoud of, even that
they shall call a scandalous thing, shall put con¬
tempt upon, and be ashamed of. [2.] True peni¬
tents have learned to call sin death and ruin, and to
charge upon it all the mischiefs they suffer; “ It has
devoured all those good things which our fathers
laboured for, and left to us; we have found from our
youth that our idolatry has been the destruction of
our prosperity.” Children often throw away upon
their lusts that which their fathers took a great deal
of pains for; and it is well if at length they are
brought (as these here) to see the folly of it, and to
call those vices their shame, which have wasted
their estates, and devoured the labour oj their fa¬
thers. They mention the labour of their fathers,
which their idols had devoured, their flocks and their
herds, their sons and their daughters. First, Their
idolatries had provoked God to bring these desolat¬
ing judgments upon them, which had ruined their
country and families, and made their estates a prey,
and theirchildren captiv es to the conquering enemy.
They had procured these things to themselves. Or
rather, Secondly, These had been sacrificed to their
idols, had been separated unto that shame; (Hos. ix.
10.) and they had devoured them without mercy,
they did eat the fat of their sacrifices, (Dcut. xxxii.
38.) even their human sacrifices. (2.) They take
to themselves the shame of their sin and folly; ( v .
25.) “ We lie down in our shame, being unable to
bear up under it, our confusion covers us, both our
penal and our penitential shame. Sin has laid us
under such rebukes of God’s providence, and such
reproaches of our own consciences, as surround
us, and fill us with shame. For we have sinned,
and shame came in with sin, and still attends upon
' We are sinners by descent, guilt and corruption
• re entailed upon us; we and our fathers have sin-
"ed; we were sinners betimes, we began early in a
i iurse of sin, we have sinned from our youth; we
l.ave continued in it, have sinned even unto this
Jay, though often called to repent, and forsake our
sins. That which is the malignity of sin, the worst
thing in it, is, the affront we have put upon God by
it; we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our
God, forbidding us to sin, and commanding us,
when we have sinned, to repent.” Now all this
seems to be the language of the penitents of the
house of Israel, (v. 20.) of the ten tribes; either of
those that were in captivity, or those of them that
remained in their own land. And the prophet takes
notice of their repentance, to provoke the men of
Vol. IV.— 2 U
| Judah to a holy emulation. David used it as an ar¬
gument with the elders of Judah, that it would be
a shame for them, that were his bone and his /lesh,
to be the last in bringing the king back, when tin.
men of Israel appeared forward m it, 2 Sam. xix.
11, 12. So the prophet excites Judah to repent, be¬
cause Israel did: and well it were if the zeal of
others less likely would provoke us to strive to get
before them, and go beyond them, in that which is
good.
CHAP. IV.
It should seem that the two first verses of this chapter
might better have been joined to the close of the forego¬
ing chapter, for they are directed to Israel, the ten tribes,
by way of reply to their compliance with God’s call, di
reeling and encouraging them to hold their resolulion,
v. 1,2. The rest of the chapter concerns Judah and Je¬
rusalem. I. They are called to repent and reform, v. 3,
4. '1. They are warned of the advance of Nebuchad¬
nezzar and his forces against them, and are told that it
is for their sins, from which they are again exhorted to
wash themselves, v. 5.. IS. III. To affect them the
more with the greatness of the desolation that was com¬
ing, the prophet does himself bitterly lament it, and
sympathize with his people in the calamities it brought
upon them, and the plunge it brought them to, repre¬
senting it as a reduction of the world to its first chaos, v.
19.. 31.
1- TF thou wilt return, O Israel, saitli the
A Lord, return unto me; and if thou
vyilt put away thine abominations out of my
sight, then shalt thou not remove. 2. And
thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in truth,
in judgment, and in righteousness; and the
nations shall bless themselves in him, and in
him shall they glory.
When God called to backsliding Israel to return,
(ch. iii. 22.) they immediately answered, Lord, we
return; now God here takes notice of their answer,
and, by way of reply to it,
1. He directs them how to pursue their good reso¬
lutions; “Dost thou say, I will return ?” (I.)
“ Then thou must return unto me; make a thor. ugh
work of it. Do not only return from thine idola¬
tries, but return to the instituted worship of the God
of Israel.” Or, “Thou must return speedily, and
not delay; (as Isa. xxi. 12. If ye will inquire , in¬
quire ye; so,) if ye will return unto me, return ye:
do not'talk of it, but do it.” (2.) “Thou must ut¬
terly abandon all sin, and not retain any of the relics
of idolatry; put away thine abominations out of my
sight,” out of all places, for everyplace isiindtr
mine eve; especially out of the temple; the house
which 1 have in a particular manner mine eye upon,
to see that it is kept clean. It intimates that their
idolatries were not only obvious, but offensive to the
eye of God; they were abominations which he could
not endure the sight of, therefore they were to be
put away out of his sight; they were a provocation
to the pure eyes of God’s glory. Sin must be put
away out of the heart, else it is not put away out of
God's sight, for the heart and all that is in it lie-
open before his eye. (3.) They must not return to
sin again; so some understand that, Thou shalt not
remove, reading it, Thou shalt not, or must not,
wander. “If thou wilt jiut away thine abomina¬
tions, and wilt not wander after them again,, as
thou hast done, all shall be well.” (4.) They must
give unto God the glory due unto his name 2.)
Thou shalt swear, the Lord liveth. His existence
shall be with thee the most sacred fact, than which
nothing can be more sure; and his judgment the su¬
preme court to which thou shalt appeal, than which
nothing can be more awful.” Swearing is an act of
religious worship, in which we are to give honour t«
338
JEREMIAH, IV.
tocI three ways. [1.] We must swear by the true
God only, and not by creatures, or any talse gods;
by the God that liveth, not by the gods that are
deaf, and dumb, and dead; by him only, and not by
the Lord and by Malcham, as Zeph. i. 5. [2.]
We must swear that only •which is true, in truth
and in righteousness ; not daring to assert that which
is false, or which we do not know to be true, or to
assert that as certain, which is doubtful, or to pro¬
mise that which we mean not to perform, or to vio¬
late the promise we have made. To say that which
is untrue, or to do that which is unrighteous, is bad,
but to back either with an oath is much worse.
[3.] We must do it solemnly, swear in judgment,
that is, when judicially called to it, and not in com¬
mon conversation. Rash swearing is as great a
profanation of God’s name, as solemn swearing is
an honour to it. See Deut. x. 20. Matth. v. 34, 37.
2. He encourages them to keep in this good mind,
and adhere to their resolutions. If the scatterd Is¬
raelites will thus return to God, (1.) They shall be
blessed themselves; for to that sense the first words
may be read; “If thou wilt return to me, then thou
shalt return, thou shalt be brought back out of thy
captivity into thy own land again, as was of old pro¬
mised,” Deut. iv. 29. — xxx. 2. Or, “Then thou
shalt rest in me, shalt return to me as thy rest, even
while thou art in the land of thy captivity.” (2.)
They shall be blessings to others; for their return¬
ing to -God again will be a means of others turning
to him, who never knew him. If thou wilt own the
living Lord, thou wilt thereby influence the nations
among whom thou art, to bless themselves in him, to
place their happiness in his favour, and to think
themselves happy in being brought to the fear of
him. See Isa. lxv. 16. They shall bless themselves
in the God of truth, and not in false gods; shall do
themselves the honour, and give themselves the sa¬
tisfaction, to join themselves to him ; and then in him
shall they glory, they shall make hint their Glory,
and shall please, nay shall /iride, themselves in the
blessed change they have made. Those that part
with their sins to return to God, however they
scrupled the bargain at first, when they go away,
then they boast.
.3. For thus saith the Lord to the men
of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your
fallow-ground, and sow not among thorns.
4. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and
take away the foreskins of your heart, ye
men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn
that none can quench it, because of the evil
of your doings.
The prophet here turns his speech, in God’s
name, to the men of the place where he lived. We
have heard what words he proclaimed toward the
north, ( ch . iii. 12.) for the comfort of those that
were now in captivity, and were humbled under
the hand of God; let us now see what he says to the
men of Judah and Jerusalem, who were now in
prosperity, tor their conviction and awakening. In
these two verses, he exhorts them to repentance
and reformation, as the only way left them to pre¬
vent the desolating judgments that were ready to
break in upon them. Observe,
1. The duties required of them, which they are
concerned to do.
(1.) They must do by their hearts as they do by
their ground that they expect any good of; they
must plough it ufi; ( v . 3.) Break up your fallow
ground. Plough to yourselves a / iloughing , or,
“ Plough ufi your plough-land, that you sow not
among thorns, that you may not labour in vain, for
your own safety and welfare, as those dc that sow
i good seed among thorns, and as you have been do¬
ing a great while. Put yourselves into a frame fit
to receive mercy from God, and put away all that
which keeps it fn m you, and then you ..>ay expect
to receive mercy, and t" prosper in your endeavours
to help yourselves.” Note, [1.] An unconvinced,
unhumbled heart is like fallow-ground, ground un¬
tilled, unoccupied. It is ground capable of improve¬
ment; it is our ground, let out to us, and we must
be accountable for it; but it is fallow; it is unfenced,
and lies common, it is unfruitful, and of no advan¬
tage to the owner, and (which is principally intend¬
ed) it is overgrown with thorns and u'eeds, which
are the natural product of the corrupt heart, if it be
not renewed with grace. Rain and sunshine are
lost upon it, Heb. vi. 7, 8. [2.] We are concerned
to get this fallow-ground ploughed up; we must
search into our own hearts, let the word of God di¬
vide (as the plough does) between the joints and the
marrow, Heb. iv. 12. We must rend our hearts,
Joel ii. 13. We must pluck up by the roots those
corruptions, which, as thorns, choke both our en¬
deavours and our expectations, Hos. x. 12.
(2.) They must do that to their souls, which was
done to their bodies when they were taken into the
covenant with God; ( v . 4.) “Circumcise yourselves
to the Lord, and take away the foreskin of your
heart. Mortifv the flesh and the lusts of it. Pare
off that superfluity of naughtiness, which hinders
your receiving with meekness the engrafted word.
Jam. i. 21. Boast not of, and rest not in, the cir¬
cumcision of the body, for that is but a sign, and
will not serve without the thing signified. It is a
dedicating sign. Do that in sincerity, which was
done in profe-sion by your circumcision; devote and
consecrate yourselves unto the Lord, to be to him a
peculiar people. ” Circumcision is an obligation to
keep the law: lay yourselves afresh under that obli¬
gation. It is a seal of the righteousness of faith; lay
hold then of that righteousness, and so circumcise
yourselves to the Lord.
2. The danger they are threatened with, which
they are concerned to avoid. Repent and reform, lest
my fury come forth like fire, which it is now ready
to do, as that fire which came forth from the Lord,
and consumed the sacrifices, and which was always
kept burning upon the altar, and none might
yuench it; such is God’s wrath against impenitent
sinners, because of the evil of their doings. Note,
(1.) That which is to be dreaded by us more than
any thing else, is, the wrath of God; for that is the
spring and bitterness of all present miseries, and
will be the quintessence and perfection of everlast¬
ing misery. (2.) It is the evil of our doings, that
kindles the fire of God’s wrath against us. (3.)
The consideration of the imminent danger we are
in, of falling and perishing under this wrath, should
awaken us with all possible care to sanctify our¬
selves to God’s glory, and to see that we be sancti¬
fied by his grace.
5. Declare ye in Judah, and publish in
Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet
in the land : cry, gather together, and say,
Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the
defenced cities. 6. Set up the standard to¬
ward Zion : retire, stay not ; for I will bring
evil from the north, and a great destruction.
7. The lion is come up from his thicket, and
the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way ;
he is gone forth from his place to make thy
land desolate: and thy cities shall belaid
waste wiinout an inhabitant 0. For this
339
JEREMIAH. IV.
gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl;
for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turn¬
ed back from us. 9. And it shall come to
pass at that day, saith the Lord, that the
heart of the king shall perish, and the heart
of the princes ; and the priests shall be aston¬
ished, and the prophets shall wonder. 10.
Then said I, Ah, Lord God! surely thou
hast greatly deceived this people and Jeru¬
salem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas
tlie sword reacheth unto the soul. 11. At
that time shall it be said to this people and
to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places
in the wilderness toward the daughter of
my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse, 12.
Even a full wind from those places shall
come unto me : now also will I give sentence
against them. 1 3. Behold, he shall come
up as clouds, and his chariots shall he as a
whirlwind: his horses are swifter than
eagles. Wo unto us ! for we are spoiled.
1 4. O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wick¬
edness, that thou mayest be, saved : how
long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within
thee? 15. For a voice declareth from
Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount
Ephraim. 16. Make ye mention to the na¬
tions: behold, publish against Jerusalem,
that watchers come from a far country, and
give out their voice against the cities of Ju¬
dah. 1 7. As keepers of a field are they
against her round about; because she hath
been rebellious against me, saith the Lord.
1 8. Thy way and thy doings have procured
these things unto thee; this is thy wicked¬
ness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth
unto thy heart.
God’s usual method is, to warn before he wounds.
In these verses, accordingly, God gives notice to the
Jews of the general desolation that would shortly he
brought upon them by a foreign invasion. This
must be declared and published in all the cities of
Judah, and streets of Jerusalem, that all might hear
and fear, and by this loud alarm be either brought
to repentance, or left inexcusable. The prediction
of this calamity is here given very largely, and in
lively expressions, which one would think should
have awakened and affected the most stupid. Ob¬
serve,
I. The war proclaimed, and general notice given
of the advance of the enemy. It is published now,
some years before, by the prophet; but since this
will be slighted, it shall be published after another
manner, when the judgment is actually breaking in,
xi. 5, 6. The trumpet must be blown, the standard
must be set up, a summons must be issued out to the
people, to gather together, and to draw toward
Zion, either to guard it, or expecting to be guarded
by it. There must be a general rendezvous, the
militia must be raised, and all the forces mustered.
Those that are able men, and fit for service, must
go into the di fenced cities, to garrison them; those
that are weak, and would lessen their provisions,
but not increase their strength, must retire, and not
stau.
IT. An express arrived with intelligence of the
approach of the king of Babylon and his army. It
is an evil that God will bring from the north, as he
had said, ch. i. 15. even a great destruction, beyond
all that had yet come upon the nation of the Jews.
The enemy is here compared,
1. To a lion that comes up from his thicket, when
he is hungry, to seek his prey, v. 7. The helpless
beasts are so terrified with his roaring, (as some re¬
port,) that they cannot flee from him, and so be¬
come an easy prey to him. Nebuchadnezzar is this
roaring, tearing lion, the destroyer of the nations,
that has laid many countries waste, and now is on his
way on full speed toward the land of Judah. The
j destroyer of the Gentiles shall be the destroyer of
the Jews too, when they have by their idolatry made
themselves like the Gentiles. He is gone forth
from his place, from Babylon, or the place of the
rendezvous of his army, on purpose against this
land; that is the prey he has now his eye upon, not
to plunder it only, but to make it desolate, and here¬
in he shall succeed to that degree, that the cities
shall be laid waste, without inhabitants, shall be
overgrown with grass as a field; so some read it.
2. To a drying, blasting wind, (v. 11.) a parch¬
ing, scorching wind, which spoils the fruits of the
earth, and withers them. Not a wind which brings
rain, but such as comes out of the north, which
drives away rain, (Prov. xxv. 23.) but brings some¬
thing worse instead of it, such shall this evil out of
the north be to this people; a black freezing wind,
which they can neither ./wire against, nor fee from,
but, wherever they go, it shall surround and pursue
them; and they cannot see it before it comes, but,
when it comes, they shall feel it. It is a wind of the
high places in the wilderness, or plain, that beats
upon the tops of the hills, or that carries all before
it in the plain, where there is no shelter, but the
ground is all champaign. It shall come in its full
force toward the daughters of my people, that have
been brought up so tenderly and delicately, that
they could not endure to have the wind blow upon
them. Now this fierce wind shall come against
them, not to fan, or cleanse them, not such a gentle
wind as is used in winnowing corn, but a full wind,
(v. 12.) a strong and violent wind, blowing full
upon them; this shall come to me, or rather/br me,
it shall come with commission from God, and shall
accomplish that for which he sends it; for this, as
other stormy winds, fulfils his word.
3. To clouds and whirlwinds for swiftness, v. 13
The Chaldean army shall come up as clouds driven
with the wind; so thick shall they stand, so fast
shall they march, and it shall be to no pui-pose tr
offer to stop them, or to make head against them,
any more than to arrest a cloud, or give check to a
whirlwind. The horses are swifter than eagles
when they fly upon their prey; it is in vain to think
either of opposing them, or of outrunning them.
4. Towatchers, and the keepers of a field, v. 15—
17. The voice declares from Dan, a city which
lay farthest north of all the cities of Canaan, and
therefore received the first tidings of this evil from
the north, and hastened it to mount Ephraim, that
part of the land of Israel which lay next to Judea;
they received the news of the affliction, and trans¬
mitted it to Jerusalem. Ill news fly apace; and
an impenitent people, that hate to be refoimed,
expect no other than ill news. Now, what is th_
news? Tell the nations, those mixed nations that
now inhabit the cit:cs of the ten tribes, mention it to
them, that they may provide for their own snfetv:
but publish it against Jerusalem, that is the place-
aimed at, the game shot at, let them know that
watchers are come from a far country , soldiers, that
will watch all opportunities to do mischief. Private
soldiers we call private sentinels, or watchmen.
They are coming in full career, and give out then
JEREMIAH IV.
I 10
voict against the cities of Judah; they design to in- I
vest them, to make themselves masters of them, j
and to attack them with loud shouts, as sure of vic¬
tory. As keefiers of a field surround it, to keep all
out from it, so shall they surround the cities of Ju¬
dah, to keep all in them, till they be constrained to
surrender at discretion; they are against her round
about, com/iassing her on every side. See Luke
xix. 43. As formerly the good angels, those watch¬
ers and holy ones, were like keefiers of a field to Je¬
rusalem, watching about it, that nothing might go
m, to its prejudice; so now their enemies were as
watchers and keefiers of a field, surrounding it, that
nothing might go in, to its relief and succour.
III. The lamentable cause of this judgment: how
is it that Judah and Jerusalem come to be thus
abandoned to ruin ? See how it came to this. 1.
They sinned against God, it was all owing to them¬
selves; She has been rebellious against me, saith the
Lord, v. 17. Their enemies surrounded them as
keefiers of a field, because they had taken up arms
against their rightful Lord and Sovereign, and were
to be seized as rebels. The Chaldeans are break¬
ing in upon them, and it was sin that opened the
gap at which they entered; Thy way and thy
doings have firocured these things unto thee, (v. 18.)
thy evil way, and thy doings that have not been
good. It was not a false step or two that did them
this mischief, but their way and course of living
were bad. Note, Sin is the firocuring cause of all
our troubles. Those that go on in sin, while they
are endeavouring to ward off mischiefs with one
hand, are at the same time pulling them upon their
own heads with the other. 2. God was angry with
them for their sin. It is the fierce anger of the Lord
that makes the army of the Chaldeans thus fierce,
thus furious; that is kindled against us, and is not
turned back from us, v. 8. Note, In men’s anger
against us, and the violence of that, we must see and
own God’s anger, and the power of that. If that
were turned back from us, our enemies should not
come forward against us. 3. In his just and holy-
anger he condemned them to this dreadful punish¬
ment: Now also will I give sentence against them,
v. 12. The execution was done, not in a heat, but
in pursuance of a sentence solemnly passed, accord¬
ing to equity, and upon mature deliberation. Some
read it, Now will I do execution upon them, accord¬
ing to the doom formerly passed; and we are sure
that the judgment of God is according to truth, and
the execution of that judgment.
IV. The lamentable effects of this judgment,
upon the first alarm given of it. 1. The people that
should fight shall quite despair, and shall not have a
heart to make the least stand against the enemy;
(z>. 8.) “Tor this gird you with sackcloth, lament
and howl; you will do so, when the cry is made
through the kingdom, Arm, arm: all will be seized
with a consternation, and all put into confusion; in¬
stead of girding on the sword, they will gird on the
sackcloth; instead of animating one another to a
vigorous resistance, they will lam nt and howl, and
so dishearten one another. While the enemy is yet
at a distance, they will give up all for gone, and
cry, Wo unto us, for we are spoiled, v. 13. We
ere all undone, the spoilers will certainly carry the
day, and it is in vain to make head against them.”
ludah and Jerusalem had been famed for valiant
men; but see what is the effect of sin, by depriving
men of their confidence toward God, it deprives
them of their courage toward men. 2. Their great
men, who should contrive for the public safety,
shall be at their wit’s end; (v. 9.) At that day,
the heart of the king shall perish, both his wisdom
and his courage; despairing of success, he shall haz e
no spirit to do any thing, and, if he had, he will not
know what to d<% His princes and privv-counoil-
lors, who should animate and advise him, shall
be as much at a loss, and as much in despair, as he.
See how easily, how effectually, God can bring ruin
upon a people that are doomed to it, merely by dis¬
piriting them, taking away the heart of the chief of
them, (Job xii. 20, 24.) cutting off the spirit of
princes, Ps. lxxvi. 12. The business of the priests
was to encourage the people in the time of war; they
were to say to the people, Fear not,, and let not your
hearts faint, Deut. xx. 2, 3. They were to blow
the trumpets, for an assurance to them that in the
day of battle they should be remembered before the
Lord their God, Num. x. 9. But now the priests
themselves shall be astonished, and shall have no
heart themselves to do their office, and therefore
shall not be likely to put spirit into the people. The
prophets too, the false prophets, who had cried
peace to them, shall be put into the greatest atnaze-
ment imaginable, seeing their own guilty blood readv
to be shed by that sword which they had often told
the people there was no danger of. Note, God’s judg¬
ments come with the greatest terror uprn these that
have been most secure. Our Saviour foretells that
at the last destruction of Jerusalem men’s hearts
should fail them for fear, Luke xxi. 26. And it is
common for those who have cheated and flattered
people into a carnal security, not onlv to fail them,
but to discourage them when the trouble comes.
V. The prophet’s complaint of the people’s being
deceived, v. 10. It is expressed strangely, as we
read it, Ah, Lord God, surely thou hast greatly de¬
ceived this people, saying. Ye shall have peace. We
are sure that God deceives none; let no man say,
when he is tempted or deluded, that God has tempted
or deluded him. But, 1. The people deceived them¬
selves with the promises that God had made in
general of his favour to that nation, and the many
jeculiar privileges with which they were dignified;
juilding upon them, though they took no care to
perform the conditions, on which the accomplish¬
ment of those promises, and the continuance of those
privileges, did depend; they had no regal'd to the
threatenings which in the law were set over against
those promises. Thus they cheated themselves, and
then wickedly complained that God had cheated
them. 2. The false prophets deceived them with
promises of peace, which they made them in God’s
name, ch. xxviii. 17. — xxvii. 9. If God had sent
them, he had indeed greatly deceived the people,
but he did not. It was the people’s fault that they
gave them credit; and here also they deceived them¬
selves. 3. God had permitted the false prophets
to deceive, and the people to be deceived by them,
givingup both to strong delusions, to punish them for
not receiving the truth in the love of it. Herein the
Lord was righteous; but the prophet complains of
it as the sorest judgment of all, for by this means
they had been hardened in their sins. 4. It may be
read with an interrogation, Hast thou indeed thus de¬
ceived this people ? It is plain that they are greatly
deceived, for they expect peace, whereas the sword
reaches unto the soul; it is a killing sword, abund¬
ance of lives are lost, and more likely to be. Now,
was it God that deceived them? No, he had often
given them warning of judgments in general, and of
this in particular; but their own prophets deceive
them, and cry peace to them, to whom the Gcd of
heaven does not speak pence. It is a pitiable thing,
and that which every good man greatly laments, to
see people fl ittered into their own ruin, and pro¬
mising themselves peace, when war is at the door;
and this we should complain rf to Gcd, who alone
can prevent such a fatal delusion.
VI. The prophet’s endeavour to undeceive them;
when the prophets they loved and caressed dealt
falsely with them, he whom ‘hev had hated and
persecuted dt lit faithfully.
341
JEREMIAH, IV.
1. He shows them their mound; they were loath
to see it, very loath to have it searched into; but if
they will allow themselves the liberty of a free
thought, they might discover their punishment in
their sin; (v. 18.) “ This is thy wickedness, because
it is bitter. Now thou secst that it is a bitter thing
to depart from God, and will certainly be bitterness
in the latter end; ( ch . ii. 19.) it produces bitter ef¬
fects, and grief that reaches unto the heart, touches
to the quick, and in the most tender part; the sword
reaches to the soul,” v. 10. God can make trouble
reach the heart even of those that would lay nothing
to heart. And by this thou mayest see what is thy
wickedness, that it is a bitter thing, a root of bitter¬
ness, that bears gall and wormwood, and that it has
reached to the heart; it is the corruption of the soul,
of the imagination of the thought of the heart. It
the heart were not polluted with sin, it would not be
disturbed and disquieted as it is with trouble.
2. He shows them the cure, v. 14. Since thy
wickedness reaches to the heart, there the applica¬
tion must be made; 0 Jerusalem, wash thine heart
from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. By
Jerusalem he means each one of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem; for every man has a heart of his own to
take care of, and it is personal reformation that
must help the public. Every one must return from
his own evil way, and in order to that, cleanse his
own evil heart. And let the heart of the city too be
purified, notthe suburbs only, the out-skirts of it; the
vitals of a state must be amended by the reforma¬
tion of those that have the commanding influence
upon it. Note, (1.) Reformation is absolutely ne¬
cessary to salvation; there is no other way of pre¬
venting judgments, or turning them away, when we
are threatened with them, but taking away the sin
by which we have procured them to ourselves.
(2. ) No reformation is saving, but that which reach¬
es the heart. There is heart-wickedness that is de¬
filing to the soul, from which we must wash our¬
selves. By repentance and faith we must wash our
hearts from the guilt we have contracted by spi¬
ritual wickedness, by those sins which begin and
end in the heart, and go no further: and by mortifi¬
cation and watchfulness we must suppress and pre¬
vent this heart-wickedness for the future. The tree
must be made good, else the fruit will not. Jerusa¬
lem was all overspread with the leprosy of sin; now
as the physicians agree with respect to the body
when afflicted with leprosy, that external applic -
tions will do no good, unless physic be taken inward¬
ly to carry off the humours that lurk there, and to
change the m iss of the blood, so it is with the soul,
so it is with the state, there will be no effectual re¬
formation of manners, without a reformation of the
mind, the mistakes there must be rectified, the cor¬
ruptions there must be mortified, and the evil dis¬
positions there changed. “Though thou art Jeru-
silem, called a holy city, that will not save thee, un¬
less thou wash thine heart from wickedness." In the
latter part of the verse he reasons with them, How
long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee ? He
complains here, [1.] Of the delays of their reforma¬
tion; “How long shall that filthy heart of thine
continue unwashed? When shall it once be?” Note,
The God of heaven thinks the time long that his
room is usurped, and his interest opposed, in our
souls, ch. xiii. 27. [2.] Of the root of their corrup¬
tion; the vain thoughts that lodged within them,
and defiled their hearts, from which they must wash
their hearts. Thoughts of iniquity or mischief,
these are the evil thoughts that are the spawn of the
evil heart, from which all other wickedness is pro¬
duced, Matt. xv. 19. These are our own, the con¬
ceptions of our own lusts, (Jam. i. 15.) and they are
most dangerous when they lodge within us, when
they are admitted and entertained as guests, and
are suffered to continue. Some read it thoughts of
affliction, such thoughts as will bring nothing but
affliction and misery. Some by the vain thoughts
here understand all those frivolous pleas and ex¬
cuses with which they turned off the reproofs and
calls of the word, and rendered them ineffectual,
and bolstered themselves up in their wickedness.
Wash thy heart from wickedness, and think not tc
say, We are not polluted, (ch. ii. 23.) or, “We
are Jerusalem, we have Abraham to our father,”
Matth. iii. 8, 9.
19. My bowels, my bowels! I am pain¬
ed at my very heart; my heart maketh a
noise in me : I cannot hold my peace, be¬
cause thou bast heard, O my soul, the sound
of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20. De¬
struction upon destruction is cried : for tli ■
whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my
tents spoiled, and my curtains in a mo¬
ment. 21. How long shall I see the stand¬
ard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? 22.
For my people is foolish, they have not
known me; they are sottish children, and
they have none understanding: they are
wise to do evil, but to do good theyhave no
knowledge. 23. I beheld the earth, and,
lo, it was without form and void ; and the
heavens, and they had no light. 24. I be¬
held the mountains, and, lo, they trembled,
and all the hills moved lightly. 25. I be¬
held, and, lo, there was no man, and all the
birds of the heavens were fled. 2(5. I be¬
held, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilder¬
ness, and all the cities thereof were broken
down at the presence of the Lord, and by
bis fierce anger. 27. For thus hath the
Lord said, The whole land shall be deso¬
late ; yet will I not make a full end. 28. F or
this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens
above be black : because I have spoken it, I
have purposed it, and will not repent, nei¬
ther will 1 turn back from it. 29. The whole
city shall flee for the noise of the horse¬
men and bowmen; they shall go into thick¬
ets, and climb up upon the rocks: every
city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell
therein. 30. And when thou art spoiled,
what wilt thou do ? Though thou clothest
thyself with crimson, though thou deckest
thee with ornaments of gold, though thou
rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt
thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will de¬
spise thee, they will seek thy life. 31. For
I have heard a voice as of a woman in tra¬
vail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth
forth her first child ; the voice of the daugh¬
ter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that
spreadeth her hands, saying , Wo is me now!
for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
The prophet is here in agony, and cries cut like
one upon the - ack of pain with some acute distem
342
JEREMIAH, IV.
per, or as a woman in travail. The expressions are
very pathetic and moving, enough to melt a heart
of stone into compassion, My bowels, my bowels, I
am pained at my very heart; and yet well, and in
health himself, and nothing ails him. Note, A good
man in such a bad world as this is, cannot but be a
man of sorrows. My heart makes a noise in me,
through the tumult of my spirits, and I cannot hold
my fieace. Note, The grievance and the grief some¬
times may be such, that the most prudent, patient
man cannot forbear complaining.
Now, what is the matter? What is it that puts
this good man into such agitation? It is not for him¬
self, or any affliction in his family, that he grieves
thus; but it is purely upon the public account, it is
his people’s case that he lays to heart thus.
I. They are very sinful, and will not be reformed,
v. 22. These are the words of God himself, for so
the prophet chose to give this character of the peo¬
ple, rather than in his own words, or as from him¬
self; My people are foolish. God calls them his
people, though they are foolish. They have cast
him off, but he has not cast them off, Rom. xi. 1.
“They are my people, whom I have been in cove¬
nant with, and still have mercy in store for. They
are foolish, for they have not known ?ne.” Note,
Those are foolish indeed, that have not known God;
especially that call themselves his people, and have
the advantages of coming into acquaintance with
him, and yet have not known him. They are sottish
children, stupid and senseless, and have no under¬
standing. They cannot distinguish between truth
and falsehood, good and evil; they cannot discern
the mind of God, either in his word or in his provi¬
dence; they do not understand what their true in¬
terest is, nor on which side it lies. They are wise
to do evil, to plot mischief against the quiet in the
land, wise to contrive the gratification of their lusts,
and then to conceal and palliate them. But to do
good they have no knowledge, no contrivance, no
application of mind; they know not how to make a
good use either of the ordinances or of the provi¬
dences of God, nor how to bring about any design
for the good of their country. Contrary to this,
should be our character; (Rom. xvi. 19.) I would
have you wise unto that which is good, and simple
concerning evil.
II. They are very miserable, and cannot be re¬
lieved. He cries out, Because thou hast heard, 0
my soul, the sound of the trumpet, and seen the
standard, both giving the alarm of war, v. 19, 21.
He does not say. Thou hast heard , O my ear, but,
O my soul, because the event was yet future, and it
is by the spirit of prophecy that he sees it, and re¬
ceives the impression of it. His soul heard it from
the words of God, and therefore he was well as¬
sured of it, and as much affected with it, as if he
had heard it with his bodily ears. He expresses
this deep concern, 1. To show that though he fore¬
told this calamity, yet he was far from desiring the
woful day; for a woful day it would be to him.
It becomes us to tremble at the thoughts of the
misery that sinners are running themselves into,
though we have good hopes, through grace, that we
ourselves are delivered from the wrath to come. 2.
To awaken them to a holy fear, and so to a care to
prevent so great a judgment by a true and timely
repentance. Note, Those that would affect others
with the word of God, should evidence that they are
themselves affected with it.
Now let us see what there is in the destruction
here foreseen and foretold, that is so very affecting.
(1.) It is a swift and sudden destruction; it comes
upon Judah and Jerusalem, ere they are aware, and
pours in so fast upon them, that they have not the
least breathing-time. They have no time to recol-
ect their tli oughts, much less to recruit or recover
their strength; Destruction upon destruction is cried,
(v. 20.) breach upon breach, one sad calamity, like
Job’s messengers, treading upon the heels of another.
The death of Josiah breaks the ice, and plucks up
the flood-gates; within three months after that, his
son and successor Jehoahaz is deposed by the king
of Egypt; within two or three years after, Nebu¬
chadnezzar besieged Jerusalem," and took it, and
thenceforward he was continually making descents
upon the land of Judah with his armies during the
reigns of Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah, till
about nineteen years after he completed their ruin
in the destruction of Jerusalem: but suddenly were
their tents spoiled, and their curtains in a moment.
Though the cities held out for some time, the coun¬
try was laid waste at the very first; the shepherds,
and all that lived in tents, were plundered immedi¬
ately, they and their effects fell into the enemies’
hands: therefore we find the Rechabites, who dwelt
in tents, upon the first coming of the army of the
Chaldees into the land, retiring to Jerusalem, Jer.
xxxv. 11. The inhabitants of the villages soon
ceased; Suddenly were the tents spoiled. The plain
men that dwelt in tents were first made a prey of.
(2. ) This dreadful war continued a great while,
not in the borders, but in the bowels of the country;
for the people were very obstinate, and would not
submit to, but took all opportunities to rebel against,
the king of Babylon, which did but lengthen out the
calamity; they might as well have yielded at first
as at last. This is complained of, v '. 21. How long
shall I see the standard? Shall the sword devour fi r
ever? Good men are none of those that delight in
war, for they know not how to fish in troubled
waters: they are for peace, (Ps. cxx. 7.) and will
heartily say Amen to that prayer, “Give peace in
our time, O Lord.” O thou sword of the Lord,
when wilt thou be quiet?
(3.) The desolations made by it in the land were
general and universal; The whole land is spoiled, or
plundered; ( v . 20.) so it was at first, and at length
it became a perfect chaos. It was such a desolation
as amounted in a manner to a dissolution; not only
the superstructure, but even the foundations, were
all out of course. The prophet in vision saw the
extent and extremity of this destruction, and he
here gives a most lively description of it, which one
would think might have made those uneasy in their
sins, who dwelt in a land doomed to such a ruin,
which might yet have been prevented by their re¬
pentance. [f.] The earth is without form, ana
void, as it was Gen. i. 2. It is Tohu and Bohu, the
words there used, as far as the land of Judea goes.
It is confusion and emptiness, stripped of all its
beauty, void of all its wealth, and, compared with
what it was, every thing out of place and out of
shape. To a worse chaos than this will the earth
be reduced at the end of time, when it, and all the
works that are therein , shall be burnt up. [2. ] The
heavens too are without light, as the earth without
fruits. This alludes to the darkness th; t was upon
the face of the deep, (Gen. i. 2. ) and represents
God’s displeasure against thorn, as the eclipse of the
sun did at our Saviour’s death. It was not only the
earth that failed them, hut heaven also frowned
upon them; and with their trouble they had dark¬
ness, for they could not see through their troubles.
The smoke of their houses and cities which the ene¬
my burned, and the dust which their army raised in
its march, even darkened the sun, so that the hea¬
vens had no light. Or, it may be taken figuratively;
The earth (that is, the common people) was im
poverished, and in confusion; and the heavens (that
is, the princes and rulers) had no light, no wisdom
in themselves, nor were anv comfort to the people,
nor a guide to them. Compare Matth. xxiv. 29.
[3.] The mountains, trembled, and the hills moved
JEREMIAH, IV.
343
lightly; v . 24 ) so formidable were the appearances
of God against his people, as in the days of old they
had been for them, that the mountains skipped like
rams, and the little hills like lambs, Ps. cxiv. 4.
The everlasting mountains seemed to be scattered,
I Jab. iii. 6. The mountains on which they had
worshipped their idols, the mountains over which
they had looked for succours, all trembled, as if they
had been conscious of the people’s guilt. The moun¬
tains, those among them that seemed to be highest
and strongest, and of the firmest resolution, trembled
at the approach of the Chaldean army. The hills
moved lightly, as being eased of the burthen of a
sinful nation, Isa. i. 24. [4.] Not the earth only,
but the air, was dispeopled, and left uninhabited;
(a’. 25. ) I beheld the cities, the countries that used
to be populous, and lo, there was no man to be seen;
all the inhabitants were either killed, or fled, or taken
captives, such a ruining, depopulating thing is sin:
nay, even the birds of the heavens, that used to fly
about, and sing among the branches, were now fled
away, and no more to be seen or heard. The land
of Judah is now become like the lake of Sodom, over
which (they say) no bird flies; see Deut. xxix. 23.
The enemies shall make suchhavock of the country,
that they shall not so much as leave a bird alive in
it. [5. J Both the ground and the houses shall be
laid waste; (i». 26.) Lo, the fruitful place was a
wilderness, being deserted by the inhabitants that
should cultivate it, and then soon overgrown with
th :rns and briers; or, being trodden down by the
destroying army of the enemy. The cities also and
t icir gates and walls are broken down, and levelled
with the ground. Those that look no further than
second causes, impute it to the policy and fury of
the invaders: but the prophet, who looked to the
first Cause, says that it is at the presence of the
Lord, at his fhce, the anger of his countenance, even
by his fierce anger, that this was done. Even angry
n i vn cannot do us any real hurt, unless God be angry
with us. If our ways please him, all is well. [6.]
The meaning of all this is, that the nation shall be
entirely ruined, and every part of it shall share in
the destruction; neither town nor country shall
escape. First, Not the country, for the whole land
shall be desolate, corn-land and pasture-land, both
common and enclosed, it shall all be laid waste, (x\
27.) the conquerors will have occasion for it all. 1
Secondly, Not the men, for (y. 29.) the whole city
shall flee, all the inhabitants of the town shall quit
their habitations by consent, for fear of the horse¬
men and bowmen; rather than lie exposed to their
fury, they shall go into the thickets, where they are
in danger of being torn by briers, nay, to be torn in
pieces by wild beasts; and they shall climb up upon
the rocks, where their lodging will be hard and cold,
and the precipice dangerous. Let us not be over-
fond of our houses and cities; for the time may come,
when rocks and thickets may be preferable, and
chosen rather. This shall be the common case, for
every city shall be forsaken, and not a man shall
be left, that dares dwell therein. Both government
and trade shall be at an end, and all civil societies
and incorporations dissolved. It is a very dismal
i iea which this gives of the approaching desolation;
but in the midst of all these threatenings comes in
one comfortable word; ( v . 27.) Yet wilt not I make
a full end; not a total consumption, for God will
reserve a remnant to himself, that shall be hid in
the day of the Lord’s anger, not a final consump¬
tion, for Jerusalem shall again be built, and the land
inhabited. This comes in here, in the midst of the
threatenings, for the comfort of those that trembled
at God’s word; and it speaks to us the changeable¬
ness of God’s providence; as it breaks down, so it
riises up again; every end of our comforts is not a
full end, however we mav be ready to think it so;
and it speaks the unchangeableness of God’s cove¬
nant, which stands so firm, that though he may-
correct his people very severely, yet he will not
cast them off, ch. xxx. 11.
(4.) Their case was helpless, and without remedy.
[1.] G°d would not help them; so he tells them
plainly, v. 28. And if the Lord do not help them,
who can? This is that which makes their case de
plorable; for this the earth mourns, and the heavens
above are black; there are no prospects but what
are very dismal; “lie-cause I have spoken it, I have
iven the word which shall not be called back, I
ave purposed it, it is a consumption decreed, de¬
termined, and I will not repent, not change this
way, but proceed in it, and will not turn back from
it.’ They would not repent, and turn back from
the way of their sins, (ch. ii. 25.) and therefore God
will not repent, and turn back from the way of his
judgments. [2.] They could not help themselves,
T’. 30, 31. When the thing appeared at a distance,
they flattered themselves with hopes that though
God should not appear for them as he had. done for
Hezekiah against the Assyrian army, yet they
should find some means or other to secure them¬
selves, and give check to the forces of the enemy.
But the prophet tells them, that when it comes to
the setting to, they will be quite at a loss: “ When
thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? What course
wilt thou take? Sit down now, and consider this in
time.” He assures them that, whatever were now
their contrivances and confidences,
First, They will then be despised by their allies
whom they depended upon for assistance. He had
often compared the sin of Jerusalem to whoredom,
not only her idolatry, but her trust in creatures, in
the neighbouring powers. Now here he compares
her to a harlot abandoned by all the lewd ones that
used to make court to her. She is supposed to do
all she can to keep up her interest in their affections;
she does what she can to make herself appear con¬
siderable among the nations, and a valuable ally;
she compliments them by her ambassadors to the
highest degree, to engage them to stand by her now
in her distress ; she clothes herself with crimson, as
if she were rich, and decks herself with ornaments
of gold, as if her treasures were still as full as ever
they had been; she rents her face with painting,
puts the best colours she can upon her present dis¬
tresses, and does her utmost to palliate and extenu¬
ate her losses, sets a good face upon them. But this
painting, though it beautifies the face for the pre¬
sent, really rents it; the frequent use of paint sp»,ls
the skin, cracks it, and makes it rough; so the case
which by false colours has been made to appear
better than really it was, when truth comes to light,
will look so much the worse; “And after all, in
vain shalt thou make thyself fair; all thy neigh¬
bours are sensible how low thou art brought; the
Chaldeans will strip thee of thy crimson and orna¬
ments, and then thy confederates will not only slight
thee, and refuse to give thee any succour, but they
will join with those that seek thy life, that they may
come in for a share in the prey of so rich a coun¬
try. ” Here seems to be an allusion to the story of
Jezebel, who thought, by making herself look 'fair
and fine, to have outfaced her doom, but in vain, 2
Kings ix. 30, 33. See what creatures prove when
we confide in them, how treacherous they are; in¬
stead of saving the life, they seek the life; they often
change, so that they will sooner do us an ill turn,
than any service. And see to how little pui-pose it
is for those that have by sin deformed themselves
in God’s eyes, to think by any arts they can use to
beautify themselves in the eye of the world.
Secondly, They will then be themselves in de
spair; they will find their troubles to be like the
pains of a woman in travail, which she cannot es
344 JEREMIAH, V.
cape; 1 have heard the vear the daughter of
Zion, her groans echoing to the triumphant shouts
jf the Chaldean army, which he heard, v. 15. It
's like the voice of a woman in travail, whose pain
is exquisite, and the fruit of sin and the curse too,
(Gen. iii. 16.) and extorts lamentable outcries, es¬
pecially of a woman in travail of her first child,
who, having never known before what that pain is,
is the more terrified by it. Troubles are most
grievous to those that have not been used to them.
Zion, in this distress, since her neighbours refuse to
pity her, bewails herself fetching deep sighs ; (so
the word signifies;) and she spreads her hands,
either wringing them for grief, or reaching them
forth for succour. All the cry is, Wo is tne now,
(now that the decree is gone forth against her, and
is past recall,) for my soul is wearied because of
murders; the Chaldean soldiers put all to the sword
that gave them anv opposition, so that the land was
full of murders. Zion was weary of hearing tragi¬
cal stories from all parts of the country, and cried
out, Wo is me.1 It was well if their sufferings put
them in mind of their sins, the murders committed
upon them, of the murders committed by them; for
God was now making inquisition for the innocent
blood shed in Jerusalem, which the Lord would not
pardon, 2 Kings xxiv. 4. Note, As sin will find out
the sinner, so sorrow will sooner or later, find out
the secure.
CHAP. V.
Reproofs for sin and threatening^ of judgment are inter¬
mixed in this chapter, and arc set the one over against
the other : judgments are threatened, that the reproofs
of sin might be the more effectual to brin" them to re¬
pentance ; sin is discovered, that God mignt be justified
in the judgments threatened. I. The sins they are charg¬
ed with, are, Injustice, (v. 1. ) Hypocrisy in religion, (v.2.)
Incorrigibleness, (v. 3.) The corruption and debauchery
of both poor and rich, (v. 4, 5.) Idolatry and adultery,
(v. 7, 8.) Treacherous departures from Cod, (v. II.) An
impudent defiance of him, (v. 1‘2, 13.) And that which is
at the bottom of all this, Want of the fear of God, not¬
withstanding the frequent calls given them to fear him,
' . -20 . . 24. In the close of the chapter, they are charged
with violence and oppression, (v. 26 . . 28.) and a combi¬
nation of those to debauch the nation, who should have
been active to reform it, v. 30,31. II. The judgments
they are threatened with are very terrible. In general,
they shall be reckoned with, v. 9, 29. A foreign enemy
shall be brought in upon them; (v. 15. . 17.) shall set
guards upon them; (v. 6.) shall destroy their fortifica¬
tions; (v. 10.) shall carry them away into captivity;
(v. 19.) and keep all good things from them, v. 25. Here¬
in the words of God’s prophets shall be fulfilled, v. 14.
But, III. Here is an intimation twice given that God
would in the midst of wrath remember mercy, and not
utterly destroy them, v. 10, 18. This was the scope and
purport of Jeremiah’s preaching in the latter end of
Jusiah’s reign, and the beginning of Jchoiakim’s : but \
the success of it did not answer expectation.
1. TTJ UN ye to and fro through the streets
J&yt of Jerusalem, and see now, and
know, and seek in the broad places thereof,
if ye can find a man, if there he ant/ that
execureth judgment, that seeketh the truth;
and 1/ will pardon it. 2. And though they
sav, The Lord liveth, surely they swear
falselG. 3. O Lord, are not thine eyes
upod the truth? thou hast stricken them,
hut they have not grieved; thou hast con¬
sumed them, to they have refused to re-
envr correction: they have made their faces
harder than a rock; they have refused to
return. 4. Therefore I said. Surely these
are poor; they are foolish: for they know
j not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment
of their God. 5. 1 will get me unto ilia
great men, and will speak unto them: tor
they have known the way of the Lord,c.W
the judgment of their God: but these have
altogether broken the yoke, and burst the
bonds. 6. Wherefore a lion out of the forest
shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings
shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over
their cities : every one that goeth out thence
shall be torn in pieces; because their trans¬
gressions are many, and their backslidings
are increased. 7. How shall I pardon thee
for this? thy children nave forsaken me,
and sworn by them that are no gods: when
I had fed them to the full, they then com¬
mitted adultery, and assembled themselves
by troops in the harlots’ houses. 8. They
were ns fed horses in the morning : every
one neighed after his neighbour’s wife. 9.
Shall I not visit for these things ? saitli the
Lord : and shall not my soul he avenged
on such a nation as this ?
Here is,
1. A challenge to produce any one right honest
man, or at least any considerable number of such,
in Jerusalem, v. 1. Jerusalem was become like the
old world, in which all flesh had corrupted their
way. There were some perhaps who flattered
themselves with hopes that there were yet many
good men in Jerusalem, who would stand in the gap
to turn away the wrath of God; and there might be
others who boasted of its being the Holy city, and
thought that this would save it; but God bids them
search the town, and intimates that they should
scarcely find a man in it who executed judgment,
and made conscience of what he said and did; “ Lock
in the streets where they make their appearance,
and converse together, and in the broad j daces
where they keep their markets; see if you can find
a man, a magistrate,” (so some,) “ that executes
judgment, and administers justice impartially, that
will put the laws in execution against vice and pro¬
faneness.” When the faithful thus cease and fail,
it is time to cry, J Vo is me.' (Mic. vii. 1, 2.) high
time to cry, Help, Lord, Ps. xii. 1. “If there be
here and there a man that is truly conscientious,
and does at least seek the truth, yet you shall not
find him in the streets and broad places, lie dares
not appear publicly, for he shall lie abused and run
down; truth is fallen in the street, (Isa. fix. 14.)
and is forced to seek for corners.” So pleasing
would it be to God to find any such, that for their
sake lie would pardon the city; if there were but
ten righteous men in Sodom, if but one of a thou¬
sand, of ten thousand, in Jerusalem, it should he
spared. See how ready God is to forgive, how swift
to show mercy.
But it might be said, “What do you make of
those in Jerusalem that continue to make profession
of religion and relation to God? Are not tliev men
for whose sakes Jerusalem may be spared?” No,
for they are not sincere in their profession; (r. 2.)
Then say, The Lord liveth, and will swear bv his
name only, but they swear falsely. 1. They are
not sincere in the profession they make of respect
to God, but are false to him; they honour him with
their lips, but their hearts are far from him. 2.
Though they appeal to God only, they make no
conscience of calling him to witness to a fie. Though
345
JEREMIAH, V.
they do not swear by idols, they forswear them¬
selves, which is no less an affront to God, as the
God of truth, than the other is as the only true
God.
II. A complaint which the prophet makes to God j
of the obstinacy and wilfulness of these people. God
had appealed to their eyes; (v. 1.) but here the
prophet appeals to his eyes; (v. 3.) "■Are not thine
eyes u/ion the truth? Dost thou not see every man’s
true character? And is not this the truth of their
character, that they have made their faces harder
than a rock?” Or, “ Behold , thou desirest truth in
the inward part; but where is it to be found among
the men of this generation? For though they say,
The Lord liveth, yet they never regard him; thou
hast stricken them with one affliction after another,
but they have not grieved for the affliction, they
have been as stocks and stones under it, much less
have they grieved for the sin by which they have
brought it upon themselves. Thou hast gone further
yet, hast consumed them, hast corrected them yet
more severely; but they have refused to receive cor¬
rection, to accommodate themselves to thy design
in correcting them, and to answer to it. They
would not receive instruction by the correction.
They have set themselves to outface the divine
sentence, and to outbrave the execution of it, for
they have made their faces harder than a rock; they
cannot change countenance, neither blush for shame,
nor look pale for fear, cannot be beaten back from
the pursuit of their lusts, whatever check is given
them ; for though often called to it, they have re¬
fused to return, and would go forward, right or
wrong, as the horse into the battle.”
III. The trial made botli of rich and poor, and
the bad character given of both.
1. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they
were wicked. He found many that refused to re¬
turn, for whom he was willing to make the best
excuse their case would bear, and it was this, (v. 4.)
“ Surely, these are poor, they are foolish; they
never had the advantage of a good education, nor
have they wherewithal to help themselves now
with the means of instruction; they are forced
to work hard for their living, and have no time or
capacity for reading or hearing, so that they know
not the way of the Lord, or the judgments of their
God; they understand neither the way in which
God by his precepts will have them to walk toward
him, nor the way in which he by his providence is
walking toward them.” Note, (1.) Prevailing ig¬
norance is the lamentable cause of abounding impie¬
ty and iniquity. What can one expect but works
of darkness from brutish, sottish people that know
nothing of God and religion, but choose to sit in
darkness? (2.) This is commonly a reigning sin
among poor people. There are the deviPs poor, as
well as God’s; who, notwithstanding their poverty,
might know the way of the Lord, so as to walk in
it, and do their duty, without being book-learned;
but they are willingly ignorant, and therefore their
ignorance will not be their excuse.
2. The rich were insolent and haughty, and there¬
fore they were wicked; (tj. 5.) “/ will get me to
the great men, and see if I can find them more
pliable to the word and providence of God; I will
speak to them, preach at court, in hopes to make
some impression upon men of polite literature; but
all in vain, for though they know the way of the
Lord, and the judgment of their God, yet they are
too stiff to stoop to his government: These have
altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
They know their Master’s will, but are resolved to
have their own will, to walk in the way of their
heart, and in the sight of their eyes. They think
themselves too goodly to be controlled, too big to be
corrected, even bv the sovereign Lord of all himself.
Vox.. IV.— 2 X
| They are for breaking even his bands in sunder,
Ps. ii. 3. The poor are weak, the rich are wilful,
and so neither do their duty.”
IV. Seme particular sins specified, which they
I were most notoriously guilty of, and which cried most
loudly to Heaven for vengeance. Their transgres¬
sions indeed were many, of many kinds, and often
repeated, and their backslidings were increased;
they added to the number c f them, and grew more
and more impudent in them, v. 6. Rut two sins
1 especially were justly to be looked upon as unpar
donable crimes.
1. Their spiritual whoredom; giving that honoui
to idols, which is due to God only; “ Thy childrei.
have forsaken me, to whom they were born and
dedicated, and under whom they have been brought
up, and they have sworn by them that are no gods,
have made their appeals to them as if they had
been omniscient, and their proper judges.”" This
is here put for all acts of religious worship due to
God onlv, but with which they had honoured their
idols. They have sworn to them, (so it may be
read,) have joined themselves to them, and cove¬
nanted with them. They that forsake God make
a bad change for those that are no gods.
2. Their corporal whoredom. Because they had
forsaken God, and served idols, he gave them up to
vile affections; and they that dishonoured him were
left to dishonour themselves and their own families.
They committed adultery most scandalously, with¬
out sense of shame, or fear of punishment, for they
assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses,
and did not blush to be seen by one another in the
most scandalous places. So impudent and violent
was their lust, so impatient of check, and so eager
to be gratified, that they became perfect beasts;
( v . 8.) like horses high-fed, they neighed every one
after his neighbour’s wife, v. 8. Unbridled lusts
make men like natural brute beasts, such mon¬
strous, odious tilings are they. And that which ag¬
gravated their sin was, that it was the abuse of God’s
favours to them ; when they were fed to the full,
then their lusts grew thus furious. Fulness of bread
was fuel to the fire of Sodom’s lusts. Sine Cerere
et Baccho friget Venus — luxurious living feeds the
fame of lust. Fasting would help to tame the un¬
ruly evil that is so full of deadly poison, and bring
the body into subjection.
V. A threatening of God’s wrath against them
for their wickedness, and the universal debauchery
of their land.
1. The particular judgment that is threatened,
v. 6. A foreign enemy shall break in upon them,
get dominion over them, and shall lay all waste;
their country shall be as if it were overrun and per¬
fectly mastered by wild beasts. This enemy shall
be, (1.) Like a lion of the forest, so strong, so
furious, so irresistible; and he shall slay them. (2.)
Like a wolf of the evening, which comes out at
night, when he is hungry, to seek bis prey, and is
very fierce and ravenous: and the noise both of the
lions roaring and of the wolves howling, is verv
hideous. (3.) Like a leopard, which is very swift
and verv cruel, and withal careful not to miss his
prey. The army of the enemy shall watch over
their cities so strictly as to put the inhabitants to this
sad dilemma — if they stay in, they - re starved; if
they stir out, they are stabbed; ex'ery one that goeth
out thence shall be torn in pieces; which intimates
that in many places the enemy gave no quarter: and
all this bloody work is owing to the multitude of
their transgressions. It is sin that makes the great
slaughter.
2. An appeal to themselves concerning the equity
of it; (v. 9.) “ Shall I not visit for these things /
Can you yourselves think that the" God whose name
! is Jealous, will let such idolatries go imp unshed;
346
JEREMIAH, V.
or that a God of infinite purity will connive at such
abominable uncleanness?” These are things that
must be reckoned for, else the honour of God’s go¬
vernment cannot be maintained, nor his laws saved
from contempt; but sinners will be tempted to think
him altogether such a one as themselves, contrary to
that conviction of their own consciences concerning
the judgment of God, which is necessary to be sup¬
ported, That they which do such things are worthy
of death, Horn. i. 32. Observe, When God punishes
sin, he is said to visit for it, or inquire into it; for he
weighs the cause before he /lasses sentence. Sinners
have reason to expect punishment, upon the ac¬
count of God’s holiness; to which sin is highly offen¬
sive, as well as upon the account of his justice, to
which it renders us obnoxious; this is intimated in
that, Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation
as this ? It is not only the word of God, but his
soul, that takes vengeance. And he has national
judgments wherewith to take vengeance for national
sins. Such nations as this was cannot long go un-
& unished. How shall I pardon thee for this? v. 7.
lot but that those who have been guilty of these
sins, have found mercy with God, as to their eter¬
nal estate; (Manasseh himself did, though so much
accessary to the iniquity of those things;) but nations,
as such, being rewardable and punishable only in
this life, it would not be for the glory of God to let
a nation so very wicked as this pass without some
manifest tokens of his displeasure.
10. Go ye up upon her walls, and de¬
stroy; but make not a full end: take away
her battlements; for they are not the Lord’s.
1 1 . For the house of Israel and the house
of Judah have dealt very treacherously
against me, saith the Lord. 1 2. They have
belied the Lord, and said, It is not he,
neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall
we see sword nor famine; 13. And the pro¬
phets shall become wind, and the word is
not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
14. Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of
hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold,
I will make my words in thy mouth fire,
and this people wood, and it shall devour
them. 1 5. Lo, I will bring a nation upon
you from far, O house of Israel, saith the
Lord: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient
nation, a nation whose language thou know-
est not, neither understandest what they
say. 1 6. Their quiver is as an open sepulchre,
they are all mighty men. 17. And they
shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread,
which thy sons and thy daughters should
eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thy
herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy
fig-trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced
cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the
sword. 18. Nevertheless in those days,
saith the Lord, I will not make a full end
with you. 19. And it shall come to pass,
when ye shall say, Wherefore doth the
Lord our God all these things unto us?
then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye
have forsaken me, and served strange gods j
in your land ; so shall ye serve strangers in
a land that is not yours.
We may observe in these verses, as before,
I. The sin of this people, upon whicli the com
mission signed against them is grounded. God dis¬
owns them, and dooms them to destruction, v. 10.
But is there not a cause? Yes; for, 1. They have
deserted the law of God, v. 11. The house of Israel
and the house of Judah, though at variance with
one another, yet both agreed to deal very treacher¬
ously against God. They forsook the worship of
him, and therein violated their covenants with him;
they revolted from him, and played the hypocrite
with him. 2. They have defied the judgments of
God, and given the lie to his threatenings in the
mouth of his prophets, v. 12, 13. They were often
told that evil would certainly come upon them ; they
must expect some desolating judgments, sword and
famine; but they were secure, and said, We shall
have peace, though we go on. For, (1.) They did
not fear what God is; they belied him, and coniront-
ed the dictates even of natural light concerning him,
for they said, “ It is not he, he is not such a one as
we have been made to believe he is; he does not see,
or not regard, or will not require it; and therefore
no evil shall come upon us.” Multitudes are ruined
by being made to believe that God will not be so
strict with them as his word says he will; nay, by
this artifice Satan undid us all; Ye shall not surely
die. So here, Neither shall we see sword nor fa¬
mine. Vain hopes of impunity are the deceitful
support of all impiety. (2.) They did not fear what
God said. The prophets gave them fair warning,
but they turned it off with a jest; “ They do but
talk so, because it is their trade; they are words of
course, and words are but wind. It is not the word
of the Lord that is in them; it is only the language
of their melancholy fancy, or their ill will to their
country, because they are not preferred. ” Note,
Impenitent sinners are not willing to own anv thing
to be the word of God, that makes against them;
that tends either to part them from, or disquiet
them in, their sins. They threaten the prophets;
“ They shall become wind, shall pass away unre¬
garded, and thus shall it be done unto them, what
they threaten against us we will inflict upon them.
Do they frighten us with famine? Let them be fed
with the bread of affliction.” (So Micaiah was, 1
Kings xxii. 27.) “Do they tell us of the sword?
Let them perish by the sword,” ch. ii. 30. Thus
their mocking and misusing of God’s messengers,
filled the measure of their iniquity.
II. The punishment of this people for their sin.
1. The threatenings they laughed at shall be
executed; (v. 14.) Because ye speak this word of
contempt concerning the prophets, and the word in
their mouths, therefore God will put honour upon
them and their words, for not one iota or tittle of
them shall fall to the ground, 1 Sam. iii. 19. Here
God turns to the prophet Jeremiah, who had been
thus bantered, and perhaps find been a little uneasy
at it; Behold, I will make my words in thy mouth
fire. God owns them for his words, though men
denied them, and will as surely make them to take
effect as the fire consumes combustible matter that
is in its way. The word shall be fire, and the people
wood. Sinners by sin make themselves fuel to that
wrath of God, which is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
in the scripture. The word of God will certainly
be too hard for those that contend with it. They
shall break, who will not bow before it.
2. The enemy they thought themselves in no dan¬
ger of, shall be brought upon them. God gives
them their commission; {v. 10.) “ Go ve up upot.
her waits, mount them, trample upon them, tread
JEREMIAH, V.
34?
them down; walls of stone, before the divine com¬
mission, shall be but mud walls. Having made
yourselves masters of the walls, you may destroy at
pleasure, you may take away tier battlements , and
leave the fenced, fortified cities to lie open; for her
battlements are not the Lord’s, he does not own
them, and therefore will not protect and fortify
them.” They were not erected in his fear, nor
with a dependence upon him : the people have trust¬
ed to them more than to God, and therefore they
are not his. When the city is filled with sin, God
will not patronise the fortifications of it, and then
they are paper walls. What can defend us, when
he who is our Defence, and the Defender of all our
defences, is departed from us? Numb. xiv. 9.
What is not of God, cannot stand, not stand long,
nor stancj us in any stead.
What dreadtul work these invaders should make,
is here described; (v. 15.) Lo, I will bring a na¬
tion upon you, 0 house of Israel. Note, God has
all nations at his command, does what he pleases
with them, and makes what use he pleases of them.
And sometimes he is pleased to make the nations
of the earth, the heathen nations, a scourge to the
house of Israel, when that is become an hypocritical
nation. This nation of the Chaldeans is here said
to be a remote nation; it is brought upon them from
afar, and therefore will make the greater spoil, and
the longer stay, that they may pay themselves well
for so long a march. “ It is a nation that thou hast
had no commerce with, by reason of their distance,
and therefore canst not expect to find favour with.”
God can bring trouble upon us from places and
causes very remote. It is a mighty nation, that
there is no making head against; an ancient nation,
that value themselves upon their antiquity, and will
therefore be the more haughty and imperious. It
is a nation whose language thou knowest not; they
sp ike the Syriac tongue, which the Jews at that
time were not acquainted with, as appears, 2 Kings
xviii. 26. The difference of language would make
it the more difficult to treat with them of peace;
compare this with the threatening, (Deut. xxviii.
49. ) which it seems to have a reference to, for the
law and the prophets exactly agree. They are
well armed; Their quiver is an open sepulchre;
their arrows shall fly so thick, hit so sure, and
wound so deep, that they shall be reckoned to
breathe nothing but death and slaughter; they are
able-bodied, all effective, mighty men, v. 16. And
when they have made themselves masters of the
country, they shall devour all before them, and
reckon all their own, that they can lay their hands
on, v. 17. (1.) They shall strip the country, shall
Tot only sustain, but surfeit, their soldiers with the
rich products of this fruitful land. They shall not
it ore up, (then it might possibly have been retriev¬
ed,) but eat up, thine harvest in the field, and thy
bread in the house, which thy sons and thy daugh¬
ters shall eat. Note, What we have, we have for
our families, and it is a comfort to see our sons and
daughters eating that which we have taken care
and pains for. But it is a grievous vexation to see
it devoured by strangers and enemies; to see their
camps victualled with our stores, while those that
are clear to us are perishing for want of it; this also
is according to the curse of the law; (Deut. xxviii.
33.) “They shall eat up thy flocks and herds, out
of which thou hast taken sacrifices for thine idols;
they shall not leave thee the fruit of thy vines and
tig-trees.’’ (2.) They shall starve the towns;
‘ They shall impoverish thy fenced cities,’’ (and
what fence is there against poverty, when it comes
like an armed man?) “those cities wherein thou
trusteclst to be a protection to the country.” Note,
•It is just with God to impoverish that which we
make our confidence They shall impoverish them
with the snvord, cutting off all provisions from cc ril¬
ing to them, and intercepting trade and commeice,
which will impoverish even fenced cities.
III. An intimation of the tender compassion God
has yet tor them: the enemy is commissioned to de¬
stroy and lay waste, but must not make a full end,
v. 10. Though they make a great slaughter, yet
some must be left to live; though they make a great
spoil, yet something must be left to live upon, for
God has said it, (v. 18. ) with a non obstante — a ne¬
vertheless, to the present desolation; Even in those
days, dismal as they are, I will make a full end
with you; and if God will not, the enemy shall not.
God has mercy in store for this people, and there¬
fore will set bounds to this desolating judgment;
hitherto it shall come, and no further.
IV. The justification of God in these proceedings
against them: as he will appear to be gracious in
not making a full end with them, so he will appear
to be righteous in coming so near it, and will have
it acknowledged that he has done them no wrong,
v. 19. Observe, 1. A reason demanded, insolently
demanded, by the people for these judgments.
They will say, “ Wherefore doth the Lord our God
do all this unto us? What provocation have we
given him, or what quarrel has he with us?” As if
against such a sinful nation there did not appear
cause enough of action. Note, Unhumbled hearts
are ready to charge God with injustice in their af¬
flictions, and pretend they are to seek for the cause
of them, when it is written in the forehead of them.
But, 2. Here is a reason immediately assigned: the
prophet is instructed what answer to give them, for
God will be justified when he speaks, though he
speaks with ever so much terror. He must tell
them that God does this against them for what they
have done against him, and that they may, if they
please, read their sin in their punishment. Do not
they know very well that they have forsaken God;
and therefore can they think it strange if he has
forsaken them? Have they forgotten how often they
served strange gods in their own land, that good
land, in the abundance of the fruits of which they
ought to have served God with gladness of heart;
and therefore is it not just with God to make them
serve strangers in a strange land, where they can
call nothing their own, as he had threatened to do?
Deut. xxviii. 47, 48. They that are fond of stran¬
gers, to strangers let them go.
20. Declare this in the house of Jacob,
and publish it in Judah, saying, 21. Hear
now this, O foolish people, and without un¬
derstanding; which have eyes, and see not;
which have ears, and hear not: 22. Fear
ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not
tremble at my presence, which have placed
the sand for the bound of the sea, by a per¬
petual decree, that it cannot pass it; and
though the waves thereof toss themselves,
yet can they not prevail ; though they roar,
yet cau they not pass over it ? 23. But this
people hath a revolting and a rebellious
heart; they are revolted and gone. 24.
Neither say they in their heart, Let us now
fear the Lord our God that giveth rain, both
the former and the latter, in his season : he
reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of
the harvest.
The prophet, hairing reproved them for sin, and
threatened the judgments of God against them, ie
here sent to them again upon another errand, which
348
JEREMIAH, V.
lie must publish in Judah: the purport of it is to
persuade them to fear God, which would be an ef¬
fectual principle of their reformation, as the want
of that fear had been at the bottom of their apostacy.
I. He complains of the shameful stupidity of this
people, and their bent to backslide from God;
speaking as if he knew not what course to take with
them. For,
1. Their understandings were darkened, and un¬
apt to admit the rays of the divine light. They are
a foolish people and without understanding, they
apprehend not the mind of God, though ever sc
plainly discovered to them, by the written word, by
his prophets, and by his providence; (d. 21.) They
have eyes, but they see not, ears, but they hear not,
like the idols which they made and worshipped,
Ps. cxv. 5, 6, 8. One would have thought that
they took notice of things, but really they did not;
they had intellectual faculties and capacities, but
they did not employ and improve them as they
ought. Herein they disappointed the expectations
of all their neighbours, who, observing what excel¬
lent means of knowledge they had, concluded,
Surely they are a wise and an understanding people;
(Deut. iv. 6.) and yet really they are a foolish peo¬
ple, and without understanding. Note, We can¬
not judge of men by the advantages and opportuni¬
ties they enjoy; there are those that sit in darkness
in a land of light, that live in sin even in a holy land,
that are bad in the best places.
2. Their wills were stubborn, and unapt to sub¬
mit to the rules of the divine law; (x». 23.) This
people has a revolting and rebellious heart; and no
wonder, when they were foolish and without under¬
standing, Ps. lxxxii. 5. Nay, it is the corrupt bias
of the will, that bribes and besots the understand¬
ing: none so blind as those that will not see. The
character of this people is the true character of all
people by nature, till the grace of God has wrought
a change; we are foolish, slow of understanding, and
apt to mistake and forget; yet that is not the worst;
we have a revolting and a rebellious heart , a carnal
mind, that is enmity against God, and is not in sub¬
jection to his law; not only revolting from him by a
rooted aversion to that which is good, but rebellious
against him by a strong inclination to that which is
evil. Observe, The revolting heart is a rebellious
one: they that withdraw from their allegiance to
God, stick not there, but by siding in with sin and
Satan take up arms against him. They are revolt¬
ed and gone. The revolting heart will produce a
revolting life; They are gone, and they will go; (so
it may be read;) now nothing will be restrained from
them, Gen. xi. 6.
II. He ascribed this to the want of the fear of
God. When he observes them to be without un¬
derstanding, he asks, “ Fear ye not me, suith the
Lord, and will ye not tremble at my presence?” v. 22.
If you would but keep up an awe of God, you would
be’ more observant of what he says to you; and did
you but understand yourselves better, you would be
more under the commanding rule of God’s fear.”
When he observes that they are revolted and gone,
he adds this, as the root and cause of their apostacy,
(ic 24.) Neither say they in their hearts. Let us
now fear the Lord our God. Therefore so many
bad thoughts come into their mind, and hurry them
to that which is evil, because they will not admit
and entertain good thoughts; and particularly not
this good thought, Let us now fear the Ir'-d our
God. It is true, it is God’s work to put his fear
into our hearts; but it is our work to stir up our¬
selves to fear him, and to fasten upon those consi¬
derations which are proper to affect us with a holy
awe of him; and it is because we do not do this, that
our hearts are sc destitute of his fear as they are,
and so apt to revolt and rebel.
i III. He suggests some of those things which are
proper to possess us with a holy fear of God.
1. We must fear the Lord and hisgreatness; (v.
22. ) upon this account he demands our fear : Shall
we not tremble at his presence, and be airaicl oi
fronting him, or trifling with him, who in the king¬
dom of nature and providence gives such incontesta¬
ble proofs of his almighty power and sovereign do¬
minion? Here is one instance given of very many
that might be given; he keeps the sea within com
pass: though the tides flow with a mighty strength,
twice every day, and if they should flow cn fc.i
awhile, would drown the world; though in a stoim
the billows rise high, and dash to the shore with in
credible force and fury, yet they are under check,
they return, they retire, and no harm is done. This
is the Lord’s doing, and it would be man'ellous, if
it were not common, in our eyes. He has placed
the sand for the bound of the sea, not only for a
meerstone, to mark out how far it may come, and
where it must stop, but as a mound, or fence, to put
a stop to it. A wall of sand shall be as effectual as
a wall of brass to check the flowing waves, when
God is pleased to make it so; nay, that is chosen
rather to teach us that a soft answer like the soft
sand, turns away wrath, and quiets a foaming rage,
when grievous words, like hard rocks, do but exas¬
perate, and make the waters cast forth so much the
more mire and dirt. This bound is placed by a per¬
petual decree; by an ordinance of antiquity — so
some read it, and then it sends us as far back as to
the creation of the world, when God divided be¬
tween the sea and the dry land, and fixed marches
between them, (Gen. i. 9, 10.) which is elegantly
described, Ps. civ . 6, 8tc. and Job xxxviii. 8, &c. or
to the period of Noah’s flood, when God promised
that he would never drown the world again, Gen.
ix. 11. An ordinance of perpetuity — so our trans¬
lation takes it. It is a perpetual decree, it has had
its effect all along to this day, and shall still continue
till day and night come to an end. This perpetual
decree the waters of the sea cannot pass over or
break through. Though the waves thereof toss
themselves, as the troubled sea does when it cannot
rest, yet can they not prevail: though they roar and
rage as if they were vexed at the check given
them, yet can they not pass over. Now this is a
good reason why we should fear God. For, (1.)
By this we see that he is a God of almighty power
and universal sovereignty, and therefore to be fear¬
ed and had in reverence. (2.) This shows us how
easily he could drown the world again, and he w
much we continually lie at his mercy, and therefore
we should be afraid of making him cur Enemy. (3. )
Even the unruly waves of the sea observe his de¬
cree, and retreat at his check; and shall not we
then? Why are our hearts revolting and rebellious,
when the sea neither revolts nor rebels?
2. We must fear the Lord and his goodness, Hos.
iii. 5. The instances of this, as of the former, are
fetchedfrom God’s common providence; (x'. 24.) we
must fear the Lord our God, we must worship him,
and give him glory, and be always in care to keep our¬
selves in his love, because he is continually doing us
good ; he gives us both the former and the latter rain;
the former a littleafter seedness, the latter a little be¬
fore harvest, and both in their season; and by this
means he reserves to us the appointed weeks of har¬
vest. Harvest is reckoned by weeks, because ina few
weeks enough is gathered to serve for sustenance
the year round. The weeks of the harvest arc ap¬
pointed us by the promise of God, that seed-time
and harvest shall not fail. And in performance of
that promise they are reserved to us by the Divine
Providence, otherwise we should come short of
them. In harvest-mercies therefore God is to be
acknowledged, his power, and goodness, and faith
349
JEREMIAH, V.
fulness, for they all come from him. And it is a
good reason why we should fear him, that we may
keep ourselves in his love, because we have such a
necessary dependence upon him. The fruitful
seasons were witnesses for God, even to the heathen
world, sufficient to leave them inexcusable in their
contempt of him; (Acts xiv. 17.) and yet the Jews,
vho h id the written word to explain their testimony
■>v, were not wrought upon to fear the Lord, though
u appears how much it is our interest to do so.
25. Your iniquities have turned away
these things, and your sins have withholden
good things from you. 26. For among my
people are found wicked men: they lay wait
as he that setteth snares: they set a trap,
they catch men. 27. As a cage is full of
birds, so are their houses full of deceit :
therefore they are become great, and waxen
rich. 28. They are waxen fat, they shine;
yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked :
they judge not the cause, the cause of the
fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right
of the needy do they not judge. 29. Shall I
not visit for these things? saith the Loan:
shall not my soul be avenged on such a
nation as this? 30. A wonderful and horri¬
ble thing is committed in the land; 31. The
prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests
bear rule by their means ; and my people
love to have it so: find what will ye do in
the end thereof?
Here,
I. The prophet shows them what mischief their
sins had done them; they have turned away these
thing's, (u. 25.) the former and the latter rain,
which they used to have in due season, (v. 24.) but
which had of late been withheld, (r/;. iii. 3.) by
reason of which the afifiointed weeks of harvest had
sometimes disa/ifiointed them. “ It is your sin that
has withholden good from you, when God was
ready to bestow it upon you.” Note, It is sin that
stops the current of God’s favours to us, and de¬
prives us of the blessings we used to receive. It is
that which makes the heavens as brass and the
earth as iron.
II. He shows them how great their sins were,
how heinous and provoking. When they had for¬
saken the worship of the true God, even moral ho¬
nesty was lost among them; Among my people are
found wicked men, (v. 26.) some of the worst of
men, and so much the worse they were, inasmuch
as they were found among God’s people.
1. They were spiteful and malicious. Such are
properly wicked men, men that delight in doing
mischief; they were found, caught in the very act
of their wickedness; as hunters or fowlers lay
snares for their game, so did they lie in wait to catch
men; and made a sport of it, and took as much
pleasure in it, as if they had been entrapping beasts
or birds. They contrived ways of doing mischief
to good people, (whom they hated for their good¬
ness,) especially to those that faithfully reproved
them; (Isa. xxix. 21.) or to those that stood in the
way of their preferment, or that they supposed to
have affronted them, or done them a diskindness;
or to those whose estates they coveted; so Jezebel
nsnared Naboth for his vineyard. Nay, they did
•oischief for mischief-sake.
2. They were false and treacherous; (v. 27.) -is
cage, or coop, is full of birds, and of food for
them to fatten them for the table, soar etheit houses
full of deceit, of wealth gotten by fraudulent prac¬
tices, or of arts and methods of defrauding. All the
business of their families is done with deceit; who¬
ever deals with them, they will cheat him if they
can; which is easily done by those who make no
conscience of what they say and do. Herein they
overpass the deeds of the wicked, v. 28. Those that
act by deceit, with a colour ef law and justice, do
more mischief perhaps than those wicked men,
(t. 26.) that carried all before them by open f< rce
and violence; or, They art worse than the heathen
themselves, ye;'., the worst of them. And w; uld
you think it? They prosperm these wicked courses,
and therefore their hearts are hardened in thtm.
They are greedy of the world, because they find it
flows in upon them, and they stick not at any wick¬
edness in pursuit of it, because they find that it is to
far from hindering their prosperity, that it furthers
it. They are become great in the world, they are
waxen rich, and thrive upon it. They have where¬
withal to make provision for the flesh to fulfil all the
lusts of it, to which they are very indulgent, so that
they arc waxen fat with living at ease, and bathing
themselves in all the delights of sense; thty are
sleek and smooth; they shine, they lock fair and
gay; everv body admires them. And they pass by
matters of evil, (so some read the following wcrds3)
they escape the evils which one would expect their
sins should bring upon them; they are not in trouble
as other men, much less as we might expect bad
men, Ps. lxxiii. 5, See.
3. When they were grown great, and had get
power in their hands, they did not do that good with
it which they ought to have done; They judge not
the cause, the cause of the fatherless, and the right
of the needy. Th e fatherless are often needy, al¬
ways need assistance and advice, and advantage is
taken of their helpless condition to do them an in¬
jure. W ho should succour them then but the great
and rich? What have men wealth for, but to do
good with it? But these would take no cognizance
of any such distressed cases: they had not so much
sense of justice, or compassion for the injured; or, if
they did concern themselves in the cause, it was n< t
to do right, but to protect them that did wrong.
And yet they prosper still, God layeth not folly to
them. Certainly then the things of this world are
not the best things, for often the worst men have the
most of them; yet we are not to think that, because
they prosper, God allows of their practices. No,
though sentence against their evil works be not exe¬
cuted speedily, it will be executed.
4. There was a general corruption of all orders
and degrees of men among them; (v. 30, 31.) A
wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the
land. The degeneracy of such a people, so privi¬
leged and advanced, was a wonderful thing. Hew
could they ever break through so many obligations?
It was a horrible thing, and to be detested, and the
consequences of it dreaded. To frighten < urselves
from sin, let us call it a horrible thing. Wha* was
the matter? In short, this: [1.] The leaders mis¬
led the people; The prophets prophesy falsely, coun¬
terfeit a commission from heaven, when they art-
factors for hell. Religion is never nv re dangerr us-
ly attacked than under colour and pr< tence r f di¬
vine revelation. But why did not the priests, who
had power in their hands for that purpose, restrain
these false prophets? Alas! instead of doing that,
they made use of them as the tools of their ambi •
tion and tyranny; they bare rule by their means;
they supported themselves in their grandeur and
wealth, their laziness and luxury, their impositions
and oppressions, by the help of the false prophets,
and their interest in the people. Thus they were in
i a combination against every thing that was good, ar <
350
JEREMIAH, VI.
strengthened one another’s hands in evil. (2.) The
peopie were well enough pleased to be misled;
“They are my people,” says God, “and should
nave stood up for me, and borne their testimony
against the wickedness of their priests and prophets;
but they love to have it so.” If the priests and pro •
phets will let them alone in their sins, they will give
them no disturbance in theirs. They love to be
ridden with a loose rein, and like those rulers very
well that will not restrain their lusts, and those
teachers that will not reprove them.
III. He shows them how fatal the consequences
cf this would certainly be. Let them consider,
1. What the reckoning would be for their wick¬
edness; (v. 29.) Shall not I visit for these things?
as before, v. 9. Sometimes mercy rejoices against
judgment; How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?
Here, judgment is reasoning against mercy; Shall I
not visit? We are sure that Infinite Wisdom knows
how to accommodate the matter between them.
The manner of expression is very emphatical, and
speaks, (1.) The certainty and necessity of God’s
judgments; Shall not my soul be avenged? Yes,
without doubt, vengeance will come, it must come,
if the sinner repents not. (2.) The justice and
equity of God’s judgments; he appeals to the sin¬
ner’s own conscience; Do not they deserve to be
punished, that have been guilty of such abomina¬
tions? Shall he not be avenged on such a nation, such
a wicked, provoking nation as this?
2. What the direct tendency of their wickedness
was: What will you do in the end thereof? That
is, (1.) “ What a pilch of wickedness will you come
to at last! What will you do? What will you not do
that is base and wicked; What will this grow to?
You will certainly grow worse and worse, till you
have filled up the measure of your iniquity.” (2.)
“ What a pit of destruction will you come to at last!
When things are brought to such a pass as this, as
nothing can be expected from you but a deluge of
sin, so nothing can be expected from God but a de¬
luge of wrath; and what will ye do when that
comes?” Note, Those that walk in bad ways, would
do well to consider the tendency of them both to
greater sin and utter ruin. An end will come, the
end of a wicked life will come, when it will be all
called over again, and without doubt will be bitter¬
ness in the latter end.
CHAP. VI.
In this chapter, as before, we have, I. A prophecy of the
invading: of the land of Judah, and the besieging of Je¬
rusalem by the Chaldean army, (v. 1..6. ) with the
spoils which they should make of the country, (v. 9.)
and the terror which all should be seized with on that
occasion, v. 22. . 26. II. An account of those sins of
Judah and Jerusalem, which provoked God to bring this
desolating judgment upor them. Their oppression; (v.
7.) their contempt of the word of God; (v. 10.. 12.)
their worldliness; (v. 13. ) the treachery of their prophets;
(v. 14.) their impudence in sin; (v. 15.) their obstinacy
against reproofs, v. 18, 19. These made their sacrifices
unacceptable to him, (v. 20.) and for these he gave them
up to ruin, v. 21. He tried them first, (v. 27.) and then
rejected them as irreclaimable, v. 28. . 30. III. Good
counsel given them in the midst of all this, but in vain,
v. 8, 16, 17.
of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Te-
koa, and set up a sign of fire in Beth-hae-
cerem : for evil appeareth out of the north,
nnd great destruction. 2. I have likened
(lie daughter of Zion to a comely and deli¬
cate woman. 3. The shepherds with their
flocks shall come unto her: they shall pitch
their tents against her round about; they
shall feed every one in his place. 4. Pre¬
pare ye war against her; arise, and let us
go up at noon. Wo unto us! for the day
goeth away, for the shadows of the evening
are stretched out. 5. Arise, and let us go
by night, and let us destroy her palaces. G.
For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew
ve down trees, and cast a mount against
Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited;
she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.
7. As a fountain casteth out her waters, so
she casteth out her wickedness : violence
and spoil is heard in her; before me con¬
tinually is grief and wounds. 8. Be thou
instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart
from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land
not inhabited.
Here is,
I. Judgment threatened against Judah ind Jeru¬
salem; the city and the country, which were at this
time secure, and under no apprehension of danger;
they saw no cloud gathering, but every thing looked
safe and serene: but the prophet tells them that
they shall shortly be invaded by a foreign power,
an army shall be brought against them from the
north, which shall lay all waste, and shall cause not
only a general consternation, but a general desola¬
tion. It is here foretold,
1. That the alarm of this sliould be loud and ter¬
rible. This is represented, v. 1. The children of
Benjamin, in which tribe part of Jerusalem lay, are
here called to shift for their own safety in the
country; for the city (to which it was first thought
advisable for them to flee, ch. iv. 5, 6.) would scon
be made too hot for them, and they would find it
the wisest course to flee out of the midst of it. It is
common, in public frights, for people to think any
place safer than that in which they are; and there¬
fore those in the city are for shifting into the coun¬
try, in hopes there to escape out of danger, and
those in the country are for shifting into the city, in
hopes there to make head against the danger: but
it is all in vain, when evil pursues sinners with com¬
mission. They are bid to send the alarm into the
country, and to do what they could for their own
safety; Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, a city which
lay twelve miles north from Jerusalem. Let them
be stirred up to stand upon their guard; Set up a
sign of fire, that is, kindle the beacons in Beth-Hac-
cerem, the house of the vineyard, which lay on a
hill between Jerusalem and Tekoa. Prepare to
make a vigorous resistance, for the evil appears out
of the north. This may be taken ironically; “Be¬
take yourselves to the best methods you can think
of for your own preservation, but all shall be in
vain; for when you have done your best, it will be
a great destruction, for it is in vain to contend with
God’sjudgments.
2. That the attempt upon them should be bold
and formidable, and such as they should be a very
unequal match for. (1.) See what the daughter of
Zion is, on whom the assault is made; she is likened
to a comely and delicate woman, ( v . 2. ) bred up in
every thing that is nice and soft, that will not set so
much as the sole of her foot to the ground for ten¬
derness and delicacy, (Deut. xxviii. 56.) nor suffer
the wind to blow upon her; and, not being accus¬
tomed to hardship, she will be the less able either
to resist the enemy, (for those that make war must
endure hardness,) or to bear the destruction with
36'
JEREMI
that patience which is necessary to make it tolera-
ole. The more we indulge ourselves in the plea¬
sures of this life, the more we disfit ourselves for
toe troubles of this life. (2. ) See what the daughter
of Babylon is, by whom the assault is made. The
generals and their armies are compared to shepherds
and .heir flocks; (x». 3.) in such numbers and in
such order did they come, the soldiers following
their leaders, as the sheep their shepherds. The
daughter of Zion dwelt at home, (so some read it,)
expecting to be courted with love, but was invaded
with fury. This comparing of the enemies to
shepherds, inclines me to embrace another reading,
which some give of v. 2. The daughter of Zion is
like a comely pasture-ground, and a delicate land
which invite the shepherds to bring their flocks
thither to graze; and as the shepherds easily make
themselves masters of an open field, which (as was
then usual in some parts) lies common, owned by
none, pitch their tents in it, and their flocks quickly
eat it bare; so shall the Chaldean army easily break
in upon the land of Judah, force for themselves a
free quarter where they please, and in a little time
devour all.
For tile further illustration of this, he shows,
[1.] How God shall commission them to mike
this destruction even of the holy land and the noly
city, that were his peculiar. It is he that says,
(v. 4.) Prepare ye war against her; for he is the
Lord of hosts, that has all hosts at his command,
and he has said, (x>. 6.) Hew ye down trees, and
:ast a mount against Jerusalem, in order to the
attacking of it. The Chaldeans have great power
against Judah and Jerusalem, and yet they have no
power but what is given them from above. God
has m irked out Jerusalem for destruction; he has
said, “ This is the city to be visited, visited in wrath,
visited bv the divine justice, and this is the time of
her visitation.” The day is coming, when those
that are careless and secure in sinful ways, will be
visited.
[2.] How they shall animate themselves and one
another to execute that commission. God’s coun¬
sels being against Jerusalem, which cannot be alter¬
ed or disannulled, the councils of war which the
enemies held are made to agree with his counsels.
Gxi h iving said, Prepare war against her, their
determinations are made subservient to his; and
n itwithstanding the distance of place, and the many
difficulties that lay in the way, it is soon resolved
nemine contradicente — unanimously. Arise, and let
us go. Note, It is good to see how the counsel and
decree of God are pursued and executed in the
devices and designs of men, even theirs that know
him not, Isa. x. 6, 7. In this campaign, First,
They resolved to be very expeditious. They have
no sooner resolved upon it, than they address them¬
selves to it; it shall never be said that they left any
thing to be done towards it to-morrow, which they
could do to-day; Arise, let us go up at noon, though
it be in the heat of the day; nay, (v. 5.) Arise, let us
go up by night, though it be in the dark; nothing
shall hinder them, they are resolved to lose no time.
They are described as men in care to make de¬
spatch, (t>. 4.) “ l Vo unto us, for the day goes
away, and we are not going on with our work; the
shadows of the evening are stretched out, and we
sit still, aiid let slip the opportunity. ” O that we
were thus eager in our spiritual work and warfare,
thus afraid of losing time, or any opportunity, taking
the kingdom of heaven by violence! It is folly to
trifle when we have an eternal salvation to work
out, and the enemies of that salvation to fight
against. Secondly, They confidently expect to be
very successful; “ Let us go up, and let us destroy
her palaces, and make ourselves masters of the
wealth that is in them. It was not that they might
AH, VI.
fulfil God’s .ounsels, but that they might fill their
own treasuies, that they were thus eager; yet God
thereby served his own purposes.
II. The cause of this judgment assigned. It is
all for their wickedness; they have brought it upon
themselves; they must bear it, for they must bear
the blame of it; they are thus oppressed, because
they have been oppressors; they have dealt hardly
with one another, each in their turns, as they have
had power and advantage, and now the enemy shall
come, and deal hardly with them all. This sin of
oppression, and violence, and wrong-doing, is here
charged upon them, 1. As a national sin; (x\ 6.)
Therefore this city is to be visited, it is time to
make inquisition, for she is wholly oppression in the
midst of her. All orders and degrees of men, from
the prince on the throne to the meanest master of a
shop, were oppressive to these that were under
them. Look which way you will, there were
causes for complaints of this kind. 2. As a sin that
was become in a manner natural to them; (x». 7.)
She casts out wickedness in all the instances of malice
and mischievousness, as a fountain casts out her
waters, as plentifully and constantly; the streams
bitter and poisonous, like the fountain. The waters
out of the fountain will not be restrained, but will
find or force their way, nor will they be checked
by laws or conscience in their violent proceedings.
This is fitly applied to the corrupt heart of man in
his natural state; it casts out wickedness, one evil
imagination cr other, as a fountain casts out her
waters, naturally and easily; it is always flowing, and
yet always full.' 3. As that which was become a
constant practice with them, Violence and spoil are
heard in her. The cry of it is come up before God,
as that of Sodom; Before me continually are grief
and wounds — the complaint of those that find them¬
selves aggrieved, being unjustly wounded in their
bodies or spirits, in their estates or reputation.
Note, He that is the common Parent of mankind,
regards and resents, and sooner or later will revenge
the mischiefs and wrongs that men do to one ano¬
ther.
III. The counsel given them, how to prevent
this judgment. Fair warning is given, now upon
the whole matter; “ Be thou instructed, O Jerusa¬
lem, v. 8. Receive the instruction given thee both
by the law of God and by his prophets; be wise at
length for thyself.” They knew very well what
they had been instructed to do; nothing remained
but to do it, for till then they could not be said to
be instructed. The reason for this counsel is taken
from the inevitable ruin they ran upon, if they re¬
fused to comply with the instructions given them;
lest my soul depart, or be disjoined, from thee.
This intimates what a tender affection and concern
God had had for them ; his very soul had been join¬
ed to them, and nothing but sin could disjoin it.
Note, 1. The God of mercy is loath to depart even
from a provoking people, and is earnest with them,
by true repentance and reformation to prevent
things coming to that extremity. 2. Their case is
very miserable from whom God’s soul is disjoined;
it intimates the loss not only of their outward bless¬
ings, but of those comforts and favours which are
the more immediate and peculiar tokens of his love
and' presence. Compare this with that dreadful
word, Heb. x. 38. If any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. 3. Those whom
God forsakes are certainly undone; -when God’s soul
departs from Jerusalem, she soon becomes deso¬
late and uninhabited, Matth. xxiii. 38.
9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. They
shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israe
as a vine : turn back thy hand as a grape-ga
352
JEREMIAH, VI.
therer into the baskets. 10. To whom shall
I speak and give warning, thai they may
hear ? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised,
and they cannot hearken: behold, the word
of’ the Lord is unto them a reproach ; they
have no delight in it. 11. Therefore I am
full of the fury of the Lord ; I am weary
with holding in: I will pour it out upon the
children abroad, and upon the assembly of
young men together; for even the husband
with the wife shall be taken, the aged with
him that is full of days. 12. And their
houses shall be turned unto others, with
their fields and wives together: for I will
stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants
of the land, saith the Lord. 13. For from
the least of them even unto the greatest of
them, every one is given to covetousness;
and from the prophet even unto the priest,
every one dealeth falsely. 14. They have
healed also the hurt of the daughter of my
people slightly, saying, Peace, peace ; when
there is no peace. 15. Were they ashamed
when they had committed abomination ?
nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither
could they blush ; therefore they shall fall
among them that fall: at the time that I
visit them they shall be cast down, saith the
Lord. 16. Thus saith the Lord, Stand
ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old
paths, where is the good way, and walk
therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.
But they said, We will not walk therein.
17. Also I set watchmen over you, saying ,
Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But
they said, We will not hearken.
The heads of this paragraph are the very same
with those of the last; for precept must be upon
precept, and line upon line.
1. The ruin of Judah and Jerusalem is here
threatened. We had before the haste which the
Chaldean army made to the war; (v. 4, 5. ) now
here we have the havock made by the war. How
lamentable are the desolations here described! The
enemy shall so long quarter among them, and be so
insatiable in their thirst after blood and treasure,
that they shall seize all they can meet with, and
what escapes them one time, shall fall into their
hands another; (v. 9.) They shall thoroughly glean
the remnant of Israel, as a vine, as the grape-
gatherer, who is resolved to leave none behind, still
turns back his hand into the baskets, to put more in,
till lie has gathered all; so shall they be picked up
by the enemy, though disfiersed, though hid, and
none of them shall escape their eye and hand. Per¬
haps the people, being given to covetousness, (v.
13.) had not observed that law of God, which for¬
bad them to glean all their grafies; (Lev. xix. 10.)
and now they themselves shall be in like manner
thoroughly gleaned, and shall either fall by the
sword or go into captivity. This is explained, v.
11, 12. where God’s fury and his hand are said to
be floured out and stretched out, in the fury and by
the hand of the Chaldeans; for even wicked men
are often made use of as God’s hand, (Ps. xvii. 14.)
and in their anger we may see God angry. Now
see on whom the fury is /toured out in full phials;
u/ion the children abroad, or in the streets, where
they are playing; (Zech. viii. 5.) or whether they
run out innocently to look about them ; the sword
of the merciless Chaldeans shall not spare them,
ch. ix. 21. The children perish in the calamity
which the fathers’ sins have procured. The exe¬
cution shall likewise reach the assembly of young
men, their merry meetings, their clubs which they
keep up to strengthen one another’s hands in wick¬
edness, they shall be cut off together. Nor shall
these only fall into the em. lilies’ hands, who meet
for lewdness; (ch. v. 7.) but even the husband with
the wife shall be taken, these two in bed together,
and neither left, but both taken prisoners. And as
they have no compassion for the weak but fair sex,
so they have none for decrepit but venerable age;
the old with the full of days, whose deaths can con¬
tribute no more to their safety than their lives to
their service, who are not in a capacity to do them
either good or harm, they shall be either cut off' or
carried off. Their houses shall then be turned to
others, (v. 12.) the conquerors shall dwell in their
habitations, use their goods, and live upen their
stores; their fields and wives shall fall together into
their hands as was threatened, Deut. xxviii. 30, &c.
For God stretches out his hand ufon the inhabitants
of the land, and none can go out of the reach of it.
Now as to this denunciation of God’s wrath, 1.
The prophet justifies himself in preaching thus
terribly, for herein he dealt faithfully; (v. 11.) “ /
am full of the fury of the Lord, full of the thoughts
and apprehensions of it, and am carried out with a
powerful impulse, by the spirit of prophecy, to
speak of it thus vehemently. ’ He took no delight
in threatening, nor was it any pleasure to him with
such sermons as these to make those about him tin ■
easy; but he could not contain himself, he was
weary with holding in; he suppressed it as long as
he could, as long as he durst, but he was so full of
flower by the spirit of the Lord of hosts, that he
must speak, whether they will hear, cr whether
they will forbear. Note, When ministers preach
the teiTors of the Lord according to the scripture,
we have no reason to be displeased at them ; for they
are but messengers, and must deliver their message,
pleasing or unpleasing. 2. He condemns the false
prophets, who preached plausibly, for therein they
flattered people, and dealt unfaithfully, v. 13, 14
The priest and the prophet, who should be their
watchmen and monitors, have dealt falsely, have
not been true to their trust, nor told the people their
faults and the danger they were in; they should
have been their physicians, but they murdered then
patients by letting them have their wills, and giving
them every thing they had a mind to, and flatter¬
ing them into an opinion that they were in no dan¬
ger; ( v . 14.) They have healed the hurt of the
daughter of my people slightly, or, according to the
cure of some slight hurt; skinning over the wound,
and never searching it to the bottom; applying leni¬
tives only, when there was need ot corrosives;
soothing people m their sins, and giving them
opiates, to make them easy for the present, while
the disease was preying upon their vitals. They
said, "Peace, peace, all shall be well.” If there
were some thinking people among them, who were
awake, and apprehensive of danger, they scon stop¬
ped their mouths with their priestly and prophetical
authority, boldly averring that neither church nor
state was in any danger, when there is no peace, be¬
cause they went on in their idolatries and daring
impieties. Note, Those are to be reckoned our
false friends, that is, c.ur worst and most dangerous
enemies, who flatter us in a sinful way.
II. The sin of Judah and Jerusalem is here dis
353
JEREMIAH, VI.
covered, which provoked God to bring this ruin
upon them, and justified him in it.
1. They would by no means bear to be told of
their faults, nor of the danger they were in. God
bids the prophet give them warning of the judgment
coming, v. 9. “But,” says he, “ to whom shall I
speak, and give warning? I cannot find out any
that will so much as give me a patient hearing. I
may give warning long enough, but there is nobody
that will take warning. I cannot speak, that they
may hear, cannot speak to any purpose, or with
any hope of success; for their ear is uncircumcised,
it is carnal and fleshly, indisposed to receive the
voice of God, so that they cannot hearken. They
have, as it were, a thick skin grown over the or¬
gans of hearing, so that divine things might to as
much purpose be spoken to a stone as to them.
Nay, they are not only deaf to it,- but prejudiced
against it; therefore they cannot hear, because they
are resolved that they will not.” The word of the
I.ord is unto them a reproach. Both the reproofs
and the threatenings of the word are so; they reckon
themselves wronged and affronted by both, and re¬
sent the prophet’s plain-dealing with them, as they
would the most causeless slander and calumny.
This was kicking against the pricks, (Acts ix. 5.)
as the lawyers against the word of Christ; (Luke
xi. 45.) Thus saying, thou reproachest us also.
Note, These reproofs that are counted reproaches,
and hated as such, will certainly be turned into the
heaviest woes. When it is here said, They have
no delight in the word, more is implied than is ex¬
pressed; they have an antipathy to it, their hearts
rise at it; it exasperates them, and enrages their
corruptions, and they are ready to fly in the face,
and pull out the eyes, of their reprovers. And
how can those expect that the word of the Lord
should speak any comfort to them, who have no de¬
light in it, but would rather be any where than
within hearing of it?
2. They were inordinately set upon the world,
and wholly carried away by the love of it; (y. 13.)
From the least of them even to the greatest, old and
young, rich and poor, high and low, those of all
ranks, professions, and employments, every one is
given to covetousness, greedy of filthy lucre, all for
what they can get, per fas per nefas — right or
wrong; and this made them oppressive and violent,
(u. 6, 7.) for of that evil, as well as others, the love
of money is the bitter root. Nay, and this harden¬
ed their hearts against the word of God and his
prophets; they were the covetous Pharisees that
derided Christ, Luke xvi. 14.
3. They were become impudent in sin, and past
shame. After such a high charge of flagrant
crimes proved upon them, it was very proper to
ask. (n. 15.) Were they ashamed, when they had
committed all these abominations, which are such a
reproach to their reason and religion? Did they
blush at the conviction, and acknowledge that con¬
fusion of face belonged to them? If so, there is
some hope of them yet. But, alas! there did not
appear so much as this colour of virtue among
them; their hearts were so hardened, that they
were not at all ashamed, neither could they
blush, they had so brazened their faces. They
even gloried in their wickedness, and openly con¬
fronted the convictions which should have humbled
them, and brought them to repentance. They re¬
solved to face it out against God himself, and not to
own their guilt. Some refer it to the priests and
prophets, who had healed the people slightly, and
told them that they should have peace, and yet
were not ashamed of their treachery and falsehood,
no, not when the event disproved them, and gave
them the lie. Those that are shameless are grace¬
less, and their case hopeless. But they that will not
Vol. iv. — 2 Y
submit to a penitential shame, nor take that to them¬
selves as their due, shall not escape an utter ruin;
for so it follows, Therefore they shall fall among
them that fall, they shall have their portion with
those that are quite undone; and when God visits
tlie nation in wrath, they shall be sure to be cast
down, and be made to tremble, because they would
not blush. Note, Those that sin, and cannot blush
for it, shall find that it is bad with them n< w, and
that it will be worse with them shortly. At first,
they hardened themselves, and would not blush,
afterward, they were so hardened, that they could
not. Quod unum habebant in malis bonum ptr-
dunt, peccandi verecundiam — They have lost the
only good property which once blended itself with
many bad ones, that is, shame for having done
amiss. Senec. tie Vit. Beat.
III. They are put in mind of the good ccunstl
which had been often given them, but in vain.
They had a great deal said to them to little purpose,
1. By wav of advice concerning their duty, v. 16.
God had been used to say to them, Stand in the
ways and see. That is, (1.) He would have them
to consider, not to proceed rashly, but to do as tra¬
vellers in the road, who are in care to find the right
way which will bring them to their journey’s end,
and therefore pause and inquire for it. If they
have any reason to think that they have missed then-
way, they arc not easy till they have got satisfac¬
tion. O that men would be thus wise for their
souls, and would ponder the path of their feet, as
those that believe lawful and unlawful are of no
less consequence to us than the right way and the
wrong are to a traveller! (2.) He would have them
tc consult antiquity, the observations and expe¬
riences of those that went before them; “ Ask for
the old paths; inquire of the former age; (Job viii.
8.) ask thy father, thy elders; (Deut. xxxii. 7.) and
thou wilt find that the way of godliness and right¬
eousness has always been the way which God has
owned and blessed, and in which men have pros¬
pered. Ask for the old paths, the paths prescribed
by the law of God, the written word, that true
standard of antiquity. Ask for the paths that the
patriarchs travelled in before you, Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob; and, as you hope to inherit the
promises made to them, tread in their steps. Ask
for the old paths; Where is the good way?” We
must not be guided merely by antiquity, as if the
plea of prescription and long usage were alone suf¬
ficient to justify our path; no, there is an old way
which wicked men have trodden, Job xxii. 15. But
when we ask for the old paths, it is only in order to
find out the good way, the highway of the upright.
Note, The way of religion and godliness is a good
old way; the way that all the saints in all ages have
walked in. (3.) He would have them to resolve to
act according to the result of these inquiries;
“ When you have found out which is the good way,
walk therein; practise accordingly, keep close to
that way, proceed and persevere in it.” Some
make this counsel to be given them with reference
to the struggles that were between the true and
false prophets, between those that said they should
have peace, and those that told them trouble was at
the door; they pretended they knew not which to
believe; “ Stand in the way,” says God, “ and see,
and inquire, which of these two agrees with the
written word, and the usual methods of God’s pro¬
vidence, which of these directs you to the good
way, and do accordingly.” (4.) fie assures them,
that if they do thus, it will secure the welfare and
satisfaction of their own souls; “ Walk in the good
old way, and you will find that your walking in that
way will be easy and pleasant; you will enjoy both
your God and yourselves, and the way will lean yru
to true rest. Though it cost you some pains to walk
854
JEREMIAH, VI.
m tli.it way, ycu will find an abundant recompense
at your journey’s end. ” (5.) He laments that this
good counsel, which was so r.ition.d in itself, and so
proper for them, could not find acceptance; “ But
they said, He will not walk therein. Net only we
will not be at the pains to inquire which is the good
way, the good old way; but when it is told us, and
we have nothing to say to the contrary but that it is
the right way, yet we will not deny ourselves and
our humours so far as to walk in it.” Thus multi¬
tudes are ruined for ever by downright wilfulness.
2. By way of admonition concerning their danger.
Because they would not be ruled by fair reasoning,
God takes another method with them; by lesser
judgments he threatens greater, and sends his
prophets to give them this explication of them, and
to frighten them with an apprehension of the dan¬
ger they were in; ( v . 17.) Also I set watchmen over
you. God's ministers are watchmen, and it is a
great mere) to have them set over us in the Lord.
Now observe here, (1.) The fair warning given by
these watchmen. This was the burthen of their
song, they cried again and again, Hearken to the
sound of the trumpet. God, in his providence,
sounds the trumpet; (Zech. ix. 14. ) the watchmen
hear it themselves and are affected with it, (Jer. iv.
19. ) and they are to call upon others to hearken to
it too, to hear the Lord’s controversy, to observe the
voice of Providence, to improve it, and answer the
intentions of it. (2.) This fair warning slighted;
“ But they said, We will not hearken; we will not
hear, we will not heed, we will not believe; the
prophets may as well save themselves and us the
trouble. The reason why sinners perish is, be¬
cause they do not hearken to Vie sound of the
trumpet; and the reason why they do not, is, be¬
cause they will not; and they have no reason to give
why tiiey will not, but because they will not, that is,
they are herein most unreasonable. One may more
easily deal wi h ten men’s reasons, than one man’s
will.
1 8. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know,
O congregation, what is among them. 1 9.
Hear, O earth; behold, I will bring evil
upon this people, even the fruit of their
thoughts, because they have not hearkened
unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected
it. 20. To what purpose cometh there to
me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane
from a far country? your burnt-offerings
are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet
unto me. 21. Therefore thus saith the
Lord, Behold, [ will lay stumbling-blocks
before this people, and the fathers and the
sons together shall fall upon them ; the
neighbour and his friend shall perish. 22.
Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people
cometh from the north country, and a great
nation shall be raised from the sides of the
earth. 23. They shall lay hold on bow
and spear; they are cruel, and have no
mercy: their voice roareth like the sea;
and they ride upon horses, set in array as
men for war against thee, O daughter of
Zion. 24. We have heard the fame there¬
of ; our hands wax feeble : anguish hath
taken hold of us, and pain as of a woman
in travail. 25. Go not forth into the field,
' nor walk by the way ; for the sword of the
enemy and fear is on every side. 26. O
daughter ol my people, gird thee with sack¬
cloth, and wallow thyself in ashes ; make
thee mourning as for an only son, most
bitter lamentation : for the spoiler shall sud¬
denly come upon us. 27. 1 have set thee
for a tower and a fortress among my peo¬
ple, that thou mayest know and try their
way. 28. They are all grievous revolters,
walking with slanders : they are brass and
iron ; they are all corrupters. 29. The
bellows are burned, the lead is consumed
of the fire ; the founder melteth in vain ;
for the wicked are not plucked away. 30.
Reprobate silver shall men call them, be¬
cause the Lord hath rejected them.
Here,
I. God appeals to all the neighbours, nay, to the
whole world, concerning the equity of his proceed¬
ings against Judah and Jerusalem; (u. 18, 19.)
“ Hear, ye nations, and know particularly, O con¬
gregation of the mighty, the great men of the na¬
tions, that take cognizance of the affairs of the states
about you, and make remarks upon them. Observe
now what is doing among them of Judah and Jerusa¬
lem; you hear of the desolations brought upon
them, the earth rings of it, trembles under it; you
all wonder that /should bring evil upon this people,
that are in covenant with me, that profess relation
to me, that have worshipped me, and been highly
favoured by me; you are ready to ask. Wherefore
has the Lord done thus to this land? (Deut. xxix.
24.) Know then,” 1. “That it is the natural pro¬
duct of their devices. The evil brought upon them
is the fruit of their thought. They thought to
strengthen themselves by their alliance with
foreigners, and by that very thing they weakened
and diminished themselves, they betrayed and ex¬
posed themselves.” 2. “ That it is the just punish¬
ment of their disobedience and rebellion. God does
but execute upon them the curse of the law for
their violation of its commands. It is because they
have not hearkened to my words, nor to my law,
nor regarded a word I have said to them, but re¬
jected it .all. They would never have been ruined
thus by the judgments of God’s hand, if they had
refused to be ruled by the judgments of his mouth :
therefore you cannot say that they have any wrong
done them.”
II. God rejects their plea, by which they insisted
upon their external services as sufficient to atone
for all their sins. Alas! it is a frivolous plea: (v.
20.) “ To what purpose come there to me incense,
and sweet cane, to be burned for a perfume on tlv
golden altar, though it was the best of the kind, and
far-fetched? What care I for your burnt-offerings
and your sacrifices?” They not only cannot profit
God, (no sacrifice does, Ps. 1. 9.) but they do not
please him, for none does but the sacrifices of the
upright; that of the wicked is an abomination to
him. Sacrifice and incense were appointed to ex¬
cite their repentance, and to direct them to a Me¬
diator, and assist their faith in him. Where this
good use was made of them, they were acceptable,
God had respect to them and to those that offered
them. But when they were offered with an opinion
that thereby they made God their Debtor, and pur¬
chased a license to go on in sin, they were so far
from being pleasing to God, that they were a pro¬
vocation to him.
35.1
JEREMIAH, VI.
III. He foretells the desolation that was now
coming upon them. 1. God designs their ruin be¬
cause they hate to be reformed; (y. 21.) I mill lay
stumbling-blocks before this / leo/i/e , occasions of
falling, not into sin, but into trouble. Those whom
God has marked for destruction he perplexes and
embarrasses in their counsels, and obstructs and re¬
tards all the methods they take for their own safety.
The parties of the enemy, which they met with j
wherever they went, were stumbling-blocks to them,
in every corner they stumbled upon them, and were
dashed to pieces by them; The fathers and the sons
together shall fall u/wn them; neither the fathers
with their wisdom, nor the sons with their strength
and courage, shall escape them, or get over them,
The sons that sinned with their fathers, fall with
them. Even the neighbour and his friend shall
perish, and not be able to help either themselves or
one another. 2. He will make use of the Chal¬
deans as instruments of it; for whatever work God
has to do, he will find out proper instruments for
the doing of it This is a people fetched from the
north, from the sides of the earth. Babylon itself
lay a great way off northward; and some of the
countries that were subject to the king of Babylon,
out of which his army was levied, lay much further.
These must be employed in his service, v. 22, 23.
For, (1.) It is a people very numerous, a great na¬
tion, which will make their invasion the more for¬
midable. (2.) It is a warlike people; they lay hold
on bom and spear, and at this time know how to
use them, for they are used to them; they ride upon
horses, and therefore they march the more swiftly,
and in battle press the harder. No nation had yet
brought into the field a better cavalry than the
Chaldeans. (3.) It is a barbarous people; they are
cruel, and have no mercy, being greedy of prey,
and flushed with victory. They take a pride in
frightening all about them; their voice roars like
the sea. And, lastly. They have a particular de¬
sign upon Judah and Jerusalem, in hopes greatly to
enrich themselves with the spoil of that famous
country. They are set in array against thee, 0
daughter of Zion. The sins of God’s professing
people make them an easy prey to those that are
God’s enemies as well as theirs.
IV. He describes the very great consternation
which Judah and Jerusalem should be in, upon the
approach of this formidable enemy, v. 24. — 26. 1.
They owr. themselves in a fright, upon the first in¬
telligence brought them cf the approach of the
enemy; “When me have but heard the fame thereof,
our hands max feeble, and we have no heart to
make any resistance; anguish has taken hold of us,
and we are immediately in an extremity of pain,
like that of a woman in travail.” Note, Sense of
guilt quite dispirits men, upon the approach of any
threatening trouble. What can they hope to do for
themselves, who have made God their Enemy? 2.
They confine themselves by consent to their houses,
not daring to show their heads abroad, for though
they could not but expect that the sword of the
enemy would at last find them out there, yet
they would rather die tamely and meanly there
than run any venture, either by fight or flight, to
help themselves. Thus they say one to another,
“Go not forth into the field, no not to fetch in your
provision thence, nor walk by the may; dare not to
go to church or market, it is at your peril if you do,
for the sword of the enemy, and the fear of it, is on
every side; the highways are unoccupied, as in
Jael’s time,” Judg. v. 6. Let this remind us. when
we travel the roads in safety, and there is none to
make us afraid, to bless God for our share in the
public tranquillity. 3. The prophet calls upon them |
sadly to lament the desolations that were coming
upon them. He was himself the lamenting prophet, |
and called upon lus people to join with him in his
lamentations; “ O daughter of my people, hear thy
God calling thee to weeping and mourning, and an¬
swer his call: do not only put on sackcloth for a day,
but gird it on for thy constant wear; do not only put
ashes on thy head, but wallow thyself in ashes; put
thyself into close mourning, and use all the tokens
of ' bitter lamentation, not forced and for show only,
but with the greatest sincerity, as parents mourn
for an only son, and think themselves comfortless
because they are childless. Thus do thou lament
for the spoiler that suddenly comes upon us.
Though he is not come yet, he is coming, the de¬
cree is gone forth: let us therefore meet the exe¬
cution of it with a suitable sadness.” As saints
may rejoice in hope of God’s mercies, though they
see’ them only in the promise, so sinners must
mourn for fear of God’s judgments, though the)' see
them only in the threatenings.
V. He constitutes the prophet a judge over this
people that now stand upon their trial : as ch. i. 10.
I have set thee over the nations; so here, I have set
thee for a tower, or as a sentinel, or a watchman,
upon a tower, among my people, as an inspector et
their actions, that thou mayest know, and try their
may, v. 27. Not that God needed any to inform
him concerning them; on the contrary, the prophet
knew little cf them in comparison, but by the spirit
of prophecy: but thus God appeals to the prophet
himself, and his own observation concerning their
character, that he might be fully satisfied in the
equity of God’s proceedings against them, and with
the more assurance give them warning of the judg¬
ments coming. God set him for a tower conspicuous
to all, and attacked by many, but made him a for¬
tress, a strong tower, gave him courage to stem the
tide, and bear the shock, of their displeasure. They
that will be faithful reprovers, have need to be firm
as fortresses.
Now in trying their way he will find two things;
1. That they are wretchedly debauched; (v. 28.)
They are all grievous revolters, revolters of re¬
x' alters, (so the- word is,) the worst of revolters, as
a servant of servants is the meanest servant. They
have a revolting heart, have deeply revolted, and
revolt more and more. They have seemed to start
fair, but they revolt and start back. They walk
with slanders; they make nothing of belying and
backbiting one another, nay, they make a perfect
trade of it, it is their constant course; and they
govern themselves by the slanders they hear, hating
those that they hear ill-spoken of, though ever so
unjustly. They are brass and iron, base metals,
and there is nothing in them that is valuable. They
were as silver and gold, but they are degenerated.
Nay, as they are all revolters, so they are all cor¬
rupters, not only debauched themselves, but indus¬
trious to debauch others, to corrupt them as they
themselves are corrupt; nay, to make them seven
times more the children of hell themselves. It is
often so; sinners soon become tempters.
2. That thev would never be reclaimed and re¬
formed; it was in vain to think of reducing them,
for various methods had been tried with them, and
all to no puipose, v. 29, 30. He compares them to
ore that w as supposed to have some good metal in
it, and was therefore put into the furnace by the re¬
finer, who used all his art, and took abundance cf
pains, about it, but it proved all dross, nothing cf
any value could be extracted out of it. God by his
prophets and by his providences had used the most
proper means to refine this people, and to purify
them from their wickedness; but it was all in vain.
Bv the continual preaching of the word, and a scries
of afflictions, they had been kept in a constant fire,
but all to no puipose. The bellows have been still
kept so near the fire, to blow it, that they are burnt
356
JEREMIAH, VII.
with the heat of it, or they are quite worn out with
long use, and thrown into the fire as good for nothing.
The prophets have preached their throats sore with
crying aloud against the sins of Israel, and yet they
are not convinced and humbled. The lead, which
was then used in refining silver, as quicksilver is
now, is consumed of the fire, and has not done its
work; for the founder melts in vain, his labour is
lost, for the wicked are not plucked away, no care
is taken to separate between the precious and the
vile, to purge out the old leaven, to cast out of com¬
munion those who, being corrupt themselves, are in
danger of infecting others. Or, Their wickednesses
are not removed, (so some read it,) they are still as
bad as ever, and nothing will prevail to part between
them and their sins; they will not be brought off
from their idolatries and immoralities by all they
have heard, and all they have felt, of the wrath of
God against them. And therefore that doom is
passed upon them, v. 30. Reprobate silver shall
they be called, useless and worthless; they glitter as
if they had some silver in them, but there is nothing
of real virtue or goodness to be found among them;
and for this reason the Lord has rejected them. He
will no more own them as his people, nor look for
any good from them; he will take them away like
dross, (Ps. cxix. 119.) and prepare a consuming
fire for those that would not be purified by a refining
fire. By this it appears, (1.) That God has no
pleasure in the death and ruin of sinners, for he tries
all ways and methods with them to prevent their
destruction, and qualify them for salvation. Both
his ordinances and his providences have a tendency
this way, to part between them and their sins; and
yet with many it is all lost labour; We have piped
unto you, and you have not danced; we have mourn¬
ed unto you, and you have not wept. Therefore,
(2. ) God will be justified in the death of sinners, and
all the blame will lie upon themselves. He did not
reject them till he had used all proper means to re¬
duce did not cast them off so long as there
was any hope of them, nor abandon them as dross
till it appeared that they were reprobate silver.
CHAP. VII.
The prophet having in God’s name reproved the people for
their sins, and given them warning of the judgments of
God that were coming upon them, in this chapter prose¬
cutes the same intention for their humiliation and awak¬
ening. I. He shows them the invalidity of the plea they
so much relied on, that they had the temple of God
among them, and constantly attended the service of it,
and endeavours to take them off from their confidence in
their external privileges and performances, v. 1 . . 11. II.
He reminds them of the desolations of Shiloh ; and fore¬
tells that such should be the desolations of Jerusalem, v.
12 . . 16. III. He represents to the prophet their abomi¬
nable idolatries, for which he was thus incensed against
them, v. 17.. 20. IV. He sets before the people that
fundamental maxim of religion, that to obey is better
than sacrifice, (1 Sam. xv. 22.) and that God would not
accept the sacrifices of those that obstinately persisted in
disobedience, v. 21 . . 28. V. He threatens to lay the
land utterly waste for their idolatry and impiety, and to
multiply their slain as they had multiplied their sin, v.
29 . . 34.
1 . 7 R ^HE word that came to Jeremiah from
the Lord, saying, 2. Stand in the
gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim
there this word, and say, Hear the word of
the Loro, all ye of Judah, that, enter in at
these gates to worship the Lord: 3. Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
Amend your ways and your doings, and I
will cause you to dwell in this place. 4.
Trust you not in lying words, saying, The
| temple of the Lord, The temple of the
Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.
5. For if ye thoroughly amend your ways
and your doings ; if you thoroughly execute
judgment between a man and his neighbour;
6. If ye oppress not the stranger, the father¬
less, and the widow, and shed not innocent
blood in this place, neither walk after other
gods to your hurt: 7. Then will I cause you
to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave
to your fathers, for ever and ever. 8. Be¬
hold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot
profit. 9. Will ye steal, murder, and com¬
mit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn
incense unto Baal, and walk after other
gods whom ye know not; 10. And come
and stand before me in this house, which is
called by my name, and say, We are de¬
livered to do all these abominations? 1 1. Is
this house, which is called by my name, be¬
come a den of robbers in your eyes ? Behold,
even I have seen it, saith the Lord. 1 2.
But go ye now unto my place, which was in
Shiloh, where I set my name at the first,
and see what I did to it for the wickedness
of my people Israel. 13. And now, because
ye have done all these works, saith the
Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early
and speaking, but ye heard not; and 1 called
you, but ye answered not; 14. Therefore
will I do unto this house, which is called by
my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the
place which I gave to you and to your fa¬
thers, as I have done to Shiloh. 1 5. And I
will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast
out all your brethren, even the whole seed
of Ephraim.
These verses begin another sermon, which is con¬
tinued in this and the two following chapters; much
to the same effect with those before, to reason them
to repentance. Observe,
I. The orders given to the prophet to preach this
sermon; for he had not only a general commission,
but particular directions and instructions, for every
message he delivered. This was a word that came
to him from the Lord, v. 1. We are not told when
this sermon was to be preached; but are told, 1.
Where it must be preached — in the gates of the
Lord’s house, through which they entered into the
outer court, or the court of the people. It would
affront the priests, and expose the prophet to their
rage, to have such a message as this delivered within
their precincts; but the prophet must not fear the
face of man, he cannot be faithful to his God if he
do. 2. To whom it must be preached — to the men
of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the
Lord; probably, it was at one of the three feasts,
when all the males from all parts of the country
were to appear before the Lord in the courts of his
house, and not to appear empty; then he had many
together to preach to, and that was the most sea¬
sonable time to admonish them not to trust to their
privileges. Note, (1.) Even those that profess re¬
ligion have need to be preached to, as well as those
that are without. (2.) It is desirable to have op¬
portunity of preaching to many together. Wisdom
JEREMIAH, VII.
35/
chooses to cry in the chief place of concourse, and as
J' remiah here, in the opening of the gates, the tem
ple-gatcs. (3.) When we are going to worship God,
we have need to be admonished to •worship him in
the spirit, and to have no confidence in the flesh,
Phil. iii. 3.
11. The contents and scope of the sermon itself.
It is delivered in the name of the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, who commands the world, but cove¬
nants with his people. As creatures we are bound
to regard the Lord of hosts, as Christians the God
of Israel; what he said to them he says to us, and it
is much the same with that which John Baptist said
to those whom he baptized; (Matth. iii. 8, 9.) Bring
forth fruits meet for repentance; and think not to
say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our
father. The prophet here tells them,
1. What were the true words of God, which they
might trust to. In short, they might depend upon
it, that, if they would repent, and reform their lives,
and return to God in a way of duty, he would restore
and confirm their peace, would redress their griev¬
ances, and return to them in a way of mercy; (v. 3.)
Amend your ways and your doings. This implies
that there had been much amiss in their ways and
doings, many faults and errors. But it is a great
instance of the favour of God to them, that he gives
them liberty to amend, shows them where and how
thev must mend, and promises to accept them upon
their amendment; “I will cause you to dwell quietly
and peaceably in this place, and a stop shall be put
to that which threatens your expulsion. ” Reforma¬
tion is the only way, and a sure way, to prevent ruin.
He explains himself, (n. 5. — 7.) and tells them
particularly,
( 1. ) What the amendment was which he expected
from them. They must thoroughly amend; in mak¬
ing good, they must make good their ways and
doings; they must reform with resolution, and it
must be a universal, constant, persevering reforma¬
tion; not partial, but entire; not hypocritical, but
sincere; not wavering, but constant. They must
make the tree good, and so make the fruit good;
must amend their hearts and thoughts, and so amend
their ways and doings. In particular, [1.] They
must be honest and just in all their dealings. They
that had power in their hands must thoroughly exe¬
cute judgment between a man and his neighbour,
without partiality, and according as the merits of
the cause appeared. They must not either in judg¬
ment or in contract oppress the stranger, the father¬
less, or the widow, nor countenance or protect those
that did oppress, nor refuse to do them right when
they sought for it: they must not shed innocent blood,
and with it defile this place and the land wherein
they dwelt. (2.) They must keep close to the wor¬
ship of the true God only ; Neither walk after other
gods; “Do not hanker after them, nor hearken to
those that would draw you into communion with
idolaters; for it is, and will be, to your own hurt.
Be not only so just to your God, but so wise for your¬
selves, as not to throw away your adorations upon
those who are not able to help you, and thereby
provoke him who is able to destroy you.” Well,
this is all that God insists upon.
(2.) He tells them what the establishment is which,
upon this amendment, they may expect from him;
(v. 7.) “Set about such a work of reformation as
this with all speed, go through with it, and abide
by it; and I will cause you to dwell in this place, this
temple; it shall continue your place of resort and
refuge, the place of your comfortable meeting with
God and one another; and you shall dwell in the
land that I gave to your fathers for ever and ever,
and shall never be turned out either from God’s
house or from your own. It is promised that they
snail still enjoy their civil and sacred privileges, that
they shall have a comfortable enjoyment of them; 1
will cause you to dwell here; (and those dwell at
ease, whom God gives a settlement to;) they shall
enjoy it by covenant, by virtue of the grant made ct
it to their fathers, net by providence, but by pro¬
mise. They shall continue in the enjoyment of it
without eviction or molestation, they shall net be
disturbed, much less dispossessed, for ever and ever;
nothing but sin could throw them out. An ever¬
lasting inheritance in the heavenly Canaan is hereby-
secured to all that live in godliness and honesty.
And the vulgar Latin reads a further privilege here,
v. 3, 7. Habitabo vobiscum — I will dwell with you
in this place; and we should find Canaan itself 'but
an uncomfortable place to dwell in, if God did not
dwell with us there.
2. What were the lying words of their own hearts,
which they must not trust to. He cautions them
against this self-deceit; (v. 4.) “ Trust not in lying
words; you are told in what way, and upon what
terms, you may be easy, safe, and happy; now do
not flatter yourselves with an opinion that you mav
be so on any other terms, or in any other way.”
Yet he charges them with this self-deceit arising
from vanity; ( v . S.) “ Behold , it is plain that you
do trust in lying words, notwithstanding what is
said to you; you trust in words that cannot profit;
you rely upon a plea that will stand you in no stead. ”
They that slight the words of truth, which would
profit them, take shelter in words of falsehood,
which cannot profit them. Now these lying words
were, “ The temple of the Lord, the temple of the
Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these. These
buildings, the courts, the holy place, and the holy
of holies, are the temple of the' Lord, built by his ap¬
pointment, to his glory; here he resides, here he is
worshipped, here we meet three times a year topay
our homage to him as our King in his palace.” This
they thought was security enough to them to keep
God and his favours from leaving them, God and his
judgments from breaking in upon them. When the
prophets told them how sinful they were, and how
miserable they were likely to be still, they appealed
to the temple; “ How can we be either so or so, as
long as we have that holy, happy place among us?”
The prophet repeats it because they repeated it
upon all occasions. It was the cant of the times, it
was in their mouths upon all occasions. If they
heard an awakening sermon, if any startling piece
of news was brought upon them, they lulled them¬
selves asleep again with this, “We cannot but do
well, for we have the temple of the Lord among us.”
Note, The privileges of a form of godliness, are
often the pride and confidence of those that are
strangers and enemies to the power of it. It is com¬
mon for those that are furthest from God, to boast
themselves most of their being near to the church.
They are haughty because of the holy mountain;
(Zeph. iii. 11.) as if God’s mercy were so tied to
them, that they might defy his justice.
Now, to convince them what a frivolous plea this
was, and what little stead it would stand them in,
(1.) He shows them the gross absurdity of it in
itself. If they knew any thing either of the temple
of the Lord, or of the Lord of the temple, they must
think that to plead that, either in excuse of their sin
against God, or in arrest of God’s judgment against
them, was the most ridiculous, unreasonable thing
that could be.
[1.] God is a holy God; but this plea made him
the Patron of sin, of the worst of sins, which even
the light of nature condemns; (v. 9, 10.) “What,”
says he, “ will you steal, murder, and commit adul
tery, be guilty of the vilest immoralities, and which
the common interest, as well as the common sense,
of mankind witness against? Will you swear falsely,
a crime which all nations (who with the belief of' a
358
JEREMIAH, VII.
God have had a veneration for an oath) have always
had a horror of? Will you burn incense to Baal, a
dunghill-deity, that sets'up as a rival with the great
Jehovah, and, not content with that, will you walk
after other gods too, whom you know not , and by
all these crimes put a daring affront upon God, both
as the Lord of hosts, and the God of Israel ? Will
you exchange a God whose power and goodness
you have had such a long experience of, for gods
whose ability and willingness to help you you know
nothing of? And when you have thus done the
worst you can against God, will you brazen your
ficcs so far as to come and stand before him in this
house which is called by his name, and in which his
name is called upon — stand before him as servants
waiting his commands, as supplicants expecting his
favour? Will you act in open rebellion against him,
and yet herd yourselves among his subjects, among
the best of them? By this, it should seem, you
think that either he does not discover, or does not
dislike, your wicked practices, to imagine either of
which is to put the highest indignity possible upon
him. It is as if you should say, He are delivered
to do all these abominations.” If they had not the
front to say this totidem verbis — in so many words,
yet their actions speak it aloud. They could not but
own that God, even their own God, had many a
time delivered them, and been a present Help to
them, when otherwise they must have perished.
He, in delivering them, designed to reduce them
to himself, and by his goodness to lead them to re¬
pentance; but they resolved to persist in their abo¬
minations notwithstanding; as soon as they were de¬
livered, (as of old in the days of the Judges,) they
did evil again i?i the sight of the Lord; which was,
in effect, to say, in direct contradiction to the true
intent and meaning of the providences which had
affected them, that God had delivered them in order
to put them again into a capacity of rebelling against
him bv sacrificing the more profusely to their idols.
Note, Those who continue in sin because grace has
abounded, or that grace may abound, do, in effect,
make Christ the Minister of sin. Some take it
thus; “You present yourselves before God with
your sacrifices and sin-offerings, and then say, IVe
are delivered, we are discharged from our guilt,
now it shall do us no hurt; when all this is but to
blind the world, and stop the mouth of conscience,
that you may, the more easily to yourselves, and
the more plausibly before others, do all these abo¬
minations.”
[2.] His temple was a holy place; but this plea
made it a protection to the most unholy persons;
“Is this house, which is called by my name, and is
a standing sign of God’s kingdom, set up among
men in opposition to the kingdom of sin and Satan
— is this become a den of robbers in your eyes? Do
you think it was built to be not only a rendezvous
of, but a refuge and shelter to, the vilest of malefac¬
tors?” No; though the horns of the altar were a
sanctuary to him that slew a man unawares, yet
they were not so to a wilful murderer, nor to one
that did aught presumptuously, Exod. xxi. 14. — 1
Kingsii. 29. Those that think to excuse themselves
in unchristian practices with the Christian name,
and sin the more boldly and securely because there
is a Sin-offering provided, do, in effect, make God’s
house of prayer a den of thieves; as the priests in
Christ’s time, Mattb. xxi. 13. But could they thus
impose upon God? No, Behold, I have seen it, saith
the Lord, have seen the real iniquity through the
counterfeit and dissembled piety. Note, Though
men may deceive one another with the shows of de¬
votion, vet they cannot deceive God.
(2.) He shows them the insufficiency of this plea
adjudged long since in the c: se of Shiloh.
[1 1 It is certain that Shiloh was ruined, though
it had God’s sanctuary in it, when by its wicked
ness it profaned that sanctuary ; (v. 12. ) Go ye now
to my place which was in Shiloh; it is probable that
the ruins of that once flourishing city were yet re¬
maining; they might, at least, read the history of it,
which ought to affect them as if they saw the place:
there God set his name at the first, there the taber¬
nacle was set up when Israel first took possession
of Canaan, (Josh, xviii. 1.) and thither the tribes
went up; but those that attended the service of the
tabernacle there, corrupted both themselves and
others, and from them arose the wickedness of his
people Israel; that fountain was poisoned, and sent
forth malignant streams; and what came of it? Go,
see what God did to it! Was it protected by its
having the tabernacle in it? No, God forsook it,
(Ps. lxxviii. 60.) sent his ark into captivity, cut off
the house of Eli that presided there; and it is very
probable that the city was quite destroyed, for we
never read any more of it but as a monument of di¬
vine vengeance upon holy places when they har¬
bour wicked people. Note, Gcd’s judgments uprn
others, who have really revolted frem God, while
they have kept up a profession of nearness to him,
should be a warning to us not to trust in lying words.
It is good to consult precedents, and make use of
them ; remember Lot’s wife; remember Shiloh and
the seven churches of Asia; and know that the ark
and candlestick are moveable things, Rev. ii. 5.
Matth. xxi. 43.
[2.] It is as certain that Shiloh’s fate will be Je¬
rusalem’s doom, if a speedy and sincere repentance
prevent it not. First, Jerusalem was now as sinful
as ever Shiloh was; that is proved by the unerring
testimony of God himself against them; (t. 1,3.)
“You have done all these works, you cannot deny
it:” and they continued obstinate in their sin; that
is proved by the testimony of Gcd’s messengers, by
whom he spake unto them to return and repent,
rising up early and speaking, as one in care, as one
in earnest, as one who would lose no time in deal¬
ing with them; nay, who should take the fittest op¬
portunity for speaking to them early in the morning,
when, if ever, they were sober, and had their
thoughts free and clear; but it was all in vain, God
spake, but they heard not, they heeded not, they
never minded; he called them, but they answered
not; they would not come at his call. Note, What
God has spoken to us greatly aggravates what we
have done against him.
Secondly, Jerusalem shall shortly be as miserable
as ever Shiloh was; Therefore will I do unto this
house as I did to Shiloh, ruin it, and lay it waste:
v. 14. Those that tread in the steps of the wicked
ness of those that went before them, must expert to
fall by the like judgments, for all these things hap¬
pen to them for ensamples. The temple at Jerusa¬
lem, though ever so strong built, if wickedness was
found in it, would be as unable to keep its ground,
and as easily conquered, as even the tabernacle in
Shiloh was, when God’s day of vengeance was
come; “ This house” (says God) “ is called by my
name, and therefore you may think that I should
protect it; it is the house in which you trust, and
you think that it will protect veu; this land is the
place, this city the place, which I gave to you and
your fathers, and therefore you are secure of the
continuance of it, and think that nothing can turn
you out of it; but the men of Shiloh thus flattered
themselves, and did but deceive themselves.” He
quotes another precedent, (v. 15.) the ruin rf the
kingdom of the ten tribes, who were the seed of
Abraham, and had the covenant of circumcision,
and possessed the land which God gave to them
and their fathers, and yet their idolatries threw
them out, and extirpated them? “And ran you
think but that the same evil courses should be as
JEREMIAH, VII.
fatal to you?” Doubtless they will be so, for God
is uniform, and of a piece with himself in his judi¬
cial proceedings. It is a rule of justice, ut parium
fiar sit ratio — that in a paritq of cases the same
judgment should proceed; “ Vou have corrupted
yourselves as your brethren the seed of E/ihraim
did, and are become their brethren in iniquity, and
therefore I will cast you out of my sight as I have
cast them.” The interpretation here given of the
judgment, makes it a terrible one indeed; the cast¬
ing of them out of their land signified God’s casting
them out of his sight as if he would never look upon
them, never look after them more. Wherever we
are cast, it is well enough, if we be kept in the love
of God; but if we are thrown out of his favour, our
case is miserable though we dwell in our own land.
This threatening, that God would make this house
like Shiloh, we shall meet with again, and find Jere¬
miah indicted for it, ch. xxvi. 6.
16. Therefore pray not thou for this peo¬
ple, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them,
neither make intercession to me : for I will
not hear thee. 1 7. Seest thou not what they
do in the cities of Judah, and in the streets
of Jerusalem? 18. The children gather
wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and
the women knead their dough, to make
cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour
out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they
may provoke me to anger. 19. Do they
provoke me to anger? saith the Lord: do
they not provoke themselves, to the confu- !
sion of their own faces? 20. Therefore thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, mine anger
and my fury shall be poured out upon this
place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon
the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of
the ground ; and it shall burn, and shall not
be quenched.
God hud showed them, in the foregoing verses,
that the temple, and the service of it, of which they
boasted, and in which they trusted, should not avail
to prevent the judgment threatened. But there
was another thing which might stand them in some
stead, and which yet they had no value for, and
that was, the prophet’s intercession for them; his
prayers would do them more good than their own
pleas: now here that support is taken from them;
and their case is sad indeed, who have lest their in¬
terest in the prayers of God’s ministers and people.
I. God here forbids the prophet to pray for them;
(y. 16.) “The decree is gone forth, their ruin is
resolved on, therefore pray not thou for this peo¬
ple , pray not for the preventing of this judgment
threatened; they have sinned unto death, and there¬
fore pray not for their life, but for the life of their
souls,” i John v. 16. See here, 1. That God’s pro¬
phets are praying men; Jeremiah foretold the de¬
struction of Judah and Jerusalem, and yet prayed
for their preservation, not knowing that the decree
was absolute; and it is the will of God that we pray
for the peace of Jerusalem. Even when we threat¬
en sinners with damnation, we must pray for their
salvation, that they may turn, and live. Jeremiah
was hated, and persecuted, and reproached, by the
children of his people, and yet he prayed for them,
for it becomes us to render good for evil. 2. That
God’s praying prophets have a great interest in
heaven, how little soever they have on earth. When
God was determined to destroy this people, he be¬
speaks the prophet net to pray for them, because
he would not have his prayers to lie (as prophets’
prayers seldom did) unanswered. God said to Mo¬
ses, Let me alone, Exod. xxxii. 10. 3. It is an ill
omen to a people, when God restrains the spirits of
his ministers and people from praying for them,
and gives them to see their case so desperate, that
thev have no heart to speak a good word for them.
4. Those that will not regard good ministers’ preach¬
ing, cannot expect any benefit by their praying. If
you will not hear us when we speak from God to
you, God will not hear us when we speak to him
for you.
II. He gives him a reason for this prohibition.
Praying breath is too precious a thing to be lost and
thrown away upon a people hardened in sin, and
marked for ruin.
1. They are resolved to persist in their rebel lion
I against God, and will not be turned back hy the
prophet’s preaching: for this he appeals to the pro¬
phet himself, and his own inspection and observa¬
tion; (to 17.) Seest thou not what they do openly,
and publicly, without either shame or fear, in the
cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem it
This intimates both that the sin was evident, and
could not be denied, and that the sinners were im¬
pudent, and would not be reclaimed: they commit¬
ted their wickedness even in the prophet’s presence
and under his eye; he saw what they did, and yet
they did it, which was an affront to his > ffic.e, and
to him whose officer he was, and bade defiance to
both.
Now observe, (1.) What the sin is, with which
they are here charged — it is idolatry, v. 18. Their
idolatrous respects are paid to the queen of heax'en,
the moon, either in an image, or hi the original, or
both: they worshipped it, probably, under thename
of Ashtaroth, or some other of their goddesses,
being in love with the brightness in which they saw
the moon walk, and thinking themselves indebted to
her for her benign influences, orfearingher malignant
ones, Job xxxi. 26. The worshipping cf the moon
was much in use among the heathen nations, Jer.
xli v. 17, 19. Some read it the frame or workman¬
ship of heaven; the whole celestial globe with all
its ornaments and powers was the object cf their
adoration. They worshipped the host of heaven.
Acts yii. 42. The homage they should have paid
to their Prince, they paid to the statues that beau¬
tified the frontispiece of his palace; they worshipped
the creatures instead cf him that made them, the
servants instead of him that commands them, and
the gifts instead of him that gave them. With the
queen of heaven they worshipped other gods, ima¬
ges of things not only in heaven above, but in the
earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth;
for those that forsake the true God, wander end¬
lessly after false ones. To these deities of their own
making they offer cakes for meat-offerings, and pour
out drink-offerings, as if they had their meat and
drink from them, and were obliged to make to them
their acknowledgments; and see how busy they are,
and how every hand is employed in the service cf
these idols, according as they used to be employed
in their domestic services. The children were sent
to gather wood, the fathers kindled the fire to heat
the oven, being of the poorer sort, that cculd net
afford to keep servants to do it, yet they would ra¬
ther do it themselves than it should be undone; the
women kneaded the dough with their own hands,
for perhaps though they had servants to do it, thev
took a pride in showing their zeal for their idols bv
doing it themselves. Let us be instructed even bv
this bad example, in the service of rur God. [1. j
Let us honour him with our substance, as these th; t
have our subsistence from him, •, ml eat i nd drink
to the glory of him from win m we have < ur meat
JEREMIAH, VII.
3G0
and drink. [2.] Let us not decline the hardest ser¬
vices, nor disdain to stoop to the meanest , by which
God may be honoured; tor none shall kindle a Jirc
on God’s altar for naught. Let us think it an ho¬
nour to be employed in any work for God. [3.]
Let us bring up our children in the acts of devo¬
tion; let them, as they are capable, be employed in
doing something toward the keeping up of religious
exercises.
2. What is the direct tendency of this sin; “ It is
that they may provoke me to anger, they cannot
design any thing else in it. But, (v. 19.) do they
provoke me to anger? Is it because I am hard to be
pleased, or easily provoked? Or am I to bear the
blame of the resentment? No, it is their own doing,
they may thank themselves, and they alone shall
bear it.” Is it against God, that they provoke him
to wrath? Is he the worse for it? Does it do him
any real damage? No, is it not against themselves,
to the confusion of their own faces? It is malice
against God, but it is impotent malice, it cannot hurt
him; nay, it is foolish malice, it will hurt them¬
selves; they show their spite against God, but they
do the spite to themselves. Canst thou think any
other than that a people, thus desperately set upon
their own ruin, should be abandoned?
2. God is resolved to proceed in his judgments
against them, and will not be turned back by the
prophet’s prayers; (v. 20.) Thus saith the Lord
God, and what he saith he will not unsay, nor can all
the world gainsay; hear it therefore, and tremble;
“ Behold , my anger and my fury shall be poured
out upon this place as the flood of waters was upon
the old world, or the shower of fire and brimstone
upon Sodom; since they will anger me, let them see
what will come of it.” They shall soon find, (1.)
That there is no escaping this deluge of fire, either
by flying from it, or fencing against it; it shall be
poured out on this place, though it be a holy place,
the Lord’s house. It shall reach both man and
beast, like the plagues of Egypt, and, like some of
them, shall destroy the trees of the field, and the
fruit of the ground, which they had designed and
prepared for Baal; and of which they had made
cakes to the queen of heaven. (2.) There is no ex¬
tinguishing it; it shall burn, and shall not be quench¬
ed; prayers and tears shall then avail nothing; when
his wrath is kindled but a little, much more when
it is kindled to such a degree, there shall be no
quenching of it. God’s wrath is that fire unquench¬
able, which eternity itself will not see the period of;
Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.
21. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel; Put your burnt-offerings unto
your sacrifices, and eat flesh. 22. For I
spake not unto your fathers, nor command¬
ed them in the day that I brought them out
of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-of¬
ferings or sacrifices: 23. But this thing
commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice,
and I will be your Goci, and ye shall be my
people; and walk ye in all the ways that I
have commanded you, that it may be well
unto you. 24. But they hearkened not, nor [
inclined their ear, but walked in the coun¬
sels and in the imagination of their evil
heart, and went backward, and not for¬
ward. 2.5. Since the day that your fathers
came forth out of the land of Egypt unto
this day, I have even sent unto you all my
servants the prophets, daily rising up early,
and sending them. : 26. Y et they hearkened
not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hard¬
ened their neck : they did worse than their
fathers. 27. Therefore thou shalt speak all
these words unto them ; but they will not
hearken to thee : thou shalt also call unto
them; but they will not answer thee. 28.
But thou shalt say unto them, This is a na¬
tion that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord
their God, nor receiveth correction : truth is
perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
God, having showed the people that the temple
would not protect them while they polluted it with
their wickedness, here shows them that their sacri¬
fices would not atone for them, nor be accepted, while
they went on in disobedience. See with what con¬
tempt he here speaks of their ceremonial service;
(u. 21.) “Put your bumt-ojferings to your sacrifi¬
ces, goon in them as long as you please; add one
sort of sacrifice to another; turn your burnt-offer¬
ings, which were to be wholly burnt to the honour
of God, into peace-offerings,” (which the offerer
himself had a considerable share of,) “ that you may
eat flesh, for that is all the good you are likely to
have from your sacrifices, a good meal’s meat or
two; but expect not any other benefit by them while
you live at this loose rate. Keep your sacrifices to
yourselves,” (so some understand it,) “ let them be
served up at your own table, for they are no way
acceptable at God’s altars.” For the opening of
this,
I. He shows them that obedience was the only
thing he required of them, v. 22, 23. He appeals
to the original contract, by which they were first
formed into a people, when they were brought out
of Egypt. God made them a kingdom of priests to
himself, not that he might be regaled with their
sacrifices, as the devils, whom the heathen worship¬
ped, which are represented as eating with pleasure
the fat of their sacrifices, and drinking the wine of
their drink-offerings, Deut. xxxii. 38. No, Will
God eat the flesh of bulls? Ps. 1. 13. I spake not to
your fathers concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifi¬
ces, not of them at first. The precepts of the moral
law were given before the ceremonial institutions;
and those came afterward, as trials of their obe¬
dience, and assistances to their repentance and faith.
The Levitical law begins thus, if any man of you
will bring an offering, he must do so and so, (Lev.
i. 2. — ii. 1. ) as if it were intended rather to regulate
sacrifice than to require it: but that which God
commanded, which he bound them to by his su¬
preme authority, and which he insisted upon as the
condition of the covenant was, Obey my voice; see
Exod. xv. 26. where this was the statute and the or¬
dinance by which God proved them, Hearken dili¬
gently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The con¬
dition of their being God’s peculiar people was this,
(Exod. xix. 5.) If ye will obey my voice indeed.
“Make conscience of the duties of natural religion,
observe positive institutions from a principle of obe¬
dience; and then, I will be your God, and ye shall
be mu people,” the greatest honour, happiness, and
satisfaction, that any of the children of men are ca¬
pable of. “ Let your conversation be regular, and
in every thing study to comply with the will and
word of God; walk within the bounds that I have
set you, and in all the ways that I have commanded
you, and then you may assure yourselves that it
shall be well with you.” The demand here is very
reasonable, that we should be directed by Infinite
Wisdom to that which is fit; that he that made us
should command us, and that he should give us law.
JEREMIAH, VII.
361
who gives us our being, and all the supports of it.
And the promise is very encouraging; Let God’s
will be your rule, and his favour shall be your
felicity.
II. He shows them that disobedience was the only
thing for which he had a quarrel with them. He
would not reprove them for their sacrifices, for the
omission of them, they had been continually before
him, (Ps. 1. 8.) with them they hoped to bribe God,
and purchase a license to go on in sin. That there¬
fore which God had all along laid to their charge,
was, breaking his commandments in the course of
their conversation; while they observed them, in
some instances, in the course of their devotion, v.
24, 25, &c.
1. They set up their own will in competition with
the will of God. They hearkened not to God and
to his law, they never heeded that, it was to them
as if it had never been given, or were of no force;
they inclined not their ear to attend to it, much less
their hearts to comply with it. But they would
have their own way, would do as they chose, and
not as they were bidden. Their own counsels were
their guide, and not the dictates of divine wisdom ;
that shall be lawful and good with them, which
they think so, though the word of God says quite
contrary. The imaginations of their evil heart, the
appetites and passions of it, shall be a law to them,
and they will walk in the way of it, and in the sight
of their eyes.
2. If they began well, yet they did not proceed,
but soon flew off. They went backward, when they
talked of making a captain, and returning to Egypt
again, and would not go forward under God’s con¬
duct. They promised fair, All that the Lord shall
say unto us we will do; and if they would but have
kept in that good mind, all had been well; but, in¬
stead of going on in the way of duty, they drew
back into the way of sin, and were worse than ever.
3. When God sent to them by word of mouth to
put them in mind of the written word, which was
the business ol the prophets, it was all one, still
they were disobedient. God had servants of his
among them in every age, since they came out of
Egypt, unto this day, some or other to tell them of
their faults, and put them in mind of their duty,
whom he rose up early to send, (as before, v. 13.)
as men rise up early to call servants to their work;
but they were as deaf to the prophets as they were
to the law; (y. 26.) Yet they hearkened not, nor in¬
clined their ear. This had been their way and man¬
ner all along; they were of the same stubborn, re¬
fractory disposition with those that went before
them; it had all along been the genius of the nation,
and an evil genius it was, that continually haunted
them till it ruined them at last.
4. Their practice and character were still the
same; they are worse, and not better, than their fa¬
thers.
(1.) Jeremiah can himself witness against them,
that they were disobedient, or he shall soon find it
so; (o. 27.) "Thou shalt speak all these words to
them, shalt particularly charge them with disobe¬
dience and obstinacy; but even that will not work
upon them, they will not hearken to thee, nor heed
thee; thou sh dt go, and call to them with all the
plainness and earnestness imaginable, but they will
not answer thee, they will either give thee no an¬
swer at all, or not an obedient answer; they will not
come at thy call. ”
(2.) He must therefore own that they deserved
the character of a disobedient people that were ripe
for destruction, and must go to them, and tell them
so to their faces; (u. 28.) “Say unto them. This is
a nation that obeys not the voice of the Lord their
God; they are notorious for their obstinacy; they
sacrifice to the Lord as their God, but they will not !
Vol. iv. — 2Z
be ruled by him as their Goa; they will not receive
| either ^he instruction of his word or the correction
1 of his rod, they will not be reclaimed or. reformed
, by either; truth is perished among them, they can¬
not receive it, they will not submit to it, nor be
governed by it; they will not speak truth, there is
jj no believing a wi rd they say, for it is cut off from
their mouth, and lying comes in the room of it; they
are false both to God and man.
29. Cut off thy hair, O Jerusalem , and
cast it away, and take up a lamentation on
high places ; for (he Lord hath rejected and
forsaken the gene* at ion of his wrath. 30.
For the children of Judah have done evil in
my sight, saith the Lord : they have set
their abominations in the house which is
called by my name, to pollute it. 31. And
they have built the high places of Tophet,
which is in the valley of the son of Hin-
nom, to burn their sons and their daughters
in the fire; which I commanded thevi not,
neither came it into my heart. 32. There¬
fore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that it shail no more be called Tophet, nor,
The valley of the son of Hinnom, but, The
valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in
Tophet till there be no place. 33. And the
carcases of this people shall be meat for
the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts
of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
34. Then will I cause to cease from the ci¬
ties of Judah, and from the streets of Jeru¬
salem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of
gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and
the voice of the bride ; for the land shall be
desolate.
Here is,
I. A loud call to weeping and mourning. Jeru¬
salem, that had been a joyous city, the joy of the
whole earth, must now take up a lamentation on
high places, (u. 29.) the high places where they had
served their idols; there must they now bemoan
their misery. In token both of sorrow and slavery,
Jerusalem must now cut off her hair, and cast it
away; the word is peculiar to the hair of the Naza-
rites, which was the badge and token of their dedi¬
cation to God, and it is called their crown. Jerusa¬
lem had been a city which was a Nazarite to God,
but must now cut off her hair, must be profaned,
degraded, and separated from God, as she had
been separated to him. It is time for those that
have lost their holiness, to lay aside their joy.
II. Just cause given for this great lamentation.
1. The sin of Jerusalem appears here very hein¬
ous, nowhere worse, or more exceedingly sinful.
“The children of Judah” (God’s professing peo-
f le, that came forth out of the waters of Judah,
sa. xlviii. 1.) “have done evil in my sight, under
my eye, in my presence; they have affronted me to
my face, which very much aggravates the affront:”
or, “ They have done that which they know to be evil
in my sight, and in the highest degree offensive to
me.” Idolatry was the sin which was, above ali
other sins, evil in God’s sight. Now here are two
things charged upon them in their idolatry, which
were very provoking.
(1.) That they were very impudent in it toward
Gcd, and set him at defiance; (v. 30.) They have
362
JEREMIAH, VII.
set their abominations, their abominable idols, and
the altars erected to them, in the house that is called
bit mi/ name, in the very courts of the temple, to
pollute it. Manasseh did so, (2 Kings xxi. 7. xxiii.
12.) as if they thought God would connive at it, or
cared not though he was never so much displeased
with it; or as if they would reconcile heaven and
hell, God and Baal. The heart is the place which
God has chosen to put his name there; if sin have
the innermost and uppermost place there, we pol¬
lute the temple of the Lord, and therefore he re¬
sents nothing more than setting up idols in their
heart, Ezek. xiv. 4.
(2.) That they were very barbarous in it toward
their own children, v. 31. They have particularly
built the high places of Tophet, where the image of
Moloch was set up, in the valley of the son of Hin-
nom, adjoining to Jerusalem; and there they burned
their sons and their daughters in the fire, burned
them alive, killed them, and killed them in the most
ci'uel manner imaginable, to honour or appease
those idols that were devils, and not gods. This
was surely the greatest instance that ever was of the
power of Satan in the children of disobedience, and
of the degeneracy and corruption of the human na¬
ture: one would willingly hope that there were not
man)’ instances of such a barbarous idolatry, but it
is amazing that there should be any, that men could
be so perfectly void of natural affection, as to do a
thing so inhuman, as to burn little innocent children,
and their own too; that they should be so perfectly
void of natural religion, as to think it lawful to do
this; nav, to think it acceptable; surely it was in a
way of righteous judgment, because they had chang¬
ed the glory of God into the similitude of a beast,
that God gave them up to such vile affections as
changed them into worse than beasts. God says of
this, that it was what he commanded them not, nei¬
ther came it into his heart; which is not meant of his
not commanding them thus to worship Moloch,
(this he had expressly forbidden them,) but, he had
never commanded that his worshippers should be at
such an expense, nor put such a force upon their
natural affection, in honouring him; it never came
into his heart to have children offered to him, yet
they had forsaken his service for the service of
such gods as, by commanding this, showed them¬
selves to be indeed enemies to mankind.
2. The destruction (f Jerusalem appears here
verv terrible: that speaks misery enough in general;
(t. 29.) The Lord hath rejected and forsaken the
generation of his wrath. Sin makes those the gene¬
ration of God’s wrath, that had been the generation
cf his love. And God will reject and quite forsake
them, who have thus by their impenitence made
themselves vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.
He will disown them for his; Verily, I say unto you,
I know you not; and lie will give them up to the
terrors of their own guilt, ana leave them in those
hands.
(1.) Death shall triumph over them, v. 32, 33.
Sin reigns unto death, for that is the wages of it, the
end of those things. Tophet, the valley adjoining
to Jerusalem, shall be called the valley of slaughter,
f r there multitudes shall be slain, when, in their
sallies out of the city, and their attempts to escape,
they fall into the hands of the besiegers. Or, it
shall be called the valley of slaughtered ones, be¬
cause thither the corpses of those that are slain shall
be brought, to be buried, all other burying-places
being full; and there they shall bury until there be
no more place to make a grave. This intimates the
multitude of those that shall die by the sword, pes-
til-nce, and f mine; death shall ride on prosperously
w'th dreadful pomp and power, conquering and to
conquer. The slain of the Lord shall be many.
This valley of Tophet was a place where the citi
zens of Jerusalem walked to take the air; but it
shall now be spoiled for that use, for it shall be so
full of graves, that there shall be no walking there,
because of the danger of contracting a ceremonial
pollution by the touch of a grave. There it was
that they sacrificed some of their children, and dedi¬
cated others to Moloch, and there they shall full as
victims to divine justice. Tophet had formerly
been the burying-place, or burning-place, of the
dead bodies of the besiegers, when the Assyrian
army was routed by an angel; and for this it was or¬
dained of old, Isa. xxx. 33. But they having for¬
gotten this mercy, and made it the place of their
sin, God will now turn it into a burying-place for
the besieged. In allusion to this valley, hell is in the
New Testament called Gehenna — the valley of
Hinnom, for there were buried both the invading
Assyrians, and the revolting Jews; so hell is a re¬
ceptacle after death both for infidels and hypocrites,
the open enemies of God’s church, and its treacher¬
ous friends; it is the congregation of the dead; it is
prepared for the generation of God’s wrath. But
so great shall that slaughter be, that even the spa¬
cious valley of Tophet shall not be able to contain
the slain; and at length there shall not be enough
left alive to bury the dead, so that the carcases of
the people shall be meat for the birds and beasts of
prey, that shall feed upon them like carrion, and
none shall have the concern or courage to frighten
them away, as Rizpah did from the dead bodies of
Saul’s sons, 2 Sam. xxi. 10. This was according
to the threatening of the law, and a branch of the
curse; (Deut. xxviii. 26.) Thy carcase shall be
meat to the fowls and beasts, and no man shall fray
them away. Thus do the law and the pix phots
agree, and the execution with both. The decent
burying of the dead is a piece of humanity, in re¬
membrance of what the (lead body has been — the
tabernacle of a reasonable soul. Nay, it is a piece
of divinity, in expectation of what the dead body
shall be at the resurrection: the want of it has some¬
times been an instance of the rage of men against
God’s witnesses, Rev. xi. 9. Here it is threatened
as an instance of the wrath of God against his ene¬
mies, and is an intimation that evil pursues sirmers
even after death.
(2.) Joy shall depart from them; ( v . 34.) Then
will I cause to cease the voice of mirth. Gcd had
called by his prophets, and by lesser judgments, to
weeping and mourning; but they walked contrary
to him, and would hear of nothing but joy and glad¬
ness, Isa. xxii. 12, 13. And what came cf it? Now
God called to lamentation, (y. 29.) and he made
his call effectual, leaving them neither cause i or
heart for joy and gladness. They that will net
weep, shall weep; they that will not by the grace of
God be cured of their vain mirth, shall by the jus¬
tice of Gcd be deprived of all mirth; for when Goa
judges he will overcome. It is threatened here,
that there shall be nothing to rejoice in; there shall
be none of the joy of weddings; no mirth, for there
shall be no marriages; the comforts c f life shall be
abandoned, and all care to keep up mankind upr n
earth cast off; there shall be none of the voice of the
bridegroom and the bride; no music, no nuptial
songs; nor shall there be any more r.f the joy of har¬
vest, for the land shall be desolate, uncultivated and
unimproved: both the cities of Judah, and the streets
of Jerusalem, shall look thus melancholy; and when
they thus look about them, and see no cause to re¬
joice, no marvel if they retire into tin mselves, and
find no heart to rejoice. Note, God cm soon mar
the mirth of the most jovial, and make it to cease,
which is a reason why we slv uld alw vs rij ice
with trembling; be merry and wise.
363
JEREMIAH, VIII.
CHAP. VIII.
The prophet proceeds, in this chapter, both to magnify and
to justify the destruction that God was bringing upon
his people^ to show' how grievous it would be, and yet
how righteous. I. He represents the judgments coming
as so very terrible, that death should appear so as most
to be dreaded, and yet should be desired, v. 1 . .3. II.
He aggravates the wretched stupidity and wilfulness of
this people, as that which brought this ruin upon them,
v. 4-. 12. III. He describes the great confusion and
consternation that the whole land should be in, upon the
alarm of it? v. 13- • 17. IV. The prophet is himself deeply
affected with it, and lays it very much to heart, v.
IS . .22.
1 . A T that time, saith the Lord, they
13 l shall bring out the bones of the kings
of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and
the bones of the priests, and the bones of
the prophets, and the bones of the inhabit¬
ants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: 2.
And they shall spread them before the sun,
and the moon, and all the host of heaven,
whom they have loved, and whom they
have served, and after whom they have
walked, and whom they have sought, and
whom they have worshipped : they shall
not be gathered, nor be buried ; they shall
be for dung upon the face of the earth. 3.
And death shall be chosen rather than life
by all the residue of them that remain of
this evil family, which remain in all the
places whither I have driven them, saith
die Lord of hosts.
These verses might fitly have been joined to the
dose of the foregoing chapter, as giving a further
description of tire dreadful desolation which the
army of the Chaldeans should make in the land. It
shall strangely alter the property of death itself,
and for the worse too.
1. Death shall not now be, as it always used to
be — the repose of the dead. When Job makes his
court to the grave, it is in hope of this, that there he
shall rest with /tings and counsellors of the earth;
but now the ashes of the dead, even of kings and
princes, shall be disturbed, and their bones scatter¬
ed at the grave’s mouth, Ps. cxli. 7. It was threat¬
ened in the close of the former chapter, that the
slain should be unburied; that might be through
neglect, and was not so strange; but here we find
the graves of those that were buried, industriously
and maliciously opened by the victorious enemy;
who, either for covetousness, hoping to find treasure
in the graves, or for spite to the nation, and in a
rage against it, brought out the bones of the kings
of Judah, and the princes. The dignity of their
sepulchres could not secure them, nay, did the more
expose them to be rifled; but it was base and bar¬
barous thus to trample upon royal dust. We will
hope that the bones of good Josiah were not dis¬
turbed, because he piously protected the bones of
the man of God, when he burned the bones of the
idolatrous priests, 2 Kings xxiii. 18. The bones of
the priests and prophets too were digged up and
thrown about. Some think the false prophets, and
the \A<\-priests, God putting this mark of ignominy
upon them: but if they were God’s prophets and
his priests, it is what the Psalmist complains of, as
the fruit of the outrage of the enemies, Ps. lxxix:
1, 2. Nay, those of the spiteful Chaldeans that
c mid not reach to violate the sepulchres of princes
mi nriests, would rather play at small game than
sit out, and therefore pulled the bones of the ordi¬
nary inhabitants of Jerusalem out of their graves.
The barbarous nations were sometimes guilty of
these absurd and inhuman triumphs over those they
had conquered, and God permitted it here, for a
mark of his displeasure against the generation of his
wrath, and for terror to those that survived. The
bones being digged out of the graves, were spread
abroad upon the face of the earth in contempt, and
to make the reproach the more spreading and last¬
ing. They spread them to be dried, that they
might carry them about in triumph, or might make
fuel of them, or make some superstitious use of
them. They shall be spread before the sun; for
they shall not be ashamed openly to avow the fact
at noon-day : and before the moon and stars, even all
the host of heaven, whom they have made idols of,
v. 2. From the mention of the sun, moon, and
stars, which should be the unconcerned spectators
of this tragedy, the prophet takes occasion to show
how they had idolized them, and paid those respects
to them, which they should have paid to God only;
that it might be observed how little they got by
worshipping the creature, for the creatures they
worshipped when they were in distress, saw it, but
regarded it not, nor gave them anv relief, but were
rather pleased to see those abused in being vilified,
by whom they had been abused in being deified.
See how their respects to their idols are enumer¬
ated, to show how we ought to behave toward cur
God. (1.1 They loved them; as amiable beings and
bountiful Denefactors they esteemed them and de¬
lighted in them, and therefore did all that follows.
(2.) They served them, did all they could in honour
of them, and thought nothing too much; they con¬
formed to all the laws of their superstition, without
disputing. (3.) They walked after them, strove to
imitate and resemble them, according to the cha¬
racters and accounts of them they had received,
which gave rise and countenance to much of the
abominable wickedness of the heathen. (4. ) They
sought them, consulted them as oracles, appealed
to them as judges, implored their favour, and prayed
to them as their benefactors. (5.) They worshipped
them, gave them divine honour, as having a sove¬
reign dominion over them. Before these lights of
heaven, whom they had courted, shall their dead
bodies be cast, and left to putrefy, and to be as
dung upon the face of the earth; and the sun’s shin-
ingupon them will but make them the more noisome
and offensive. Whatever we make a god of but
the true God only, it will stand us in no stead on the
other side death and the grave, not for the body,
much less for the soul.
2. Death shall now be what it never used to be —
the choice of the living: not because there appears
in it any thing delightsome; on the contrary, death
never appeared in more horrid, frightful shapes
than now, when they cannot promise themselves
either a comfortable death or a human burial; and
yet every thing in this world shall become so irk¬
some, and all the prospects so black and dismal,
that death shall be chosen rather than life; (v. 3.)
not in a believing hope of happiness in the other
life, but in an utter despair of any ease in this life.
The nation is now reduced to a family, so small is
the residue of those that remain in it; and it is an
evil family, still as bad as ever, their hearts un¬
humbled, and their lusts unmortified: these remain
alive (and that is all) in the many places whither
they were driven by the judgments <f God; some
risoners in the country of their enemies, others
eggars in their neighbours’ country, and others
fugitives and vagabonds there and in their own
country. And though those that died, died very
miserably, yet those that survived, anol were thus
driven out, should live yet mere miserably; so that
3(54 JEREMIAH, VIII.
they should choose death rather than life, and wish
a thousand times that they had fallen with them
tn it f 11 by the sword. Let this cure us of the in-
ordm ite love of life, that the case may be such, that
it may become a burthen and terror, and we may
he strongly tempted to choose strangling and death
rather.
4. Moreover, thou shalt say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord; Shall they fall, and
not arise? shall he turn away, and not re¬
turn? 5. Why then is this people of Jeru¬
salem slidden back by a perpetual back¬
sliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to
return. 6. 1 hearkened and heard, but they
spake not aright : no man repented him of
his wickedness, saying, What have I done?
every one turned to his course, as the horse
rusheth into the battle. 7. Yea, the stork
in the heaven knoweth her appointed times;
and the turtle, and the crane, and the swal¬
low, observe the time of their coming: but
my people know not the judgment of the
Lord. 8. How do ye say, We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo,
certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the
scribes is in vain. 9. The wise men are
ashamed, they are dismayed and taken : lo,
they have rejected the word of the Lord ;
and what wisdom is in them? 10. There¬
fore will I give their wives unto others, and
their fields to them that shall inherit them:
for every one, from the least even unto the
greatest, is given to covetousness; from the
prophet even unto the priest, every one
dealeth falsely. 11. For they have healed
the hurt of the daughter of my people
slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there
is no peace. 12. Were they ashamed when
they had committed abomination? nay, they
were not at all ashamed, neither could they
blush : therefore shall they fall among them
that fall: in the time of their visitation they
shall be cast down, saith the Lord.
The prophet here is instructed to set before this
people the folly of their impertinence, which was it
that brought this ruin upon them. They are here
represented as the most stupid, senseless people in
the world, that would not be made wise by all the
methods that Infinite Wisdom took to bring them
to themselves and their right mind, and so to pre¬
vent the ruin that was coming upon them.
I. They would not attend to the dictates of reason;
they would not act in the affairs of their souls with
the same common prudence with which they acted
m other things. Sinners would become saints, if
they would show themselves men; and religion
would soon rule them, if right reason might. Ob¬
serve it here; Come, and let us reason together,
saith the Lord; (v. 4, 5.) Shall men fall, and not
arise ? If men happen to fall to the ground, to tall
into the dirt, will they not get up again as fast as
they can? They are not such fools as to lie still
when they are down. Shall a man turn aside out
of the right way? Yes, the most careful traveller
may miss his way; but then, as soon as he is aware
of it, will he not return ? Yes, certainly he will,
with all speed, and will thank him that showed him
his mistake. Thus men do in other things; why
then is this people of Jerusalem slicldeh back by a
ficrfietual backsliding? Why do not they, when
they are fallen into sin, hasten to get up again by
repentance? Why do not they, when they see tin y
have missed their way, correct their error, and re¬
form? No man in his wits will go on in a way that
he knows will never bring him to his journey’s end;
why then is his fieo/ile shdden back by a ficrfietual
backsliding? See the nature of sin— it is a back¬
sliding, it is going back from the right way ; nc t
only into a by-path, but into a contrary path; back
from the way that ieads to life to that which leads
to utter destruction. And this backsliding, if al¬
mighty grace do not interpose to prevent it, will be
a perpetual backsliding! the sinner not only wan¬
ders endlessly, but proceeds endwise toward ruin.
The same subtilty of the tempter that brings men
to sin, holds them fast in it, and they contribute to
their own captivity, they hold fast deceit. Sin is a
great cheat, and they hold it fast; they love it
dearly, and resolve to stick to it, and baffle all the
methods God takes to part between them and their
sins. The excuses they make for their sins are
deceits, and so are all their hopes of impunity; yet
they hold fast these, and will not be undeceived,
and therefore they refuse to return. Note, There
is some deceit or other which those hold fast that
go on wilfully in sinful wayspsome lie in their right
hand, by which they keep hold of their sins.
II. They would not attend to the dictates of con¬
science, which is our reason reflecting upon ourselves
and our own actions, v. 6. Observe, 1. What ex¬
ecutions there were from them, that they would
ethink themselves; I hearkened and heard. The
orophet listened to see what effect his preaching
lad upon them; God himself listened, as one that
desires not the death of sinners, that would have
been glad to hear any thing that promised repent¬
ance, that would certainly have heard it, if there
had been any thing said of that tendency, and would
soon have answered it with comfort, as he did David
when he said, I will confess, Ps. xxxii. 5. God
looks upon men, when they have done amiss, (Job
xxxiii. 27.) to see what they will do next; \\e heark¬
ens and hears. 2. How these expectations were
disappointed; They spake not aright, as I thought
they would have done. They did not only not do
right, but not so much as speak right; God could
not get a good word from them, nothing on which
to ground any favour to them, or hopes concerning
them. There was none of them that spake aright,
none that repented him of his wickedness. These
that have sinned, then, and then only, speak aright,
when they speak of repenting; and it is sad when
those that have made so much work for repentance,
do not say a word of repenting. Not only did God
not And any repenting of the national wickedness,
which might have helped to empty the measure rf
public guilt, but none repented of that particular
wickedness which he knew himself guilty of. (1.)
They did not so much as take the first step toward
repentance; they did not so much as say, 117iat
have I done? There was no motion towards it, not
the least sign or token of it. Note, True repentance
begins in a serious and impartial inquiry into our¬
selves, what we have done, arising from a convictk n
that we have done amiss. (2.) They were so far
from repenting of their sins, that they went on
resolutely in their sins; Every one turned to his
course, his wicked course, that course of sin which
he had chosen and accustomed himself to, as the
horse rushes into the battle, eager upon action, and
scorning to be curbed. How the horse rushes into
the battle, is elegantly described, Jobxxxix. 21,8cc.
365
JEREMIAH, VIII.
He mocks at fear, and is not affrighted. Thus the
during sinner laughs at the threatenings of the word
as bugbears, and runs violently upon the instruments
of death and slaughter, and nothing will be restrain¬
ed from him.
III. They would not attend to the dictates of
providence, nor understand the voice of God in
them, v. 7. 1. It is an instance of their sottishness,
that, though they are God’s people, and therefore
should readily understand his mind, upon every in¬
timation of it, yet they know not the judgment of
the Lord, they apprehend not the meaning either
of a mercy or of an affliction, not how to accommo¬
date themselves to either, or to answer God’s inten¬
tion in either. They know not how to improve the
seasons of grace that God affords them when he
sends them his prophets', nor how to make use of
the rebukes they are under when his -voice cries in
the city. They discern not the signs of the times,
(Matth. xvi. 3.) nor are aware how God is dealing
with them. They know not that way of duty,
which God had prescribed them, though it be
written both in their hearts and in their books. 2.
It is an aggravation of their sottishness, that there
is so much sagacity in the inferior creatures. The
stork in the heaven knows her appointed times of
coming and continuing; so do other season-birds,
the turtle, the crane, and the swallow; these by a
natural instinct change their quarters, as the tem¬
per of the air alters; they come when the spring
comes, and are gone, we know not whither, when
the winter approaches; probably, into warmer cli¬
mates, as some birds come with winter, and are
gGne when that is over.
IV. They would not attend to the dictates of the
written word. They say, We are wise; but how
can they say so? With what face can they pretend
to any thing of wisdom, when they do not under¬
stand themselves so well as the brute creatures?
Why, truly, they think they are wise, because the
law of the Lord is with them, the book of the law
and the interpreters of it; and their neighbours, for
the same reason, conclude they are wise ; Deut. iv. 6.
But their pretensions are groundless for all this; Lo,
certainly in vain made he it; surely never any peo¬
ple had Bibles to so little purpose as they have.
They might as well have been without the law, un¬
less they had made a better use of it. God has
indeed made it able to make men wise to salvation,
but as to them it is made so in vain, for they are
never the wiser for it; The pen of the scribes, of
those that first wrote the law, and of those that now
write expositions of it, are in vain. Both the favour
of their God, and the labour of their scribes, are
lost upon them; they receive the grace of God
therein in vain. Note, There are many that enjoy
abundance of the means of grace, that have great
plenty of Bibles and ministers, but they have them
in vain; they do not answer the end of their having
them. But it might be said, They have some wise
men among them, to whom the taw and the pen of
the scribes are not in vain. To this it is answered,
(v. 9.) The wise men are ashamed, they have rea¬
son to be so, that they have not made a better use
of their wisdom, and lived more up to it. They
are confounded and taken; all their wisdum has net
served to keep them from those courses that tend
to their min. They are taken in the same snares
that others of their neighbours, who have not pre¬
tended to so much wisdom, are taken in, and filled
with the same confusion. Those that have more
knowledge than others, and yet do no better than
others for their own souls, have reason to be
ashamed. They talk of their wisdom, but, Lo,
they have rejected the word of the Lord; they would
not be governed by it, would not follow its direction,
would not do what they knew; and then what wis¬
dom is in them? None to any purpose; none that
will be found to their praise at the great day, how
much soever it is found to their pride now.
The pretenders to wisdom, who said, " H e are
wise, and the law of the Lord is with us,” were the
priests and the false prophets; with them the pro¬
phet here deals plainly.
1. He threatens the judgments of God against
them. Their families and estates shall be ruined;
(v. 10.) Then • wives shall be given to others, when
they are taken captives, and their fields shall be
taken from them by the victorious enemy, and shall
be given to those that shall inherit them; not only
strip them for once, but take possession ot them as
their own, and acquire a property in them, which
they shall transmit to their posterity. And, (v. 12.)
notwithstanding all their pretensions to wisdom and
sanctity, they Jail among them that fall; for if the
blind lead the blind, both shall fall together into the
ditch. In the time of their visitation, when the
wickedness of the land comes to be inquired into, it
will be found that they have contributed to it nu re
than any, and therefore they shall be sure to be cast
down and cast out. *
2. He gives a reason for these judgments, (y.
10, 12.) even the same account of their badness
which we meet with before, (c/i. vi. 13. — 15.) where
it was opened at large. (1.) They were greedy of
the wealth of this world, which is bad enough in
any, but worst in prophets and priests, who slu uld
be best acquainted with another world, and there¬
fore should be most dead to this. But these, from
the least to the greatest, were given to covetousness.
The priests teach for hire, and the prophets divine
for money, Mic. iii. 11. (2.) They made no con¬
science of speaking truth, no not when they spake
as priests and prophets; Every one deals falsely;
looks one way, and rows another. There is no
such thing as sincerity among them. (3.) They
flattered people in their sins, and so flattered them
into destruction. They pretended to be the physi¬
cians of the state, but knew not how to apply propel
remedies to its growing maladies; they healed them
slightly, killed the patient with palliative cures;
silencing their fears and complaints with “Peace,
peace, all is well, and there is no danger,” when the
God of heaven was proceeding in his controversy
with them, so that there could be no peace to them.
(4.) When it was made to appear how basely they
prevaricated, they were not at all ashamed of it,
but rather gloried in it; (y. 12.) They could not
blush, so perfectly lost were they to all sense of
virtue and honour; when they were convicted ( f the
grossest forgeries, they would justify what they had
done, and laugh at those whom they had imposed
upon. Such as these were ripe for ruin.
13. 1 will surely consume them, saitli the
Lord : there shall be no grapes on the vine,
nor tigs on the fig-tree, and the leaf shall
fade; and the things that 1 have given them
shall pass away from them. 14. Why do
we sit still ? assemble yourselves, and let us
enter into the defenced cities, and let us be
silent there: for the Lord our God hath put
us to silence, and given us waters of gall to
drink, because we have sinned against the
Lord. 15. We looked for peace, but no
good came ; and for a time of health, and be¬
hold trouble ! 1 6. The snorting of his
horses was heard from Dan ; the whole land
trembled at the sound of the neighing of his
strong ones; for they are come, and have.
JEREMIAH, VIII.
3P6
devoured the land, and all that is in it; the
city, and those that dwell therein. 1 7. For,
behold, I, will send serpents, cockatrices,
among you, which will not be charmed, and
they shall bite you, saith the Lord. 18.
fVhen 1 would comfort myself against sor¬
row, my heart is faint in me. 19. Behold,
the voice of the cry of the daughter of my
people, because of them that dwell in a far
country. Is not the Lord in Zion 1 is not
her king in her ? why have they provoked
me to anger with their graven images, and
with strange vanities ? 20. The harvest is
past, the summer is ended, and we are not
saved. 21. For the hurt of the daughter of
my people am I hurt; I am black; astonish¬
ment hath taken hold on me. 22. Is there
no balm in Gilead ? is there no physician
there ? why then is not the health of the
daughter of my people recovered ?
In these verses, we have,
I. God threatening the destruction of a sinful
people. He has borne long with them, but they
are still more and more provoking, and therefore
now their ruin is resolved on; I will surely consume
them ; (y. 13.) consuming Twill consume them, not
only surely, but utterly, consume them; will follow
them with one judgment sifter another, till they are
quite consumed; it is a consumption determined,
Isa. x. 23.
1. They shall be quite stripped of all their com¬
forts; [y. 13.) There shall he no grapes on the vine.
Some understand it as intimating their sin; God
came looking for grapes from this vineyard, seek¬
ing fruit upon this fig-tree, but he found none, (as
Isa. v. 2. Luke xiii. 6.) nay, they had not so much
as leaves, Matth. xxi. 19. But it is rather to be
understood of God’s judgments upon them; and may
be meant literally; The enemy shall seize the fruits
of the earth, shall pluck the grapes and figs for
themselves, and beat down the very leaves with
them; or, rather, figuratively ; They shall be de¬
prived of all their comforts, and shall have nothing
left them wherewith to make glad their hearts. It
is expounded in the last clause, The things that I
have given them shall pass away from them.
Note, God’s gifts are upon condition, and revocable
upon non-perf nuance of the condition. Mercies
abused are forfeited, and it is just with God to take
the forfeiture.
2. They shall be set upon by all manner of griev¬
ances, and surrounded with calamities; ( v . 17.) I
will send serpents among you, the Chaldean army,
fiery serpents, flying serpents, cockatrices; these
shall bite them with their venomous teeth, give
them wounds that shall be mortal: and they shall
not be charmed, as some serpents used to be, with
music. These are serpents of another nature, that
are not so wrought upon; or they are as the deaf
adder, that stops her ear, and will not hear the voice
of the charmer. The enemies are so intent upon
making slaughter, that it will be to no purpose to
accost them gently, or offer any thing to pacify
them or mollify them, or to bring them to a better
temper. No peace with God, therefore none with
them.
II. The people sinking into despair under the
pressure of those calamities. They that were void
oj fear, (when the trouble was at a distance,) and
set it at defiance, are void of hope now that it breaks
i in upon them, and have no heart, either to make
head against it, or to bear up under it, v. 14. They
; cannot think themselves safe in the open villages;
l Thy do we sit still here ? Get us assemble and go in
a body into the defenced cities. Though they could
expect no other than to be surely cut off there at
last, yet not so soon as in the country, and therefoi e,
“ Let us go, and be silent there: let us attempt no¬
thing, nor so much as make a complaint; fer to
what purpose?” It is not a submissive, but a sullen,
silence, that they here condemn themselves to.
Those that are most jovial in their prosperity, com¬
monly despond most, and are most melancholy, in
trouble.
Now observe what it is that sinks them.
1. They are sensible that God is angry with
them; The Lord our God has put us to silence, has
struck us with astonishment, and given us water
of gall to drink, which is both bitter and stupifying,
or intoxicating; (Ps. lx. 3.) “ Thou hast made us to
drink the wine of astonishment. We had better sit
still than rise up and fall; better say nothing than
say nothing to the purpose. To what purpose is it
to contend with our fate, when God himself is be¬
come our Enemy, and fights against us? Because
we have sinned against the Lord, therefore we are
brought to this plunge.” This may be taken as the
language, (1.) Of their indignation. They seem to
quarrel with God, as if he had dealt hardly with
them, in putting them to silence, not permitting
them to speak for themselves, and then telling
them, that it was because they had sinned against
him. Thus men’s foolishness perverts their way,
and then their hearts fret against the Lord. Or,
rather, (2.) Of their convictions. At length thev
begin to see the hand of God lifted up against them,
and stretched out in the calamities under which
they are now groaning, and to own that they have
provoked him to contend with them. Note, Sooner
or later, God will bring the most obstinate to ac¬
knowledge both his providence and his justice, in
all the troubles they are brought into; to see a d
say, both that it is his hand, and that he is righteous.
2. They are sensible that the enemy islikelv to
be too hard for them, v. 16. They are soon ap¬
prehensive that it is to no purpose to make head
against such a mighty force; they and their people
are quite dispirited; and when the courage of a na¬
tion is gone, their numbers will stand them in little
stead. The snorting of the horses was heard from
Dan, the report of the formidable strength of their
cavalry was soon carried all the nation over, and
every body trembled at the sound of the neighing
of his steeds; for they are come, and there is no op¬
posing them; they have devoured the land, and all
that is in the city; both town and country are laid
waste before them, not only the wealth, but the in¬
habitants of both, those that dwell therein. Note,
When God appears against us, every thing else
that is against us appears very formidable; whereas
if he be for us, every thing appears very despicable,
Rom. viii. 31.
3. They are disappointed in their expectations
of deliverance out of their troubles, as they had
been surprised when their trouble came upon them:
and this double disappointment very much aggra-
va ed their calamity. (1.) The trouble came when
they little expected it; (n. 15. ) He looked for peace.
the continuance of our peace, but no good came, no
good news from abroad; we looked for a time of
health and prosperity to our nation, but behold trou
ble, the alarms of war; for, as it follows, ( v . 16.) the
noise of the enemies’ horses was heard from Dan.
Their false prophets had cried, Peace, peace, to
them, which made it the more terrible, when the
scene of war opened on a sudden. This complaint
will occur again, ch. xiv. 19. (2.) The deliverance
JEREMIAH, VIII.
367
did not come, when they had long exfiected it; (y.
20. ) The harvest is past', the summer is ended; there
is .1 great deal of time gone. Harvest and summer
■ire parts of the year, and when they are gone, the
■. ear draws toward a conclusion; so the meaning is,
“ One year passes after another, one campaign alter
another, and yet our affairs are in as bad a posture
as ever they were; no relief comes, nor is any thing
d >ne towards it; We are not saved.” Nay, there
is a great deal of opportunity lost, the season of ac¬
tion is over and slipt, the summer and harvest are
gone, and a cold and melancholy winter succeeds.
Note, The salvation of God’s church and people
often goes on very slowly, and God keeps his peo¬
ple long in the expectation of it, for wise and holy
ends. Nay, they stand in their own light, and put
a bar in their own door, and are not saved, because
they are not ready for salvation.
4. They are deceived in those things which were
their confidence, and which they thought would
have secured their peace to them; (x1. 19.) The
daughter of my / xeople cries, cries aloud, because
of them that dwell in a far country, because of the
foreign enemy that invades them, that comes from
a f ir country to take possession of ours; this occa¬
sions the cry; and what is the cry ? It is this; Is not
the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her? These
were the two things that they had all along buoyed
up themselves with, and depended upon. (1.) That
they had among them the temple of God, and the
tokens of his special presence with them: the com¬
mon cant was, “ Is not the Lord in Zion? What
danger then need we fear?” And they held by this
when the trouble was breaking in upon them;
“Surely we shall do well enough, for have we not
God among us?” But when it grew to an extremity,
it was an aggravation of their misery that they had
thus flattered themselves. (2.) That they had the
thr ne of the house of David: as they had a temple,
so they had a monarch, jure divino — by divine
right; Is not Zion’s king in her? And will not
Zion’s God protect Zion’s king and his kingdom?
Surely he will; but why does he not? “What,”
(say they,) “ has Zion neither a God nor a king to
stand by her and help her, that she is thus run
down, and likely to be ruined?” This outcry of
theirs reflects upon God, as if his power and pro¬
mise were broken or weakened; and therefore he
r turns an answer to it immediately. Why have they
firovoked me to anger with their graven images?
They quarrel with God, as if he had dealt unkindly
by them in forsaking them, whereas they by their
idolatry had driven him from them; they have
withdrawn from their allegiance to him, and so
h ive thrown themselves out of his protection.
They fret themselves and, curse their king and their
God, (Isa. viii. 21.) when it is their own sin that
separates between them and God; (Isa. lix. 2. ) they
feared not the Lord, and then what can a king do
for them? Hos. x. 3.
Ill. We have here the prophet himself bewail¬
ing the calamity and ruin of his people; for there
were more of the lamentations of Jeremiah than
those we find in the book that bears that title. Ob¬
serve here,
1. How great his griefs were. He was an eye¬
witness of the desolations of his country, and saw
those things which by the spirit of prophecy he had
foreseen. In the foresight, much more in the sight
of them, he cries out, “ My heart is faint in me, I
sink, I die away at the consideration of it, v. 18.
When I would comfort myself against my sorrow,
I do but labour in vain; nay, every attempt to alle¬
viate the grief does but aggravate it.” It is our
wisdom and duty, under mournful events, to do
what we can to comfort ourselves against our sor¬
row, by suggesting to ourselves such considerations
as are proper to allay the grief, and balance the
grievance. But sometimes the sorrow is such, that,
the more it is repressed, the more strongly it re¬
coils. It may sometimes be the case of very good
men, as of the prophet here, whose soul refused to
be comforted, and fainted at the cordial, Ps. lxxvii.
2, 3. He tells, (i1. 21.) what was the matt r; “ It
is for the hurt of the daughter of my people, that I
am thus hurt; it is for their sin, and the miseries
they have brought upon themselves by it; it is for
this, that I am black, that I look black, that I go
in black as mourners do, and that astonishment has
taken hold on me, so that I know not what to do,
nor which way to turn.” Note, The miseries of
our country ought to be very much the grief of
our souls. A gracious spirit will be a public spirit,
a tender spirit, a mourning spirit. It becomes us
to lament the miseries of our fellow-creatures, much
more to lay to heart the calamities of our country,
and especially of the church of God, to grieve for
the affliction of Joseph. Jeremiah had prophesied
the destruction of Jerusalem, and though the truth
of his prophecy was questioned, yet he did not re¬
joice in the proof of the truth of it by the accom¬
plishment of it, preferring the welfare of his coun¬
try before his own reputation. If Jerusalem had
repented and been spared, he would have been far
from fretting, as Jonah did. Jeremiah had many
enemies irt Judah and Jerusalem, that hated and re¬
proached and persecuted him; and in the judgments
brought upon them, God reckoned with them for it,
and pleaded his prophets cause; vet he was far
from rejoicing in it, so truly did he forgive his ene¬
mies, and desire that God would forgive them.
2. How small his hopes were; (xc 22.) “ Is there
no balm in Gilead? No medicine proper for a sick
and dying kingdom? Is there no physician there?
No skilful, faithful hand to apply the medicine?”
He looks upon the case to be deplorable, and past
relief. There is no balm in Gilead, that can cure
the disease of sin ; no physician there, that can re¬
store the health of a nation quite overrun by such
a foreign army as that of the Chaldeans. The de¬
solations made are irreparable, and the disease is
presently come to such a height, that there is no
checking it. Or, this verse may be understood as
laying all the blame of the incurableness of their
disease upon themselves; and so the question must
be answered affirmatively; Is there no balm in Gi¬
lead? JVo physician there? Yes, certainly there is;
God is able to help and heal them, there is a suffi¬
ciency in him to redress all their grievances. Gi¬
lead was a place in their own land, not far off; they
had among themselves God’s law and his prophets,
with the help of which they might have been
brought to repentance, and their ruin might have
been prevented; they had princes and priests,
whose business it was to reform the nation, and re¬
dress their grievances. What could have been
done more than has been done for their recovery?
Why then is not their health restored? Certainly it
was not owing to God, but to themselves; it was not
for want of balm, and a physician, but because they
would not admit the application, nor submit to the
methods of cure. The physician and physic were
both ready, but the patient was wilful and irregular,
would not be tied to rules, but must be humoured.
Note, If sinners die of their wounds, their blood is
upon their own heads. The blood of Christ is balm
in Gilead, his Spirit is the Physician there. Doth
sufficient, all-sufficient, so that they might have been
healed, but would not.
CHAP. IX.
In ihis chapter, the prophet goes on faithfully to reprove
sin, and to threaten God’s judiments for it, and yet bit¬
terly to lament both, as one that neither rejoiced al
368
JEREMIAH, IX.
quity, nor was glad at calamities. I. He here expresses
his great grief for the miseries of Judah and Jerusalem,
and his detestation of their sins, which brought those
miseries upon them, v. 1.. 11. II. He justifies God in
the greatness of the destruction brought upon them, v. 9.
12.. 16. 111. He calls upon others to bewail the woful
case of Judah and Jerusalem, v. 17 . . 23. IV. He shows
them the folly and vanity of trusting in their own strength
or wisdom, or the privileges of their circumcision, or
any thing but God only, v. 23. . 26.
1 . £ that my head were waters, and
\Jf my eyes a fountain of tears, that I
might weep day and night for the slain of
the daughter of my people! 2. Oh that I
had in the wilderness a lodging-place of
wayfaring men, that I might leave my peo¬
ple, and go from them! for they be all adul¬
terers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3.
And they bend their tongue like their bow
for lies; but they are not valiant for the
truth upon the earth ; for they proceed from
evil to evil, and they know not me, saith
the Lord. 4. Take ye heed every one
of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any
brother: for every brother will utterly sup¬
plant, and every neighbour will walk with
slanders. 5. And they will deceive .every
one his neighbour, and will not speak the
truth : they have taught their tongue to
speak lies, and weary themselves to commit
iniquity. 6. Thy habitation is in the midst
of deceit; through deceit they refuse to
know me, saith the Lord. 7. Therefore
thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will
melt them, and try them; for how shall I
do for the daughter of my people? 8. Their
tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh
deceit : one speaketh peaceably to his neigh¬
bour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth
his wait. 9. Shall I not visit them for these
things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul
be avenged on such a nation as this? 10.
For the mountains will I take up a weep¬
ing and wailing, and for the habitations of
the wilderness a lamentation, because they
are burnt up, so that none can pass through
them; neither can men hear the voice of the
cattle: both the fowl of the heavens and the
beast are fled ; they are gone. 1 1 . And I
will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of
dragons; and I will make the cities of Ju¬
dah desolate, without an inhabitant.
The prophet, being commissioned both to foretell
the destruction coming upon Judah and Jerusalem,
and to point out the sin for which that destruction
was brought upon them, here, as elsewhere, speaks
of both very feelingly: what he said of both came
from the heart , and therefore one would have
thought it should have reached to the heart.
I. He abandons himself to sorrow , in considera¬
tion of the calamitous condition of his people, which
he sadlv laments, as one that preferred Jerusalem
before his chief joy, and her grievances 1 efore his
chief sorrows.
1. He laments the slaughter of the persons; the
bloodshed, and the lives lost; (v. 1.) “ 0 that my
head were waters, quite melted and dissolved with
grief, that so mine eyes might be fountains of tears,
weeping abundance, continually, and without inter¬
mission, still sending forth fresh floods of tears, as
there still occur fresh occasions for them!” The
same word in Hebrew signifies both the eye and a
fountain, as if in this land of sorrows our eves were
designed rather for weeping than seeing. Jeremiah
wept much, and yet wished he could weep more,
that he might affect a stupid people, and reuse them
to a due sense of the hand of God gone out against
them. Note, It becomes us, while we are here in this
vale of tears, to conform to the temper of the rli-
m ite, and to sow in tears. Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be cortforted hereafter; but
let them expect that while they are here, the clouds
will still return after the rain! While we find our
hearts such fountains of sin, it is fit that our eyes
should be fountains of tears. But Jeremiah’s grief
here is upon the public account: he would weep day
and night, not so much for the death of his own near
relations, but for the slain of the daughter of his
people, the multitudes of his countrymen that fell
by the sword of war. Note, When we hear of the
number of the slain in great battles and sieges, we
ought to be much affected with it, and net to make
a light matter of it; yea, though they be not of the
daughter of our people, for, whatever people they
are of, they are of the same human nature with us";
and there are so many precious lives lost, as dear
to them as ours to us, and so many precious souls
gone into eternity.
2. He laments the desolations of the country.
This he brings in, v. 10. (for impassioned mourners
are not often very methodical in their discourses,)
“Not for the towns and cities merely, but for the
mountains, will I take up a weeping and wailing;”
not barren mountains, but the fruitful hills with
which Judea abounded; and for the habitations of
the wilderness, cr, rather, the pastures of the plain,
that used to be clothed with Jlocks, or covered over
with corn; and a goodly sight it was; but now they
are burnt up by the Chaldean army, which, ac¬
cording to the custom of war, destroyed the forage,
and carried off all the cattle; so that no one dares to
pass through them, for fear of meeting with some
parties of the enemy; no one cares to pass through
them, every thing looks so melancholy and frightful;
no one has any business to pass through them, for
they hear not the voice of the cattle there as usual,
the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen,
that grateful music to the owners; nay, both the
fowl of the heavens, and the beasts, are fled, either
frightened away by the rude noises and terrible fires
which the enemies make, or forced away because
there is no subsistence for them. Note, God has
many ways of turning a fruitful land into barren¬
ness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein;
and the havock war makes in a country cannot but
be for a lamentation to all tender spirits, for it is a
tragedy which destroys the stage it is acted on.
II. He abandons himself to solitude, in considera¬
tion of the scandalous character and conduct of his
people. Though he dwells in Judah where God is
known, in Salem where his tabernacle is, yet he is
ready to cry out, Tic is me that I sojourn in Me-
sechl Ps. cxx. 5. While all his neighbours ere
fleeing to the defenced cities, and Jerusalem espe¬
cially, in dread of the enemies’ rage, (c/i. iv. 5, 6.)
he is contriving to retire into some desert, in detes¬
tation of his people’s sin; (r;. 2.) O that I had in the
wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men, such
a lonely cottage to dwell in as they have in the de¬
serts of Arabia, which are uninhabited, for travel¬
lers to repose themselves in. that / may leave my
people, and go from them'. Nr t cnly because < f the
365
JEREMJAH, IX.
it I usages they gave him, he would rather venture
himself among the wild beasts of the desert than
among such treacherous, barbarous people; but
principally, because his righteous soul was vexed
from day to day, as Lot’s was in Sodom, with the
wickedness of their conversation, 2 Pet. ii. 7, 8.
This does not bespeak any intention or resolution
that he had thus to retire. God had cut him out
work among them, which he must not quit for his
own ease; we must not go out of the world, bad as
it is, before our time: if he could not reform them,
he could bear a testimony against them; if he could
not do good to many, yet he might to some. But
his language bespeaks the temptation he was in to
leave them, a threatening that they should be de¬
prived of his ministry, and especially the holy in¬
dignation he had against their wickedness, which
continued so abominable, notwithstanding all the
pains he had taken with them to reclaim them. It
made him even weary of his life to see them dis¬
honouring God as they did, and destroying them¬
selves. Time was, when the place which God had
chosen to put his name there, was the desire and
delight of good men. David, in a wilderness, long¬
ed to be again in the courts of God’s house; but now
Jeremiah, in the courts of God’s house, (for there
he was when he said this,) wishes himself in a wil¬
derness. Those have made themselves very mise¬
rable, that have made God’s people and ministers
weary of them, and willing to get from them.
Now, to justify his willingness to leave them, he
shows,
1. What he himself had observed among them.
He would not think of leaving them because they
were poor, and in distress, but because they were
wicked.
(1.) They were filthy ; they be all adulterers;
that is, the generality of them are, ch. v. 8. They
all either practised this sin, or connived at those
that did. Lewdness and uncleanness constituted
that crying sin of Sodom, at which righteous Lot
was vexed in soul, and it is a sin that renders men
loathsome in the eyes of God and all good men; it
makes men an abomination.
(2. ) They were false. This is the sin that is
most enlarged upon here; they that had been un¬
faithful to their God, were so to one another, and it
was a part of their punishment as well as their sin,
for even those that love to cheat, yet hate to be
cheated. [1.] Go into their solemn meetings, ei¬
ther for the exercises of religion, for the adminis¬
tration of justice, or for commerce, either to church,
to court, or to the exchange; and they are an as¬
sembly of treacherous men, they are so by consent,
they strengthen one another’s hands in doing any
thing that is perfidious. There they will cheat de¬
liberately and industriously, with design, with a
malicious design; for they bend their tongue, like
their bow, for lies, with a great deal of craft; their
tongues are fitted for lying, as a bow that is bent
is for shooting, and are as constantly used for that
purpose. Their tongue turns as naturally to a lie
as the bow to the string. But they are not valiant
for the truth upon the earth. Their tongues are
like a bow strung, with which they might do good
service, if they would use the art and resolution
which they are so much masters of, in the cause of
truth; but they will not do so. They appear notin
defence of the truths of God, which were delivered
to them by the prophets; but even those that could
not deny them to be truths, were content to see them
run down. In the administration of justice, they
have not courage to stand by an honest cause that
has truth on its side, if greatness and power be on
the other side. Those that will be faithful to the
truth must be valiant for it, and not be daunted by
the opposition given to it, nor fear the face of man.
Vol. iv. — 3 A
They are not valiant for truth in the land, the land
which has truth for the glory of it. Truth is fallen
in the laud, and they dare not lend a hand to help it
up, ls..lix. 14, 15. We must answer, another day,
not only for our enmity in opposing truth, but fi r
our cowardice in defending it. [2.j Go into then
families, and you will find they will cheat theii
own brethren, ( every brother will utterly supplant,)
they will trip up one another’s heels if they can, fi >•
they ho at the catch, to seek all advantages against
those they hope to make a hand of. Jacob had his
name from supplanting, it is the word here used,
they followed him in his name, but not in his true
character, without guile. So very false are they,
that you cannot trust in a brother, but must stand
as much upon your guard, as if you were dealim
with a stranger, with a Canaanite that has balances
of deceit in his hand. Things are come to an ill pass
indeed, when a man cannot put confidence in Ids
own brother. [3.] Go into company, and observi
both their commerce and their conversation, mu’
you will find there is nothing of sincerity or ccmnu n
honesty among them; JVec hospes ab hospite tutus —
The host and the guest are in danger from each
other. The best advice a wise man can give vou.
is, to lake heed every one of his neighbour, nay, of
his friend, (so some read it,) of him whom he has
befriended, and who pretends friendship to him.
No man thinks himselt bound to be either grateful
or sincere. Take them in their converse; and
every neighbour will walk with slandi r, they care
not what ill they say one of another, though ever so
false; that way that the slander goes thev will go;
they will walk with it. They will walk about fre m
house to house too, carrying slanders along with
them, all the ill-natured stories they can pick up,
or invent, to make mischief. Take them in theii
trading and bargaining; and they will deceive every
one his neighbour, will say any thing, though thev
know it to be false, for their own advantage. Nav,
they will lie for lying sake, to keep their tongues in
use to it, for they will not speak the truth, but will
tell a deliberate lie, and laugh at it when they have
done.
That which aggravates the sin of this false and
lying generation, is, First, That they are ingenious
to sin; They have taught their tongue to speak lies ;
implying, that, through the reluctances of natural
conscience, they found it difficult to bring them¬
selves to it. Their tongue would have spoken truth,
but they taught it to speak lies, and by degrees have
made themselves masters of the art of lying, and
have got such a habit of it, that use has made it a
second nature to them. They learned it when they
were young, (for the wicked are estranged from the
womb, speaking lies, Ps. lviii. 3.) and now they are
grown dexterous at it. Secondly, That they are
industrious to sin; They weary themselves to com¬
mit iniquity; they put a force upon their consciences,
to bring themselves to it; they tire out their convic¬
tions by offering them continual violence, and they
take a great deal of pains, till they have even spent
themselves in bringing about their malicious de¬
signs. They are wearied with their sinful pursuits,
and yet not weary of them. The service of sin is a
perfect drudgery; men run themselves out of breath
in it, and put themselves to a great deal of toil, to
damn their own souls. Thirdly, That they grew
worse and worse; (v. 3.) They proceed from evil
to evil, from one sin to another, from one degree of
sin to another. They began with lesser sins; ( JVemt.
repente fit turpissimus — .A o one reaches the height
of vice at once;) they began with equivocating end
bantering, but at last came to downright lying. And
they are now proceeding to greater sins ye*, foi
they know not me, saith the Lord. Where men
have no knowledge of God, or no consideration ol
JEREMIAH IX.
.■(TO
wh it they have known c.f him, what good cm be
expected thorn them? Men’s ignorance of God is
the cause of all their ill conduct one towards an tiler.
2. The prophet shows what God had informed
hhn of their wickedness, and what he had deter¬
mined against them.
(1.) God had marked their sin. He could te l
the pr phet, (and he speaks of it with compassion,)
want s ,rt of people they were, that he had to deal
with. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest,
Rev. ii. 13. So here, (v. 6.) “ Thy habitation is
in the midst of deceit, all about thee are addicted to
it; therefore stand upon thy guard.” If all men are
liars, it concerns us to beware of men, and to be
wise as serpents. They are deceitful men, there¬
fore there is little hope of thy doing any good among
them; for make things ever so plain, they have
some trick or other wherewith to shuffle off their
convictions. This charge is enlarged upon, v. 8.
Their tongue was a bow bent, (y. 3.) plotting and
preparing mischief; here it is an arrow shot out,
putting in execution what they had projected. It is
as a slaying arrow ; so some readings of the original
have it: their tongue has been to many an instru¬
ment of death. They speak peaceably to their
neighbours, against wh .m they are at the same time
lying in wait: as Joab kissed Abner, when he was
about to kill him; and Cain, that he might not be
suspected of any ill design, talked with his brother
freely and familiarly. Note, Fair words, when they
are not attended with good intentions, are despica¬
ble, but when they are intended as a cloak and cover
for wicked intentions, they are abominable. While
they did all this injury to one another, they put a
great contempt upon God; “Not only they know
not me, but, (v. 6. ) through deceit, through the de¬
lusions of the false prophets, they refuse to know me;
they are so cheated into a good opinion of their own
ways, the ways of their own heart, that they desire
not the knowledge of my ways.” Or, They are so
wedded to this sinful course which they are in, and
so bewitched with that, and its gains, that they will
by no means admit the knowledge of God, because
tn.it would be a check upon them in their sins.
This is the ruin of sinners, they might be taught the
good knowledge of the Lord, and they will not learn
it. Where no knowledge of Gcd is, what good can
be expected? Hos. iv. 1.
(2.) He had marked them for ruin, v. 7, 9, 11.
Those that will not know God as their Lawgiver,
shall be made to know him as their Judge. God
determines here to bring his judgments upon them,
for the refining of some, and the ruining of the rest.
[1.] Some shall be refined; (y. 7.) “ Because they
are thus corrupt, behold, I will melt them, and try
them, will bring them into trouble, and see wiiat
that will do toward bringing them to repentance;
whether the furnace of affliction will purify them
from their dross, and whether, when they are melt¬
ed, they will be new-cast in a better mould.” He
will make trial of lesser afflictions, before he brings
upon them utter destruction, for he desires not the
death of sinners. They shall not be rejected as re¬
probate silver, till the Founder has melted in vain,
ch. vi. 29, 30. For how shall I do for the daughters
of my people ? He speaks as one -consulting with
himself what to do with them, that might be for the
best, and as one that could not find in his heart to
cast them off, and give them up to ruin, till he had
first tried all means likely to bring them to repent¬
ance. Or, “ How else shall I do for them? They
are grown so very corrupt, that there is no other
w iy with them but to put them into the furnace;
what other course can I take with them? (Isa v. 4,
5.) It is the daughter of my people, and 1 must do
something to vindicate my own honour, which will
he reflected upon if I connive at their wickedness; 1
must do something to reduce and reform them.” A
parent corrects Ins own children because they are
his own. Note, When God afflicts his people, it is
with a gracious design to mollify and reduce them;
it is but when need is, and when he knows it is the
best method he can use.
[2.] The rest shall be ruined; (v. 9.) Shall 1
not visit for these things? Fraud and falsehood are
sins whicn God hates, and which he will reckon for;
“ Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as
this, that is so universally corrupt, and, by its im¬
pudence in sin, even dares and defus divine ven¬
geance? The sentence is past, the decree is gene
forth, v. 11. I will make Jerusalem heaps cf rub¬
bish, and lay it in such ruins, that it shall be fit fi r
nothing but to be a den of dragons; and the cities of
Juda shall be a desolation.” God makes them so,
for he gives the enemy warrant and power to do it:
but why is the holy city made a heap? The answer
is ready, Because it was become an unholy one.
12. Who is the wise man, that may un¬
derstand this; and who is he to whom the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he
may declare it, for what the land peiisheth
and is burnt up like a wilderness, that none
passeth through? 13. And the Lord saith,
Because they have forsaken my law which
I set before them, and have not obeyed my
voice, neither walked therein ; 1 4. But have
walked after the imagination of their own
heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers
taught them; 15. Therefore thus saitli the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, 1
will feed them, even this people, with worm¬
wood, and give them water of gall to drink.
16. 1 will scatter them also among the hea¬
then, whom neither they nor their fathers
have known: and I will send a sword after
them, till I have consumed them. 1 7. Thus
saitli the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and
call for the mourning women, that they may
come; and send for cunning women , that
they may come; 18. And let them make
haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our
eyes may run down with tears, and our
eyelids gush out with waters. 19. For a
voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How
are we spoiled ! we are greatly confound¬
ed, because we have forsaken the land, be¬
cause our dwellings have cast us out. 20.
Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye wo¬
men, and let your ear receive the word of
his mouth, and teach your daughters wail¬
ing, and every one her neighbour lamenta¬
tion : 2 1 . For death is come up into our win¬
dows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut
off the children from without, and the young
men from the streets. 22. Speak, Thus
saith the Lord, Even the carcases of men
shall fall as dung upon the open field, and
as the handful after the harvest-man, and
none shall gather them.
Two things the prophet designs in tluse versts,
with reference to the approaching destruction cf
JEREMIAH, IX. 37)
hida. and Jerusalem. 1. To convince people of
the justice of God in it, that they had by sin brought
it upon themselves, and that therefore they had no
reason to quarrel with God, who did them no wrong
at all, but a great deal of reason to fall out with
their sins, which did them all this mischief. 2. To
affect people with the greatness of the desolation
that was coming, and the miserable effects of it,
that by a terrible prospect of it they might be
awakened to repentance and reformation, which
was the only way to prevent it, or, at least, mitigate
their own share in it. This being designed,
I. He calls for the thinking men, by them to show
people the equity of God’s proceedings, though they
seemed harsh and severe; (v. 12.) “ Who, where,
is the wise man, or the prophet, to whom the mouth
of the Lord hath sfioken? You boast of your wis¬
dom, and of the prophets you have among you; pro¬
duce me any one that has but the free use of human
reason, or any acquaintance with divine revelation,
and he will soon understand this himself, and it will
be so clear to him, that he will be ready to declare
it to others, th..t there is a just ground of God’s con¬
troversy with this people.” Do these wise men in¬
quire, For what does the land perish? What is the
matter, that such a change is made with this land?
It used to be a land that God cared for, and he had
his eyes upon it for good; (Deut. xi. 12.) but it is
now a land that he has forsaken, and that his face is
against: it used to flourish as the garden of the Lord,
and to be replenished with inhabitants; but now it
is burnt up like a wilderness, that none passeth
through it, much less cares to settle in it. It was
supposed, long ago, that it would be asked, when
it came to this. Wherefore has the Lord done thus
unto this land? What means the heat of this great
anger? (Deut. xxix. 24.) to which question God
here gives a full answer, before which all flesh must
be silent. He produces out of the record,
1. The indictment preferred and proved against
them, upon which they had been found guilty, v.
13, 14. It is charged upon them, and it cannot be
denied, (1.) That they have revolted from their
allegiance to their rightful Sovereign: therefore God
has forsaken their land, and justly, because they
h ive forsaken his law , which he had so plainly, so
fully, so frequently set before them, and had not ob¬
served his orders, not obeyed his voice, nor walked
in the ways that he had appointed. Here their
wickedness began, in the omission of their duty to
their God, and a contempt of his authority. But it
did not end here. It is further charged upon them,
(2.) That they have entered themselves into the
service of pretenders and usurpers, have not only
withdrawn themselves from their obedience to their
Prince, but have taken up arms against him. For,
[1.] They have acted according to the dictates of
their own'lusts, have set up their own will, the wills
of the flesh, and the carnal mind, in competition
with, and contradiction to, the will of God; They
have walked after the imagination of their own
heart ; they would do as they pleased, whatever God
and conscience said to the contrary. [2.] They
have worshipped the creatures of their own fancy,
the work of their own hands, according to the tra¬
dition received from their fathers; They have walk¬
ed after Baalim; the word is plural; they had many
Baals, B lal-peor, and Baal-berith, the Baal of this
place, and the Baal of the other place; for they had
lords many, which their fathers taught them to wor¬
ship, but which the God of their fathers had again
and again forbidden. This was it for which the land
perished. The King of kings never makes war thus
upon his own subjects, but when they treacherously
dep irt from him, and rebel against him, and it is
become necessary by this means to chastise their
rebellion, and reduce them to their allegiance; and
they themselves shall at length acknowledge that
lie is just in all that is brought upon them.
2. Th judgment given upon this indictment, the
sentence upon the convicted rebels, which must non
be executed, for it was righteous, and nothing could
be moved in arrest of it; The Lord of hosts, the God
of Israel, hath said it; ( v . 15, 16.) and who can re¬
verse it? (1.) That all their o mforts at home shall
be poisoned and imbittered to them; I will feed this
people with worm wood; or, rather, with wolfs¬
bane, for it signifies an herb that is not wholesome,
as wormwood is, though it be bitter, but some herb
that is both nauseous and noxious; and I will give
them water of gall, or juice of hemlock, or some
other herb that is poisonous, to drink. Every thing
about them, till it comes to their very meat and
drink, shall be a terror and torment to them. God
will curse their blessings, Mai. ii. 2. (2.) That
their dispersion abroad shall be their destruction;
(i'. 16.) I will scatter them among the heathen.
They are corrupted and debauched by their intima¬
cy with the heathen, with whom they mingled them¬
selves, and learned their works; and now they shall
lose themselves there where they lost their virtue,
among the heathen; they had violated the laws of
that truth, which is the bond and cement of society
and commerce, and addicted themselves to deceit
and lying, and therefore are justly crumbled to dust,
and scattered among the heathen. They set up
gods which neither they nor their fathers had known,
strange gods, new gods; (Deut. xxxii. 17.) and now
God will put them among neighbours which neither
they nor their fathers have known, which they can
claim no acquaintance with, and therefore can ex¬
pect no favour from. And yet, though they are
scattered so as that they will not know where to
find one another, God will know where to find them
all out, (Ps. xxi. 8.) with that evil which still pur¬
sues impenitent sinners; I will send a sword after
them, some killing judgment or other, till I have
consumed them; for when God judges, he will over¬
come, when he pursues, he will overtake. And
now we see for what the land perishes; all this de¬
solation is the desert of their deeds, and the per¬
formance of God’s words.
II. He calls for the mourning women, and en¬
gages them with their arts to affect people, and
move their passion, to lament these sad calamities
that were come, or coming, upon them, that the
nation might be alarmed to prepare for them. The
Lord of hosts himself says, Call for the mourning
women, that they may come, v. 17. The scope of
this is to show how very woful and lamentable the
condition of this people was likely to be.
1. Here is work for the counterfeit mourners;
Send for the cunning women that know how to com¬
pose mournful ditties, or, at least, to sing them in
mournful tunes and accents, and therefore are made
use of at funerals to supply the want of true mourn¬
ers. Let these take up a wailing for us, v. 18. The
deaths and funerals were so many, that people
wept for them till they have no more power to weep,
as those, 1 Sam. xxx. 4. Let them therefore do it
now, whose trade it is; or, rather, it intimates the
extreme sottishness and stupidity of the people, that
laid not to heart the judgments they were under,
nor, even when there was so much blood shed, could
find in their hearts to shed a tear. They cry not
when God binds them. Job xxxvi. 13. God sent
his mourning prophets to them, to call them to
weeping and mourning, but his word in their nv uths
did not work upon their faith; rather therefore than
they shall go laughing to their ruin, let the mourn¬
ing women come, and try to work upon their fanev,
that their eyes may at length run down with tears,
and their eyelids gush out with waters. First
last, sinners must be weepers.
372 JEREMIAH, IX.
2. Here is work for the real mourners.
(1.) There is that which is a lamentation. The
present scene is very tragical; (v. 19.) j1 voice of
mailing is heard out of Zion; some make this to be
the song of the mourning women; it is rather an
echo to it, returned by those whose affections were
moved by their wailings. In Zion the voice of joy
and praise used to be heard, while the people kept
close to God; but sin has altered the note, it is now
the voice of lamentation. It should seem to be the
voice of those who fled from all parts of the country
to the castle of Zion for protection. Instead of re¬
joicing that they were got safe thither, they lament¬
ed that they were forced to seek for shelter there.
“ How are me spoiled! How are we stripped of
all our possessions! JVe are greatly confounded,
ashamed of ourselves and our poverty;” for that is
it that they complain of, that is it that they blush at
the thoughts of, rather than of their sin; We are
confounded because me have forsaken the land,
forced so to do by the enemy, not because we have
forsaken the Lord, drawn aside of our own lust and
enticed; because our dwellings have cast us out,
not because our God has cast us off. Thus unhum¬
bled hearts lament their calamity, but not their ini¬
quity, the procuring cause of it.
(2.) There is more still to come, that shall be for
lamentation. Things are bad, but they are likely
to be worse. They whose land has sfiued them out,
(as it did their predecessors the Canaanites, and just¬
ly, because they trod in their steps, (Lev. xviii. 28.)
complain that they are driven into the city, but after
awhile, those of the city, and they with them, shall
be forced thence too; Yet hear the word of the Lord,
he has something more to say to you; (v. 20.) let
the women hear it, whose tender spirits are apt to 1
receive the impressions of grief and fear, for the
men will not heed it, will not give it a patient hear¬
ing. The prophets will be glad to preach to a con¬
gregation of women that tremble at God’s word.
Let your ear receive the word of God’s mouth, and
bid it welcome, though it be a word of terror. Let
the women teach their daughters wailing; this in¬
timates that the trouble shall last long; grief shall
be entailed upon the generation to come. Young
people are apt to love mirth, and expect mirth, and
are disposed to be gay and airy; but let the elder
women teach the younger to be serious, tell them
what a vale of tears they must expect to find this
world, and train them up among the mourners in
Zion, Tit. ii .4, 5. Let everyone teach her neighbour
lamentation; this intimates that the trouble shall
s /tread far, shall go from house to house, people
shall not need to sympathise with their friends, they
■.hall all have cause enough to mourn for themselves.
Note, Those that are themselves affected with the
terrors of the Lord, should endeavour to affect others
with them.
The judgment here threatened is made to look
terrible.
[1.] Multitudes shall be slain, v. 21. Death shall
ride in triumph, and there shall be no escaping his
arrests, when he comes with commission, neither
within doors nor without : not within doors, for let
the doors be shut ever so fast, let them be ever so
firmlv locked and bolted, death comes ufi into our
windows, like a thief in the night; it steals upon us
•■re we are aware. Nor does it thus boldly attack
the cottages only, but it is entered into our palaces,
the palaces of our princes and great men, though
ever so stately, ever so strongly built and guarded.
Note, No palaces can keep out death. Nor are
those more safe that are abroad; death cuts off even
t'ie children from without, and the young men from
the streets. The children who might have been
.pared by the enemy in pity., because they had
never been hurtful to them, and the young men
who might have been spared in policy, because ca
pable of being serviceable to them, shall fall to
gether by the sword. It'is usual now, even in the
severest military executions, to put none to the
sword but those that are found in arms; but then
even the boys and girls playing in the streets were
sacrificed to the fury of the conqueror.
[2.] Those that are slain shall be left unburied;
(v. 22.) Speak, Thus saith the Lord, (for the con¬
firmation and aggravation of what was before said,)
Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung, ne¬
glected, and left to be offensive to the smell, as dung
is. Common humanity obliges the survivors to bury
the dead, even for their own sake; but here such
numbers shall be slain, and those so dispersed all
the country over, that it shall be an endless thing to
bury them all, nor shall there be hands enough to do
it, nor shall the conquerors permit it, and those that
should do it, shall be overwhelmed with grief, so that
they shall have no heart to do it. The dead bodies
even of the fairest and strongest, when they have
lain awhile, become as dung, such vile bodies have
we. And here such multitudes shall fall, that their
bodies shall lie as thick as heaps of dung in the fur¬
rows of the field, and no more notice shall be taken
of them than of the handfuls which the harvestman
drops for the gleaners, for tione shall gather them,
but they shall remain in sight, monuments of divine
vengeance, that the eye of the impenitent survivors
may affect their heart. Slay them not, bury them
not, lest my people forget, Ps. lix. 11.
23. Thus saith the Lord, Let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let
the mighty man glory in his might, let not
the rich man glory in his riches: 24. But
let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he
understandeth and knoweth me, that I am
the Lord which exercise loving-kindness,
judgment, and righteousness, in the earth :
for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
25. Behold, the days come, saith the Lort,
that I will punish all them which are c’rcum-
cised with the uncircumcised ; 26. Egypt,
and Judah, and Edom, and the children of
Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the
utmost comers, that dwell in the wilderness :
for all these nations are uncircumcised, and
all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in
the heart.
The prophet had been endeavouring to possess
this people with a holy fear of God and his judg¬
ments, to convince them both of sin and wrath; but
still they had recourse to some sorry subterfuge oi
other, under which to shelter themselves from the
conviction, and with which to excuse themselves in
their obstinacy and carelessness: he therefore sets
himself here to drive them from these refuges of
lies, and to show them the insufficiency of them.
I. When they were told how inevitable the judg¬
ment would be, they plead the defence of their
politics and powers, which, with the help of their
wealth and treasure, they thought made their city
impregnable. In answer to this he shows them the
folly of trusting to, and boasting of, all these stays,
while they have not a God in covenant to stay them¬
selves upon, v. 23, 24.
Hcreheshows, 3. What we may nor depend upon
in a day of distress; Let not the svise man glory in
his wisdom, as if with the help of that he could rut-
wit or countermine the enemy, or in tire greatest
JEREMIAH, X.
“Xtremitv find out some evasion or other; for a man’s
•vit.il m may fail him then when he needs it most,
and he may betaken in his own craftiness. Ahitho-
phel was befooled, and counsellors are often led away
foiled. But if a man’s policies fail him, vet surely
he may gain his point by might, and dint of courage;
n let not the strong man glory in his strength, tor
the battle is not always to the strong: David the
stripling proves too hard for Goliath the giant. All
human force is nothing without God, worse than
nothing against him. But may not the rich man’s
wealth be his strong city ? (Money answers all
things. ) No, Let not the rich man glory in his riches,
f >r they may prove so far from sheltering him,
that they may expose him, and make him the fairer
mark. Let not the people boast of the wise men,
and mighty men, and rich then that they have
among them, as if they could make their part good
against the Chaldeans, because they have wise men
to advise concerning the war, mighty men to fight
their battles, and rich men to bear the charges of the
war. Let not particular persons think to escape the
common calamity by their wisdom, might, or money,
for all these will prove but vain things for safety.
2. He shows what we may depend upon in a day
of distress, (1.) Our only comfort in trouble will be,
that we have done our duty. They that refused to
know God, (it. 6.) will boast in vain of their wisdom
and wealth; but they that know God intelligently,
that understand aright that he is the Lord, that
have not only right apprehensions concerning his
nature, and attributes, and relation to man, but re¬
ceive and retain the impressions of them, may glory
in this, it will be their rejoicing in the day of evil.
(2.) Our only confidence in trouble will be, that,
having through grace in some measure done our duty,
we shall find God a God all-sufficient to us. We may
glory in this, that, wherever we are, we have an
acquaintance with, and an interest in, a God that
exercises loving-kindness, and judgment, and righ¬
teousness, in the earth; that is not only just to all his
creatures, and will do no wrong to any of them, but
kind to all his children, and will protect them, and
provide for them. For in these things I delight.
God delights to show kindness, and to execute judg¬
ment himself, and is pleased with those who herein
are followers of him as dear children. Those that
have such knowledge of the glory of God as to be
changed into the same image, and' to partake of his
holiness, find it to be their perfection and glory; and
the God they thus faithfully conform to, they may
cheerfully confide in, in their greatest straits. But
the prophet intimates that the generality of this
people took no care about this. Their wisdom, and
might, and riches, were their joy and hope, which
would end in grief and despair. But those few
among them that had the knowledge of God, might
please themselves with it, and boast themselves of
it; it would stand them in better stead than thousands
of gold and silver.
II. When they were told how provoking their
sins were to God, they vainly pleaded the covenant
of their circumcision. They were, undoubtedly,
tire people of God; as they had the temple of the
Lord in their city, so thev had the mark of his chil¬
dren in their flesh. “ It Is true, the Chaldean army
has laid such and such nations waste, because they
weie uncircumcised, and therefore not under the
protection of the Divine Providence, as we are.”
To this the prophet answers, That the days of
visitation were now at hand, in which God would
punish all wicked people, without making any dis¬
tinction between the circumcised and uncircumcised,
v. 25, 26. They had by sin profaned the crown of
their peculiarity, and lived in common with the un¬
circumcised nations, and so had forfeited the benefit
of that peculiarity, and must expect to fare never
the better for it. God will fiunish the circumcised
with the uncircumcised. As the ignorance of the
uncircumcised shall not excuse their wickedness, so
neither shall the privileges of the circumcised ex¬
cuse theirs, but they shall be punished together.
Note, The Judge of all the earth is impartial, and
none shall fare the better af his bar for any external
advantages, but he will render to every man, cir¬
cumcised or uncircumcised, according to his works.
The condemnation of impenitent sinners that are
baptized, will be as sure as, nay, and more severe
than, that of impenitent sinners that are unbaptized.
It would affect one to find here Judah industriously
put between Egypt and Ed< m, as standing upon "a
level with them, and under the same doom, v. 26.
These nations were forbidden a share in the Jews’
privileges, Deut xxiii. 3. But the Jews are here
told that they shall share in their punishments.
Those in the utmost comers, that dwell in the wil¬
derness, are supposed to be the Kedarenes, and those
of the kingdoms of Huzor, as appears by comparing
ch. xlix. 28. — 32. Some think they are so called,
because they dwelt as it were in a corner of the
world: others, because they had the hair of their
head polled into corners. However that was, they
were of those nations that were uncircumcised in
flesh, and the Jews are ranked with them, and are as
near to ruin for their sins as they; for all the house
of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart: they have
the sign, but not the thing signified, ch. iv. 4. They
are heathens in their hearts, strangers to God, and
enemies in their minds by wicked works. Their
hearts are disposed to idols, as the hearts of the un¬
circumcised Gentiles are. Note, The seals of the
covenant, though they dignify us, and lay us under
obligations, will not save us, unless the temper of
our minds, and the tenor of our lives, agree with the
covenant. That only is circumcision, and that bap¬
tism, which is of the heart, Rom. ii. 28, 29.
CHAP. X. *
We may conjecture that the prophecy of this chapter was
delivered afler the first captivity, in the time of Jeconiah
or Jehoiachin, when many were carried away to Baby
Ion; for it has a double reference. I. To those that were
carried away into the land of the Chaldeans, a country
notorious above any other for idolatry and superstition':
they are here cautioned against the infection of the place,
not to learn the way of the heathen; (v. 1, 2.) for that
their astrology and idolatry are both foolish things, hr.
3. . 5. ) and the worshippers of idols brutish, v. 8, 9. So
it will appear in the day of their visitation, v. 14, 15.
They are likewise exhorted to adhere firmly to the God
of Israel, for that there is none like him, v. 6, 7. He is
the true God, lives for ever, and has the government of
the world ; (v. 10. . 13.) and his peopl&are happy in him,
v. 16. II. To those that yet remained in their own land.
They are cautioned against security, and bid to expect
distress, (v. 17, 18.) and that by a foreign enemy, which
God would bring upon them for their sin, v. 20. .22. This
calamity the prophet laments, (v. 19.) and prays for the
mitigation of it, v. 23. .25.
1. TTEAR ye the word which the Lord
XX speaketh unto you, O house of Is¬
rael: 2. Thus saith the Lord, Learn not
the way of the heathen, and be not dismay¬
ed at the signs of heaven ; for the heathen
are dismayed at them. 3. For the customs
of the people are vain : for one cutteth a tree
out of the forest (the work of the hands of
the workman) with the axe: 4. They deck
it with silver and with geld ; they fasten it
with nails and with hammers, that it move
not. 5. They are upright as the palm-tree,
but speak not; they must needs be borne
because they cannot go. Be not afraid of
JEREMIAH, X.
374
them; for they cannot do evil, neither also
is it in them to do good. 6. Forasmuch as
there is none like unto thee, O Lord; thou
art great, and thy name is great in might. 7.
Who would not fear thee, O King of na¬
tions? for to thee doth it appertain: foras¬
much as among all the wise men of the na¬
tions, and in all their kingdoms, there is none
like unto thee. 3. But they are altogether
Brutish and foolish ; the stock is a doctrine
of vanities. 9. Silver spread into plates is
brought from Tarshish, and gold from
IJphaz, the work of the workman, and of
the hands of the founder: blue and purple
is their clothing; they are all the work of
cunning men. 10. But the Lord is the true
God, he is the living God, and an everlasting
Iving; at his wrath the earth shall trem¬
ble, and the nations shall not be able to
abide his indignation. 1 1 . Thus shall ye say
unto them, The gods that have not made
the heavens and the earth, even they shall
perish from the earth, and from under these
heavens. 12. He hath made the earth by
his power, he hath established the world
by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the
heavens by !i:s discretion. 13. When he ut-
tereth his oice, there is a multitude of wa¬
ters in the heavens, and he causeth the va¬
pours to ascend liomthe ends of the earth; he
malmth lightnings with rain, and bringeth
form the wind out of his treasures. 1 4. Every
man is brutish in his knowledge; every
founder is confounded by the graven image:
for his molten image is falsehood, and there
is no breath in them. 15. They are vanity,
and the work of errors : in the time of their
visitation they shall perish. 16. The Por¬
tion of Jacob is not like them : for he is the
former of all things; and Israel is the rod of
his inheritance: The Lord of hosts is his
name.
The prophet Isaiah, when he prophesied of the
captivity in Babylon, added warnings against idola¬
try, and largely exposed the sottishness of idolaters,
not only because the temptations in Babylon would
be in danger of drawing the Jews there to idolatry,
but because the afflictions in Babylon were designed
1 1 cure them of their idolatry. Thus the prophet
Jeremiah here arms people against the idolatrous
usages and customs of the heathen, not only for the
use of those that were gone to Babylon, but of those
also that staid behind; that, being convinced and
reclaimed by the word of God, the rod might be
prevented, and it is written for our learning. Ob¬
serve here,
I. A sol -mn charge given to the people of God,
n 't to conform themselves to the wavs and customs
cf the heathen. Let the house of Israel hear and
receive this word from the God of Israel; “ Learn
not the way of the heathen, do not approve of it, no, j
ir r think indifferently c< ncerningit, much less imi-
tite it, or accustom yourselves to -it. Let not any
of their customs ste J in among y. u, (as thev are l
apt to do insensibly,) nor mingle themselves with
your religion.” Note, It ill becomes those that are
taught ot God, to learn the way of the heathen, and
to think of worshipping the true God with such rites
and ceremonies as they used in the worship of their
false gods. See Dent. xii. 29. — 31. It was the way
of the heathen to worship the host of heaven, the
sun, moon, and stars; to them they gave divine
honours, and from them they expected divine fa
vours, and therefore, according as the sigtis of hea
ven were, whether they were aus/iicious or ominous,
they thought themselves countenanced or discoun¬
tenanced by their deities; which made them observe
those signs, the eclipses of the sun and mot n, the
conjunctions and oppositions of the planets, and all
the unusual phenomena of the celestial globe, with
a great deal of anxiety and trembling. Business
was stopped, if any thing occurred that was thought
to bode ill; if it did but thunder on their left hand,
they were almost as if they had been thunderstruck.
Now God would not have his people to be dismayed
at the signs of heaven; to reverence the stars as
deities, or to frighten themselves with any prognos¬
tications grounded upon them. Let them fear the
God of heaven, and keep up a reverence of his
providence, and then they need not be dismayed at
the signs of heaven, for the stars in their courses
fight not against any that are at peace with God.
The heathen are dismayed at these signs, for they
know no better; but let not the house of Israel, that
are taught of God, be so.
II. Divers good reasons given to enforce this
charge.
1. The way of the heathen is very ridiculous and
absurd, and is condemned even by the dictates cf
right reason, v. 3. The statutes and ordinances cf
the heathen are vanity itself, they cannot stand the
test of a rational disquisition. This is again and again
insisted upon here, as it was by Isaiah. The Chal¬
deans valued themselves on their wisdom, in which
they thought that they excelled all their neighbours;
but the prophet here shows that they, and all others
that worshipped idols, and expected help and relief
from them, were brutish and sottish, and had nut
common sense.
(1.) Consider what the idol is that is worshipped;
it was a tree cut out of the forest originally, it was
fitted up by the hands of the workman, squared and
sawed, and worked into shape; see Isa. xliv. 12, 8cc.
But, after all, it was but the stock of a tree, fitter to
make a gate-post of than any thing else. But to
hide the wood, they deck it with silver and gold,
they gild or lacker it, or they deck it with gold and
silver lace, or cloth of tissue. They fasten it to its
place, which they themselves have assigned it, with
nails and hammers , that it fall net, or be thrown
down, or stolen away, v. 4. The image is made
straight enough, and it cannot be denied but that
the workman did his part, for it is upright as the
palm-tree, (t>. 5.) it looks stately, and stands up as
if it were going to speak to you, but it cannot speak,
it is a poor dumb creature; nor can it take one step
toward your relief. If there be any occasion for it
to shift its place, it must be carried in precession,
for it cannot go. Very fitly does it come in here,
“ Be not afraid of them, any more than of the signs
of heaven; be. not afraid of incurring their displea¬
sure, for they can do no evil: be net afraid ot for¬
feiting their favour, for neither is it in them to do
good. If you think to mend the matter by mt nding
the materials of which the idol is made, y< u dt ctive
yourselves. Idols of gold and silver are as unworthy
to be worshipped as wooden gods. The stock is "a
doctrine of vanities, v. 8. It teaches lies, teaches lies
concerning God. It is an instruction of vanities, it
is wood.” It is probable th t the idols of gohl and
silver had wood underneath Lr the substratum, and
375
JEREMIAH, X.
then silver spread into plates is brought from Tar-
shis/i, imported from beyond sea, and gold from
Uphaz, or J’haz, which is sometimes rendered the
fine gold, Ps. xxi. 3. A great deal of art is used
and pains taken about it. They are not such or¬
dinal', mechanics that are employed about these,
as about the wooden gods, v. 3. These are cunning
men, it is the work of the workman, the graver
must do Iris part, when it has passed through the
hands of the founder. Those were but decked
here and there with silver and gold, these are silver
and gold all over. And that these gods might be
reverenced as kings, blue and purple are their
clothing, the colour of royal robes, (n. 9.) which
amuses ignorant worshippers, but makes the mat¬
ter no better. For what is the idol when it is made,
and when they have made the best they can of it?
He tells us, ( v . 14.) They are falsehood, they are
not what they pretend to be, but a great cheat put
upon the world. They are worshipped as the gods
that give us breath and life and sense, whereas
they are lifeless, senseless things themselves, and
there is no breath in them; there is no spirit in them,
(so the word is,) they are not animated or inhabited,
as they are supposed to be, by any divine spirit or
numen — divinity, they are so far from being gods,
that they have not so much as the spirit of a beast
that goes downward. They are vanity, and the
work of errors, v. 15. Inquire into the use of them;
you will find they are vanity, they are good for
nothing, no help is to be expected from them, nor
any confidence put in them. They are a deceitful
work, works of illusions, or mere mockeries: so
some read the following clause. They delude those
that put their trust in them, make fools of them, or,
r..ther, they make fools of themselves. Inquire
into the rise of them; they are the work of errors,
grounded upon the grossest mistakes that ever men
who pretended to reason were guilty of. They are
the creatures of a deluded fancy; and the errors by
which they were produced, they propagate among
their worshippers.
(2. ) Infer hence what the idolaters are that wor¬
ship these idols; ( v . 8.) They are altogether brutish
and foolish; they that make them are like unto
them, senseless and stupid, and there is no spirit in
them, no use of reason, else they would never be¬
lieve in such gods, no sense of honour, else they
would never stoop to them, v. 14. Every man that
makes or worships idols, is become brutish in his
knowledge, brutish for want of knowledge, or brut¬
ish in that very thing which one would think they
should be fully acquainted with; compare Jude 10.
What they know naturally, what they cannot but
know by the light of nature, in those things, as
brute beasts, they corrupt themselves. Though in
tile works of creation they cannot but see the eter-
ntl power and godhead of the Creator, yet they are
become vain in their imaginations, not liking to re¬
tain God in their knowledge. See Rom. i. 21, 28.
Hay, whereas they thought it a piece of wisdom
thus 1 1 multiply gods, it really was the greatest folly
they could be guilty of. The world by wisdom
knew not God, 1 Cor. i. 21. Rom. i. 22. Every
founder is himself confounded by the graven image;
when he has made it by a mistake, he is more and
more confirmed in his mistake by it; he is bewil¬
dered, bewitched, and cannot disentangle himself
from the snare; or, it is what he will one time or
other be ashamed of.
2. The God of Israel is the one only living and
true God, and those that have him for their God,
need not make their application to any other; nay,
to set up any other in competition with him is the
greatest affront and injury that can be done him.
Let the house of Israel cleave to the God of Is¬
rael, and serve and worship him only. For,
(1.) He is a Nonsuch. Whatever men may sc*
in competition with him, there is none to be con-
pared with him. The prophet turns from spcal-
ing with the utmost disdain of the idols of the hea¬
then, (as well he might,) to speak with the most
profound and awful reverence of the God c f Israel;
(r. 6, 7:) “Forasmuch as there is none like unto
thee, O Lord, none of all the heroes which the
heathen have deified, and make such ado about;”
the dead men of whom they made dead images, and
whom they worshipped. “ Some were deified and
adored for their wisdom, but among all the wire
men of the nations, tiie greatest philosophers or
statesmen, as Apollo or Hermes, there is none like
thee. Others were deified and adored for their do¬
minion, but in all their royalty ,” ^so it may be read,)
“ among all their kings, as Saturn and Jupiter, there
is none like unto thee.” What is the glory of a
man that invented an useful art, or founded a flou¬
rishing kingdom, (and these were grounds sufficient
among the heathen to entitle men to an apotheosis,)
compared with the glory of him that is the Creator
of the world, and that forms the spirit of man with¬
in him? What is the glory of the greatest prince cr
potentate, compared with the glory of him whose
kingdom rules over all? He acknowledges, (i>. 6.)
0 Lord, thou art great, infinite and immense, and
thy name is great in might; thou hast all power,
and art known to have it. Men’s name is often be¬
yond their might, they are thought to be greater
than they are; but God’s name is great, and no
greater than he really is. And therefore who would
not fear thee, 0 King of nations? Who w< old not
choose to worship such a God as this, that can do
every thing, rather than such dead idols as the hea¬
then worship, that can do nothing? Who would not
be afraid of offending or forsaking a God whose name
is so great in might? Which of all the nations, if
they understand themselves aright, would not fear
him who is the King of nations? Note, It is no t
only the house of Israel that is bound to worship the
great Jehovah as the God of Israel, the Ewg of
saints, (Rev. xv. 3, 4.) but all the families of the
earth are bound to worship him as King of nations;
for to him it appertains, to him it suits and agrees.
Note, There is an admirable decency and congruity
in the worshipping of God only. It is fit that he
who is God alone, should alone be served; that he
who is Lord of all, should be served by all; that he
who is great, should be greatly feared, and greatly
praised.
(2.) His verity is as evident as the idol’s vanity,
v. 10. They are the work of men’s hands, and
therefore nothing is more plain than that it is a jest
to worship them, if that may be called a jest, which
is so great an indignity to him that made us; but the
Lord is the true God, the God of truth, he is God
in truth. God Jehovah in truth, he is not a Coun¬
terfeit, and Pretender, as they are, but is really
what he has revealed himself to be; he is one we
may depend upon, in whom, and bv whom, we can¬
not be deceived. [1.] Look upon him as he is in
himself, he is the living God; he is Life itself, has
life in himself, and is the Fountain of life to all the
creatures. The gods of the heathen are dead
things, worthless and useless, but ours is a living
God, and hath immortality. [2.] Look upon him
with relation to his creatures, he is a King, and ab¬
solute Monarch over them all, is their Owner and
Ruler, has an incontestable right both to command
them and dispose of them; as a King, he protects
the creatures, provides for their welfare, and pre¬
serves peace among them. He is an everlasting
King. The counsels of his kingdom were fr< m
everlasting, and the continuance of it will be to
everlasting. He is a King of eternity. The idols
whom they call their kings, are but of yeste rday,
JEREMIAH, X.
’ <’6
rtii.i will so r lie abolished ; and the kings uf the
LV.rtt th t them up to b ; worshi- red, will them¬
selves be in the dust snort!;. ; but the I ord shall reign
for ever, thy God, 0 Zion, unto al! generations:.
(3.) None knows the power of his anger. Let us
stand in awe, and not dare to provoke him by giving
that glory to another which is due to him alone, for
at his wrath the earth shall tremble, even the strong¬
est and stoutest of the kings of the earth; nay, the ]
earth, firmly as it is fixed, when he pleases, is made
to quake, and the rocks to tremble, Ps. civ. 32.
Hab. iii. 6, 10. Though the nations should join
together to contend with him, and unite their force,
vet they would be found utterly unable not only to
resist, but even to abide, his indignation. They
cannot only not make head against it, for it would
overcome them, but they cannot bear up under it,
for it would overload them, Ps. lxxvi. 7, 8. Nahum
i. 6.
(4.) He is the God of nature, the Fountain of all
being; and all the powers of nature are at his com¬
mand and disposal, v.' 12, 13. The God we wor¬
ship, is he that made the heavens and the earth, and
has a sovereign dominion over both; so that his in¬
visible things are manifested and proved in the
things that are seen.
[1.] If we look back, we find that the whole
world owed its original to him, as its first Cause.
It was a common saying even among the Greeks —
He that sets ufi to be another god, ought first to
make another world. While the heathen worship
gods that are made, we worship the God that made
us and all things. First, The earth is a body of
vast bulk, has valuable treasures in its bowels, and
more valuable fruit on its surface. It and them he
has made by his power; and it is by no less than an
infinite power, that it hangs upon nothing, as it does,
Job xxvi. 7. Ponderibus librata suis — Poised by
its own weight. Secondly, The world, the habita¬
ble part of the earth, is admirably fitted for the use
and %rvice of man, and he hath established it so by
his wisdom, so that it continues serviceable in con¬
st ant changes, and yet a continual stability from one
generation to another. Therefore both the earth
and the world are his, Ps. xxiv. 1. Thirdly, The
heavens are wonderfully stretched out to an incredi¬
ble extent, and it is by his discretion that they are
so, and that the motions of the heavenly bodies are
directed for the benefit cf this lower world. These
declare his glory, (Ps. xix. 1.) and oblige us to de¬
clare it, and not give that glory to the heavens,
which is due to him that made them.
[2. ] If we look up, we see his providence to be a
continued creation; (v. 13.) When he uttereth his
voice, (gives the word of command,) there is a mul¬
titude of waters in the heaxiens, which are poured
out on the earth, whether for judgment or mercy,
as he intends them. When he utters his voice in
the thunder, immediately there follow thunder¬
showers, in which there are a multitude of waters;
and those come with a noise, as the margin reads
it; and we read of the noise of abundance of
rain, 1 Kings xviii. 41. Nay, there are wonders
done daily in the kingdom of nature without
noise; He causes the vapours to ascend from the
ends of the earth, from all parts of the earth, even
the most remote, and chiefly those that lie next the
sea. All the earth pays the tribute of vapours, be¬
cause all the earth receives the blessing of rain.
And thus the moisture in the universe, like the
money in a kingdom, and the blood in the body, is
continu illy circulating for the good of the whole.
Those vapours produce wonders, for of 'hem are
f irmed lightnings for the rain and the winds which
God from time to time brings forth out of his trea¬
sures, as there is occasion for them, directing them
all in such measure and for such use as he thinks fit.
I a - payments are made cut cf the treasury. All the
mtteors are so ready to serve God’s purposes, that
he seems to have treasures of them, that cannot be
exhausted, and may at any time be drawn from, Ps.
cxxxv. 7. God glories in the treasures hehascf
these, Job xxxviii. 22, 23. This God can do; but
which of the idols of the heathen can do the like?
Note, There is no sort of weather but what furnishes
us with a proof and instance of the wisdom and
power cf the great Creator.
(5.) This God is Israel’s God in covenant, and the
felicity of even- Israelite indeed. Therefore let the
house of Israel cleave to him, and net forsake him
to embrace idols; for, if they do, they certainly
change for the worse, for (i». 16.) the Portion of
Jacob is not like them; their rock is net as cur Reck,
(Dcut.xxxii.31.) norcursliketheirmole-hills. Note,
[1.] They that have the Lord for their God, have
a full and complete happiness in him. The God cf
Jacob is the Portion of Jacob; he is his all, and in
him he has enough, and needs no more in this world
or the other. In him we have a worthy portion,
Ps. xvi. 5. (2.) If we have entire satisfaction and
complacency in God as our Portion, he will have a
gracious delight in us as his people, whom he owns
as the rod of his inheritance, his possession and trea¬
sure, with whom he dwells and by whom he is served
and honoured. [3. ] It is the unspeakable comfort of
all the Lord’s people, that he who is their God, is the
Former of all things, and therefore is able to do all
that for them, and give all that to them, which they
stand in need of. Their help stands in his name
who made heaven and earth. And he is the Lord
of hosts, of all the hosts in heaven and earth, has
them all at his command, and will command them
into the service of his people when there is oc¬
casion. This is the name by which they know
him, which they first give him the glory of, and
then take to themselves the comfort of. [4.] Herein
God’s people are happy above all other people,
happy indeed, bona si sua norint — did they but
know their blessedness. The gods which the hea¬
then pride, and please, and so portion themselves
in, are vanity and a lie; but the Portion of Jacob is
not like them.
3. The prophet, having thus compared the gods
! of the heathen with the God of Israel, (between
whom there is no comparison,) reads the doom, the
certain doom, of all those pretenders, and directs
the Jews in God’s name, to read it to the worship¬
pers of idols, though they were their lords and mas¬
ters; fi». 11.) Thus shall ye say unto them, and
the God ye serve will bear you out in saying it. The
gods which have not made the heavens and the earth,
and therefore are no gods, but usurpers of the ho¬
nour due to him only who did make heave n and
earth, those shall perish; perish of course, because
they are vanity; perish by his righteous sentence,
because they are rivals with him, as gods they shall
perish: from off the earth, even all those things on
earth beneath, which they make gods 'if ; and from
under these heavens, even all those things in the
firmament of heaven, under the highest heavens,
which are deified, according to the distribution in
the second commandment. These words in the ori¬
ginal are not in the Hebrew, like all the rest, but in
the Chaldee dialect, that the Jews in captivity might
have this ready to say to the Chaldeans in their own
language, when they tempted them to idolatry;
“ Do vou press us to worship vour gods? We will
never" do that; for,” (1.) “They are counterfeit
deities; they are no gods, for they have not made
the heavens and the earth, and therefore are not en¬
titled to our homage ; nor are we indebted to them
either for the products of the earth, or the influences
of heaven, as we are to the God cf Israel.” The
primitive Christians would say, when they were
377
JEREMIAH, X.
linked to worship such a god, Let him make a world,
and he shall be my god. While we have him to
worship, who made heaven and earth, it is very ab¬
surd to worship any other. (2.) “ Thev are con-
d mned deities; thev shall perish, the time shall
come when they shall be no more respected as they
are n iw, but shall be buried in oblivion, and they
and their worshippers shall sink together; the earth
shall no longer bear them, the heavens shall no
longer cover them, but both shall abandon them.”
It is repeated, v. 15. In the time of their visitation.
\\ hen G<xl comes to reckon with idolaters, he shall
make them weary of their idols, and glad to be rid
of them; they shall cast them to the moles and to the
bats, Isa. ii. 20. Whatever runs against God and
religion, will be run down at last.
1 7. Gather up thy wares out of the land,
O inhabitant of the fortress: 18. For thus
saith the Lord, Behold, I will sling out the
inhabitants of the land at this once, and will
distress them, that they may find it so. 19.
Wo is me for my hurt ! my wound is griev¬
ous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I
must bear it. 29. My tabernacle is spoiled,
and all my cords are broken : my children
are gone forth of me, and they are not; there
is none to stretch forth my tent any more,
and to set up my curtains. 21. For the pas¬
tors are become brutish, and have not sought
the Lord: therefore they shall not prosper,
and all their flocks shall be scattered. 22.
Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and
a great commotion out of the north country,
to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a
den of dragons. 23. O Lord, I know that
the way of man is not in himself: it is not
m man that walketh to direct his steps. 24.
O Lord, correct me, but with judgment ;
not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to no¬
thing. 25. Pour out thy fury upon the hea¬
then that know thee not, and upon the fa¬
milies that call not on thy name : for they
have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him,
and consumed him, and have made his ha¬
bitation desolate.
In these verses,
I. The prophet threatens, in God’s name, the ap¬
proaching rum of Judah and Jerusalem, v. 17, 18.
The Jews that continued in their own land, after
some were carried into captivity, were very secure;
they thought themselves inhabitants of a fortress,
their country was their strong hold, and, in their
own conceit, impregnable; but they are here bid to
think of leaving it: thev must prepare to go after
their brethren, and pack up their effects in expec¬
tation of it; “ Gather up thy wares out of the land;
contract your affairs, and bring them into as little a
compass as you can. Arise, depart, this is not your
rest, Mic. ii! 10. Let not what you have lie scat¬
tered, for the Chaldeans will be upon you again, to
be the executioners of the sentence God has passed
upon you, (v. 18.) Behold, I will sling out the inha¬
bitants of the land at this once: they have hitherto
drop/ied out, by a few at a time, but one captivity
more shall make a thorough riddance, and they
shall be slung out as a stone out of a sling, so easily,
so thoroughly shall they be cast out; nothing of them
shall remain, they shall be thrown out with vio-
Vol. iv. — 3 B
I lence, and driven to a place at a great distance oft,
in a little time.” See this comparison used to sig¬
nify an utter destruction, 1 Sam. xxv. 29. Yet once
more, God will shake their land, and shake the
wicked out of it, Heb. xii. 26. He adds, And I will
distress them, that they mayfnd it so. He will ne t
only throw them out hence, (that he may dr, and
yet they may be easy elsewhere,) but, whitherso¬
ever they go, trouble shall follow them ; they shall
be continually perplexed and straitened, and at a
loss within themselves; and who or what can make
those easy whom God wilt distress, whom he will
distress, that they may find it so, that they may
feel that which they would not believe ? They were
often told of the weight of God’s wrath, and their
utter inability to make head against it, or bear up
under it: they were told that their sin would be their
ruin, and they would not regard or credit what was
told them; but now they shall find it so; and there¬
fore God will pursue them with his judgments, that
they may find it so, and be forced to acknowledge it.
Note, Sooner or later, sinners will find it just so as
the word of God has represented things to them,
and no better, and that the threatenings were not
bugbears.
II. He brings in the people sadly lamenting their
calamities; (v. 19.) Wo is me for my hurt! Some
make this the prophet’s own lamentation, not for
himself, but for the calamities and desolations of his
country. He mourned for those that would not be
persuaded to mourn for themselves; and since there
were none that had so much sense as to join with
them, he weeps in secret, and cries out, 1 Vo is me!
In mournful times, it becomes us to be of a mourn¬
ful spirit. But it may be taken as the language of
the people, considered as a body, and therefore
speaking as a single person. The prophet puts into
their mouths the words they should say; whether
they would say them or no, they should have cause
to sty them. Some among them would thus bemoan
themselves, and all of them, at last, would be forced
to do it.
1. They lament that the affliction is very great,
and that it is very hard to them to bear it; the more
hard because they had not been used to trouble,
and now did not expect it; “ Wo is me for my hurt,
not for what I fear, but for what I feel;” for they
are not, as some are, worse frightened than hurt.
Nor is it a slight hurt, but a wound, a wound that
is grievous, very painful, and very threatening.
2. That there is no remedy but patience; they
cannot help themselves, but must sit still, and abide
it. But I said, when I was about to complain of
my wound, To what purpose is it to complain?
This is a grief, and I must bear it as well as I can.
This is the language rather of a sullen than of a
gracious submission; of a patience per force, not a
patience by principle. When I am in'affliction, I
should say, “ This is an evil, and I will bear it, be¬
cause it is the will of God that I should, because his
wisdom has appointed this for me, and his grace
will make it work for good to me.” This is receiv¬
ing evil at the hand of God, Job ii. 10. But to say,
" This is an evil, and I must bear it, because I can¬
not help it,” is but a brutal patience, and argues a
want of those good thoughts of God, which we
should always have, even under our afflictions; sav¬
ing, not only, God can and will do what he pleases,
but, Let him do what he pleases.
3. That the country was quite ruined and wasted;
(u. 20.) My tabernacle is sfioiled. Jerusalem, though
a strong city, now proves as weak and moveable as
a tabernacle: their government is dissolved, and
their state fallen to pieces, like a tabernacle or tent,
when it is taken down, and all its cords, that should
keep it together, are broken. Or, by the taberna¬
cle here may be meant the temple, the sanctuary.
378
JEREMIAH, X.
which at first was but a tabernacle, and is now call¬
ed so, as then it was sometimes called a temple.
Their church is ruined, and all the supports of it
fail. It was a general destruction of church and
state, city and country, and there were none to re¬
pair these desolations; "My children are gone forth
of me; some are fled, others slain, others carried
into captivity, so that as to me they are not; I am
likelv to be an outcast, and to perish for want of
shelter; for there is none to stretch forth my tent any
more, none of my children that used to do it for me,
none to set up my curtains, none to do me any ser¬
vice.” Jerusalem has none to guide her of dll her
sons, Isa. li. 18.
4. That the rulers took no care, nor any proper
measures, for the redress of their grievances, and
the re-establishing of their ruined state; (v. 21.)
The pastors are become brutish. When the tents,
the shepherds’ tents, were spoiled, {y. 20.) it con¬
cerned the shepherds to look after them; but they
were foolish shepherds. Their kings and princes
had no regard at all to the public welfare, seemed
to have no sense of the desolations of the land, but
were quite besotted and infatuated. The priests,
the pastors of God’s tabernacle, did a great deal to¬
wards the ruin of religion, but nothing toward the
repair of it. They are brutish indeed, for they have
not sought the Lord; they have neither made their
peace with him nor their prayer to him; they had
no eye to him and his providence, in their manage¬
ment of affairs; they neither acknowledged the
judgment, nor expected the deliverance, to come
from his hand. Note, Those are brutish people,
that do not seek the Lord, that live without prayer,
and live without God in the world; every man is
either a saint or a brute. But it is sad indeed with
a people, when their pastors, that should feed them
with knowledge and understanding, are themselves
thus brutish. And what comes of it? Therefore
they shall not prosper; none of their attempts for
the public safety shall succeed. Note, Those can¬
not expect to prosper, who do not by faith and
prayer t ike God along with them in all their ways.
And when the pastors are brutish, what else can
he expected but that all their flocks should be scat¬
tered? For if the blind lead the blind, both will fall
into the ditch. The ruin of a people is often owing
to the brutishness of their pastors.
5. Th it the report of the enemy’s approach was
very dreadful; (v. 22.) The noise of the bruit is
come, of the report which at first was but whisper¬
ed and bruited abroad, as wanting confirmation. It
now proves too true; A great commotion arises out
of the north country, which threatens to make all
the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons;
for they must all expect to be sacrificed to the ava¬
rice and fury of the Chaldean army. And what
else can that place expect, but to be made a den
of dragons, which has by sin made itself a den of
thieves?
III. He turns to God, and addresses himself to
him, finding it to little purpose to speak to the peo¬
ple. It is some comfort to poor ministers, that, if
men will not hear them, God will; and to him they
have liberty of access at all times. Let them close
their preaching with prayer, as the prophet, and
then they shall have no reason to say that they have
laboured in vain.
1. The prophet here acknowledges the sove¬
reignty and dominion of the divine providence, that
bv it, and not by their own will and wisdom, the
aff lirs both of nations and particular persons are di¬
rected and determined, v. 23. This is an article of j
our faith, which it is very proper for us to make j
confession of at the throne of grace, when we are
complaining of an affliction, or suing for a mercy;
"O Lord. I know, and believe, that the way of j
man is not in himself; Nebuchadnezzar did not
come of himself against our land, but by the direc¬
tion of a divine providence.” We cannot of our¬
selves do any thing for our own relief, unless God
work with us, and command deliverance for us, for
it is not in man that walketh, to direct his steps,
though he seem in his walking to be perfectly at
liberty, and to choose his own way. Those that
had promised themselves a long enjoyment of their
estates and possessions, were made to know by sad
experience, when they were thrown cut by the
Chaldeans, that the way of man is not in himself;
the designs which men lay deep, and think well
formed, are dashed to pieces in a mrment. We
must all apply this to ourselves, and mix faith with
it, that we are not at our own disposal, but under a
divine direction; the event is often overruled, so as
to be quite contrary to our intention and expecta¬
tion. We are not masters of our own way, nor can
we think that every thing should be according to
our mind; we must therefore refer ourselves to Gcd
and acquiesce in his will. Some think that the pro
phet mentions this, here, witli a design to makt
this comfortable use of it, that the way of the Chal
dean anny being not in themselves, they can do n<
more than God permits them; he can set bounds to
these proud waves, and say, Hitherto they shall
come, and no further. And a quieting considera¬
tion it is, that the most formidable enemies have
no power against us but what is given them from
above.
2. He deprecates the divine wrath, that it might
not fall upon God’s Israel, v. 24. He speaks not
for himself only, but on the behalf of his people;
O Lord, correct me, but with judgment, in mea¬
sure and with moderation, and in wisdom, no more
than is necessary for the driving cut of the foolish¬
ness that is bound up in our hearts: not in thine an¬
ger; how severe soever the correction be, let it
come from thy love, and be designed for cur good,
and made to work for good; not to bring us to no¬
thing, but to bring us home to thyself. "Let it not
be according to the desert of our sins, but according
to the designs of thy grace. Note, (1.) We cannot
pray in faith that we may never be corrected, while
we are conscious to ourselves that we need it and
deserve it, and know that as many as God loves, he
chastens. (2.) The great thing we should dread in
affliction, is, the wrath of God. Say not, Lord, do
not correct me, but, Lord, do not correct me in an¬
ger; for that will infuse wormwood and gall into the
affliction and misery; that will bring us to nothing;
we may bear the smart of his rod, but we cannot
bear the weight of his wrath.
3. He imprecates the divine wrath against the
oppressors and persecutors of Israel; ( v . 25.) Four
out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not.
This prayer does not come from a spirit of malice
or revenge, nor is it intended to prescribe to Gcd
whom he should execute his judgments upon, or in
what order: but, (1.) It is an appeal to his justice;
“Lord, we are a provoking people; but are there
not other nations that are more so? And shall we
only be punished? We are thy children, and may
expect a fatherly correction; but they are thine ene¬
mies, and against them we have reascn to think
thine indignation should be, not against us. ” This
is God’s usual method. The cup put into the hands
of God’s people is full of mixtures, mixtures of
mercv: but the dregs of the cup are reserved for
the wicked of the earth, let the m wring them out,
Ps. lxxv 8. (2.) It is a prediction of God’s judg¬
ments upon all the impenitent enemies < f his church
and kingdom. If judgment begin thus at the house
of God, what shall be the end of these that obm
not his gospel? 1 Pet. iv. 17. See how the heather.
are described, on whem God’s fury shall be piui
379
JEREMIAH, XI.
eri out. [1.] They are strangers to God, and are
content to be so. They know him not, nor desire
to know him. They are families that live without
prayer, that have nothing of religion among them;
they call not on God’s name. Those that re¬
strain prayer, prove that they know not God; for
they that know him will seek to him, and entreat
his favour. [2.] They are persecutors of the peo¬
ple of God, and are resolved to be so. They have
eaten up Jacob, with as much greediness, as those
that are hungry eat their necessary food; nay, with
more, for they never know when they have enough;
they have devoured him and consumed him , and
made his habitation desolate, that is, the land in
which he lives, or the temple of God, which is his
habitation among them. Note, What the heathen,
in their rage and malice, do against the people of
God, though therein he makes use of them as the
instruments of his correction, yet he will, for that,
make them the objects of his indignation. This
prayer is taken from Ps. lxxix. 6, 7.
CHAP. XI.
In this chapter, I. God by the prophet puts the people in
mind of the covenant he had made with their fathers, and
how much he had insisted upon it, as the condition of the
covenant, that they should be obedient to him, v. 1. .7.
II. He charges it upon them, that they, in succession
to their fathers, and in confederacy among themselves,
had obstinately refused to obey him, v. 8 - .10. III. He
threatens to punish them with utter ruin for their dis¬
obedience, especially for their idolatry; (v. II, 13.) and
tells them, that their idols should not save them, (v. 12.)
that their prophets should not pray for them ; (v. 14. ) he
also justifies his proceedings therein, they having brought
all this mischief upon themselves by their own folly and
wilfulness, v. 15 . . 17. IV. Here is an account of a con¬
spiracy formed against Jeremiah by his fellow-citizens,
the men of Anathoth; God’s discovery of it to him ; (v.
18, 19.) his prayer against them, (v. 20.) and a prediction
of God’s judgments upon them for it, v. 21 . . 23.
1 . f IT HE word that came to Jeremiah from
I the Lord, saying, 2. Hear ye the
words of this covenant, and speak unto the
men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem; 3. And say thou unto them,
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Cursed
be the man that obeyeth not the words of
this covenant, 4. Which I commanded your
fathers in the day that I brought them forth
out of the land of Egypt, from the iron fur¬
nace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them,
according to all which I command you: so
shall ye be my people, and I will be your
God ; 5. That I may perform the oath which
1 have sworn unto your fathers, to give them
a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is
this day. 7'hen answered I, and said, So
be it, O Lord. 6. Then the Lord said
unto me, Proclaim all these words in the
cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusa¬
lem, saying, Hear ye the words of this cove¬
nant, and do them. 7. For 1 earnestly pro¬
tested unto your fathers, in the day that I
brought them up out of the land of Egypt,
even, unto this day, rising early and protest¬
ing, saying, Obey my voice. 8. Yet they
obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked
every one in the imagination of their evil
heart: therefore I will bring upon them all
the words of this covenant which I com¬
manded them to do: but they did them not.
9. And the Lord said unto me, A con¬
spiracy is found among the men of Judah,
and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10. They are turned back to the iniquities
of their forefathers, which refused to hear
my words; and they went after other gods
to serve them : the house of Israel and the
house of Judah have broken my covenant,
which I made with their fathers.
The prophet here, as prosecutor in God’s name,
draws up an indictment against the Jews, for wilful
disobedience to the commands of their rightful So¬
vereign. For the more solemn management of this
charge,
I. He produces the commission he had to draw
up the charge against them ; he did not take pleasure
in accusing the children of his people, but God com¬
manded him to speak it to the men of Judah, v. 1, 2.
In the original it is plural; Speak ye this. For what
he said to Jeremiah, was the same that he gave in
charge to all his servants the prophets. They none
of them said any other than what Moses, in the law,
had said; to that therefore they must refer them¬
selves, and direct the people; “ Hear the words of
this covenant; turn to your Bibles, be judged by
them.” Jeremiah must now proclaim this in the
cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, that all
may hear, for all are concerned. All the words of
reproof and conviction, which the prophets spake,
were grounded upon the words of the covenant, and
agreed with that; “And therefore hear these words,
and understand by them upon what terms you stood
with God at first; and then, by comparing your
selves with the covenant, you will soon be aware
upon what terms you now stand with him.”
II. He opens the charter upon which their state
was founded, and by which they held their privi¬
leges. They had forgotten the tenure of it, and lived
as if they thought that the grant was absolute, and
that they might do what they pleased, and yet have
what God had promised; or as if they thought that
the keeping up of the ceremonial observances was
all that God required of them. He therefore shows
them, with all possible plainness, that the thing God
insisted upon was, obedience, that was better than
sacrifice. He said, Obey my voice; (v. 4.) and again,
(x>. 7.) “ Obey my voice; own God for your Master,
give up yourselves to him as his subjects and ser¬
vants; attend to all the declarations of his mind and
will, and make conscience of complying with them.
Do my commandments, not only in some things, but
according to all which I command you; make con¬
science of moral duties especially, and rest not in
those that are merely ritual; hear the words of the
covenant, and do them.”
1. This was the original contract between God
and them, when he first formed them into a people.
It was what he commanded their fathers, when he
first brought them forth out of the land of Egypt,
(v. 4.) and again, v. 7. He never intended to take
them under liis guidance and protection upon any
other terms. This was it that he required from
them, in gratitude for the great things he did for
them when he brought them from the iron furnace.
Therefore he redeemed them out of the service of
the Egyptians, which was perfect slavery, that he
might take them into his own service, which is per¬
fect freedom, Luke i. 74, 75.
2. This was not only laid before them then, but
it was with the greatest importunity imaginable
pressed upon them. v. 7. God not only commanded
380
JEREMIAH, XI.
it, but earnestly protested it, to their fathers, when
he brought them into covenant with himself. Moses
inculcated it again and again, by precept upon pre¬
cept, and line upon line.
3. This was made the condition of the relation
between them and God, which was so much their
honour and privilege; “ So shall ye be my people,
and I wilt be your God; I will own you for mine,
and you may call upon me as yours;” which inti¬
mates that if they refused to obey, they could no
longer claim the benefit of the relation.
4. It was upon these terms that the land of Canaan
was given them for a possession; Obey my voice, that
I may fier/orm the oath sworn to your fathers, to
give them a land flowing with milk and honey ,v. 5.
God was ready to fulfil the promise, but then they
must fulfil the condition; if not, the promise is void,
and it is just with God to turn them out of possession.
Being brought in upon their good behaviour, they
had no wrong done them if they were turned out
upon their ill behaviour. Obedience was the rent
reserved by the lease, with a power to re-enter for
non-p ivment.
5. This obedience was not only made a condition
of the blessing, but was required under the penalty
of a curse. This Is mentioned first here, (x>. 3.)
that they might, if possible, be awakened by the
terrors of the Lord; Cursed be the man, though it
were but a single person, that obeys not the words
of this covenant, much more when it is the body of
the nation, that rebels. There are curses of the
covenant as well as blessings; and Moses set before
them not only life and good, but death and evil;
(Deut. xxx. 15.) so that they had fair warning given
them of the fatal consequences of disobedience.
6. Lest this covenant should be forgotten, and,
because out of mind, should be thought out of date,
God had from time to time called to them to re¬
member it, and by his servants the prophets had
made a continu d claim of this rent; so that they
could not plead, in excuse of their non-payment, that
it had never been demanded ; from the day he brought
them out of Egypt to this day, (and that was near
one thousind years,) he had been, in one way or
other, at sundry times and in divers manners, pro¬
testing to them the necessity of obedience. God
keeps an account how long we have enjoyed the
means of grace, and how powerful those means have
been; how often we have been not only spoken to,
but protested to, concerning our duty.
7. This covenant was consented to; (v. 5.) Then
answered I, and said. Amen, so be it, O Lord.
These are the words of the prophet, expressing
either, (1.) His own consent to the covenant for
himself, and his desire to have the benefit of it.
God promised Canaan to the obedient; “Lord,” says
he, “ I take thee at thy word, I will be obedient; let
me have mine inheritance in the land of promise, of
which Canaan is a tvpe. ” Or, (2.) His good will,
and good wish, that his people might have the benefit
of it; ‘‘Amen; Lord, let them still be kept in pos¬
session of this good land, and not turned out of it;
make good the promise to them.” Or, (3.) His
people’s consent to the covenant; “Then answered
I, in the name of the people. So be it.” Taking it
in this sense, it refers to the declared consent which
the people gave to the covenant, not only to the pre¬
cepts of it, when thev said. All that tlie Lord shall
say unto us we will do, and will be obedient, but to
the penalties, when they said Amen to all the curses
upon mount Ebal. The more solemnly we have
engaged ourselves to God, the more reason we have
t< hope that it will be perpetual; and yet here it did
n it prove so.
III. He charges them with breach of covenant,
such a breach as amounted to a forfeiture of their
charter, v. 8. God had s;ud again and again, by
his law and by his prophets, “ Obey mu voire, do
as you are bidden, and all shall be well;” yet they
obeyed not; and because they wer<- esolved tun. to
submit the ir souls to God’s commandments, thev
would not so much as incline their ears to them, but
got as far as they could out of call; They wanted
every one in the imagination of their evil hear’, fol¬
lowed their own inventions; every man did as his
fancy and humour led him, right or wrong, lawful
or unlawful, both in their devotions and in their con¬
versations; see ch. vii. 24. What then can they tx-
pect, but to fall under the curse of the covenant,
since they would not comply with the commands
and conditions of it; Therefore I will bring upon
them all the words of this covenant, all the threatt n-
ings contained in it, because they did not what they
were commanded. Note, The words of the covenant
shall not fall to the ground. If we do not by i ur
obedience qualify ourselves for the blessings ol it,
we shall by our disobedience bring ourselves under
the curses of it.
That which aggravated their defection from God,
and rebellion against him, was, that it was general,
and as it were by consent, v. 9, 10. Jeremiah him¬
self saw that many lived in open disobedience to
God, but the Lord told him that the matter was
worse than he thought of; A conspiracy is found
among them, by him whose eye is upon the hidden
works of darkness. There is a combination against
God and religion, a dangerous design formed to over¬
throw God’s government, and bring in the preten¬
ders, the counterfeit deities. This intimates that
they were wilful and deliberate in wickedness; they
rebelled against God, not through incogitancy, but
presumptuously, and with a high hand; that they
were subtle and ingenious in wickedness, and car¬
ried on their plot against religion.witli a great deal
of art and management; that they were linked to¬
gether in the design, and, as is usual among con¬
spirators, engaged to stand by one another in it, and
to live and die together; they were resolved to go
through with it. A cursed conspiracy! O that there
were not the like in our day! Observe, 1. What the
conspiracy was; they designed to overthrow divine
revelation, and set that aside, and persuade people
not to hear, not to heed, the words of God. Thev
did all they could to derogate from the authorin' < f
the scriptures, and to lessen the value of them; they
designed to draw people after other gods to serve
them, to consult them as their oracles, and make
court to them as their benefactors. Human reason
shall be their god, a light within their god, an infal¬
lible judge their god, saints and angels their gods,
the god of this or the other nation shall be theirs;
thus, under several disguises, they are in the same
confederacy against the Lord and against his
anointed. 2. Who were in the conspiracy; one
would have expected to find some foreigners ring¬
leaders in it. No, (1.) The inhabitants of Jerusa¬
lem are in conspiracy with the men of Judah; ritv
and country agree in this, however they may differ
in other things. (2. ) Those of this generation seem
to be in conspiracy with those of the foregoing gene¬
ration, to carry on the war from age to age against
religion; They are turned back to the iniquities of
their forefathers, and are risen up in their ste al, a
seed of evil-doers, an increase of sinful men, Num.
xxxii. 14. In Josiah’s time there had heen a refor¬
mation, but after his death they returned to the
idolatries which then thev had renounced. (3.)
Judah and Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes and
the two that were often at daggers-drawing one
with another, were yet in a conspiracy to break the
covenant God had made with their fathers, even
with the heads of all the twelve tribes. The house
of Israel began the revolt, but the house of Judah
soon came into the conspiracy. Now what else could
381
JEREMIAH, XI.
be expected, but that God should take severe me¬
thods, both for the chastising of these conspirators,
and the crushing of this conspiracy; for none ever
hardened his heart thus against God, and prospered.
He that rolls this stone, it will return upon him.
1 1 . Therefore thus saith the Lord, Be¬
hold, I will bring evil upon them, which they
shall not be able to escape; and though they
shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto
them. 12. Then shall the cities of Judah,
and inhabitants of Jerusalem, go and cry
unto the gods unto whom they offer incense:
but they shall not save them at all in the
time of their trouble. 13. For according to
the number of thy cities were thy gods, O
Judah; and according to the number of the
streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to
that shameful thing, even altars to burn in¬
cense unto Baal. 1 4. Therefore pray not
thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or
prayer for them: for I will not hear them in
the time that they ciy unto me for their trou¬
ble. 15. What hath my beloved to do in
my house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness
with many, and the holy flesh is passed from
thee? when thou doest evil, then thou re-
joicest. 16. The Lord called thv name,
A green olive-tree, fair, and of goodly fruit;
with the noise of a great tumult he hath
kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it
are broken. 1 7. For the Lord of hosts that
planted thee hath pronounced evil against
thee, for the evil of the house of Israel, and
of the house of Judah, which they have done
against themselves, to provoke me to anger,
in offering incense unto Baal.
This paragraph, which contains so much of God’s
wrath, might very well be expected to follow upon
that which goes next before, which contained so
much of his people’s sin. When God found so
much evil among them , we cannot think it strange
If it follows. Therefore I ivill bring evil upon them,
(v. 11.) the evil of punishment for the evil of sin;
and there is no remedy, no relief, the decree is gone
forth, and the sentence will be executed.
1. They cannot help themselves, but will be found
too weak to contest with God’s judgment; it is evil
•which they shall not be able to escape, or to go forth
out of, by any evasion whatsoever. Note, Those
that will not submit to God’s government, shall not
be able to escape his wrath. There is no fleeing
from his justice, no avoiding his cognizance. Evil
pursues sinners, and entangles them in .snares out of
which they cannot extricate themselves.
2. Their God will not help them, his providence
shall no way favour them; Though they shall cry
unto me, I will not hearken unto them. In their
affliction they will seek the God whom before they
slighted, and cry to him whom before they would
not vouchsafe to speak to. But how can they ex¬
pect to speed? For he has plainly told us, that he
lint turns away his ears from hearing the law, as
they did, (v. 8. "fur they inclined not their ear,) even
his prayer sh ,11 be an abomination to lnm, as the
iv r.l of the Lord was now to them a reproach.
3. "Phcir idols shall not helh them. v. 12. Thev
shall go and cry to the gods to whom they now offer
incense, and put them in mind of the costly services
wherewith they had honoured them, expecting they
should now have relief from them, but in vain: they
shall be sent to the gods whom they served; (Judg.
x. 4. Dent, xxxii. 37, 38.) and what the better?
7 hey shall, not save them at all, shall do nothing
toward their salvation, nor give them any prospect
ot it; they shall not afford them the least comfort or
relief, or mitigation of their trouble. It is God only
that is a Friend at need, a present powerful Help
in time oj trouble. The idols cannot help them¬
selves;^ how then sh uld they help their worship¬
pers? I hose th it make idols of the world and the
flesh, will in vain hoe recourse to them in a day
ot distress. It the idols could have done any real
kindness to their worshippers, they would have done
it tor this people, who had renounced the true God
to embrace them, had multiplied them according to
the number of their cities; {y. 13.) nay, in Jerusa¬
lem, according to the number of their 'streets; sus¬
pecting both their sufficiency and their readiness to
help them, they must have many, lest a few would
nut serve; they must have them dispersed in even
corner, lest they should be out of the way when they
had occasion for them. In Jerusalem, the city which
God had chosen to put his name there, publicly in
the streets of Jerusalem, in every street, they had
altars to that shameful thing, that shame, even to
Baal, which they ought to have been ashamed of,
with which they did reproach the Lord, and bring
contusion upon themselves. But now in their dis¬
tress, their many gods, and many altars, should
stand them in no stead. Note, Those that will not
be ashamed of their commission of sin as a wicked
thing, will be ashamed of their expectations from
sin as a fmitless thing.
4. Jeremiah's prayer shall not help them; (u. 14.)
what God had said to him before, (ch. vii. 16.) he
here says again. Pray not thou for this people.
This is not designed for a command to the prophet,
so much as for a threatening to the people, that they
should have no benefit by: the prayers ot their friends
for them. God would give no encouragement to the
prophets to pray for them, would not stir up the
Spirit of prayer, but cast a damp upon it; would
put it into their hearts to pray, not for the body of
the people, but for the remnant among them, to pray
for their eternal salvation, not for their deliverance
from the temporal judgments that were coming upon
them: and what other prayers were put up for
them, should not be heard. Those are in a sad case
indeed, that are cut off from the benefit of prayer.
“I will not hear them when they cry, and therefore do
not thou pray for them.” Note, Those that have
so far thrown themselves out of God’s favour, that
he will not hear their prayers, cannot expect bene¬
fit by the prayers of others for them.
5. The profession they make of religion shall
stand them in no stead, v. 15. They were originally
God’s beloved, his spouse, he was married to them
by the covenant of peculiarity; even the unbelieving
Jews are said to be beloved for the fathers' sakes,
Horn. xi. 28. As such, they had a place in God’s
house, they were admitted to worship in the courts
of his temple, they partook of God’s altar, they ate
of the flesh of their peace-offerings, here called the
holy flesh, which God had the honour of, and thev
had tlie comfort of. This they gloried in, and trust¬
ed to. What harm ci uld come to tin se who were
God’s beloved, who were under the protection of
his house? Even when they did evil, yet they re¬
joiced and gloried in this, made a mighty noise of
this. And when their evil was, (so the margin reads
it,) when trouble came upon them, they rejoiced in
this, and made this their confidence ; but their con¬
fidence would deceive them, for God has rejected it,
382
JEREMIAH, XI.
they themselves have forfeited the privileges they
so much boasted of. They have wrought lewdness
with many , have been guilty of spiritual whoredom,
have worshipped many idols. And therefore, (1. )
God’s temple will yield them no protection; it is fit
that the adulteress, especially when she has so often
repeated her whoredoms, and is grown so impudent
in them, and irreclaimable, should be put away,
and turned out of doors; “ What has my beloved to
do in my house? She is a scandal to it, and there¬
fore it shall no longer be a shelter to her.” (2.)
God’s altar will yield them no satisfaction, nor can
they expect any comfort from that; The holy flesh
is passed from thee, an end will soon be put to thy
sacrifices, when the temple shall be laid in ruins;
and where then will the holy flesh be that thou art
so proud of?” A holy heart will be a comfort to us
when the holy flesh is passed from us; an inward
principle of grace will make up the want of the out¬
ward means of grace. But wo unto us if the de¬
parture of the holy flesh be accompanied with the
departure of the Holy Spirit.
6. God’s former favours to them shall stand them
in no stead, v. 16, 17. Their remembrance of them
shall be no comfort to them under their troubles,
and God’s remembrance of them shall be no argu¬
ment for their relief. (1.) It is true, God had done
great things for them; that people had been favour¬
ites above any people under the sun, they had been
the darlings of heaven, God had called Israel’s name
a green olive-tree, and had made them so, for he
miscalls nothing; he had planted them, (v. 17.) had
formed them into a people, with all the advantages
they could have to make them a fruitful and flou¬
rishing people, so good was their law, and so good
was their land. One would think no other, than
that a people so planted, so watered, so cultivated,
should be, as the olive-tree is, ever green, in re¬
spect both of piety and prosperity, Ps. lii. 8. God
called them fair, and of goodly fruit; both good
for food, and pleasant to the eye; both amiable and
serviceable to God and man, for with the green¬
ness and fatness of the olive both are honoured,
Judg. ix. 9. (2.) It is as true, that they have done
evil things against God; he had planted them a
green olive, a good olive, but they were degenerated
into a wild olive, Rom. xi. 17. Both the house of
Israel and the house of Judah had done evil, had
provoked God to anger in burning incense unto
Baal, setting up other mediators between them
and the supreme God beside the promised Messiah;
nay, setting up other gods in competition with the
true and living God, for they had gods many, as
well as lords many. (3.) When they have conduct¬
ed themselves so ill, they can expect no other than
that, notwithstanding what good he has done to
them, and designed for them, he should now bring
upon them the evil he has pronounced against them.
He that made them will not save them. He that
planted this green olive-tree, and expected fruit from
it, finding it barren and grown wild, has kindled fire
upon it., to 1 urn it as it stands; for, being without
fruit, it is twice dead, plucked up by the roots,
(Jude 12.) it is cut down, and cast into the fire, the
fittest place for trees that cumber the ground,
Matth. iii. 10. The branches of it, the high and
lofty boughs, (so the word signifies,) are broken,
are broken down, both princes and priests cut off.
And thus it proves, that the evil done against Gotl,
to provoke him to anger, is really done against them¬
selves, they wrong their own souls; God is out of
their reach, but they ruiu themselves. See ch. vii.
19. Note, Every sin against God is a sin against
ourselves, and so it will be found sooner or later.
18. And the Lord hath given me know¬
ledge of it, and I know it, then thou shew-
edst me their doings. 19. But I teas like
a lamb, or an ox, that is brought to the
slaughter; and I knew not that they had
devised deviees against me, saying, I ,et us
destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and
let us cut him off from the land of the
living, that his name may be no more
remembered. 20. But, O Lord of hosts,
that judgest righteously, that triest the reins
and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on
them ; for unto thee have I revealed my
cause. 21. Therefore thus saith the Lord
of the men of Anathoth that seek thy life,
saying, Prophesy not in the name of the
Lord, that thou die not by our hand: 22.
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts.
Behold, I will punish them ; the y'oung men
shall die by the sword, their sons and their
daughters shall die by famine : 23. And
there shall be no remnant of them, for I will
bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even
the year of their visitation.
Tfie prophet Jeremiah has much in his writings
concerning himself, much more than Isaiah had,
the times he lived in being very troubles: me. Here
we have (as it should seem) the beginning of his
sorrows, which arose from those of his own city,
Anathoth, a priest’s city, and yet a malignant one.
Observe here,
1. Their plot against him, v. 19. They devised
devices against him, laid their heads together to
contrive how they might be in the mest plausible
and effectual manner the death of him. Malice is
ingenious in its devices, as well as industrious in its
prosecutions. They said concerning Jeremiah, Let
us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof; a prover¬
bial expression; “ Let us utterly destroy him, root
and branch. Let us destroy both the father and the
family;” (as, when Naboth was put to death for
treason, his sons were put to death with him;) or,
rather, “ Both the prophet and the prophecy; let us
kill the one, and defeat the other. Let us cut hin j
off from the land of the living, as a false prophet,
and load him with ignominy and disgrace, that his
name may be no more remembered with respect.
Let us sink his reputation, and so spoil the credit of
his predictions.” This was their plot; and, (1.) It
was a barbarous one; but so cruel have the perse¬
cutors of God’s prophets been. They hunt for no
less than the precious life, and very precious the
lives are, that they hunt for. But (2.) It was a baf¬
fled one. They thought to put an end to his days,
but he survived most of his enemies; they though*
to blast his memory, but it lives to this day, a, a.
will be blessed while time lasts.
2. The information which God gave him of this
conspiracy against him. He knew nothing of it him¬
self, so artfully had they concealed it; lie came to
Anathoth, tneaning no harm to them, and therefore
fearing no harm from them, like a lamb or an ox,
that thinks he is driven as usual to the field, when
he is brought to the slaughter; so little did poor
Jeremiah dream of tile design his citizens that hated
him had upon him. None of his friends c uld, and
none of his enemies would, give him any notice if
his danger, that lie might shift for his own safety;
as Paul’s sister’s son gave him intelligence of the
Jews that were Iv ing in wait frr him. There is but
a step between Jeremiah and death; hut tli n 'he
Lord gave him knowledge of it, by dream or visi* o,
383
JEREMI
or impression upon his spirit, that he might save ]
himself, as the king of Israel did upon the notice
Elisha gave him, 2 Kings vi. 10. Thus he came to
know it, God shows him their doings; and such
were their devices, that the discovering of them was j
tlie defeating of them. If God had not let him know
his own danger, it would have been improved by
unreasonable men against the reputation of his pre¬
dictions, that he who foretold the ruin of his coun¬
try, could not foresee his own peril and avoid it.
See what care God takes of his prophets; he suffers
no man to do them wrong; all the rage of their ene¬
mies cannot prevail to take them off till they have
finished their testimony. God knows all the secret
designs of his and his people’s enemies, and can,
when he pleases, make them known; A bird of the
air shall carry the voice.
3. His appeal to God hereupon, v. 20. His eye
is to God as the Lord of hosts that judges righte¬
ously. It is matter of comfort to us, when men deal
unjustly with us, that we have a God to go to, who
does and will plead the cause of injured innocency,
and appear against the injurious. God’s justice,
which is a terror to the wicked, is a comfort to the
godly. His eye is to him, as the God that tries the
reins and the heart; that perfectly sees what is in
m in; what are his thoughts and intents. He knew
the integrity that was in Jeremiah’s heart, and that
he was not the man they represented him to be.
He knew the wickedness that was in their hearts,
though ever so cunningly concealed and disguised.
Now, (1.) He prays judgment against them; “Let
me see thy x<engeance on them, do justice between
me and them in such a way as thou pleasest. ” Some
think there was something of human frailty in this
irayer; at least, Christ has taught us another lesson, |
loth by precept and by pattern, which is, to pray
for our persecutors. Others think it comes from a
pure zeal for the glory of God, and a pious prophetic
indignation against men that were, by profession,
priests, the Lord’s ministers, and vet were so des¬
perately wicked as to fly out against one that did
them no harm, merely for the service he did to God.
This petition was a prediction that he should see
God’s vengeance anthem. (2.) He refers himself
entirely to the judgment of God; “ Unto thee have I
revealed my cause; to thee I have committed it, not
desiring or expecting to interest any other in it”
Note, It is our comfort, when we are wronged, that
we have a God to commit our cause to; and our duty
to commit it to him, with a resolution to acquiesce
in his definitive sentence; to subscribe, and not pre¬
scribe, to him.
4. Judgment given against his persecutors, the
men of Anathoth. It was to no purpose for him to
appeal to the courts of Jerusalem, he could not have
right done him there, the priests there would stand
by the priests at Anathoth, and rather second them
than discountenance them; but God will therefore
take cognizance of the cause himself, and we are
sure that his judgment is according to truth.
Here is, (1.) Their crime recited, on which the
sentence is grounded, v. 21. They sought the pro¬
phet's life, for they forbid him to prophesy upon
pain of death; they were resolved either to silence
him or to slay him. The provocation he gave them,
was, his prophesying in the name of the Lord, with¬
out license from them that were the governors of
the city, which he was a member of; and not pro¬
phesying such smooth things as they always bespoke.
Their forbidding him to prophesy, was, in effect,
seeking his life; for it was seeking to defeat the end
and business of his life, and to rob him of the com¬
fort of it. It is as bad to God’s faithful ministers to
have their mouth stopped, as to have their breath
stc ipped. But especially when it was resolved, that,
if he did prophesy, as certainly he would, notwith-
AH, XIJ.
standing their inhibition, he should die by their hand;
they would be accusers, judges, executioners, and
all.' It used to be said, th..t a prophet could not
perish but at Jerusalem, fi r there the great council
sat; but so bitter were the men of Anathoth against
Jeremiah, that they would undertake to be the death
of him themselves. A prophet then shall find not
only no honour, but no favour, in his own country
(2.) The sentence passed upon them for this
crime, v. 22, 23. God says, 1 will punish them; let
me alone to deal with them, I will visit this upon
them; so the word is: God will inquire into it, and
reckon for it. Two of God’s fuur sore judgments
shall serve to ruin their town. The sword shall
devour their young men, though they were young
priests, not men ot war; their character shall not be
their protection; and fumine shall destroy the chil¬
dren, sons and daughters, that tarry at home;
which is a more grievous death than that by the
sword, Lam. iv. 9. The destruction shall be final,
(r’. 23.) There shall be no remnant of them left,
none to be the seed of another generation; they
sought Jeremiah’s life, and therefore they shall die;
they would destroy him, root and branch, that his
name might be no more remembered, and therefore
there shall be no remnant of them: and herein the
Lord is righteous. Thus evil is brought upon them,
even the year of their visitation; and that is evil
enough, a recompense according to their deserts.
Then shall Jeremiah see his desire upon his enemies.
Note, Their condition is sad, who have the prayers
of good ministers and good people against them.
CHAP. XU.
In this chapter, we have. I. The prophet’s humble com¬
plaint to God of the success that wicked people had in
their wicked practices, (v. 1,2.) and his appeal to God
concerning his own integrity, (v. 3.) with a prayer that
God would, for the sake of the public, bring the wicked¬
ness of the wicked to an end, v. 3, 4. II. God’s rebuke
to the prophet for his uneasiness at his present troubles,
bidding him prepare for greater, v. 5, 6. III. A sad la¬
mentation of the present deplorable state of the Israel
of God, v. 7 . . 13. IV. An intimation of mercy to God’s
eople, in a denunciation of wrath against their neigh-
ours that helped forward their affliction, that they
should be plucked out ; but with a promise, that if they
would at last join themselves with the people of God,
thev should come in sharers with them in their privileges,
v. 14. . 17.
Righteous art thou, o Lord,
j when [ plead with thee ; yet let me
talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore
doth the way of the wicked prosper? where¬
fore are all they happy that deal very
treacherously ? 2. Thou hast planted them;
yea, they have taken root: they grow ; yea,
they bring forth fruit : thou art near in their
mouth, and far from their reins. 3. But
thou, O Lord, knovvest me; thou hast seen
me, and tried my heart toward thee ; pull
them out like sheep for the slaughter, and
prepare them for the day of slaughter. 4.
How long shall the land mourn, and the
herbs of every field wither, for the wicked¬
ness of them that dwell therein ? the beasts
ate consumed, and the birds; because the\
said, He shall not see our last end. 5. 1 1
thou hast run with the footmen, and they
have wearied thee, then how canst thou
contend with horses ? and if in the land of
[ peace, wherein theu trustedst, they wearied
384
JEREMIAH, XII.
litre, then how wilt thou do in the swelling
of Jordan? 6. For even thy brethren, and
tile house of thy father, even they have dealt
treacherously with thee; yea, they have
railed a multitude after thee : believe them
not, though they speak fair words unto thee.
The prophet doubts not but it would lie of use to
others, to know what had passed between God and
his soul; what temptations he had been assaulted
with, and how he had got over them; and therefore
he here tells us,
I, What liberty he humbly took, and was gra¬
ciously allowed him, to reason with God concerning
his judgment, v. 1. He is about to plead w.th God,
not to quarrel with him, or find fault with his pro¬
ceedings, but to inquire into the meaning of them,
that he might more and more see reason to be satis¬
fied in them, and might have wherewith to answer
both his own and others’ objections against them.
The works of the Lord, and the reasons of them,
are sought out even of those that have pleasure
therein, Ps. cxi. 2. We may not strive with our
Maker, but we may reason with him. The pro¬
phet lays down a truth of unquestionable certainty,
which he resolves to abide by in managing this argu¬
ment; Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead
with thee. Thus he arms himself against the temp¬
tation wherewith he was assaulted, to envy the
prosperity of the wicked, before he entered into a
parley with it. Note, When we are most in the
d irk concerning the meaning of God’s dispensations,
we must still resolve to keep up right thoughts of
God, and must be confident of this, that he never
did, nor ever will do, the least wrong to any of his
creatures; even when his judgments are unsearch¬
able as a great deep, and altogether unaccountable,
yet his righteousness is as conspicuous and im¬
moveable as the great mountains, Ps. xxxvi. 6.
Though sometimes clouds and darkness are round
about him, yet justice and judgment are always the
habitation of his throne, Ps. xcvii. 2. When we
find it hard to understand particular providences,
we must have recourse to general truths as our first
principles, and abide bv them: however it be, the
Lord is righteous ; see Ps. lxxiii. 1. And we must
acknowledge it to him, as the prophet here, even
when we plead with him, as those that have no
thoughts of contending, but of learning, being fully
assured that he will be justified when he speaks.
Note, However we may see cause for our own in¬
formation to plead with God, yet it becomes us to
own that, whatever he says or does, he is in the
ht.
I. What it was in the dispensations of Divine
Providence, that he stumbled at, and that he
thought would bear a debate. It was that which
has been a temptation to many wise and good men,
and such a one as they had hardly got over. 1. They
see the designs and projects of wicked people suc¬
cessful: The way of the wicked prospers; they com¬
pass their malicious designs, and gain their point.
2. They see their affairs and concerns in a good
pos’ure; They are happy, happy as the world can
make them, though they deal treacherously, very
treacherously, both with God and mail. Hypo¬
crites are chiefly meant, (as appears, v. 2.) who
dissemble in their good professions, and depart from
their good beginnings and good promises, and in
both they deal treacherously, very treacherously.
It has been said, that men cannot expect to prosper
who are unjust and dishonest in their dealings; but
these deal treacherously, and yet they are happy.
He shows ( v . 2.) both their prosperity, and their
abuse of their prosperity. (1.) God had been very
indulgent to them, and they were got beforehand in
the world; “They are planted in a good land, a
land flowing with milk and honey, and thou hast
planted them; nay, thou didst cast out the heathen
to plant them,” 'Ps. xliv. 2. — lxxx. 8. Many a
tree is planted, that yet never grows, or comes to
any thing; but they have taken root, their prosperity
seems to be confirmed and settled; they take root in
the earth, for there they fix themselves, and thence
they draw the sap of all their satisfaction. Yet
many trees take root, which vet never come on; but
these grow, yea, they bring forth fruit; their fami¬
lies are built up, they live high, and spend at a great
rate; and all this was owing to the benignity ot the
Divine Providence, which smiled upon them, Ps.
lxxiii. 7. (2.) Thus God had favrured them,
though they had dealt treacherously with him: Thou
art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.
This was no uncharitable censure, for he spake by
the Spirit of prophecy, without which it is n< t sate
to charge men with hypocrisy, whose appearances
are plausible. Observe, [1.] Though they cared
not for thinking of God, nor had any sincere affec¬
tion to him, yet they could easily persuade them¬
selves to speak of him frequently, and with an air
of seriousness. Piety from the teeth outward is no
difficult thing. Many speak the language of Israel,
that are not Israelites indeed. [2.] 1 hi ugh the)
had on all occasions the name of God ready in their
mouth, and accustomed themselves to those forms
of speech that savoured of piety, yet they could net
persuade themselves to keep up the fear of God in
their hearts. The form of godliness should engage
us to keep up the power of it; but with them it did
not so.
III. What comfort he had in appealing to Gcd
concerning his own integrity; (n. 3.) But thou, 0
Lord, knowest me. Probably, the wicked men he
complains of were forward to reproach and censure
him, (c/i. xviii. 18.) in reference to which, this was
his comfort, that God was a Witness < f his integ¬
rity. God knew he was not such a rne as they
were, who had God near in their mouths, but far
from their reins; nor such a one as they took him
to be, and represented him, a deceiver and false
prophet; they that thus abused him did not know
him; (1 Cor. ii. 8.) “ But thou, 0 Lord, knowest
me, though they think me not worth their notice.”
1. Observe what the matter is, concerning which
he appeals to God, Thou knowest my heart toward
thee. Note, We are as our hearts are, and cur
hearts are good or bad, according as they are, or
are not, toward God; and this is that therefore con¬
cerning which we should examine ourselves, that
we may approve ourselves to God. 2. The cogni¬
zance to which he appeals; “Thou knowest me bet¬
ter than I know myself, not by hearsay or report,
for thou hast seen me, not with a transient glance,
but thou hast tried my heart. God’s knowing of us
is as clear and exact and certain, as if he had made
the most strict scrutiny. Note, The God with
whom we have to do, perfectly knows how cur
hearts are toward him. He knows both the guile
of the hvpocrite, and the sincerity of the upright.
IV. He prays that God would turn his hand
against these wicked people, and not suffer them to
prosper always, though they had prospered Irng;
“Let some judgment come to pull them out of this
f it pasture as sheep for the slaughter, that it may
appear thtir long prosperity was but like the feed¬
ing of lambs in a large place, to prepare them for
the day of slaughter,” Hos. iv. 16. God suffered
them to prosper, that by their pride and luxury
thev might fill up the measure of their iniquity, and
so be ripened for destruction; and therefore he
thinks it a piece cf necessary justice, that the y
should fall into mischief themselves., because the y
had done so much mischief to others, that they
38o
JEREMIAH, XII.
Mould be / lulled out of their land, because they had
brought ruin upon the land, and the longer they
continued in it, the more hurt they did, as the
plagues of their generation; (t>. 4.) “How long shall
'he land mourn (as it does under the judgments ot
God inflicted upon it) for the wickedness of them that
dwell therein ? Lord, shall they prosper themselves,
that ruin all about them?” 1. See here what the
judgment was, which the land was now groaning
under; The herbs of every field wither, the grass is
burnt up, and all the products of the earth fail; and
then it follows of course, the beasts are consumed,
and the birds, 1 Kings xviii. 5. This was the effect
of a long drought, or want of rain, which happened,
as it should seem, at the latter end of Josiah’s reign,
and the beginning of Jehoiakim’s; it is mentioned,
ch. iii. 3. — viii. 13. — ix. 10, 12. and more fully af¬
terwards, ch. xiv. If they would have been brought
to repentance by this lesser judgment, the greater
had been prevented. Now, why was it that this
fruitful land was turned into barrenness, but for
the wickedness of them that dwelt therein? Ps. evii.
34. Therefore the prophet prays that these wicked
people might die for their own sin, and that the
whole nation might not suffer for it. 2. See here
what was the language of their wickedness. They
said, He shall not see our last end; God himselt
shall not. Atheism is the root of hypocrisy; there¬
fore God is far from their reins, though near in
their mouth, because they say, How doth God
know? Ps. lxxiii. 11. Job xxii. 13. He knows not
what way we take, nor what it will end in. Or,
Jeremiah shall not see our last end; whatever* he
pretends, when he asks us what shall be in the end
hereof, he cannot himself foresee it. They look
upon him as a false prophet. Or, “ Whatever it is,
he shall not live to see it, for we will be the death
of him,” ch. xi. 21. Note, (1.) Men’s setting their
latter end at a great distance, or looking upon it as
uncertain, is at the bottom of all their wickedness,
Lam. i. 9. (2.) The whole creation groans under
the burthen of the sin of man, Rom. viii. 22. It is
for this, that the earth mourns; (so it may be read;)
cursed is the ground for thy sake.
V. He acquaints us with the answer God gave to
those complaints of his, v. 5,6. We often find the
prophets admonished, whose business it was to ad¬
monish others, as Isa. viii. 11. Ministers have les¬
sons to learn, as well as lessons to teach, and must
themselves hear God’s voice, and preach to them¬
selves. Jeremiah complained much of the wicked¬
ness of the men of Anathoth; and that, notwith¬
standing that, they prospered. Now this seems to
be an answer to that complaint. 1. It is allowed
that he had cause to complain ;(tu. 6.) “ Thy brethren,
the priests of Anathoth, that are ot the house of thy
father, who ought to have protected thee, and pre¬
tended to do so, even they have dealt treacherously
with thee, have been false to thee, and, under colour
of friendship, have designedly done thee all the
mischief they could; they have called a multitude
after thee, raised the mob upon thee, and incensed
the common people against thee, to whom they have
endeavoured, bv all arts possible, to render thee
despicable or odious, while at the same time they
pretend that they had no design to persecute thee,
or deprive thee of thy liberty. They are indeed
such as thou canst not believe, though they speak
fair words to thee. They seem to be thy friends,
but are really thine enemies.” Note, God’s faithful
servants must not think it at all strange, if their foes
be those of their own house, (Matth. x. 36.) and if
those they expect kindness from, prove such as they
can put no confidence in, Mic. vii. 5. 2. Yet he is
told that he carried the matter too far. (1.) He
laid the unkindness of his countrymen too much to
heart. They wearied him, because it was in a land
Vol. IV. — 3 C
of fieace wherein he trusted, v. 5. It was very griev¬
ous to him to be tlius hated and abused by his own
kindred. He was disturbed in his mind by it, his
spirit was sunk and overwhelmed with it, so that he
was in great agitation and distress about it. Nay,
he was discouraged in his work by it, began to be
weary of prophesying, and to think of giving it up.
(2.)He did not consider that this was but the begin¬
ning of his sorrow, and that he had sorer trials yet
before him; and whereas he should endeavour bv a
patient bearing of this trouble to prepare himself
tor greater, by his uneasiness under this he did but
unfit himself for what further lay before him; If
thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wea¬
ried thee, and run thee quite out of breath, then how
wilt thou contend with horses? If the injuries done
him by the men of Anathoth made such an impres¬
sion upon him, what would he do when the princes
and chief priests at Jerusalem should set upon him
with their power, as they did afterward, ch. xx. 2.
— xxxii. 2. If he was so soon tired in a land of
peace, where there was little noise or peril, what
would he do in the swellings of Jordan, when that
overflows all its banks, and frightens even lions cut
of their thickets? ch. xlix. 19. Note, [1.] While
we are in this world, we must expect troubles and
difficulties. Our file is a race, a warfare; we are in
danger of being run down. [2. ] God’s usual method
being to begin with lesser trials, it is our wisdom to
expect greater than any we have yet nut with.
We may be called cut to contend with horsemen,
and the sons of Anak may perhaps be reserved for
the last encounter. [3.] It highly concerns us to
prepare for such trials, and to consider what tut
should do in them. How shall we preserve cur in¬
tegrity and peace, when we come to the swelling-
of Jordan? [4.] In order to cur preparation for
further and greater trials, we are concerned to ap¬
prove ourselves well in present lesser trials, to keep
up our spirits, keep hold of the promise, keep in cur
way, with our eye upon the prize, so run that we
may obtain it.
Some good interpreters understand this as spoke n
to the people, who were very secure, and fearless
of the threatened judgments. If they have been so
humbled and impoverished by lesser calamities,
wasted by the Assyrians; if the Ammonites and
Moabites, who were their brethren, and with whom
they were in league, if these proved false to them,
(as undoubtedly they would,) then how would they
be able to deal with such a powerful adversary as
the Chaldeans would be? How would they bear
up their head against that invasion which she uld
come like the swelling of Jordan?
7. I have forsaken my house, I have left
my heritage; I have given the dearly-belov-
ed of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
8. My heritage is unto me as a lion in the
forest ; it crieth out against me : therefore
have I hated it. 9. My heritage is unto me
as a speckled bird; the birds round about
are against her; come ye, assemble all the
beasts of the field, come to devour. 10.
Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard,
they have trodden my portion under foot,
they have made my pleasant portion a deso¬
late' wilderness. 1 1. They have made it
desolate, and being desolate it mourneth
unto me; the whole land is made desolate,
because no man layeth it to heart. 12. The
spoilers are come upon all high places
JEREMIAH, XII.
. 3S6
through the wilderness: for the sword of the
Lord shall devour from the owe end of the
land even to the other end of the land: no
flesh shall have peace. 13. They have
sown wheat, but shall reap thorns; they
have put themselves to pain, hut shall not
profit ; and they shall be ashamed of your
revenues, because of the fierce anger of the
Lord.
The people of the Jews are here marked for ruin.
I. God is here brought in, falling out with them,
and leaving them desolate; and they could never
have been undone, if they had not provoked God
to desert them. It is a terrible word that God
here s lys, (y. 7.) I have forsaken my house; the
temple, which had been his palace, they had pollu¬
ted it, and so forced him out of it: I have left mine
heritage , and will look after it no more; his people
that lie has taken such delight in, and care of, are
now thrown out of his protection. They had been
the dearly beloved of his soul, precious in his sight,
and honourable above any people; which is men¬
tioned to aggravate their sin, in returning him
hatred for his love, and their misery, in throwing
themselves out of the favour of one that had such a
kindness for them, and to justify God in his dealings
with them: he sought not occasion against them, but
if they would have conducted themselves tolerably,
he would have made the best of them, for they were
the beloved of his soul; but they had conducted
themselves so that they had provoked him to give
them into the hand of their enemies, to leave them
unguarded, an easy prey to those that bore them ill
will. But what was the quarrel God had with a
people that had been so long dear to him? Why,
truly, they were degenerated. 1. They were be¬
come like beasts of prey, which nobody loves, but
every bodv avoids and gets as-f.ir off from as they
can; (v. 8.) Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in
the forest. Their sins cry to heaven for vengeance
as loud as a Hon roars. Nav, they cry out against
God in the threatenings and slaughter which they
breathe against his prophets that speak to them in
his name; and what is said and done against them,
God takes as said and done against himself. They
blaspheme his name, oppose his authority, and bid
defiance to his justice, and so cry out against him
as a lion in the forest. They that were the sheep
of God’s pasture, are become barbarous and raven¬
ous, and as ungovernable as lions in the forest,
therefore I hated them: for what delight could the
God of love take in a people that were now become
as roaring lions and raging beasts, fit to be taken and
shot at, as a vexation and torment to all about them?
2. Thev were become like birds of prey, and there¬
fore also unworthy a place in God’s house, where
neither beasts nor birds of prey were admitted to be
offered in sacrifice; (i>. 9.) Mine heritage is unto
me as a bird with talons; (so some read it, and so
the margin;) they are continually pulling and peck¬
ing at one another, they have by their unnatural
cont ntions made their country a cock-pit. Or, as
a speckled bird, dyed, or sprinkled, or bedewed, j
with the blood of her prey; the shedding of innocent
blood was Jerusalem’s measure-filling sin, and hast¬
ened their ruin, not only as it provoked God against
them, but as it provoked their neighbours likewise;
for those that have their hand against every ?nan,
shall have every man's hand against them; (Gen.
xvi. 12.) and so it follows here, the birds round
about are against her. Some make her a speckled,
pied, or motley bird, upon the account of their mix¬
ing the superstitious customs and usages of the
heathen with divine institutions in the worship of
God; they were fond of a party-coloured religion,
and thought it made them fine, when really it made
them odious. God’s turtle-dove is no speckled bird.
II. The enemies are here brought in falling upon
them, and laying them desolate. And some think
it is upon this account that they are compared to a
speckled bird, because fowls make a noise about n
bird of an odd, unusual colour. God’s people are,
among the children of this world, as men wondere~'
at, as a speckled bird; but this people had by their
own folly made themselves so; and the beasts and
birds are called and commissioned to prey upc
them, Let all the birds round be against her, for
God has forsaken her, and with them let all the
beasts of the field come to devour. Those that
have made a prey of others, shall themselves be
preyed upon. It did not lessen the sin of the nations,
but very much greatened the misery of Judah and
Jerusalem, that the desolation brought upon them
was by order from heaven. The birds and beasts
are perhaps called to feast upon the bodies of the
slain, as in St. John’s vision. Rev. xix. 17.
The utter desolation of the land by the Chaldean
army is here spoken of as a thing done; so sure, so
near, was it. God speaks of it as a thing which he
had appointed to be done, and vet which he had no
pleasure in, any more than in the death of other
sinners.
1. See with what a tender affection he speaks of
this land, notwithstanding the sinfulness of it, in re¬
membrance of his covenant, and the tribute of ho¬
nour and glory he had formerly had from it; It is
my vineyard, my portion, my pleasant portion, v.
10. Note, God has a kindness and concern for his
church, though there be much amiss in it; and his
correcting of it will every way consist with his com¬
placency in it.
2. See with what a tender compassion he speaks
of the desolations of this land; Many pastors, the
Chaldean generals that made themselves masters
of the country, and ate it up with their armies as
easily as the Arabian shepherds with their flocks
eat up the fruits of a piece of ground that lies com¬
mon; they have destroyed my vineyard, without
any consideration had either of the value of it, or of
my interest in it; they have with the greatest inso¬
lence and indignation trodden it under foot; and
that which was a pleasant land they have made a
desolate wilderness. The destruction was universal;
The whole land was made desolate; (y. 11.) it is
made so by the sword of war; the spoilers, the
Chaldean soldiers, are come through the plain upon
all high places; thev have made themselves masters
of all the natural fastnesses and artificial fortresses,
v. 12. The sword devours from one end of the
land to the other; all places lie exposed, and the
numerous army of the invaders disperse themselves
into every comer of that fruitful country, so that
no flesh shall have peace, none shall be exempt from
the calamity, nor be able to enjoy any tranquillity.
When all flesh have corrupted their way, no flesh
shall have peace; those only have peace, that walk
after the Spirit.
3. See whence all this misery comes. (1.) It
comes from the displeasure of God. It is the sword
of the Lord, that devours, v. 12. While God’s
people keep close to him, the sword of their pro¬
tectors and deliverers is the sword of the Lord,
witness that of Gideon; but when they have forsa¬
ken him, so that he is become their Enemy, and
fights against them, then the sword of their inva¬
ders and destroyers is become the sword of the
Lord; witness this of the Chaldeans. It is becattse
of the fierce anger of the Lord; (e. 13.) that was it
which kindled this fire among them, r nd made their
enemies so furious. And who may stand before
him, when he is angry? (2.) It is their sin that has
387
JEREMIAH, XII.
made God their Enemy, particularly their incor-
rigiblencss under former rebukes; (v. 11.) The land
mourns unto me, the country that lies desolate does,
as it were, pour out its complaint before God, and
humbles itself under his hand; but the inhabitants
are so senseless and stupid, that none of them lays
it to heart ; they do not mourn to God, but are un¬
affected with his displeasure, while the very ground
they go upon shames them. Note, When God’s
hand is lifted u/i, and men will not see, it shall be
laid on, and they shall be made to feet, Isa. xxvi. 11.
4. See how unable they should be to fence against
it; (v. 13.) “ They have sown wheat, they have
taken a deal of pains for their own security, and
promised themselves great matters from their en¬
deavours, but it is all in vain; they shall rea/i thorns,
that which shall prove very grievous and vexatious
to them; instead of helping themselves, they shall
but make themselves more uneasy: they have put
themselves to /lain, both with their labour, and with
their expectations, but it shall not profit; they shall
not prevail to extricate themselves out of the diffi¬
culties into which they have plunged themselves.
They shall be ashamed of your revenues, that they
have depended so much upon their preparations for
war, and particularly upon their ability to bear the
charges ot it.” Money is the sinews of war; they
thought they had enough of that, but shall be
ashamed of it; for their silver and gold shall not profit
them in the day of the Lord’s anger.
1 4. Tims saitli the Lord against all mine
evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance
which I have caused my people Israel to
inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of
their land, and pluck out the house of Judah
from among them. 15. And it shall come
to pass, after that I have plucked them out
I will return, and have compassion on them,
and will bring them again, every man to his
heritage, and every man to his land. 16.
And it shall come to pass, if they will dili¬
gently learn the ways of my people, to swear
by my name, The Lord liveth; (as they
taught my people to swear by Baal;) then
shall they be built in the midst of my peo¬
ple. 17. But if they will not obey. I will
utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,
saitli the Lord.
The prophets sometimes, in God’s name, deliver¬
ed messages both of judgment and mercy to the na¬
tions that bordered on the land of Israel; but here is
a message to them all in general, who had in their
turns been one way or other injurious to God’s peo¬
ple, had either oppressed them, or triumphed in
their being oppressed. Observe,
I. What the quarrel was that God had with
them. They were his evil neighbours, v. 14. evil
neighbours to his church, and what they did against
it he took as done against himself, and therefore
called them his evil neighbours, that should have
been neighbourly to Israel, but were quite other¬
wise. Note, It is often the lot of good people to
live among bad neighbours, that are unkind and
provoking to them; and it is bad indeed when they
ar all so. These evil neighbours were the Moab¬
ite.-,. Ymmonites, Syrians, Edomites, Egyptians,
th it h id been evil neighbours to Israel in help¬
ing to debauch them, and draw them from God;
theref re God calls them his evil neighbours, and
now they helped to make them desolate, and joined
with the Chaldeans against them. It is just with
God to make those the instruments of trouble to us,
whom we have made instruments of sin. That
which God lays to their charge, is, that they have
meddled with the inheritance which I have caused
my people Israel to inherit; they unjustly seized
that which was none of their own: nay, they sacri¬
legiously turned that to their own use, which was
given to God’s peculiar people. He that said.
Touch not mine anointed, said also, “ Touch not
their inheritance; it is at your peril if you do.” Not
only the persons, but the estates, of God’s people
are under his protection.
II. What course he would take with them. 1. He
would break the power they had got over his peo¬
ple, and force them to make restitution; I will /iluck
out the house of Judah from among them; this
would be a great favour to God’s people, who had
either been taken captive by them, or, when they
fled to them for shelter, had been detained and
made prisoners; but it would be a great mortification
to their enemies, who would be like a lion disap¬
pointed of his prey. The house of Judah either
cannot, or will not, make any bold struggles toward
their own liberty; but God will with a gracious vio¬
lence pluck them out, will by his Spirit compel
them to come out, and by his power compel their
taskmasters to let them go, as he plucked Israel
out of Egypt 2. He would bring upon them the
same calamities that they had been instrumental to
bring upon his people; I will pluck them out of
their land. Judgment began at the house of God,
but it did not end there. Nebuchadnezzar, when
he had wasted the land of Israel, turned his hand
against their evil neighbours, and was a scourge to
them.
III. What mercy God had in store for such of
them as would join themselves to him, and become
his people, v. 15, 16. They had drawn in God’s
backsliding people to join with them in the service
of idols. If now they would be drawn by a return¬
ing people to join with them in the service of the
true and living God, they should not only have their
enmity to the people of God forgiven them, but the
distance which they had been kept at before should
be removed, and they should be received to stand
upon the same level with the Israel of God; this had
its accomplishment in part, when, after the return
out of captivity, many of the people of the lands
that had been evil neighbours to Israel, became
Jews; and was to have its full accomplishment in
the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ.
Let not Israel, though injured bv them, be implaca¬
ble toward them, for God is not; After that I have
plucked them out in justice for their sins, and in
jealousy for the honour of Israel, I will return, will
change my way, and have compassion on them.
Though, being heathen, they can lay no claim to
the mercies of the covenant, yet they shall have
benefit by the compassions of the Creator, who will
notwithstanding look upon them as the work of his
hands. Note, God’s controversies with his crea¬
tures, though they cannot be disputed, may be ac¬
commodated. Those who (as these here) have
been not only strangers, but enemies in their minds
by wicked works, may be reconciled, Col. i. 21.
Observe here,
1. What were the terms on which God would
show favour to them. It was always provided, that
they will diligently learn the ways of my people.
That is, in general, the ways that they walk in,
when they believe, as my people, not the crooked
wavs into which they have turned aside; the waj s
which my people are directed to take. Note, (1.)
There are good ways that are peculiarly the ways
of God’s people, which, however they may differ in
the choice of their paths, they are all agreed tr
383
JEREMIAH, XIII.
\v,,lk in. The ways of holiness and heavenly-mind-
ediiL-bs, of love and peaceableness, the ways of
piMVtT and sabbath-sanctification, and diligent at¬
tendance on instituted ordinances — these, and the
like, are the ways of God’s people. (2.) 1 hose
that would have their lot with God’s people, and
their last end like theirs, must learn their ways,
and walk in them; must observe the rule they walk
by, and conform to that rule, and the steps they
take by that rule, and go forth by those footsteps.
By an intimate conversation with God’s people they
must learn to do as they do. (3.) It is impossible
to learn the ways of God’s people as they should be
learned, without a great deal of care and pains: we
must diligently observe these ways, and diligently
oblige ourselves to walk in them; look diligently,
(Heb. xii. 15.) and work diligently, Luke xiii. 24.
In particular, they must learn to give honour to
God’s name, by making all their solemn appeals to
him. They must learn to say, The Lord liveth,
to own him, and to adore him, and to abide by his
judgment; as they taught my people to swear by
Baal. It was bad enough that they did themselves
swear by Baal, worse that they taught others, and
worst of all that they taught God’s own people, who
had been better taught: and yet, if they will at
length reform, they shall be accepted. Observe,
[1.] We must not despair of the conversion of the
worst; no, not of those who have been instrumental
to pervert and debauch others; even they may be
brought to repentance, and, if they be, shall find
mercv. [2.] Those whom we have been industri¬
ous to draw to that which is evil, when God opens
their eyes and ours, we should be as industrious to
follow in that which is good. It will be a holy re¬
venge upon ourselves to become pupils to those in
the way of duty, to whom we have been tutors in
the way of sin. [3.] The conversion of the deceiv¬
ed may prove a happy occasion of the conversion
even ot the deceivers. Thus they who fell together
into the ditch, are sometimes plucked together out
of it.
2. What should be the tokens and fruits of this fa¬
vour, when they return to God, and God to them.
(1.) They shall be restored to, and re-established
in, their own land; (n. 15.) I bring them again,
every man to his heritage. The same hand that
plucked them up, shall plant them again. (2.)
They shall become entitled to the spiritual privi¬
leges of God’s Israel; “If they will be towardly,
and learn the ways o f my people, will conform them¬
selves to the rules, and confine themselves to the
restraints, of my family, then shall they be built in
the midst of my people. They shall not only be
brought among them, to have a name and a place
in the house of the Lord, where there was a court
for the Gentiles, but they shall be built among them,
thev shall unite with them, the former enmities
shall be slain, they shall be both edified and settled
among them. See Isa. lvi. 5. — 7. Note, I hey that
diligently learn the ways of God’s people, shall en-
j ry the privileges and comforts of his people.
IV. What should become of those that were still
wedded to their own evil ways, yea though many of
t Pose about them turned to the Lord; (y. 17.) Jf
they will not obey, if any of them continue to stand
it out, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that na-
/ on, that family, that particular person, saith the
Lord. Those that will not be ruled by the grace
• f God, shall be ruined by the justice of God. And
jf disobedient nations shall be destroyed, much more
disobedient churches, from whom better things are
expected.
CHAP. XIII.
Still the prophet is attempting to awaken this secure and
stubborn people lo repentance, by the consideration of
the judgments of God that were coming upon them. He
is to tell them, I. By the sign of a girdle spoiled, that
their pride should be stained, v. 1 . . 11. 11. By the sign
of bottles filled with wine, that their counsels should be
blasted, v. 12 .. 14. III. In consideration hereof, he is
to call them to repent, and humble themselves, v. 15. .
21. IV. He is to convince them that it is for their obsti¬
nacy and incorrigibleness that the judgments of God
are so prolonged, and brought to extremity, v. 22 . . 27.
1. ^l^HUS saith the Lord unto me, Go
JL and get thee a linen girdle, and put
it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
2. So I got a girdle, according to the word
of the Lord, and put it on my loins. 3.
And the word of the Lord came unto me
the second time, saying, 4. Take the girdle
that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins,
and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there
in a hole of the rock. 5. So I went, and
hid it by Euphrates, as the Lord com¬
manded me. 6. And it came to pass after
many days, that the Lord said unto me,
Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle
from thence, which I commanded thee to
hide there. 7. Then I went to Euphrates,
and digged, and took the girdle from the
place where I had hid it; and, behold, the
girdle was marred, it was profitable for no¬
thing. 8. Then the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, 9. Thus saith the
Lord, After this manner will I mar the
pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jeru¬
salem. 10. This evil people, which refuse
to hear my words, which walk in the imagi
nation of their heart, and walk after other
gods to serve them, and to worship them,
shall even be as this girdle, which is good
for nothing. 1 1. For as the girdle cleaveth
to the loins of a man, so have I caused to
cleave unto me the whole house of Israel,
and the whole house of Judah, saith the
Lord ; that they might be unto me for a
people, and for a name, and for a praise,
and for a glory : but they would not hear.
Here is,
I. A sign, the marring of a girdle which the pro
phet had worn for some time, by hiding it in a hole
of a rock, near the river Euphrates. It was usual
with the prophets to teach by signs, that a stupid,
unthinking people might be brought to consider and
believe, and be affected with what was thus set be¬
fore them. 1. He was to wear a linen girdle foi
some time, v. 1, 2. Some think he wore it under
his clothes, because it was linen, and it is said to
cleave to his loins, v. 11. It should rather seem to
be worn upon his clothes, for it was worn for a
name and a praise, and probably was a fine sash,
such as officers wear, and such as are commonly
worn at this day in the eastern nations. Hr must
not put it in water, but wear it as it was, that it
might be the stronger, and less likely to rot linen
wastes almost as much with washing as with wear¬
ing. Being not wet, it was the more stiff, and less
apt to ply, yet he must make a shift to wear it.
Probably, it was very fine linen, which will wear
long without washing. The prophet, like John
Baptist, was none of those that wore soft clothing.
38!i
JEREMIAH, XIII.
and therefore it would be the more strange to see him
with a linen girdle on, who probably used to wear a
leathern one. 2. After he had worn this linen gir¬
dle for some time, he must go and hide it in a hole
of a rock, (v. 4.) by the water’s side, where, when
the water was high, it would be wet, and when it
fell, would grow dry again, and by that means would
soon rot, sooner than if it were always wet or al¬
ways dry. 3. After many days, he must look for it,
and he should find it quite spoiled, gone all to rags,
and good for nothing, v. 7. It has been of old a
question among interpreters, whether this was
really done, so as to be seen and observed by the
people, or only in a dream or vision, so as to go no
further tluin the prophet’s own mind. It seems
hard to imagine that the prophet should be sent on
two such long journeys as to the river Euphrates,
each of which would take him up some weeks time,
when he could so ill be spared at home: fur that
reason, most incline to think the journey, at least,
was only in vision, like that of Ezekiel, from the
captivity in Clnddea to Jerusalem, (Ezek. viii. 3.)
and from thence back to Chaldea, ch. xi. 24. The
explanation of this sign is given only to the prophet
himself, (v. 8.) not to the people, the sign not being
public. But there being, it is probable, at that
time, great convcniencies of travelling between Je¬
rusalem and Babylon, and some part of Euphrates
being not so far off, but that it was made the utmost
□order of the land of promise, (Josh. i. 4. ) I see no
inconvenience in supposing the prophet to have
made two journies thither; for it is expressly said,
He did as the Lord commanded him; and thus gave
a signal proof of his obsequiousness to his God, to
shame the stubborness of a disobedient people; the
toil of his journey would be very proper to signify
both the pains they took to corrupt themselves
with their idolatries, and the sad fatigue of their
captivity; and Euphrates being the river of Baby¬
lon, which was to be the place of their bondage, was
a material circumstance in this sign.
II. The thing signified by this sign. The pro¬
phet was willing to be at any cost and pains to affect
this people with the word of the Lord: ministers
must spend, and be spent, for the good of souls.
We have the explanation of this sign, v. 9. — 11.
1. The people of Israel had been to God as this
girdle, in two respects. (1.) He had taken them
into covenant and communion with himself; As the
girdle cleaves very close to the loins of a man, and
surrounds him, so have I caused to cleave to me the
houses of Israel and Judah. They were a people
near to God; (Ps. cxlviii. 14.) they were his own,
a peculiar people to him, a kingdom of priests that
had access to him above other nations. He caused
them to cleave to him by the law he gave them, the
prophets he sent among them, and the favours
which in his providence he showed them. He re¬
quired their stated attendance in the courts of his
house, and the frequent ratification of their cove¬
nant with him by sacrifices: thus they were made
so to cleave to him, that one would think they could
never have been parted. (2.) He had herein de¬
signed his own honour; when he took them to be to
him for a fieofile, it was that they might be to him
for a name, and fora firaise, and for a glory ; as a
girdle is an ornament to a man, and particularly the
rurious girdle of the efihod was to the High Priest
for glory and for beauty. Note, Those whom
God takes to be to him for a fieofile, he intends to
be to him for a firaise. [1.] It is their duty to ho¬
nour him, by observing his institutions, and aiming
therein at his glory, and thus adorning their profes¬
sion. [2.] It is their happiness that he reckons
himself honoured in them and by them. He is
pleased with them, and glories in his relation to
them, while they behaved themselves as becomes
his people. He was pleased to take it among the
titles of his honour to be the God of Israel, even a
God to Israel, 1 Chron. xvii. 24. In vain do wc
pretend to be to God for a fieofile, if we be not to
him for a firaise.
2. They had by their idolatries and other iniqui¬
ties loosed themselves from him, thrown themselves
at a distance, robbed him of the honour they owed
him, buried themselves in the earth, and foreign
earth too, mingled themselves among the nations,
and were so spoiled and corrupted, that they were
good for nothing; they could no more be to God, as
they were designed, for a name and a firaise, for
they would not hear either their duty to do it, or
their privilege to value it; They refused to hear the
words of God, by which they might have been kept
still cleaving close to him; They walked in the im¬
agination of their heart, wherever their fancy led
them; and denied themselves no gratification they
had a mind to, particularly in their worship; They
would not cleave to God, but walked after other
gods, to serve them, and to worshifi them; they
doted upon the gods of the heathen nations that lay
towards Euphrates, so that they were quite spoiled
for the service of their own God, and were as this
girdle, this rotten girdle, a disgrace to their profes¬
sion, and not an ornament. A thousand pities it
was, that such a girdle should be so spoiled, that
such a people should be so wretchedly degenerate.
3. God would by his judgments separate them
from him, send them into captivity, deface all their
beauty, and ruin their excellency, so that they
should be like a fine girdle gone to rags, a worth¬
less, useless, despicable people. God will after this
manner mar the firide of Judah, and the great firide
of Jerusalem. He would strip them of all that
which was the matter of their pride, of which they
boasted, and in which they trusted; it should not
only be sullied and stained, but quite destroyed, like
this linen girdle. Observe, He speaks of the firide
of Judah; the country people were proud of their
holy land, their good land, but it is the great firide
of Jerusalem, there the temple was, and the royal
palace, and therefore those citizens were more proud
than the inhabitants of other cities. God takes no¬
tice of the degrees of men’s pride, thepride of some,
and the great pride of others; and he will mar it, he
will stain it. Pride will have a fall, for God resists
the proud. He will either mar the firide that is in
us, that is, mortify it by his grace, make us ashamed
of it, and, like Hezekiah, humble us for the pride
of our hearts, the great pride, and cure us of it,
great as it is; (and this marring of the pride will be
the making of the soul; happy for us, if by humbling
providences our hearts be humbled;) or else, he
will mar the thing we are proud of. Parts, gifts,
learning, power, external privileges, if we are proud
of these, it is just with God to blast them ; even the
temple, when it became Jerusalem’s pride, was
marred and laid in ashes. It is the honour of God
to look ufion every one that is firoud, and abase him.
12. Therefore thou shalt speak unto
them this word, Thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine;
and they shall say unto thee, Do we not
certainly know that every bottle shall be fill¬
ed with wine? 1 3. Then shalt thou say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will
fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the
kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the
priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabi¬
tants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. 14.
And I will dash them one against another,
390
JEREMIAH, XIII.
even the fathers and the sons together, saith
the Lord; I will not pity, nor spare, nor
have mercy, but destroy them. to. Hear
ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the
Lord hath spoken. 16. Give glory to the
Lord your God, before he cause darkness,
and before your feet stumble upon the dark
mountains, and while ye look for light, he
turn it into the shadow of death, and make
it gross darkness. 17. But if ye will not
hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places
for your pride ; and mine eyes shall weep
sore, and run down with tears, because the
Lord’s flock is carried away captive. 18.
Say unto the king and to the queen, Hum¬
ble yourselves, sit down ; for your principali¬
ties shall come down, even the crown of
your glory. 19. The cities of the south
shall be shut up, and none shall open them ;
Judah shall be carried away captive all of
it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.
20. Lift up your eyes, and behold them that
come from the north; where is the flock
that was given thee, thy beautiful flock ? 21.
What wilt thou say when he shall punish
thee? (for thou hast taught them to be cap¬
tains, and as chief over thee ;) shall not sor¬
rows take thee, as a woman in travail ?
Here is,
I. A judgment threatened against this people,
that would quite intoxicate them. This doom is
pronounced against them in a figure, to make it the
more taken notice of, and the more affecting, (to 12. )
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Every bottle
shall be filled with wine; those that by their sins
have made themselves vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction, shall be filled with the wrath of God,
as a bottle is with wine; and as every vessel of
mercy prepared for glory shall be filled with mercy
and gloiy, so they shall be full of the fury of the
Lord, (Isa. li. 20.) and they shall be brittle as bot¬
tles; and as old bottles into which new wine is put,
they shall burst and be broken to pieces; (Matth.
ix. 17.) or, They shall have their heads as full of
wine as bottles are; for so it is explained, v. 13.
They shall be filled with drunkenness; compare Isa.
li. 17. It is probable that this was a common pro¬
verb among them, applied divers ways; but they,
not being aware of the prophet’s meaning in it, ridi¬
culed him for it; “ Do we not certainly know that
every bottle shall be filled with wine? What strange
thing is there in that? Tell us something that we
did not know before.” Perhaps they were thus
touchy with the prophet, because they apprehend¬
ed this to be a reflection upon them for their drunk¬
enness, and probably, it was in part so intended.
They love flagons of wine, Hos. iii. 1. They made
their king sick with bottles of wine, Hos. vii. 5.
Their watchmen were all for wine, Isa. lvi. 15.
They love their false prophets, that prophesied to
them of wine, (Mich. ii. 11.) that bid them lie
merry, for that they should never want their bot¬
tle to make them so. “Well,” savs the pro¬
phet, “ you shall have your bottles full of wine,
but not such wine as you desire.” They suspected
that he had some mystical meaning in it, which
prophesied no good concerning them, but evil; and
he owns that so he had. What he meant was this,
1. That they should be as giddy as men in drink.
A drunken man is fitly compared to a bottle or cask
full of wine; for when the wine is in, the wit, and
wisdom, and virtue, and all that is good for any
thing, are out. Now God threatens, (to 13.) that
they shall all be filled with drunkenness; they shall
be full of confusion in their counsels, shall falter in
all their talk, and stagger in all their motions; they
shall not know what they say or do, much less what
they should say or do. 1 hey shall be sick of all their
enjoyments, and throw them up as drunken men do.
Job xx. 15. They shall fall into a slumber, and be
utterly unable to help themselves, and, like men
that have drunk away their reason, shall lie at the
mercy, and expose themselves to the contempt, of
all about them. And this shall be the condition not
of some among them; (if any had been sober, they
might have helped the rest;) but even the kings that
sit upon the throne of David, that should have been
like their father David, who was wise as an angel
of God, shall be thus intoxicated. Their priests
and prophets too, their false prophets, that pretend¬
ed to guide them, were as indulgent of their lusts,
and therefore were justly as much deprived of tluir
senses, as any other. Nay, and all the inhabitants
both of the land and of Jerusalem were as far gone
as they. Whom God will destroy, he infatuates.
2. That, being giddy, they should run upon one
another. The cup of the wine of the Lord’s furv
shall throw them not only into a lethargy, so that
they shall not be able to help themselves cr one
another, but into a perfect phrenzy, so that they
shall do mischief to themselves and one another;
(i>. 14.) I will dash a man against his brother. N't
only their drunken follies, but their drunken frays,
shall help to ruin them. Drunken men are often
quarrelsome, and upon that account the y have wo
and sorrow; (Prov. xxiii. 29, 30.) so their sin is
their punishment; it was so here. God sent an evil
spirit intofamiles and neighbourhoods, (as Judg. ix.
23.) which made them jealous of, and spiteful to¬
wards, one another; so that the fathers and sons
went together by the ears, and were ready to pull
one another to pieces, which made them all an easy
prey to the common enemy. This decree against
them being gone forth, God says, I will not pity,
nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them; for
they will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but
destroy one another; see Hab. ii. 15, 16.
II. Here is good counsel given, which, by being
taken, might prevent this desolation. It is, in short,
to humble themselves under the mighty hand of
God. If they will hearken and give ear, this is
that which God has to say to them, Be not proud,
v. 15. This was one of the sins for which God had
a controversy with them; (to 9.) let them mortify
and forsake this sin, and God will let fall his con¬
troversy. “ Be not proud; when God speaks to you
by his prophets, do not think yourselves too good to
be taught; be not scornful, be not wilful, let not
your hearts rise against the word, nor slight the
messengers that bring it you. When God is coming
forth against you in his providence, (and by them
he speaks,) be not secure when he threatens, be not
impatient when he strikes, for pride is at the bot¬
tom of both.” It is the great God that has spoken,
whose authority is incontestable, whose power is ir¬
resistible; therefore bow to what he says, and be no
proud, as you have been.
They must not be proud, for,
1. They must advance God, and study how to do
him honour; Give glory to the Lord your God,
and not to your idols, not tc ' ther gods. Give him
glory, by confessing your sins, owning yourselves
guilty before him, and accepting the punishment of
your iniquity, to 16. Give him glory bv a sincere
repentance and reformation.” Then, and not till
JEREMIAH, XIII.
391
then, we begin to live as we should, and to some
good purpose, when we begin to give glory to the
Lord our God; to make his honour your chief end,
and to seek it accordingly. “ Do this quickly, while
your space to repent is continued to you; before he
cause darkness, before he bring his judgments upon
you, which you will see no way of escaping.” Note,
Darkness will be the portion of those that will not
repent, to give glory to God. When those that by
the fourth vial were scorched with heat, re/iented
not, to give glory to God, the next vial filled them
with darkness, Rev. xvi. 9, 10. The aggravation
of the darkness here threatened, is, (1.) That their
attempts to escape shall hasten their ruin; Their
feet shall stumble when they are making all the
haste they can over the dark mountains, and they
shall fall, and be unable to get up again. ' Note,
Those that think to outrun the judgment of God, will
find their road impassable; let them make the best
of their way, they can make nothing of it, the judg¬
ments that pursue them will overtake them; then-
way is dark and slippery, Ps. xxxv. 6. And there¬
fore, before it comes to that extremity, it is our wis¬
dom to give glory to him, and so make our peace
with him; to fly to his mercy, and then there will
be no occasion to fly from his justice. (2.) That
their hopes of a better state of things will be disap-
p inted; While ye look for light, for comfort and
relief, he will turn it into the shadow of death,
which is very dismal and terrible, and make it gross
darkness, like that of Egypt, when Pharaoh con¬
tinued to harden his heart, which was darkness
that might be felt. The expectation of impenitent
sinners perishes, when they die, and think to have
it satisfied.
2. They must abase themselves, and take shame
to themselves; the prerogative of the king and queen
will not exempt them from this; (n. 18.) “Say to
the king and queen, that, great as they are, they
must humble themselves by true repentance, and so
give both glory to God and a good example to their
subjects.” Note, Those that are exalted above
others in the world, must humble themselves be¬
fore God, who is higher than the highest, and to
whom kings and queens are accountable. They
must humble themselves, and sit down; sit down,
and consider what is coming; sit down in the dust,
and lament themselves. Let them humble them¬
selves, for God will otherwise take an effectual
course to humble them. “Your principalities shall
come down, the honour and power on which you
value yourselves, and in which you confide, even the
crown of your glory, your goodly or glorious
crown; when you are led away captives, where will
vour principality and all the badges of it be then?”
blessed be God, there is a crown of glory, which
those shall inherit who do humble themselves, that
shall never come down.
III. This counsel is enforced by some arguments,
if they continue proud and unhumbled.
1. It will be the prophet’s unspeakable grief; [y.
15.) “If you will not hear it, will not submit to the
word, but continue refractory, not only mine eye,
but my soul, shall weep in secret places.” Note,
The obstinacy of people, in refusing to hear the
word of God, will be a heart-breaking to their
poor ministers, who know something of the terrors
of the Lord and the worth of souls, and are so far
from desiring, that they tremble at, the thoughts of
the death of sinners. His grief for it was undis¬
sembled, his soul wept; and void of affectation, for
he chose to weep in secret places , where no eye saw
him but his who is all eye. He would mingle his
tears not only with his public preaching, but with
his private devotions. Nav, thoughts of their case
would make him melancholy, and he would become
a pertect recluse. It would grieve him, (1.) To see
their sins unrepented of; “My soul shall weep fat
your pride, your haughtiness, and stubbornness, and
vain confidence.” Note, The sins of others should
be matter of sorrow to us. We must mourn for that
which we cannot mend; and mourn the more for it,
because we cannot mend it. (2.) To see their ca
lamity past redress and remedy; “Mine eyes shal.
weep sore, not so much because my relations, friends,
and neighbours are in distress, but because the
Lord’s flock, his people, and the sheep of his p. s-
ture, are carried away captive.” That should al
ways grieve us most, by which God’s honour suf
fers, and the interest of his kingdom is weakened.
2. It will be their own inevitable ruin.r. 19. — 21.
(1.) The land shall be laid waste; The cities oj
the south shall be shut up. The cities of Judah lay
in the southern part of the land of Canaan; these
shall be straitly besieged by the enemy, so that
there shall be no going in and cut; or they shall be
deserted bv the inhabitants, that there shall be none
to go in and out. Some understand it cf the cities
of Egypt, which was south from Judah; the [daces
there, whence they expected succours, shall fail
them, and they shall find no access to them.
(2.) The inhabitants shall be hurried away into
a foreign country, there to live in slavery; Judah
shall be carried away captive. Some were already
carried off, which they hoped might serve to an¬
swer the prediction, and that the residue should
still be left; no, it shall be carried away all of it;
God will make a full end with them, it shall be
wholly carried away. So it was in the last captivity
under Zedekiah, because they repented not.
(3.) The enemy was now at hand, that should do
this; [v. 20.) “ Lift up your eyes. I see them upon
their march, and you may, if you will, behold them
that come from the north, from the land of the
Chaldeans; see how fast they advance, how fierce
they appear.” Upon this, he addresses himself to
the king, or, rather, (because tbe pronouns are fe¬
minine,) to the city rr state. [1.^ “What will
you do now with the people which is committed to
vour charge, and which you ought to protect?
Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beauti¬
ful flock? Whither canst thou take them now for
shelter? How can they escape these ravening
wolves?” Magistrates must look upon themselves
as shepherds, and those that are under their charge
as their flock, which they are intrusted with the
care of, and must give an account of; they must take
delight in them as their beautiful flock, and consi¬
der what to do for their safety in times of public
danger. Masters of families, who neglect their chil¬
dren, and suffer them to perish for want of a good
education, and ministers who neglect their people,
should think they hear God putting this question to
them. Where is the flock that was given thee to feed,
that beauteous flock? It is starved, it is left exposed
to the beasts of prey. What account wilt thou give
of them when the Chief Shepherd shall appear?
'2.1 “What have you to object against the equity
of God’s proceedings? What wilt thou say when he
shall visit upon thee the former days? Thru canst
say nothing, but that God is just in all that is brought
upon thee.” They that flatter themselves with
hopes of impunity, what will they say ! What con¬
fusion will cover their faces, when they shall find
themselves deceived, and that God punishes them!
[3.] “What thoughts will you now have of vrur
own folly, in giving the Chaldeans such power over
vou, by seeking to them for assistance, and joining
in league with them? Thus thou hast taught them
against thyself to be captains, and to become the
head.” Hezekiah began, when he showed his trea¬
sures to the ambassadors of the king of Babvl r,
tempting him thereby to come and plunder him.
Those who, having a God to trust to, court foreign
302
JEREMIAH, XIII.
alliances, and confide in them, do but make rods
fur tnemsvb cs, and teach their neighbours how to
become their masters. [4.] “How will you bear
tlie trouble that is at the door? tihall nut sorrows
take thee as a woman in travail'/ Sorrows which
thou canst not escape or put off, extremity of sor¬
rows; and in these respects more grievous than those
of a woman in travail, that they were not expected
before, and that there is no man-child to be born,
the joy of which shall make them afterward to be
forgotten. ”
22. And if thou say in thy heart, Where¬
fore come these tilings upon me? For the
greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts dis¬
covered, and thy heels made bare. 23. Can
the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard
his spots? then may ye also do good, that
aie accustomed to do evil. 24. Therefore
will I scatter them as the stubble that pass-
eth away by the wind of the wilderness. 25.
This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures
from me, saith the Lord; because thou hast
forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood. 26.
Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon
thy face, that thy shame may appear. 27.
I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neigh-
ings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and
thine abominations on the hills in the fields.
Wo unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not
be made clean? when shall it once be?
Here is,
I. Ruin threatened, as before, that the Jews shall
go into captivity, and fall under all the miseries of
beggary and bondage; shall be stripped of their
clothes, their skirts discovered, for want of upper
garments to cover them, and their heels made bare,
tor want of shoes, v. 22. Thus they used to deal
with prisoners taken in war, when they drove them
into captivity, naked and barefoot, Isa. xx. 4. Be¬
ing thus carried off into a strange country, they shall
be scattered there, as the stubble that is blown
away by the wind of the wilderness, and nobody is
concerned to bring it together again, v. 24. If the
stubble escape the fire, it shall be carried away by
the wind. If one judgment do not the work, ano¬
ther, shall with those that by sin have made them¬
selves as stubble. They shall be stripped of all
their ornaments, and exposed to shame, as harlots
that are carted, v. 26. They made their pride ap¬
pear, but God will make their shame appear ; so
that those who have doated on them, shall be
ashamed of them.
II. An inquiry made by the people into the cause
of this ruin, v. 22. Thou wilt say in thine heart,
(and God knows how to give a proper answer to
what men say in their hearts, though they do not
speak it out; Jesus knowing their thoughts, replied
to them, Matth. ix. 4.) Wherefore came these
things upon me/ The question is supposed to come
into the heart, 1. Of a sinner quarrelling with God,
and refusing to receive correction; they could not
see that they had done any thing which might justly
provoke God to be thus angry with them. They
durst not speak it out; but in their hearts they thus
charged God with unrighteousness, as if he had
laid upon them more than was meet. They seek
for the cause of their calamities, when, if they had
not b en wilfully blind, they might easily have seen
it. Or, 2. Of a sinner returning to God. If there
come but a penitent thought into the heart at any
time, (saying, What have I done/ ch. viii. 6. Where¬
fore am I in .affliction? Why doth God contend with
rpe?) God takes notice of it, and is ready by his
Spirit to impress the conviction, that, sin being dis¬
covered, it may be repented of.
III. An answer to this inquiry. God will be jus¬
tified wnen he speaks, and will oblige us to justily
him; and therefore will set the sin of sinners in i rrD r
before them. Do they ask. Wherefore come these
things upon us? Let them know, it is all owing tn
themselves.
1. It is for the greatness of their iniquities, v. 22.
God does not take adv antage against them for small
faults; no, the sins. for which he now punishes them
are of the first rate, very heinous in their own na¬
ture, and highly aggravated; for the multitude of
thine iniquity; so it may be read. Sins of every
kind, and often repeated and relapsed into. Some
think we are more in danger from the multitude of
our lesser sins than from the heinousness of cur
greater sins; of both we may say, Who can under
stand his errors'/
2. It is for their obstinacy in sin; their being s<
long accustomed to it, that there was little hope left
of their being reclaimed from it, v. 23. Can the
Ethiopian change his skin, that is by nature black,
or the leopard his spots, that are even woven into
the skin? Dirt contracted may be washed off, but
we cannot alter the natural colour of a hair, (Matth.
y. 36.) much less of the skin; and so impossible is
it, morally impossible, to reclaim and reform these
people. (1.) They had been long accustomed to
do evil; they were taught to do evil, they had been
educated and brought up in sin, they had served an
apprenticeship to it, and had all their days made a
trade of it. It was so much their constant practice,
that it was become a. second nature to them. (2.)
Their prophets therefore despaired of ever bring¬
ing them to do good. That was it they aimed at;
they persuaded them to cease to do evil, and learn
to do well, but could not prevail. They had so long
been used to do evil, that it was next to impossible
for them to repent, and amend, and begin to do
good. Note, Custom in sin is a very great hinder-
ance to conversion from sin. The disease that is
inv eterate, is generally thought incurable. Those
that have been long accustomed to sin, have shaken
off the restraints of fear and shame; their con¬
sciences are seared, the habits of sin are confirmed,
it pleads prescription, and it is just with God to
give those up to their own hearts’ lusts, that have
iong refused to give up themselves to his grace.
Sin is the blackness of the soul, the deformity of it;
it is its spot, the discolouring of it; it is natural to us,
we were shapen in it, so that we cannot get clear
of it by any power of our own; but there is an al¬
mighty grace that is able to change the Ethiopian’s
skin, and that grace shall not be wanting to these
that in a sense of their need of it seek it earnestly,
and improve it faithfully.
3. It is for their treacherous departures from the
God of truth, and dependence on lying vanities; ( v .
25. ) “ This is thy lot, to be scattered and driven
away; this is the portion of thy measures from me,
the punishment assigned thee as by line and mea¬
sure; this shall be thy share of the miseries of this
world; expect it, and think not to escape it: it is be¬
cause thou hast forgotten me, the favours I have
bestowed upon thee, and the obligations thou art
under to me; thou hast no sense, no remembrance,
of these.” Forgetfulness of God is at the bottom of
all sin, as the remembrance of our Creator betimes
is the happv and hopeful beginning of a holy life.
“ Having forgotten me, thou hast trusted in false¬
hood, in idols, in an arm of flesh, in Egypt and As¬
syria, in the self-flatteries of a deceitful heart.”
Whatever those trust to, that forsake G id, they
will find it a broken reed, a broken cisltrr,
39.3
JEREMIAH, XIV.
A It is for their idolatry, their spiritual whore¬
dom, that sin which is of all other most provok¬
ing to the jealous God. Therefore they are ex¬
posed to a shameful calamity , (u. 26.) because they
have been guilty of a shameful inirjuity, and yet are
shameless in it; (v. 27.) “/ have seen thine adulte¬
ries, thine inordinate fancy for strange gods, which
thou hast been impatient for the gratification of, and
h tst even neighed after it; even the lewdness of thy
whoredoms, thine impudence and insatiableness in
them, thy eager worshipping of idols on the hills in
the fields, upon the high places. This is that for
which a wo is denounced against thee, O Jerusa¬
lem; nay, and many woes.”
IV. Here is an affectionate expostulation with
them, in the close, upon the whole matter. Though
it was adjusted next to impossible for them to be
brought to do good, (y. 23.) yet, while there is life
there is hope, and therefore still he reasons with
them, to bring them to repentance, v. 27. 1. He
reasons with them concerning the thing itself; Wilt
thou not be made clean? Note, It is the great con¬
cent of those who are polluted by sin, to be made
clean by repentance and faith, and universal re¬
formation. The reason why sinners are not made
clean, is, because they will not be made clean; and
herein they act most unreasonably. “ Will thou not
be made clean? Surely thou wilt at length be per¬
suaded to wash thee, and make thee clean, and be so
wise for thyself.” 2. Concerning the time of it;
When shall it once be? Note, It is an instance of the
wonderful grace of God, that he desires the repent¬
ance and conversion of sinners, and thinks the time
long till they are brought to it; but it is an instance
of the wonderful folly of sinners, that they put that
off from time to time, which is of such absolute ne¬
cessity, that, if it be not done some time, they are
certainly undone for ever. They do not say that
they will never be cleansed, but not yet; they will
defer It to a more convenient season, but cannot tell
us when it shall once be.
CHAP. XIV.
This chapter was penned upon occasion of a great drought,
for want of rain. This judgment began in the latter end
of Josiah’s reign, but, as it should seem, continued in j
the beginning of Jehoiakim’s: for lesser judgments are
sent to give warning of greater coming, if not prevented
by repentance. This calamity was mentioned several 1
limes before, but here, in this chapter, more fully. Here
is, 1. A melancholy description of it, v. 1 . . 6. II. A
prayer to God to put an end to this calamity, and to re¬
turn in mercy to their land, v. 7 . . 9. III. A severe
threatening, that God would proceed in his controversy,
because they proceeded in their iniquity, v. 10 . . 1 2. IV.
The prophet’s excusing the people, by laying the blame
on their false prophets; and the doom passed both on the
deceivers and the deceived, v. 13.. 16. V. Direction
given to the prophet, instead of interceding for them, to
lament them, yet he continued to intercede for them,
v. 17. .22.
I. P'g^HE word of the Lord that came to
JL Jeremiah concerning the dearth. 2.
Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof lan¬
guish ; they are black unto the ground ; and
the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. 3. And
their nobles have sent their little ones to the
waters : they came to the pits, and found no
water; they returned with the vessels empty;
they were ashamed and confounded, and
covered their heads. 4. Because the ground
is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth,
the ploughmen were ashamed, they covered
their heads. 5. Yea, the hind also calved
in the field, and forsook il, because there i
Vot.. iv— 3 D
was no grass. 6. And the wild asses did
stand in the high places, they snuffed up the
wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, be¬
cause then; was no grass. 7. O Loud,
though our iniquities testify against us, do
thou il for thy name’s sake: for our back-
slidings are many; we have sinned against
thee. 8. O the Hope of Israel, the Saviour
thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest
thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a
wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry
for a night ? 9. Why shouldest thou be as
a man astonished, as a mighty man that
cannot save ? yet thou, O Loud, art in the
midst of us, and we are called by thy name;
leave us not.
The first verse is the title of the whole chapter:
it does indeed all concern the dearth, but much of it
is the prophet’s prayers concerning it; yet these are
not unfitly said to be, 1 'he vjord of the Lord which
came to him concerning it; for every acceptable
prayer is that which God puts into our hearts; no¬
thing is our word that comes to him, but what is
first his word that comes from him. In these verses,
we have,
I. The language of nature lamenting the calami¬
ty. When the heavens were as brass, and distilled
no dews, the earth was as iron, and produced no
fruits; and then the grief and confusion were uni¬
versal.
1. The people of the land were all in tears. De¬
stroy their vines and their fg-trees, and ycu cause
all their mirth to cease, Hos. ii. 11, 12. All their
joy fails with the joy of harvest, with that of their
corn and wine, v. 2. Judah mourns, not for the
sin, but for the trouble; for the withholding of the
rain, not for the withdrawing of God’s favour. The
gates thereof, all that go in and out at their gates
languish, look pale, and grow feeble, for want of
the necessary supports of life, and for fear of the
further fatal consequences of this judgment. The
gates, through which supplies of corn formerly used
to be brought into their cities, now look melancholy;
when, instead of that, the inhabitants are departing
through them to seek for bread in other countries.
Even those that sit in the gates languish; they are
black unto the ground, they go in black as mourn¬
ers, and sit on the ground; as the poor beggars at
the gates are black in the face, for want of food,
blacker than a coal, Lam. iv. 8. Famine is repre¬
sented by a black horse, Rev. vi. 5. They fall to
the ground through weakness, not being able to go
along the streets. The cry of Jerusalem (that is,
of the inhabitants) is gone up; for the city is served
by the field; or, of people from all parts of the coun¬
try met at Jerusalem to pray for rain; so some. But
I fear it was rather the cry of their trouble, and the
cry of their sin, than the cry of their prayer.
2. The great men of the land felt from this judg¬
ment; (r. 3.) The nobles sent their little ones to the
water, perhaps their own children, having been
forced to part with their servants, because they had
not wherewithal to keep them; and being willing to
train up their children, when they were little, to la¬
bour, especially in a case of necessity, as this was.
We find Allah and Obadiah, the king and the lord
chamberlain of his household, in their own persons,
seeking for water in such a time of distress as this
was, 1 Kings xviii. 5, 6. Or, rather, their meaner
ones, their servants, and small officers; these they
sent to seek for water, which there is no living with¬
out; but there was none to be found, they returned
394
JEREMIAH XIV.
•With their vessels empty, the springs were dried up,
when there was no rain to feed them; and then they
(their masters that sent them) were ashamed and
confounded at their disappointment. They would
nut be ashamed of their sins, nor confounded at the
sense of them, but were unhumbled under the re¬
proofs of the word, thinking their wealth and dig¬
nity set them above repentance; but God took a
course to make them ashamed of that which they
were so proud of, when they found that even on this
side hell their nobility would not purchase them a
drofi of water to cool their tongue. Let our reading
the account of this calamity make us thankful for
tne mercy of water, that we may not by the feeling
of the calamity be taught to value it. What is most
needful is most plentiful.
3. The husbandmen felt most sensibly and imme¬
diately from it; (n. 4.) The ploughmen were asham¬
ed, for the ground was so parched and hard, that it
would not admit the plough, even then when it was
so chapt and cleft, that it seemed as if it did not
need the plough. They were ashamed to be idle,
f > r there was nothing to be done, and therefore no¬
thing to be expected. The sluggard, that will not
plough by reason of cold, is not ashamed of his own
folly; but the diligent husbandman, that cannot
plough by reason of heat, is ashamed of his own af¬
fliction. See what an immediate dependence hus¬
bandmen have upon the Divine Providence, which
therefore they should always have an eye to, for
they cannot plough or sow in hope, unless God wa¬
ter their furrows Ps. lxv. 10.
4. The case ev en of the wild beasts was very pi¬
tiable, v. 5, 6. Man’s sin brings those judgments
upon the earth, which make even the inferior crea¬
tures groan; and the prophet takes notice of this as
a plea with God for mercy; Judah and Jerusalem
have sinned, but the hinds and the wild asses, what
have they done? The hinds are pleasant creatures,
lovely and loving, and particularly tender of their
young: and yet such is the extremity of the case,
that, contrary to the instinct of their nature, thev
leave their young, even when they are newly calvea,
and most need them, to set k for grass elsewhere; and
if they can find none, thev abandon them, because
not able to suckle them. It grieved not the hind so
much, that she had no grass for herself, as that she
had none for her young; which will shame those
who spend that upon their lusts, which they should
preserve for their families. The hind, when she
has brought forth her young, is said to have cast
forth her sorrows, (Job xxxix. 3.) and yet she
continues her cares; but, as it follows there, she
soon sees the good effect of them, for her young ones
in a little while grow up, and trouble her no more,
v. 4. But here the great trouble of all is, that she
has nothing for them. Nay, one would be sorry
even for the wild asses, (though they are creatures
that none have any great affection tor,) for though
the barren land is made their dwelling at the best,
(Job xxxix. 5, 6.) yet even that is now made too hot
for them, so hot, that they cannot breathe in it, but
they get to the highest places they can reach, where
the air is coolest, and snuff up the wind like dra¬
gons, like those creatures which, being very hot,
are continually panting for breath. Their eyes fail,
and so does their strength, because there is no grass
to support them. The tame ass, that serves her
owner, is welcome to his crib, (Isa. i. 3.) and has
her keeping for her labour; when the wild ass that
scorns the crying of the driver, is forced to live
upon air, and is well enough served for not serving:
he that will not labour, let him not cat.
II. Here is the language of grace, lamenting the
iniquity, And. complaining to God of the calamity.
The peo] le are not forward to pray, but the pro¬
phet here prays for them, and so excites them to
pray for themselves, and puts words into their
mouths, which they may make use of, in hopes to
speed, v. 7. — 9. In this prayer,
1. Sin is humbly confessed. When we come to
pray for the preventing or removing of any judg¬
ment, we must always acknowledge that we deserve
it, and a thousand times worse. We cannot hope
by extenuating the crime to obtain a mitigation of
the punishment, but must acknowledge that our
iniquities testify against us. Our sins are witnesses
against us, and true penitents see them tc be such.
1 hey testify, for they are plain and evident, we can
not deny the charge; they testify against us, for our
conviction; which tends to our present shame and
confusion, and our future condemnation. They dis¬
prove and overthrow all cur pleas for ourselves; and
so not only accuse us, but answer against us. If we
boast of our own excellencies, and trust to our own
righteousness, our iniquities testify against us, and
prove us perverse. If we quarrel with God as deal
ing unjustly or unkindly with us in afflicting us, oui
iniquities testify against us, that we do him wrong;
for our backslidings are many, and our revolts are
great, whereby nve have sinned against thee; too
numerous to be concealed, for they are many, too
heinous to be excused, for they are against thee.
2. Mercy is earnestly begged; “ Though our ini
quiiies testify against us, and against the granting
of the favour which the necessity of our case calls
for, yet do thou it.” ■ They do not say particularly
what they would have done; but, as neccmes peni¬
tents and beggars, they refer themselves to God;
“Do with us as thou thinkest fit,” Judg. x. 15.
Not, Do thou it in this way, or at this time, but,
“ Do thou it for thy name’s sake; do that which will
be most for the glory of thy name. ” Note, Our best
pleas in prayer are those that are fetched from the
glory of God’s own name; “ Lord, do it, that thy
mercy may be magnified, thy promise fulfilled, and
thine interest in the world kept up; we have no¬
thing to plead in ourselves, but every thing in thee.”
There is another petition in this prayer, and it is a
very modest one, ( v . 9.) “ Leave us not, withdraw
not thy favour and presence.” Note, We should
dread and deprecate God’s departure from us, more
than the removal of any of all our creature-comforts.
3. Their relation to God, their interest in him,
and their expectations from him grounded there¬
upon, are most pathetically pleaded with him,
v. 8, 9.
(1.) They look upon him as one they have reason
to think should deliver them when they are in dis¬
tress, yea, though their iniquities testify against
them; for in him mercy has often rejoiced against
judgment. The prophet, like Moses of old, is will¬
ing to make the best he can of the case of his people,
and therefore, though he must own that they have
sinned many a great sin, (Exod. xxxii. 31.) yet he
pleads, Thou art the Hope of Israel. God has en¬
couraged his people to hope in him; in calling him¬
self so often the God of Israel, the Rock of Israel,
and the Holy One of Israel, he has made himself
the Hope of Israel. He has given Israel his word
to hope in, and caused them to hope in it; and there
are those vet in Israel, that make God alone their
Hope, and expect he will be their Saviour in time
of trouble, and thei look not for salvation in any
other; “ Thou hast many a time been such, in the
time of their extremity.” Note, Since God is his
people’s all-sufficient Saviour, they ought to hope in
him, in their greatest straits; and since he is their
only Saviour, they ought to h pe in him alone. They
plead likewise, “ Thou art in the midst of us, we
have the special tokens of thv presence with us, thy
temple, thine ark, thine oracles, and we are called
by thy name, the Israel >.1 Gnd; and tiler, fare we
have reason to hope thou wilt not leave us; we are
395
JEREMIAH, XIV.
thine, save us. Thy name is called upon us, and
therefore what evils we are under reflect dishonour
upon thee, as if thou wast not able to relieve thine
own.” The prophet had often told the people, tnat
their profession of religion would not protect them
from the judgments of God; yet here he pleads it
with God, as Moses, Exod. xxxii. 11. Even this
may go far as to temporal punishments with a God
of mercy. Valeai quantum valere potest — Let the
plea avail as far as it is Jit that it should.
(2.) It therefore grieves them to think that he
does not appear for their deliverance; and though
they do not charge it upon him as unrighteous, they
humbly plead it with him why he should be gra¬
cious, for the glory of his own name. For other¬
wise he will seem, [1.] Unconcerned for his own
people; IV hat will the Egyptians say? They will
say, “ Israel’s Hope and Saviour does not mind
them, he is become as a stranger in the land, that
does not at all interest himself in its interests; his
temple, which he called his rest for ever, is no more
so, but he is in it as a wayfaring man, that turns
aside to tarry but for a night in an inn, which he
never inquires into the affairs of, nor is in any care
about. Though God never is, yet he seems to be,
as if he cared not what became of his church: Christ
slept when his disciples were in a storm. [2. ] In¬
capable of giving them any relief; the enemies once
said, Because the Lord wus not able to bring his
people to Canaan, he let them perish in the wilder¬
ness; (Numb. xiv. 16.) so now they will say,
“ Either his wisdom or his power fails him; either
he is as a man astonished, who, though he has the
reason of a man, yet, being astonished, is quite at a
loss and at his wit’send; or, as a mighty man, who
is overpowered by such as are more mighty, and
therefore cannot save, though mighty, yet a man,
and therefore having his power limited.” Either
of these would be a most insufferable reproach to
the diiine perfections; and therefore, why is the
God that we are sure is in the midst of us become
as a stranger ? Why does the almighty God seem as
if he were no more than a mighty man; who, when
he is astonished, though he would, yet cannot save?
It becomes us in prayer to show ourselves concern¬
ed more for God’s glory than for our own comfort:
Lord, what wilt thou ao unto thy great name?
10. Thus saith the Lord unto this peo¬
ple, Thus have they loved to wander, they
have not refrained their feet; therefore the
Lord doth not accept them: he will now
remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
1 1 . Then said the Lord unto me, Pray not
for this people for their good. 12. When
they fast, 1 will not hear their cry; and
when they offer burnt-offering and an obla¬
tion, I will not accept them ; but I will con¬
sume them by the sword, and by the famine,
and by the pestilence. 13. Then said I,
Ah, Lord God ! behold, the prophets say
unto them, Ye shall not see the sword,
neither shall ye have famine ; but I will give
you assured peace in this place. 14. Then
the Lord said unto me, The prophets pro¬
phesy lies in my name; I sent them not,
neither have I commanded them, neither
spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a
false vision and divination, and a thing of
nought, and the deceit of their heart. 15. :
Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning [
the prophets that prophesy in my name, and
I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and
famine shall not be in this land ; By sword
and famine shall those prophets be con¬
sumed. 16. And the people to whom they
prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of
Jerusalem, because of the famine and the
sword ; and they shall have none to bury
them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor
their daughters ; for 1 will pour their wick¬
edness upon them.
The dispute between God and his prophet, in
this chapter, seems to be like that between the
owner and the dresser of the vineyard concerning
the barren fig-tree, Luke xiii. 7. The justice ot
the owner condemns it to be cut down, the clemency
of the dresser intercedes for a reprieve: Jeremiah
had been earnest with God, in prayer, to return in
mercy to this people. Now here,
I. God overrules the plea which he had offered
in their favour, and shows him that it would not
hold. In answer to it, he says, Concerning this
people, v. 10. He does not say, Concerning my
' people, for he disowns them, because they had bro¬
ken covenant with him. It is true, they were called
by his name, and had the tokens of his presence
among them; but they had sinned, and provoked
God to withdraw. This the prophet had owned,
and hoped to obtain mercy for them, notwithstanding
this, through intercession and sacrifice; therefore
God here tells him,
1. That they were not duly qualified for a pardon.
The prophet had owned that their backslidings were
many; and though they were so, yet there was hopes
for them if they returned; but they show no dispo¬
sition at all to return; they have wandered, and they
have loved to wander; their backslidings have been
their choice and their pleasure, which should have
been their shame and pain, and therefore they will
be their ruin. They cannot expect God should take
up his rest with them, when they take such delight
in going astray from him after their idols. It is not
through necessity or inadvertency that they wander,
but they love it. Sinners are wanderers from God;
their wanderings forfeit God’s favour, but it is their
loving to wander, that quite cuts them off from it.
They were told what their wanderings would come
to, that one sin would hurry them on to another,
and all to ruin; and yet they have not taken warn¬
ing, and refrained their feet. So far were they
from returning to their God, that neither his pro¬
phets nor his judgments could prevail with them to
give themselves the least check in a sinful pursuit
This is that for which God is now reckoning with
them; when he denies them rain from heaven, he
is remembering their iniquity and visiting their sins;
that is it for which their fruitful land is thus turned
into barrenness.
2. That they had no reason to expect that the
God they had rejected should accept them; no, not
though they betook themselves to fasting and pray¬
er, and put themselves to the expense of burnt-
offerings and sacrifice; The Lord doth not accept
them, v. 10. He takes no pleasure in them; (so the
word is;) for what pleasure can the holy God take
in those that take pleasure in his rivals, in any ser¬
vice, in any society, rather than his? When they
fast, (y. 12.) which is a proper expression of re¬
pentance and reformation; when they offer a burnt-
offering and an oblation, which was designed to be
an expression < f faith in a Mediator; though their
prayers be thus enforced, and offered up in those
vehicles that used to be cceptable, yet, because
396
JEREMIAH, XIV.
they do not proceed from humble, penitent, and re¬
newed hearts, but still they love to wander, there-
f ire I wilt not hear their cry, be it ever so loud; nor
will I accept them, either their persons, or their
performances. It had been long since declared, The
sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord;
and those only are accepted that do well, Gen. iv. 7.
3. That they had forfeited all benefit by the pro¬
phet’s prayers for them, because they had not re¬
garded his preaching to them. This is the meaning
of that repeated prohibition given to the prophet,
( v . 11.) Tray not thou for this people for their
good, as before, ch. xi. 14. — vii. 16. This did not
forbid him thus to express his good will to them,
(Moses continued to intercede for Israel, after God
had said, Let me alone, Exod. xxxii. 10.) but it
forbade them to expect any good effect from it, as
long as they turned away their car from hearing the
law. Thus was the doom of the impenitent ratified,
as that of Saul’s rejection was by that word to Sa¬
muel, When wilt thou cease to mourn for Saul?
It therefore follows, (u. 12. ) I will consume them,
not only by this famine, but by the further sore
judgments of sword and pestilence; for God has
many arrows in his quiver, and those that will not
be convinced and reclaimed by one, shall be con¬
sumed by another.
II. The prophet offers another plea, in excuse
for the people’s obstinacy, and it is but an excuse,
but he was willing to say whatever their case would
bear; it is this, That the prophets, who pretended
a commission from heaven, imposed upon them, and
flattered them with assurances of peace, though
they went on in their sinful way, v. 13. He speaks
of it with lamentation, “Ah, Lord God, the poor
people seem willing to take notice of what comes in
thy name, and there are those who in thy name tell
them that they shall not see the sword or famine;
and they say it as from thee, with all the gravity
and confidence of prophets, I will continue you in this
place, and will give you assured peace here, peace
of truth; I tell them the contrary, but I am one
against many, and every one is apt to credit that
which makes for them; therefore, Lord, pity and
spare them, for their leaders cause them to err.”
This excuse had been of some weight if they had
not had warning given them before, of false pro¬
phets, and rules by which to discover them; so that
if they were deceived, it was entirely their own
fault. But this teaches us, as far as we can with
truth, to make the best of bad, and judge as cha¬
ritably of others as their case will bear.
III. God not only overrules this, but condemns
both the blind leaders and the blind followers to fall
together into the ditch.
1. God disowns the flatteries; (t>. 14.) They pro¬
phesy lies in my name. They had no commission
from God to prophesy at all; I neither sent them,
nor commanded them, nor spake unto them. They
never were employed to go on any errand at all
from God, he never made himself known to them,
much less toy them to the people; never any word
of the Lord came to them, no call, no warrant, no
instruction, much less did he send them on this
errand, to rock them asleep in security. No; men
may flatter themselves, and Satan may flatter them,
but God never does. It is a false vision, and a
thing of naught. Note, What is false and ground¬
less is vain and worthless. The vision that is not
true, be it ever so pleasing, is good for nothing; it
is the deceit of their heart, a spider’s web spun out
of their own bowels, and in it they think to shelter
themselves, but it will be swept away in a moment,
and prove a great cheat. They that oppose their
own thoughts to God’s word, (God indeed says so,
but they think otherwise,) walk in the deceit of their
heart, and it will be their ruin.
I] 2. He passes sentence upon the flatterers, v. 15.
As for the prophets who put this abuse upon the
people, by telling them they shall have peace, and
this affront upon God by telling them so in God’s
name; let them know that they shall have no peace
themselves. They shall fall first by those very
judgments which they have flattered others with
the hopes of an exemption from. They undertook
to warrant people, that sword and famine should
not be in the land; but it shall soon appear how
little their warrants are good for, when they them¬
selves shall be cut off by sword and famine. How
should they secure others, or foretell peace to them,
when they cannot secure themselves, nor have such
a foresight of their own calamities, as to get out of
the way of them. Note, The sorest punishments
await those who promise sinners impunity in theii
sinful ways.
3. He lays the flattered under the same doom, v.
16. The people to whom they prophesy lies, and
who willingly suffer themselves to be thus imposed
upon, they shall die by sword and famine. Note,
The unbelief of the deceived, with all the falsehood
of the deceiytrs, shall not make the divine threat-
enings of no effect; sword and famine will come,
whatever they say to the contrary; and those will
be least safe that are most secure. Impenitent sin¬
ners will not escape the damnation of hell, by say¬
ing that they can never believe there is such" a
thing; but will feel what they will not fear. It is
threatened that this people shall not only fall by
sword and famine, but that they shall be as it
were hanged up in chains, as monuments of that
divine justice which they set at defiance; their
bodies shall be cast out, even in the streets of Je¬
rusalem, which of all places, one would think,
should be kept clear from such nuisances: there
they shall lie unburied; their nearest relations,
who should do them that last office of love, being
either so poor that they cannot afford it, or so
weakened with hunger that they are not able
to attend it, or so overwhelmed with grief, that
they have no heart to it, or so destitute of natural
affection, that they will not pay them so much
respect. Thus will God pour their wickedness
upon them, the punishment of their wickedness;
the full vials of God’s wrath shall be poured on
them, to which they have made themselves ob¬
noxious. Note, When sinners are overwhelmed
with trouble, they must in it see their own wick¬
edness poured upon them. This refers to the
wickedness both of the false prophets and of the
people; the blind lead the blind, and both fall to¬
gether into the ditch, where they will be miserable
comforters one to another.
17. Therefore thou shalt say this word
unto them, Let mine eyes run down with
tears night and day, and let them not cease :
for the virgin daughter of my people is
broken with a great breach, with a very
grievous blow. 18. If I go forth into the
field, then behold the slain with the sword!
and if I enter into the city, then behold
them that are sick with famine ! yea, both
the prophet and the priest go about into a
land that they know not. 19. Hast thou
utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loath¬
ed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and
there is no healing for us? we looked for
peace, and there is no good; and for the
time of healing, and behold trouble ! 20
397
JEREMIAH, XIV.
We acknowledge, O Lord, our wicked¬
ness, and the iniquity of our fathers ; for
we have sinned against thee. 21. Do not
abhor us, for thy name’s sake; do not dis¬
grace the throne of thy glory : remember,
break not thy covenant with us. 22. Are
there any among the vanities of the Gen¬
tiles that can cause rain ? or can the hea¬
vens give showers 1 Art not thou he, O
Lord our God: therefore we will wait
upon thee; for thou hast made all these
things.
The present deplorable state of Judah and Jeru¬
salem is here made the matter of the prophet’s
lamentation, ( v . 1 7, 18.) and the occasion of his
prayer and intercession for them; (x>. 19.) and I am
willing to hope that the latter, as well as the former,
was bv divine direction, and that these words, (n.
17.) Thus shalt thou say unto them, (or concerning
them, or in their hearing,) refer to the intercession,
as well as to the lamentation, and then it amounts to
a revocation of the directions given to the prophet
not to pray for them, v. 11. However, it is plain,
by the prayers we find in these verses, that the pro¬
phet did not understand it as a prohibition, but only
as a discouragement, like that, 1 John v. 16. I do
not say he shall pray for that. Here,
I. The prophet stands weeping over the ruins of
his country; God directs him to do so, that, show¬
ing himself affected, he might, if possible, affect
them with the foresight of the calamities that were
coming upon them. Jeremiah must say it not only to
himself, but to them too; Let mine eyes run down
with tears, v. 17. Thus he must signify to them,
that he certainly foresaw the sword coming, and
another sort of famine, more grievous even than
tiiis which they were now groaning under; this was
in the country for want of rain, that in the city
through the straitness of the siege. The prophet
speaks as if he already saw the miseries at¬
tending the descent which the Chaldeans made
upon them; The virgin daughter of my people,
that is as dear to me as a daughter to her father, is
broken with a great breach, with a very grievous
blow, much greater and more grievous than any she
has yet sustained; for, (y. 18.) in the field multi¬
tudes lie dead that were slain by the sword, and in
the city multitudes lie dying for want of food.
Doleful spectacles! The prophets and the priests,
the false prophets that flattered them with their lies,
and the wicked priests that persecuted the true
prophets, these are now expelled their country, and
go about either as prisoners and captives, whither¬
soever their conquerors lead them, or as fugitives
and vagabonds, wherever they can find shelter and
relief, in a land that they know not. Some under¬
stand it of the true prophets, Ezekiel and Daniel,
that were carried to Babylon with the rest. The
prophet’s eyes must run down with tears day and
night, in prospect of this, that the people might be
convinced, -not only that this woful day would infal¬
libly come, and would be a very woful day indeed,
but that he was far from desiring it, and would as
gladly have brought them messages of peace as
their false prophets, if he might have had warrant
from heaven to do it. Note, Because God, though ]
lit inflicts death on sinners, yet delights not in it, it
becomes his ministers, though in his name they pro¬
nounce the death of sinners, vet sadly to lament it.
II. He stands up to mike intercession for them;
for who knows but God will yet return and repent?
While there is life, there is hope, and room for
prayer. And though there were many among
them, who neither prayed themselves, nor valued
the prophet’s prayers, yet there wire some who
were better affected, would join with him in his
devotions, and set the seal of their Amen to them.
1. He humbly expostulates witli God concerning
the present deplorableness of their case, v. 19. It
was very sad, .for, (1.) Their expectations from
their God failed them; they thought he had avouch¬
ed Juduh to be his, but now, it seems, he has utterly
rejected it, and cast it off; will not own any relation
to it, or concern for it. However, they thought
Zion was thebeloved if his soul, was his rest for
ever; but now h s soul evcjj loathes Zion, loathes
even the services there performed, for the sake of
the sins there committed. (2.) Then no marvel
that all their other expectations failed them; They
were smitten, and their wounds were multiplied,
but there was no heating for them; they looked for
peace, because after a storm there usually ccmes a
calm, and fair weather after a long fit of wet; but
there was no good, things went still worse and
worse. They looked for a healing time, but could
not gain so much as a breathing time; “ Behold ,
trouble at the door, by which we hoped peace wi uld
enter. And is it so then? Hast thou indeed re¬
jected Judah ? Justly thou mightest. Has thy
soul loathed Zion? We deserve it should. But
wilt thou not at length in wrath remember mercy?”
2. He makes a penitent confession of sin, speak¬
ing that language which they all should have
spoken, though but few did; (n. 20.) “ We acknow¬
ledge our wickedness, the abounding wickedm ss of
our land, and the iniquity of our fathers, which we
have imitated, and therefore justly smart for. We
know, we acknowledge, that we have sinned against
thee, and therefore thou art just in all that is brt ught
upon us; but, because we confess our sins, we hope
to find thee faithful and just in forgiving c ur sins.’’
3. He deprecates God’s displeasure, and bv faith
appeals to his honour and promise, v. 21. His pe¬
tition is, “Do not abhor us; though thou afflict us,
do not abhor us; though thy hand be turned against
us, let not thy heart be so, nor let thy mind be
alienated from us. ” They own God might justly abhor
them, they had rendered themselves odious in his
eyes; yet when they pray , Do not abhor ms, they mean,
“Receive us into favour again. Let not thy soul
loathe Zion, v. 19. Let not our incense be our
abomination.” They appeal, (1.) To the honour
of God, the honour of his scriptures, by which he
has made himself known; his word, which he has
magnified above all his name; “ Do not abhor us
for thy name’s sake, that name of thine by which we
are called, and which we call upon.” The honour
of his sanctuary is pleaded; “Lord, do not abhor
us, for that will disgrace the throne of thy glory,”
(the temple, which is called a glorious high throne
from the beginning, ch. xvii. 12.) let not that which
has been the joy of the whole earth, be made a
hissing and an astonishment; we deserve to have
disgrace put upon ns, but let it not be so as to reflect
upon thyself; let not the desolations of the temple
give occasion to the heathen to reproach him that
used to be worshipped there, as if he could not, or
would not, protect it, or as if the gods of the Chal¬
deans had been too hard for him. Note, Good men
lay the credit of religion, and its profession in the
world, nearer their hearts than any private interest
or concern of their own; and those are powerful
pleas in prayer, which are fetched from thence, and
great supports to faith. We may be sure that God
will not disgrace the throne of his glory, on earth;
nor will he eclipse the glorv of his throne by one
providence, without soon making it shine forth, and
more brightly than before, by another. God will
be no loser in his honour at the long run. (2.) To
the promise of God; of this they are humbly bold
JEREMJAH, XV.
398
to put Him in mind; Remember thy covenant with
us, and break not that covenant. Not that they
had any distrust of his fidelity, or that they thought
he needed to be put in mind of his promise to them,
but what he had said he would plead with himself,
they take the liberty to plead with him; Then ivi/t
I remember my covenant. Lev. xxvi. 42.
4. He professed a dependence upon God for the
mercy of rain, which they were now in want of, v.
22. If they have forfeited their interest in him as
their God in covenant, yet they will not let go their
hold on him as the God of nature. (1.) They will
never make their application to the idols of the
heathen, for that would be foolish and fruitless;
Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles
that cause rainy No, in a time of great drought in
Israel, Baal, though all Israel was at his devotion in
the days of Ahab, could not relieve them; it was
that God only, who answered by fire, that could
answer by water too. (2.) They will not terminate
their regards in second causes, nor expect supply
from nature only; Can the heavens give showers?
No, not without orders from the God of heaven:
for it is he that has the key of the clouds, that ofiens
the bottles of heaven, and waters the earth from his
chambers. But, (3.) All their expectation therefore
is from him, and their confidence in him; “ Art not
thou he, O Lord our God, from whom we may ex¬
pect succour, and to whom we must apply ourselves?
Art thou not he that causest rain, and givest show¬
ers? For thou hast made all these things; thou
gavest them being, and therefore thou givest them
law, and hast them all at thy command; thou
madest that moisture in nature, which is in a con¬
stant circulation, to serve the intentions of Provi¬
dence, and thou directest it, and makest what use
thou pleasest of it; therefore we will wait upon thee,
and upon thee only; we will ask of the Lord rain,
Zech. x. 1. We will trust in him to give it us in
due time, and be willing to tarry his time; it is fit
that we should, and it will not be in vain to do so. ”
Note, The sovereignty of God should engage, and
his all-sufficiency encourage, our attendance on him,
and our expectations from him, at all times.
CHAP. XV.
When we left the prophet, in the close of the foregoing
chapter, so pathetically pouring out his prayers before
God, we had reason to hope that in this chapter we
should find God reconciled to the land, and the prophet
brought into a quiet, composed frame ; but, to our <jreat
surprise, we find it much otherwise as to both. I. Not¬
withstanding the prophet’s prayers, God here ratifies the
sentence given against the people, and abandons them
to ruin, turning a deaf ear to all the intercessions made
for them, v. 1 . . 9. II. The prophet himself, notwith¬
standing the satisfaction he had in communion with God,
still finds himself uneasy and out of temper. 1. He
complains to God of his continual struggle with his per¬
secutors, v. 10. 2. God assures him that he shall betaken
under special protection, though there was a general
desolation coming upon the land, v. 11. . 14. 3. He
appeals to God concerning his sincerity in the discharge
of his prophetical office, and thinks it hard that he
should not have more of the comfort of it, v. 15.. 18.
4. Fresh security is given him, that upon condition he
continue faithful, God will continue his care of him and
his favour to him, v. 19. .21. And Ihus, at length, we
hope he regained the possession of his own soul.
1. rr^HEN said the Lord unto me,
1. Though Moses and Samuel stood
before me, yet my mind could not be, toward
this people; cast them out of my sight, and
let them go forth. 2. And it shall come to
pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall
we go forth ? then thou shalt tell them,
Thus saith the Lord, Such as are for death,
to death; and such as are for the sword, to
the sword ; and such as are for the famine,
to the famine ; and such as are for the cap¬
tivity, to the captivity. 3. And I will ap¬
point over them four kinds, saith the Lord ;
the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and
the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of
the earth, to devour and destroy. 4. And
I will cause them to be removed into all
kingdoms of the earth, because of Manas-
seh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for
that which he did in Jerusalem. 5. For
who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusa¬
lem ? or who shall bemoan thee ? or who
shall go aside to ask how thou doest ? 6
Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord
thou art gone backward ; therefore will i
stretch out my hand against thee, and de¬
stroy thee ; I am weary with repenting. 7.
And I will fan them with a fan in the gates
of the land ; 1 will bereave them of children
I will destroy my people, since they return
not from their ways. 8. Their widows are
increased to me above the sand of the seas:
I have brought upon them, against the mo¬
ther of the young men, a spoiler at noon¬
day ; I have caused him to fall upon it sud¬
denly, and terrors upon the city. 9. She
that hath borne seven languisheth; she hath
given up the ghost ; her sun is gone down
while it was yet day; she hath been ashamed
and confounded : and the residue of them
will I deliver to the sword before their ene¬
mies, saith the Lord.
We scarcely find any where more pathetic ex¬
pressions of divine wrath against a provoking people
than we have here in these verses. The prophet
had prayed earnestly for them, and found some
among them to join with him; and yet not so much
as a reprieve was gained, or the least mitigation of
the judgment; but this answer is given to the pro¬
phet’s prayers, that the decree was gone forth, was
irreversible, and would shortly be executed. Ob¬
serve here,
I. What the sin was, upon which this severe sen¬
tence was grounded. 1. It is in remembrance of a
former iniquity; it is because of Manasseh, for that
which he did in Jerusalem, x’. 4. What that was,
we are told, and that it was for it that Jerusalem
was destroyed, 2 Kings xxiv. 3, 4. It was for
his idolatry, and the innocent blood which he shed,
which the Lord would not pardon. He is called
the son of Hezekiah, because his relation to so good
a father was a great aggravation of his sin, so far
was it from being an excuse of it. The greatest
part of a generation was wont off since Mnnasseh’s
time, yet his sin is brought into the account; as in
Jerusalem’s last ruin God brought upon it all the
righteous blood shed on the earth, to show how
heavy the guilt of blood will light and lie some¬
where, sooner or later, and that reprieves are not
pardons. It is in consideration of their present im-
I penitence. See how their sin is described; ( v . 6.)
“ Thou hast forsaken me, my sen ices and thy dutv
to me; thou art gone backward into the wavs > f
contradiction, art become the reverse of what tlv u
JEREMIAH, XV. 399
sliouldst have been, and of what God by this law
would have led thee forward to.” See how the im¬
penitence is described; (v. 7.) They return not
from their ways, the ways of their own hearts, into
the ways of God’s commandments again. There
is mercy for those who have turned aside, if they
will return; but what favour can they expect, that
persist in their apostaev?
II. What the sentence is. It is such as denotes
no less than an utter ruin.
1. God himself abandons and abhors them; My
mind cannot be toward them. How can it be
thought that the holy God should have any remain¬
ing complacency in those that have such a rooted
antipathy to him? It is not in a passion, but with a
just and holy indignation, that he says, “ Cast them
out of my sight, as that which is in the highest de-
ree odious and offensive; and let them go forth, for
will be troubled with them no more.”
2. He will not admit of any intercession to be
made for them; ( v . 1.) “Though Moses and Sa¬
muel stood before me, by prayer or sacrifice to re¬
concile me to them, yet I could not be prevailed
with to admit them into favour. ” Moses and Samuel
were two as great favourites of Heaven, as ever
were the blessings of this earth, and were particu¬
larly famed for the success of their mediation be¬
tween God and his offending people; many a time
they had been destroyed, if Moses had not stood
before him in the breach; and to Samuel’s prayers
thev owed their lives; (1 Sam. xii. 19.) yet even
their intercessions should not prevail, no, not though
they were now in a state of perfection, much less
Jeremiah’s, who was now subject to like fiassions as
others. The putting of this as a case, Though they
should stand before me, supposes that they do not,
and is an intimation that saints in heaven are not in¬
tercessors for saints on earth. It is the prerogative
of the Eternal Word, to be the only Mediator in the
other world, whatever Moses and Samuel and others
were in this.
3. He condemns them all to one destroying judg¬
ment or other. When God casts them out of his
presence, whither shall they go forth? v. 2. Cer¬
tainly no whither, to be safe or easy, but to be met
by one judgment, while they are fiursued by ano¬
ther, till they find themselves surrounded with mis¬
chiefs on all hands, so that they cannot escape;
Such as are for death, to death. By death here is
meant the pestilence, (Rev. vi. 8.) for it is death
without visible means. Such as are for death, to
death, or for the sword, to the sword; every man
shall perish in that way that God has appointed:
the law that appoints the malefactor’s death, deter¬
mines what death he shall die. Or, He that is by
his own choice for this judgment, let him take it, or
for that, let him take it, but by the one or the other
they shall all fall, and none shall escape. It is a
choice like that which David was put to, and was
thereby put into a great strait, 2 Sam. xxiv. 14.
Captivity is mentioned last, some think, because
the sorest judgment of all, it being both a complica¬
tion and continuance of miseries. That of the
sword is again repeated, (x>. 3.) and is made the
first of another four frightful set of destroyers,
which God will appoint over them, as officers over
the soldiers to do what they please with them. As
those that escape the sword shall be cut off by pes¬
tilence, famine, or captivity, so those that fall by
the sword shall be cut off by divine vengeance,
which pursues sinners on the other side death;
there shall be dogs to tear in the city, and fowls of
the air and wild beasts in the field to devour. And
if there be any that think to outrun justice, they
shall be made the most public monuments of it;
They shall be removed into all kingdoms of the
earth, (r. 4.) like Cain, who, that he might be
made a spectacle tf hrrrorto all, became a fugi
live and a vagabond in the earth.
4. They sh.,11 fall without being relieved. Who
can do any thing to help them? When (1.) God,
even their own G d, (so he had been,) appearp
against them; I will stretch out my hand against
thee; which denotes a deliberate, determined stroke,
which will reach far, and wound deep, v. 6. I. am
weary of repenting, it is a strange expression; they
had behaved so provokingly, especially by their
treacherous professions of repentance, that they had
put even infinite patience itself to the stretch. God
had often turned away his wrath, when it was ready
to break forth against them; but now he will grant
no more reprieves. Miserable is the case of those
who have sinned so long against God’s mercy, that
at length they have sinned it away. (2.) Their
own country expels them, and is ready to spue them
out, as it had done the Canaanites that were before
them; for so it was threatened, (Lev. xviii. 28.) I
will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land, in
their own gates, through which they shall be scat¬
tered; or, into the gates of the earth, into the cities
of all the nations about them. (3.) Their own chil¬
dren, that should assist them when they speak with
the enemy in the gate, shall be cut off' from them;
(v. 7.) I will bereave them of children; so that they
shall have little hopes that the next generation will
retrieve their affairs, for I will destroy my people;
and when the inhabitants are slain, the land will
soon be desolate. This melancholy article is en¬
larged upon, v. 8, 9. where we have,
[1.] The destroyer brought upon them. When
God has bloody work to do, he will find cut bloody
instruments to do it with. Nebuchadnezzar is here
called a spoiler at noon-day; not a thief in the night
that is afraid of being discovered, but one that with¬
out fear shall break through and destroy all the
fences of rights and properties, and this in the face
of the sun, and in defiance of its light; I have
brought against the mother, a young man, a spoiler;
(so some read it;), for Nebuchadnezzar, when he
first invaded Judah, was but a young man, in the
first year of his reign. We read it, I have brought
upon them, even against the mother of the young
man, a spoiler, against Jerusalem, a mother-city,
that had a very numerous family of young men; or,
that invasion was in a particular manner terrible to
those mothers who had many sons fit for war, who
must now jeopard their lives in the high places of
the field: and, being an unequal match for the ene¬
my, would be likely to fall there, to the inexpressi¬
ble grief of their poor mothers, who had nursed
them up with a deal of tenderness. The same God
that brought the spoiler upon them, caused him to
fall upon it, upon the spoil delivered to him, sud¬
denly and by surprise; and then terrors came upon
the city. 1 he original is very abrupt, the city and
terrors. O the city, what a" consternation will it
then be in? O the terrors that shall then seize it!
Then the city and terrors shall be brought together,
that seemed at a distance from each other. I will
cause suddenly to fall upon her (upon Jerusalem)
a watcher and terrors; so Mr. Gataker reads it, for
the word is used fora watcher, (Dan. iv. 13, 23.)
and the Chaldean soldiers were called watchers, ch.
iv. 16.
[2.] The destruction made by this destroy'er. A
dreadful slaughter is here described. First, The
wives are deprived of their husbands; Their widows
are increased above the sand of the seas, so nume¬
rous are they now grown. It was promised that the
men of Israel (for those only were numbered) should
be as the sand of the sea for multitude; but new they
shall be cut off) and their widows shall be so. Em
observe, God says, Thev are increased to me. Thcugh
the husbands were cut off by the sword of his jus-
■100
JEREMIAH, XV.
tice, their poor widows were gathered in the arms |
of his mercy, who has taken it among the titles of
his honour to be the God of the widows. Widows j
are said to be taken into the number, the number of
those whom God has a particular compassion and
concern for. Secondly, The parents are deprived
of their children; She that has borne seven sons,
whom she expected to be the support and joy of her
age, now languishes, when she has seen them all
cut off by the sword in one day, who had been many
years her burthen and care. She that had many
children is waxen feeble, 1 Sam. ii. 5. See what
uncertain comforts children are; and let us therefore
rejoice in them, as though we rejoiced not. When
the children are slain, the mother gives up the ghost,
for her life was bound up in theirs: Her sun is gone
down while it was yet day: she is bereaved of all her
comforts then when she thought herself in the midst
of the enjoyment of them. She is now ashamed and
confounded to think how proud she had been of her
sons, how fond of them, and how much she promised
herself from them. Some understand by this lan¬
guishing mother, Jerusalem lamenting the death of
her inhabitants as passionately as ever pom- mother
bewailed her children. Many are cut off already,
and the residue of them, who have yet escaped, and,
as was hoped, were reserved to be the seed of an¬
other generation, even them will I deliver to the
sword before their enemies, (as the condemned male¬
factor is delivered to the sheriff to be executed,)
saith the Lord, the Judge of heaven and earth, who,
we are sure, herein judges right, though the judg¬
ment seem severe.
5. They shall fall without being pitied; (v. 5.)
“For who shall have pity on thee, O Jerusalem ?
When thy God has cast thee out of his sight, and
his compassions fail, and are shut up from thee,
neither thine enemies nor thy friends shall have any
compassion for thee. They shall have no sympathy
with thee, they shall not bemoan thee, or be sorry
f ,r thee, they shall have no concern for thee, shall
n it go a step out of their way to ifsk how thou dost.”
For, (1.) Their friends, who were expected to do
these friendly offices, were all involved with them
in the calamities, and had enough to do to bemoan
themselves. (2.) It was plain to all their neigh¬
bours, that they had brought all this mis-ry upon
themselves by their obstinacy in sin, and that they
might have easily prevented it by repentance and
reformation, which they were often in vain called
to; and therefore who can pity them? 0 Israel, thou
hast destroyed thyself. Those will perish for ever
unpitied, that might have been saved upon such
easy terms, and would not. (3.) God will thus
complete their misery, he will set their acquaint¬
ance, as he did Job’s, at a distance from them; and
his hand, his righteous hand, is to be acknowledged
in all the unkindnesses of our friends, as well as in
all the injuries done us by our foes.
1 0. Wo is me, my mother, that thou hast
home me a man of strife, and a man of con¬
tention to the whole earth! I have neither
lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on
usury; yet every one of them doth curse
me. 1 1. The Loan said, Verily it shall be
well with thy remnant, verily [ will cause
the enemy to entreat thee well in the time
of evil, and in the time of affliction. 12.
Shall iron break the northern iron and the
steel ? 1 3. Thy substance and thy treasures
will T give to the. spoil without price, and
thm for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
14. And I will make thee to pass with thine
enemies into a land which thou knowest not ;
for a lire is kindled in mine anger, which
shall burn upon you.
Jeremiah is now returned from bis public work,
and is retired into his closet; what passed between
him and his God there, we have an account of in
these and the following verses, which he published
afterward, to affect the people with the weight and
importance of his messages to them. Here is,
I. The complaint which the prophet makes to
God of the many discouragements he met with in
his work, v. 10.
1. He met with a great deal of contradiction and
opposition. He was a man of strife and contention
to the whole land; (so it might be read, rather than
to the whole earth, for his business lay only in that
land;) both city and country quarrelled with him,
and set themselves against him, and said and did all
they could to thwart him. He was a peaceable man,
gave no provocation to any, nor was apt to resent
the provocations given him, and yet a man of strife,
not a man striving, but a man striven with; he was
for peace, but, when he spake, they were for war.
And, whatever they pretended, that which was the
real cause of their quarrels with him, was, his faith¬
fulness to God and to their souls. He showed them
their sins that were working their ruin, and put
them into a way to prevent that ruin, which was
the greatest kindness he could do them; and yet this
was it for which they were incensed against him,
and looked upon him as their enemy. Even the
Prince of peace himself was thus a man of strife, a
sign spoken against, continually enduring the con¬
tradiction of sinners against himself. And the gos¬
pel of peace brings division, even to fire and sword,
Matth. x. 34, 35. Luke xii. 49, 51. Now this made
Jeremiah very uneasv, even to a degree rf impa¬
tience; he cried cut, JVo is me, my mother, that thou
hast borne me. As if it were his mother’s fault,
that she bore him, and he hid better never have been
born, than be born to such an uncomfortable life;
nay, he is angry that she had borne him a man of
strife; as if he had been fatally determined to. this
bv the stars that were in the ascendant at his birth.
If he had any meaning of this kind, doubtless it was
very much his infirmity; we rather hope it was in¬
tended for no more than a pathetic lamentation of
his own case. Note, (1.) Even those who are most
quiet and peaceable, if they serve God faithfully,
are often made men of strife. We can but follow
peace; we have the making only of one side of the
bargain, and therefore can but, as much as in us ties,
live peaceably. (2.) It is very uncomfortable to
those who are of a peaceable disposition, to live
among those who are continually picking quarrels
with them. (3.) Yet, if we cannot live so peaceably
as we desire with our neighbours, we must not be so
disturbed at it as thereby to lose the repose of our
own minds, and put ourselves upon the fret.
2. Hemet with a great deal of contempt, contumely,
and reproach. They every one of them cursed him;
thev branded him as a turbulent, factious man, as
an incendiary, and a sower of discord and si diticn.
They ought to have blessed him, and to have blessed
i God for him; but they were arrived at such a pitch
\ of enmity against God and his word, that for his sake
] they cursed his messenger, spoke ill of him, wished
ill to him, did all they could to make him odious:
they all did so, he had scarcely one friend in Judah or
Jerusalem, that would give him a good word. Note.
It is often the lot of the best of men to have the
worst of characters ascribed to them; So persecuted
they the prophets. But one would be apt to suspi c'
I that surely Jeremiah had given them some prove-
401
JEREMIAH, XV.
cation, else he could not have lost himself thus: no,
not the least; I have neither lent money, nor bor¬
rowed money; have been neither creditor nor debtor;
for so general is the signification of the words here.
(1.) It is implied here, that those who deal much in
the business of this world, are often involved there¬
by in strife and contention; meum and tun m — mine
and thine are the great makebates, lenders and
borrowers, sue and are sued, and great dealers often
?et a deal of ill-will. (2.) It was an instance of
eremiah’s great prudence, and it is written for our
learning, that, being called to be a prophet, he
entangled not himsel f in the affairs of this life, but
kept clear from them, that he might apply himself
the more closely to the business of his profession,
and might not give the least shadow or suspicion
that he aimed at secular advantages in it, nor any
occasion to his neighbours to contend with him. He
fiut out no money, for he was no usurer, nor indeed
had he any money to lend: he took u/i no money,
for he was no purchaser, no merchant, no spend¬
thrift. He was perfectly dead to this world, and
the things of it: a very little served to keep him,
and we find (rA. xvi. 2.) that he had neither wife
nor children to keep. And yet, (3.) Though he
behaved thus discreetly, and so as one would have
thought should have gained him universal esteem,
yet he lay under a general odium, through the
iniquity of the times. Blessed be God, bad as things
are with us, they are not so bad, but that there are
those with whom virtue has its praise; yet let not
those who behave most prudently, think it strange
if they have not the respect and esteem they de¬
serve. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world
hate you.
II. The answer which God gave to this complaint.
Though there was in it a mixture of passion and
infirmity, yet God graciously took cognizance of it,
because it was for his sake that the prophet suffered
reproach. In this answer,
1. God assures him that he should weather the
storm, and be made easy at last, v. 11. Though
his neighbours quarrelled with him for what he did
in the discharge of his office, yet God accepted him,
and promised to stand by him. It is in the original
expressed in the form of an oath; If I take not care
of thee, let me never be counted faithful; verily, it
shall go well with thy remnant, with the remainder
of thy life; for so the word signifies. The residue
of thy days shall be more comfortable to thee than
those hitherto have been. Thy end shall be good;
so the Chaldee reads it. Note, It is a great and
sufficient support to the people of God, that, how
troublesome soever their way may be, it shall be
well with them in their latter end, Ps. xxxvii. 37.
They have still a rerynant, a residue, something
behind, and left in reserve, which will be sufficient
to balance all their grievances, and the hope of it
may serve to make them easy. It should seem that
Jeremiah, besides the vexation that his people gave
him, was uneasy at the apprehension he had of
sharing largely in the public judgments which he
foresaw coming; and though he mentioned not this,
God replied to his thought of it, as to Moses, Exod.
iv. 19. Jeremiah thought, “ If my friends are thus
abusive to me, what will my enemies be?” And
God had thought fit to awaken in him an expecta¬
tion of this kind, eh. xii. 5. But here he quiets his
mind with this promise, “ Verily, I will cause the
enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil, when
all about thee shall be laid waste.” Note, God has
all men’s hearts in his hand, and can turn those to
favour his servants, whom they were most afraid of.
\nd the prophets of the Lord have often met with
fairer and better treatment among open enemies
*han among those that call themselves his people.
.Vhen we see trouble coming, and it looks very
Vo i,. iv. — 3 E
threatening, let us not despair, but hope in God, be¬
cause it may prove better than we expect. This
promise was accomplished, when Nebuchadnezzar,
having taken the city, charged the captain of the
guard to be kind to Jeremiah, and let him have
everything he had a mind to, ch. xxxix. 11, 12.
The following words, Shall iron break the northern
iron, and the steel, or brass? (y. 12.) being erm-
pared with the promise of God made to Jeremiah,
{ch. i. 18.) that he would make him an iron f Hilar
and brazen walls, seem intended for his comfort.
They were continually clashing with him, and were
rough and hard as iron; but Jeremiah, being armed
witii power and courage from on high, is as north¬
ern iron, which is naturally stronger, and as steel,
which is hardened by art; and therefore they shrll
not prevail against him; compare this with Ezek.
11. 6. — iii. 8, 9. He might the better bear their
quarrelling with him, when he was sure of the vic¬
tory.
2. God assures him that his enemies and perse¬
cutors should be lost in the storm, should be ruined
at last, and that therein the werd of God in his
meuth should be accomplished, and he proved a
true prophet, v. 13, 14. God here turns his speech
from the prophet to the people. To them also, re
12. may be applied; Shall iron break the northern
iron, and the steel? Shall their courage and strength,
and the most hardy and vigorous of their iffi rts, be
able to contest either with the counsel of Gcd, rr
with the army of the Chaldeans, which are as in¬
flexible, as invincible, as the northern iron, and the
steel. Let them therefore hear their doom; Thy
substance and thy treasure will I give to the t ft oil,
and that without price; the spoilers shall have it
S'-atis, it shall be to them a cheap and easy prey.
bserve. The prophet was poor, he neither lent
nor borrowed, he had nothing to lose, neither sub¬
stance nor treasure, and therefore the enemy will
treat him well, Cantabit vacuus coram lai 'rone via¬
tor — The traveller that has no property about him,
will congratulate hhhself, when accosted by a rob¬
ber. But the people that hod great estates in money
and land, would be slain for what they had, ■.or the
enemy, finding they had much, would use them
hardly, to make them confess more. And it is their
own iniquity that herein corrects them; It is for all
thy sins, even in all thy borders. All parts of the
country, even those which lay most remote, had
contributed to the national guilt, and all shall new
be brought to account. Let not one tribe lay the
blame upon another, but each take shame to itself;
It is for all thy sins in all thy borders. Thus shall
they stay at home till they see their estates ruined,
and then they shall be carried into captivity, to
spend the sad remains of a miserable life in slavery :
“ I will make thee to pass with thine enemies , who
shall lead thee in triumph, into a land thou kvowest
not, and therefore canst expect to find no comfort
in it.” All this is the fruit of God’s wrath: “It is
a fire kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon
you, and, if not extinguished in time, will burn
eternally. ”
15. O Lord, thou k no west : remember
me, and visit me, and revenge me of my
persecutors; take me not away in thy Tong-
suffering: know that for thy sake I have suf¬
fered rebuke. 16. Thy words were found,
and T did eat them: and thy word was onto
me the joy and rejoicing of my heart : for J
am called by thy name, O Lord God of
hosts. 17. I sat not in the assembly of the
mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone, because
402
JEREMIAH, XV.
of thy hand : for thou hast filled me with j
indignation: 18. Why is my pain perpetual,
and my wound incurable, which refuseth to
be healed ? wilt thou be altogether unto me
as a liar, and as waters that fail? 19. There¬
fore thus saith the Lord, If thou return, then
will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand
before me: and if thou take forth the pre¬
cious from the vile, thou shalt be as my
mouth : let them return unto thee ; but re¬
turn not thou unto them. 20. And I will
make thee unto this people a fenced brazen
wall ; and they shall fight against thee, but
they shall not prevail against thee : for I am
with thee to save thee, and to deliver thee,
saith the Lord. 21. And I will deliver thee
out of the hand of the wicked, and I will
redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.
Here, as before, we have,
I. The prophet’s humble address to God, con¬
taining a representation both of his integrity, and of
the hardships he underwent notwithstanding. It is
matter of comfort to us, that whatever ails us, we
have a God to go to, before whom we may spread
our case, and to whose omniscience we may appeal,
as the prophet here, “ O Lord, thou knowest: thou
knowest my sincerity, which men are resolved they
will not acknowledge; thou knowest my distress,
which men disdain to take notice of. ” Observe here,
1. What it is that the prophet prays for, v. 15.
(1 1 That God would consider his case, and be
mindful of him; “ O Lord, remember me; think
upn me for good.” (2.) That God would commu¬
nicate strength and comfort to him; Visit me; not
only remember me, but let me know that thou re-
memberest me, that thou art nigh unto me.” (3.)
That he would appear for him against those that
did him wrong; Revenge me of my persecutors, or,
rither, “ Vindicate me from my persecutors; give
judgment against them, and let that judgment be
executed so far as is necessary for my vindication,
and to compel them to acknowledge that they have
done me wrong.” Further than this, a good man
will not desire that God would revenge him. Let
something be done to convince the world that ( what¬
ever blasphemers say to the contrary) Jeremiah is a
righteous man, and the God whom he serves is a
righteous God. (4. ) That he would yet spare him
and continue him in the land of the living: “ Take
me not away by a sudden stroke, but in thy long-
suffering lengthen out my days.” The best men
will own themselves so obnoxious to God’s wrath,
that they are indebted to his patience for the con¬
tinuance of their lives. Or, “ While thou exer-
cisest lor.g-suffering toward my persecutors, let not
them prevail to take me away.” Though in com¬
passion he complained of his birth, ( v . 10.) yet he
desires here that his death might not be hastened;
for life is sweet to nature; the life of a useful man
is so to grace. I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world.
2. What it is that he pleads with God for, mercy
and relief against his enemies, persecutors, and
slanderers.
(1. ) That God’s honour was interested in his case;
Know, and m ike it known, that for thy sake I have
suffered rebuke. Those that lay themselves open
to reproach by their own fault and tolly, have great
reason to bear it patiently, but no reason to expect
that Gad should appear for them. But if it is for
doing well that we suffer ill, and/or righteousness’
sake that we have all manner of evil said against us,
we may hope that God will vindicate our honour
with his own. To the same purport, (v. 16.) I am
called by thy name, O Lord of hosts; it was for that
reason that his enemies hated him, and therefore
for that reason he promised himself that God would
own him, and stand by him.
(2.) That the word of God, which he was employ¬
ed to preach to others, he had experienced the
power and pleasure of in his own soul, and therefore
had the graces of the Spirit to qualify him for the
divine favour, as well as his gifts. We find some re¬
jected of God, who yet could say, Lord, we have pro¬
phesied hi thy name. But Jeremiah could say more,
( v . 16.) “ Thy words were found, found by me;’’
(he searched the scriptures, diligently studied the
law, and found that in it which was reviving to him.
If we seek, we shall find;) “found for me;” (the
words which he was to deliver to others, were laid
ready to his hand, were brought to him by inspira¬
tion;) “ and I did not only taste them, but eat them,
received them entirely, conversed with them inti¬
mately; they were welcome to me, as food to one
that is hungry; I entertained them, digested them,
turned them in succum et sanguinem — into blood
and spirits, and was myself delivered into the mould
of those truths which I was to deliver to others.”
The prophet was bid to eat the roll, Ezek. ii. 8.
Rev. x. 9. I did eat it, that is, as it follows, it was
to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, nothing
could be more agreeable. Understand it, [1.] Of
the message itself which he was to deliver. Though
he was to foretell the ruin of his country, which
was dear to him, and in the ruin of which he could
not but have a deep share, yet all natural affections
were swallowed up in zeal for God’s glory, and e' en
these messages of wrath, being divine messages,
were a satisfaction to him. He also rejoiced, at
first, in hope that the people would take warning,
and prevent the judgment. Or, [2.] Of the com¬
mission he received to deliver this message. Though
the work he was called to was not attended with
any secular advantages, but, on the contrary, ex¬
posed him to contempt and persecution, yet, be¬
cause it put him in a way to serve God, and do
good, he took pleasure in it, was glad to be so em¬
ployed, and it was his meat and drink to do the will
of him that sent him, John iv. 34. Or, [3. J Of the
promise God gave him, that he would assist and
own him in his work; ( ch . i. 8.) he was satisfied in
that, and depended upon it, and therefore hoped it
should not fail him.
(3. ) That he had applied himself to the discharge
of his office with all possible gravity, seriousness, and
self-denial, though he had had of late but little satis¬
faction in it, v. 17. [1- J It was his comfort, that he
had given up himself wholly to the business of his
office, and had done nothing inconsistent with it;
nothing either to divert himself from it, or d is fit
himself for it. He kept no unsuitable company, de¬
nied himself the use even of lawful recreations, ab
stained from every thing that looked like levity, lest
thereby he should make himself mean and less re¬
garded. He sat alone, spent a deal of time in his
closet, because of the hand of the Lord that was
strong upon him to carry him on in his work, Ezek.
iii. 14. “ Tor thou hast' filled me with indignation,
with such messages of wrath against this people, as
have made me always pensive.” It will be a comfort
to God’s ministers, when men despise them, if they
have the testimonies of their consciences for them,
that they have not by any vain, foolish behaviour,
made themselves despicable; that they have been
dead not only to the wealth of the world, as this pro¬
phet was, (x>. 10.) but to the pleasures of it too, as
here. But, [2.] It is his complaint, that he had had
but little pleasure in his work. It was at first the
403
JEREMIAH, XV.
rejoicing of his heart, but of late it had made him
melancholy; so that he had no heart to sit in the
meeting of those that make merry; he cared not for
company, for indeed no company cared for him; he
s at alone , fretting at the people’s obstinacy, and the
little success of his labours among them; this filled
him with a holy indignation. Note, It is the folly
and infirmity of some good people, that they lose
much of the pleasantness of their religion by the fret¬
fulness and uneasiness of their natural temper, which
they humour and indulge, instead cf mortifying it.
(4.) He throws himself upon God’s pity and pro¬
mise in a very passionate expostulation; (v. 18.)
“ Why is my /lain fierfietual, and nothing done to
ease it? Why are the wounds which my enemies
are continually giving both to my peace and to my
reputation, incurable, and nothing done to retrieve
either my comfort or my credit? I once little thought
that I should have been thus neglected; will the
God that has promised me his presence, be to me
as a liar; the God on whom I depend, be to me as
waters that fail'/” We are willing to make the best
we can of it, and to take it as an appeal, [1.] To
the mercy of God; “ I know he will not let the pain
of his servant be perpetual, but he will ease it, will
not let his wound be incurable, but he will heal it;
and therefore I will not despair.” [2.] To hisfaith-
u l ness; “ Wilt thou be to me as a liar? No, I
now thou wilt not; God is not a man that he should
lie. The Fountain of life will never be to his people
as waters that fail
II. God’s gracious answer to this address, v. 19. —
21. Though the prophet betrayed much human
frailty in his address, yet God vouchsafed to answer
him with good words and comfortable words; for
he knows our frame. Observe,
1. What God here requires of him as the condi¬
tion of the further favours he designed him. Jere¬
miah had done and suffered much for God, yet God
no Debtor to him, but he is still upon his good be¬
haviour. God will own him. But,
(1 ) He must recover his temper, and be recon¬
ciled to his work, and friends with it again, and not
quarrel with it any more as he had done. He must
return; must shake off these distrustful, discontent¬
ed thoughts and passions, and not give way to them,
must regain the peaceable possession and enjoyment
of himself, and resolve to be easy. Note, When
we have stept aside into any disagreeable frame or
way, our care must be to return , and compose our¬
selves into a right temper of mind again; and then
we may expect God will help us, if thus we endea¬
vour to help ourselves.
(2.) He must resolve to be faithful in his work,
for he could not expect the divine protection any
longer than he did approve himself so. Though
there was no cause at all to charge Jeremiah with
unfaithfulness, and God knew his heart to be sin¬
cere, yet God saw fit to give him this caution.
Those that do their duty must not take it ill to be
told their duty. In two things he must be faithful.
[1.] He must distinguish between some and others
of those he preached to; Thou must take forth the
hrecious from the vile. The righteous are the pre-
cious, be they ever so mean and poor, the wicked
are the vile, be they ever so rich and great. In our
congregations these are mixed, wheat and chaffin
the same floor; we cannot distinguish them by
name, but we must by character, and must give to
each a portion, speaking comfort to firecious saints,
and terror to vile sinners; neither making the heart
of the righteous sad, nor strengthening the hands of
the wicked, (Ezek. xiii. 22.) but rightly dividing
the word of truth. Ministers must take those whom
they see to be precious, into their bosoms, and not
sit alone as Jeremiah did, but keep up conversation
vith those they may do good to, and get good by.
[2.] He must closely adhere to his instructions,
and not in the least vary from them; Let them re¬
turn to thee, but return not thou to them. That is,
he must do the utmost he can, in his preaching, to
bring people up to the mind of God; he must tell
them they must, at their peril, comply with that.
They that had flown off from him, that did not like
the terms upon which God’s favour was offered to
them, “ Let them return to thee, and, upon second
thoughts, come up to the terms, and strike the bar¬
gain; but do not thou return to them, do not com¬
pliment them, or comply with them, or think to
make the matter easier to them than the word of
God has made it.” Men’s hearts and lives must
come up to God’s law, and comply with that, for
God’s law will never come down to them, or com¬
ply with them.
2. What he here promises them, upon the per¬
formance of these conditions. If he approve him¬
self well,
(1.) God will quiet his mind, and pacify the pre¬
sent tumult of his spirits; If thou return, I will
bring thee again; will restore thy soul, as Ps. xxiii.
3. The best and strongest saints, if at any time they
have gone aside out of the right way, and are de¬
termined to return, need the grace of God to bring
them again.
(2.) God will employ him in his service as a pro¬
phet, whose work, even in those bad times, had
comfort and honour enough in it to be its own wages;
“ Thou shall stand before me, to receive instruc¬
tions from me, as a servant from his master; and
thou sha/t be as my mouth to deliver my messages
to the people, as an ambassador is the mouth of the
prince that sends him.” Note, Faithful ministers
are God’s mouth to us; they are so to look upon
themselves, and to speak God’s mind, and us be¬
comes the oracles of God; and we are so to look
upon them, and to hear God speaking to us by them.
Observe, If thou keep close to thine instructions,
thou sha/t be as my mouth, not otherwise; so far
and no further, God will stand by ministers, as they
go by the written word; “ Thou shalt be as my
mouth, what thou savest shall be made good, as if I
myself had said it.” See Isa. xliv. 26. lSam.iii. 19.
(3.) He shall have strength and courage to face
the difficulties he meets with in his work, and his
spirit shall not fail again, as now it does; ( v . 20.)
“ I will make thee unto this people as a fenced
brazen wall, which the storm batters and beats vio¬
lently upon, but cannot shake. Return riot thou to
them, by any sinful compliances, and then trust thy
God to arm thee by his grace with holy resolutions.
Be not cowardly, and God will make thee daring.”
He had complained that he was made a man of
strife; “ Expect (says God) that they will fight
against thee; they will still continue their opposi¬
tion, but they shall not prevail against thee, to drive
thee off from thy work, or to cut thee off from the
land of the living.”
(4.) He shall have God for his Protector and
mighty Deliverer; I am with thee, to save thee.
Those" that have God with them, have a Saviour
with them, who has wisdom and strength enough
to deal with the most formidable enemy; and those
that are with God and faithful to him, he will de¬
liver, (x». 21.) either from trouble or through it.
They may perhaps fall into the hand of the wicked.
and they may appear terrible to them, but God will
rescue them out of their hands. They shall not be
able to kill them, till thev have finished their testi-
monv; they shall not prevent their happiness. God
will so deliver them as to' preserve them to his hea-
j venly kingdom, (2 Tim. iv. 18.) and that isdeliver-
ai ce enough. There are many things that appear
vt ry frightful, that vet do not prove at all hurtful,
tc i good man.
104
JEREMIAH, XVI.
CHAP. XVI.
In this chapter, I. 'f’he greatness of the calamity that was
coming upon the Jewish nation, is illustrated by prohi¬
bitions given to the prophet, neither to set up a house
of his own, (v. 1 . .4.) nor to go into the house of mourn¬
ing, {v. 5. . 7.) or into the house of feasting, v. 8, 9. II.
God is justified in these severe proceedings against them,
by an account of their great wickedness, v. 10. .13. III.
An intimation is given of mercy in reserve, v. 14, 15.
IV. Some hopes are given that the punishment of the
sin should prove the reformation of the sinners, and that
they should return to God at length in a way of duty,
and so be qualified for his returns to them in a way of
favour, v. 16- .21.
THE word of the Lord came also
unto me, saying, 2. Thou shalt not
take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have
sons nor daughters in this place. 3. P'or
thussaiththe Lord concerning the sons, and
concerning the daughters that are horn in
this place, and concerning their mothers that
bare them, and concerning their fathers that
begat them in this land; 4. They shall die
of grievous deaths: they shall not be lament¬
ed, neither shall they be buried; but they
shall be as dung upon the face of the earth:
and they shall be consumed by the sword,
and by famine; and their carcases shall be
meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the
beasts of the earth. 5. For thus saith the
Lord, Enter not into the house of mourn¬
ing, neither go to lament nor bemoan them,
for I have taken away my peace from this
people, saith the Lord, even loving-kindness
and mercies. 6. Both the great and the
small shall die in this land : they shall not
be buried, neither shall men lament for
them, nor cut themselves, nor make them¬
selves bald for them: 7. Neither shall men
tear themselves for them in mourning, to
comfort them for the dead; neither shall
men give them the cup of consolation to
drink for their father or for their mother.
3. Thou shalt not also go into the house of
feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
9. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease
out of this place in your eyes, and in your
days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of
gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and
the voice of the bride.
The prophet is here for a sign to the people; they
would not regard what he said, let it be tried whe¬
ther they will regard what he does. In general, he
must conduct himself so, in every thing, as became
one that expected to see his country in ruins very
shortly. This he foretold, but few regarded the
prediction; therefore he is to show that he is him¬
self fully satisfied in the truth of it. Others go on in
their usual course, but he, in the prospect of these
sad times, is forbidden, and therefore forbears, mar¬
riage, mourning for the dead, and mirth. Note,
Those that would convince others of, and affect
them with, the word of God, must make it appear,
even in the most self-denying instances, that they
do believe it themselves, and are affected with it. I
If we would rouse others out of their security, and
persuade them to sit loose to the world, we must
ourselves be mortified to present things, and show
that we expect the dissolution cf them.
1. Jeremiah must not marry, nor think of having
a family, and being a housekeeper; ( v . 2.) Thou
shalt not take thee a wife, nor think of having sons
and daughters in this place, net in the land of Judah,
not in Jerusalem, not in Anathoth. The Jews, more
than any people, valued themselves on their early
marriages, and their numerous offspring. But Jere¬
miah must live a bachelor, not so much in honour
ot virginity, as in diminution of it; by this it appears
that it was adviseable and seasonable only in calami¬
tous times, and times of present distress, 1 Cor. vii.
26. That it is so, is a part of the calamity. There
may be a time when it will be said, Blessed is the
womb that bare not, Luke xxiii. 29. When we see
such times at hand, it is wisdom for all, especially
for prophets, to keep themselves as much as may
be from being entangled with the affairs of this life,
and encumbered with that which, the dearer it is to
them, the more it will be the matter of their care,
and fear, and grief, at such a time. The reason
here given, is, because the fathers and mothers, the
sons and the daughters, shall die of grievous deaths,
v. 3, 4. As for those that have wives and children,
(1.) They will have such a clog upon them, that
they cannot flee from those deaths. A single man
may make his escape, and shift for his own safetv,
when he that has a wife and children, can neither
find means to convey them with him, nor find in his
heart to go and leave them behind him. (2.) They
will be in continual terror for fear of those deaths;
and the more they have to lose by them, the greater
will the terror and consternation be, when death
appears every where in its triumphant pomp and
power. (3.) The death of every child, and the
aggravating circumstances of it, will be a new
death to the parent. Better have no children
than have them brought forth, and bred up, for
the murderer, (Hos ix. 13, 14.) than see them
live and die in misery. Death \%grievous, but some
deaths are more grievous than others, both to them
that die and to their relations that survive them:
hence we read of so great a death, 2 Cor. i. 10. T wo
things are used a little to palliate and alleviate the
terror of death, as to this world, and to sugar the
bitter pill; bewailing the dead, and burying them;
but to make those deaths grievous indeed„these are
denied; They shall not be lamented, but shall be
carried off, as if all the world were weary of them;
nay, they shall not be buried, but left exposed, as if
they were designed to be monuments of justice.
They shall be as dung upon the face of the earth,
not only despicable, but detestable, as if they were
good for nothing but to manure the ground; being
consumed, some by the sword, and some by famine,
their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven,
and the beasts of the earth. Will not any one say,
“ Better be without children, than live to see them
come to this.” What reason have we to say, all is
vanity and vexation of spirit, when those creatures
that we expect to be our greatest comforti, may
prove not only our heaviest cares, but our sorest
crosses!
2. Jeremiah must not go to the house of mourn ■
ing, upon occasion of the death of any of his neigh -
bours.or relations; (t>. 5.) Enter thou not into the
house of mourning. It was usual to condole with
those whose relations were dead, to bemoan them,
to cut themseh'es, and make themselves bald, which,
it seems, was commonly practised, as an expression
of mourning, though forbidden by the law, Deut.
xiv. 1. Nay, some’imes, in a passion cf grief, they
tare themselves for them ; (in 6, 7.) partly in horn in
of the deceased, thus signifying that they thought
405
JEREMIAH, XVI.
there was a great loss ot then.; and partly, in com¬
passion to the surviving relations, to whom the bur¬
then will be made tile lighter, by their having
sharers with them in their grief. They used to
mourn with them, and so to comfort them for the
dead, as Job’s friends with him, and the Jews with
Martha and Mary ; and it was a friendly office to
give them a cup of consolation to drink, to provide
cordials for then/, and press them earnestly to drink
of them for the support of their spirits; give wine
to them that are ot heavy heart, for their father or
mother, that it may be some comfort to them to find
that, though they have lost their parents, yet they
have some friends left, that have a concern for them.
Thus the usage stood, and it was a laudable usage;
it is a good work to others, as well as of good use to
ourselves, to go to the house of mourning. It seems,
the prophet Jeremiah had been wont to abound in
good offices of this kind, and it well became his cha¬
racter, both as a pious man and as a prophet; and
one would think it should have made him better be¬
loved among his people, than it should seem he was.
But now God bids him not lament the death of his
friends, as usual. For, (1.) His sorrow for the de¬
struction of his country in general, must swallow up
his sorrow for particular deaths. His tears must
now be turned into another channel; and there is
occasion enough for them all. (2.) He had little
reason to lament those who died now just before the
judgments entered, which he saw at the door; but
rather to think them happy, who were seasonably
taken away from the evil to come. (3.) This was
to be a type of what was coming, when there should
be such universal confusion, that all neighbourly,
friendly offices should be neglected. Men shall be
in deaths so often, and even dying daily, that they
shall have no time, no room, no heart, for the cere¬
monies that used to attend death; the sorrows shall
be so ponderous as not to admit relief; and every
one so full of grief for his own troubles, that he shall
have no thoughts of his neighbour’s. All shall be
mourners then, and no comforters; every one will
find it enough to bear his own burthen; for, (y. 5.)
“ I have taken away my peace from this people, put
a full period to their prosperity, deprived them of
health, and wealth, and quiet, and friends, and
every thing wherewith thev might comfort them¬
selves and one anothev.” Whatever peace we en¬
joy, it is God’s peace ; it is his gift, and if he gives
quietness, who then can make trouble? But if we
make not a good use of his peace, he can and will
take it away; and where are we then? Job xxxiv.
29. I will take away my peace, even my loving-
kindness and mercies; these shall be shut up and
restrained, which are the fresh springs from which
all their fresh streams flow, and then farewell all
good. Note, Those have cut themselves off from
all true peace, that have thrown themselves out of
the favour of God. All is gone, when God takes
away from us his loving-kindness and his mercies.
Then it follows, (v. 6.) Both the great and the small
shall die, even in this land, the land of Canaan, that
used to be called the land of the living. God’s fa¬
vour is our life; take away that, and we die, we pe¬
rish, wc all perish.
3. Jeremiah must not go to the house of mirth,
any more than to the house of mourning, v. 1. It
had been his custom, and it was innocent enough,
when any of his friends made entertainments at their
houses, and invited him to them, to go and sit with
them, not merely to drink, but to eat and to drink,
soberly and cheerfully. But now he must not take that
liberty. ( 1. ) Because it was unseasonable, and incon¬
sistent with the providences of God that fell upon
the land and nation. God called loud to weeping, and
mourning, and fasting; he was coming forth against
them in his judgments, and it was time for them
] to humble themselves; and it well became the pru-
; phot, who gave them the warning, to give them an
[ example of taking the warning, and complying wit! i
it, and so to make it appear that he did himself be¬
lieve it. Ministers ought to be examples cf self-
denial and mortification, and to show themselves
affected with those terrors of the Lord, with which
they desire to affect others. And it becomes all the
sons of Zion to sympathize with her in her atflic -
tiems, and not to be merry when she is perplexed,
Amos vi. 6. (2. ) Because he must thus show the
people what sad times were coming upon them.
His friends wondered that he would not meet them,
as he used to do, in the house of feasting. But he
lets them know, it was to intimate to them that all
their feasting would be at an end shortly; (v. 9.)
“ I will cause to cease the voice of mirth. You shall
have nothing to feast on, nothing to rejoice in, but
be surrounded with calamities that shall mar your
mirth, and cast a damp upon it.” God can find
ways to tame the most jovial. “This shall be dene
in this place, in Jerusalem, that used to be the joyous
city, and thought her joys were all secure to her;
it shall be' done in your eyes, in your sight, to be
a vexation to you, who now look so haughty, and so
merry; it shall be done in your days, you yourselves
shall live to see it.” The voice of praise they had
mf^de to cease by their iniquities and idolatries, and
therefore justly God made to cease among them the
voice of mirth and gladness. The voice of God’s
prophets was not heard, was not heeded, among
them, and therefore no longer shall the voice of the
bridegroom and of the bride, of the songs that used
to grace the nuptials, be heard among them. See
ch. vii. 34.
10. And it shall come to pass, when thou
shalt shew this people all these words, and
they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath
the Lord pronounced all this great evil
against us? or what is our iniquity, or what
is our sin, that we have committed against
the Lord our God? 11. Then shalt thou
say unto them, Because your fathers have
forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have
walked after other gods, and have served
them, and have worshipped them, and have
forsaken me, and have not kept my law:
12. And ye have done worse than your fa¬
thers; (for, behold, ye walk every one after
the imagination of his evil heart, that they
may not hearken unto me ;) 1 3. Therefore
will I cast you out of this land into a land
that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers ;
and there shall ye serve other gods day and
night, where I will not shew you favour.
Here is,
1. An inquiry made into the reasons why God
would bring those judgments upon them; (v. 10.)
When thou shale show this people all these words,
the words of this curse, they will say unto thee,
Wherefore has the Lord pronounced all this great
evil against us? One would hope that there were
some among them that asked this question with a
humble, penitent heart, desiring to know what was
the sin for which God contended with them, that
they might cast it away, and prevent the judgment;
“Show us the Jonah that raises the storm, and we
will throw it overboard. ” But it seems here to be
the language of those who quarrelled at the word
of God, and challenged him to show what they had
106
JEREMIAH, XVI.
done, which might deserve so severe a punishment;
‘ What is our iniquity? Or, what is our sin? What
crime have we ever been guilty of, proportionable
to such a sentence?” Instead of humbling and con¬
demning themselves, they stand upon their own
justification; and insinuate that God did them
wrong, in pronouncing this evil against them, that
he laid u/ion them more than was right, and that
they had reason to enter into judgment with God,
Job xxxiv. 23. Note, It is amazing to see how
hardly sinners are brought to justify God, and judge
themselves, when they are in trouble, and to own
the iniquity and the sin that have procured them
the trouble.
2. Aplainandfullanswergiventothisinquiry. Do
they ask the prophet why, and for what reason,
God is thus angry with them? He shall not stop
their mouths by telling them that they may be sure
there is a sufficient reason, the righteous God is
never angry without cause, without good cause; but
he must tell them particularly what is the cause,
that they may be convinced and humbled, or, at
least, that God may be justified. Let them know
then,
(1.) That God visited upon them the iniquities
of their fathers; ( v . 11.) Your fathers have for¬
saken me, and have not kept my law; they shook
off divine institutions and grew weary of them, they
thought them too plain, too mean, and then they
walked after other gods, whose worship was more
gay and pompous; and, being fond of variety and
novelty, they served them and worshipped them;
and this was the sin which God had said, in the se¬
cond commandment, he would visit upon their chil¬
dren, who kept up these idolatrous usages, because
they received them by tradition from their fathers,
1 Pet. i. 18.
(2.) That God reckoned with them for their own
iniquities; (v. 12.) “You have made your fathers’
sin your own, and are become obnoxious to the pu¬
nishment which in their days was deferred, for you
have done worse than your fathers.” If they had
made a good use of their fathers’ reprieve, and had
been led by the patience of God to repentance, they
should have fared the better for it, and the judg¬
ment should have been prevented, the reprieve
turned into a national pardon; but, making an ill
use of it, and being hardened by it in their sins, they
fared the worse for it, and the reprieve being ex¬
pired, an addition was made to the sentence, and it
was executed with the more severity. They were
more impudent and obstinate in sin than their fa¬
thers, walked every one after the imagination of his
heart, made that their guide and rule, and were re¬
solved to follow that on purpose that they might not
hearken to God and his prophets. They designedly
suffer their own lusts and passions to be noisy, that
they might drown the voice of their consciences.
No wonder then that God has taken up this resolu¬
tion concerning them, (v. 13.) “I will cast you out
of this land, this land of light, this valley of vision;
since you will not hearken to me, you shall not hear
me, you shall be hurried away, not into a neigh¬
bouring country which you have formerly had some
acquaintance and correspondence with, but into a
far country, a land that ye know not, neither you
nor your fathers; in which you have no interest,
nor can expect to meet with any comfortable society,
to be an allay to your misery.” Justly were they
banished into a strange land, who doted upon
strange gods, which neither they nor their fathers
knew, Deut. xxxii. 17. Two things would make
their case there very miserable, and both of them
relate to the soul, the better part; the greatest ca¬
lamities of their captivity were those which affected
that, and debarred them from its bliss. [l.J “It
is the happiness of the soul to be employed in the
service of God; but there shall you serve other godt
day and night, you shall be in continual temptation
to serve them, and perhaps compelled to do it by
your cruel taskmasters; and when you are forced
to worship idols, you will be as averse to it as ever
you were fond of it when it was forbidden you by
your godly kings.” Sec how God often makes
men’s sin their punishm, nt, and fills the backslider
in heart with his own ways. “You shall have no
public worship at all, but the worship of idols, and
then you will think with regret how you slighted
the worship, of the true God.” [2.] “It is the
happiness of the soul to have some tokens of the
loving-kindness of God, but you shall go to a strange
land, where I will not show you favour.” If they
had had God’s favour, that would have made even
the land of their captivity a pleasant land; but, if
they lie under his wrath, the yoke of their oppres¬
sion will be intolerable to them.
14. Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that it shall no more be
said, The Lord liveth that brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ;
15. But, The Lord liveth that brought up
the children of Israel from the land of the
north, and from all the lands whither he had
driven them: and I will bring them again
into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16. Behold, I will send for many fishers,
saith the Lord, and they shall fish them ;
and after I will send for many hunters, and
they shall hunt them from every mountain,
and from every hill, and out of the holes of
the rocks. 17. For mine eyes are upon all
their ways: they are not hid from my face,
neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
1 8. And first I will recompense their iniquity
and their sin double ; because they have de¬
filed my land, they have filled mine inheri¬
tance with the carcases of their detestable
and abominable things. 19. O Loud, my
strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in
the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come
unto thee from the ends of the earth, and
shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited
lies, vanities, and things wherein there is no
profit. 20. Shall a man make gods unto
himself, and they ore no gods? 21. There¬
fore, behold, I will this once cause them to
know, I will cause them to know, my hand
and my might; and they shall know that my
name is the Lord.
There is a mixture of mercy and judgment in
these verses, and it is hard to know to whicn to ap¬
ply some of the passages here, they are so interwo¬
ven; and some seem to look as far forward as the
times of the gospel.
I. God will certainly execute judgment upon them
for their idolatries. Let them expect it, for the de¬
cree is gone forth.
1. God sees all their sins, though they commit
them ever so secretly, and palliate them ever so
artfully; (v. 17.) Mine eyes are upon all their ways.
They have not their eye upon God, have no regard
to him, stand in no awe of him; but he has his eye
upon them, neither they nor their sins are hid from
JEREMIAH. XVI.
407
his face, from his eyes. Note, None of the sins of
sinners either can be concealed from God, or shall
be overlooked, by him, Prov. v. 21. Job xxxiv. 21.
Ps. xc. 8.
2. God is highly displeased, particularly at their
idolatries, v. 18. As his omniscience convicts them,
so his justice condemns them; I will recompense
their iniquity and their sin double; not double to
what it deserves, but double to what they expect,
and to what I have done formerly. Or, I will re¬
compense it abundantly, they shall now pay for
their long reprieve, and the divine patience they have
abused. The sin for which God has a controversy
with them, is, their having defied God’s land with
their idolatries, and not only alienated that which
he was entitled to as his inheritance, but polluted
that which he dwelt in with delight as his inherit¬
ance, and made it offensive to him with the carcases
of their detestable things, the gods themselves which
ttiey worshipped, the images of which, though they
were of gold and silver, were as loathsome to God
as the putrid carcases of men or beasts are to us;
idols are carcases of detestable things, God hates
them, and so should we. Or, he might refer to the
sacrifices which they offered to these idols, with
which the land was filled; for they had high places
in all the coasts and corners of it. This was the sin
which, above any other, incensed God against
them.
3. He will find out and raise up instruments of
his. wrath, that shall cast them out of their land, ac¬
cording to the sentence passed upon them, ( v . 16.)
I will send for many fishers, and many hunters;
the Chaldean army, that shall have many ways of
insnaring and destroying them, by fraud as fishers,
by force as hunters: they shall find them out where-
ever they are, and shall chase and closely pursue
them, to their ruin; they shall discover them where-
ever they are hid, in hills or mountains, or holes of
the rocks, and shall drive them out. God has vari¬
ous ways of prosecuting a people with his judgments,
that avoid the convictions of his word. He has
men at command fit for his purpose; he has them
within call, and can send for them when he pleases.
4. Their bondage in Babylon shall be sorer and
much more grievous than that in Egypt, their task¬
masters more cruel, and their lives made more bit¬
ter. This is implied in the promise, (y. 14, 15.)
that their deliverance out of Babylon shall be more
illustrious in itself, and more welcome to them,
than that out of Egypt. Their slavery in Egypt
came upon them gradually and almost insensibly,
that in Babylon came upon them at once, and with
all the aggravating circumstances of terror. In
Egypt they had a Goshen of their own, but none
such in Babylon. In Egypt they were used as ser¬
vants that were useful; in Babylon, as captives that
had been hateful.
5. They shall be warned, and God shall be glori¬
fied, by these judgments brought upon them. These
judgments have a voice, and speak aloud, (1.) In¬
struction to them; when God chastens them he
teaches them. By this rod God expostulates with
them, ( v . 20.) “Shall a man make gods to himself?
Will any man be so perfectly void of all reason and
consideration, as to think that a god of his own mak¬
ing can stand him in any stead? Will you ever again
be such fools as you have been, to make to your¬
selves gods, which are no gods, when you have a
God whom you may call your own, who made you,
and is himself the true and living God?” (2.) Ho¬
nour to God; for he will be known by the judgments
which he executeth. He will first recompense
their iniquity, ( v . 18.) and then he will this once,
{v. 21.) this once for all, not by many interruptions
of th' ir peace, but this one desolation and destruc¬
tion of it; or. This once and no more, I will cause
them to know my hand, the length and weight of
my punishing hand, how far it can reach, and how
deep it can wound. And they shall know that my
name is Jehovah, a God with whom there is no
contending, who gives being to threatenings, and
puts life into them as well as promises.
H. Y et he has mercy in store for them, intima¬
tions of which come in here for the encouragement
of the prophet himself, and of those few among
them that trembled at God’s word. It was said,
with an air of severity, (i>. 13.) that God would ban¬
ish them into a strange land; but that thereby they
might not be driven to despair, there follow, imme¬
diately, words of comfort:
I. The days wilt come, the joyful days, when the
same hand that dispersed them, shall gather them
again, v. 14, 15. They are cast out, but they are
not cast off, they are not cast away; they shall be
brought up from the land of the north , the land of
their captivity, where they are held with a strong
hand, and from all the lands whither they are driven,
and where they seemed to be lost and buried in the
crowd; nay, I will bring them again into their own
land, and settle them there. As the foregoing
threatenings agreed with what was written in the
law, so does this promise, (Lev. xxvi. 44.) Yet will
I not cast them away, Deut. xxx. 4. Thence will
the Lord thy God gather thee. And the following
words (v. 16.) may be understood as a promise;
God will send for fishers and hunters, the Modes
and Persians, that shall find them out in the coun¬
tries where they are scattered, and send them back
to their own land; or, Zerubbabel, and others of
their own nation, who should fish them out, and
hunt after them, to persuade them to return; or
whatever instruments the Spirit of God made use
of to stir up their spirits to go up, which at first
they were backward to. They began to nestle in
Babylon; but as an eagle stirs up her nest, and flut¬
ters over her young, so God did by them, Zech.
ii. 7.
2. Their deliverance out of Babylon should, upon
some accounts, be more illustrious and memorable
than their deliverance out of Egypt was. Both
were the Lord’s doing, and marvellous in their eyes,
both were proofs that the Lord liveth, and were to
be kept in everlasting remembrance, to his honour,
as the living God; but the fresh mercy shall be so
surprising, so welcome, that it shall even abolish the
memory of the former. Not but that new mercies
should put us in mind of old ones, and give us occa¬
sion to renew our thanksgivings for them; yet, be¬
cause we are tempted to think that the former days
were better than these, and to ask, Where are alt
the wonders that our fathers told us of? as if God’s
arm were waxen short; and to cry up the age of
miracles above the later ages, when mercies are
wrought in a way of common providence; therefore
we are allowed here comparatively to forget the
bringing of Israel out of Egypt as a deliverance out¬
done by that out of Babylon. That was done by
might and power, this by the Spirit of the Lord of
hosts, Zech. iv. 6. In this there was more of par¬
doning mercy (the most glorious branch of divine
mercy) than in that; for their captivity in Babylrn
had more in it of the punishment of sin than their
bondage in Egypt; and therefore that which com¬
forts Zion in her deliverance out of Babylon, is this,
that her iniquity is pardoned, Isa. xl. 2. Note,
God glorifies himself, and we must glorify him, in
those mercies that have no miracles in them, as well
as in those that have. And though the favours of
God to our fathers must not be forgotten, yet those
to ourselves in our own day we must especially give
thanks for.
3. Their deliverance out of captivity shall be ac¬
companied with blessed reformation, and they
403 , JEREMIAH, XVII.
shall return, effectually cured of their inclination to I
idolatry, which will complete their deliverance, !
and make it a mercy indeed. They had defiled ;
their own land with their detestable th vgs, v. 18.
lsut when they have smarted for so doing, they shall
come and humble themselves before God, v. 19.
—21.
(1.) They shall be brought to acknowledge that
their God only is God indeed, for he is a God in
need; My Strength to support and comfort me, my
Fortress to protect and shelter me, and my Refuge
to whom I may flee in the day of affliction. Note,
Need drives many to God, who had set themselves
at a dist ance from him. Those that slighted him
■n the day of their prosperity, will be glad to flee to
nim in the day cf their affliction.
(2.) They shall be quickened to return to him by
the conversion of the Gentiles; The Gentiles shall
come to thee from the ends of the earth ; and there¬
fore shall not we come? Or, The Jews who had by
their idolatries made themselves as Gentiles, (so 1
rather understand it,) shall come to thee by repent¬
ance and reformation, shall return to their duty and
allegiance, even from the ends of the earth, from all
the countries whither they were driven. The pro¬
phet comforts himself with the hopes of this, and in
a transport of joy returns to God the notice he had
given him of it; “O Lord, my Strength and my
Fortress, I am now easy, since thou hast given me
a prospect of multitudes that shall come to thee from
the ends of the earth, both of Jewish converts and
of Gentile proselytes.” Note, Those that are
brought to God themselves, cannot but rejoice
greatly to see others coming to him, coming back
to him.
(3.) They shall acknowledge the folly of their
ancestors, which it becomes them to do, when they
were smarting for the sins of their ancestors;
“Surely our fathers have inherited, not the satis¬
faction the v promised themselves and their children,
but lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no pro¬
fit; we ire now sensible that our fathers were
cheated in their idolatrous worship, it did not prove
what it promised, and therefore, what have we to
do any more with it?” Note, It were well if the dis¬
appointment which some have met with in the ser¬
vice of sin, and the pernicious consequences of it to
them, might prevail to deter others from treading
in their steps.
(4.) They shall reason themselves out of their
idolatry; and that reformation is likely to be sincere
and durable, which results from a rational convic¬
tion of the gross absurdity there is in sin. They
shall argue thus with themselves, (and it is well
argued,) Should a man be such a fool, so perfectly
void of the reason of a man, as to make gods to him¬
self, the creatures of his own fancy, the work of his
own hands, when they are really no gods? v. 20.
Can a man be so besotted, so perfectly lost to hu¬
man understanding, as to expect any divine blessing
or favour from that which pretends to no divinity
but what is first received from him?
(5.) They shall herein give honour to God, and
make it to appear that they know both his hand in
his providence, and his name in his word, and that
they are brought to know his name, by what they
are made to know of his hand, v. 21. This once,
now at length, they shall be made to know that
which they would not be brought to know by all the
pains the prophets took with them. Note, So stu¬
pid are we, that nothing less than the mighty hand
of divine grace, known experimentally, can make
us know rightly the name of God as it is revealed
to us.
4. Their deliverance out of captivity shall be a
tvpc and figure of the great salvation to be wrought
out by the Messiah, who shall gather together in
one the children of God that were scattered ubr r.. id.
And this is that which so far outshines the deliver¬
ance out of Egypt, as even to eclipse the lustre of it,
and make it even to be forge tten. To this some
apply that of the many fishers and hunters, the
preachers of the gospel, who were fishers of men,
to enclose souls with the gospel-net to fine! t . < m
out in every mountain and hill, and secure them for
Christ. Then the Gentiles came to God, some
from the ends of the earth, and turned to the wor¬
ship of him from the service of dumb idols.
CHAP. XVII.
In this chapter, I. God convicts the Jews of the sin of
idolatry by the notorious evidence of the fact, and con¬
demns them to captivity for it, v 1 . . 4. II. He shows
them the folly of all their carnal confidences, which
should stand them in no stead, when God’s time was to
contend with them; and that this was one of the sins
upon which his controversy writh them was grounded, v.
5. . 11. III. The prophet makes his appeal and address
to God, upon occasions of the malice of his enemies
against him, committing himself to the divine protection,
and begging of God to appear for him, v. 12 . . IS. IV.
God, by the prophet, warns the people to keep holy the
sabbath-day, assuring them that, if they did, it should be
the lengthening out of their tranquillity; but that, if not,
God would by some desolating judgment assert the ho¬
nour of his sabbaths, v. 19 . . 27.
1. PTHHE sin of Judah is written with a
JL pen of iron, and with the point of a
diamond: it is graven upon the table of thpir
heart, and upon the horns of your altars;
2. Whilst their children remember their al¬
tars and their groves by the green trees upon
the high hills. 3. O my mountain in tiie
field, I w ill give thy substance and all thy
treasures to the spoil, and thy high places
for sin, throughout all thy borders. 4. And
thou, even thyself, shaft discontinue from
thy heritage that I gave thee; and I will
cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land
w’hich thou knowest not; for ye have kin¬
dled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn
for ever.
The people had asked, (ch. xiv. 10.) What is our
iniquity, and what is our sin? As if they could
not be charged with any thing worth speaking cf,
for which God should enter into judgment with
them ; their challenge was answered there, but here
we have a further reply to it; in which,
I. The indictment is fully proved upon the pri¬
soners, both the fact and the fault; their sin is too
plain to be denied, and too bad to be excused, and
they have nothing to plead either in extenuation of
the crime, orin arrest and mitigation of thejudgment.
(1.) They cannot plead not guilty, for their sins
are upon record in the book cf God’s omniscience,
and their own conscience; nay, and they are obvirus
to the eye and observation of the world, v. 1, 2.
They are written before God in the most legible
and indelible characters, and sealed among his
treasures, never to be forgotten, Dcut. xxxii. 34.
They are written there with a pen of iron, and with
the point of a diamond; what is so written will not
be worn out by time, but is, as Job speaks, graven
in the rock for ever. Note, 'The sin of sinners is
never forgotten, till it is forgiven. It is ever before
God, till by repentance it comes to be ever before
us. It is graven upon the table of their heart; their
own consciences witness against them, and are in¬
stead of a thousand witnesses. What is graven on
the heurt, though it may be covered and closed up
for a time, yet, being graven, it cannot be razed
109
JEREMI
out, but will be produced in evidence, when the
hooks sh ill he opened. N ay, we need not appeal
to the tables of the heart, perhaps the)’ will not own
the convictions of their consciences. We need go
no further, f r proof of the charge, than the horns
of their altars, on which the blood of their idola¬
trous sacrifices was sprinkled, and perhaps the
names of the idols, to whose honour they were
erected, were inscribed. Their neighbours will
. witness against them, and all the creatures they
nave abused by using them in the service of their
lusts. To complete the evidence, their own children
shall be witnesses against them; they will tell truth,
when their fathers dissemble and prevaricate; they
remember the altars and the groves to which their
parents took them when they were little, v. 2. It
appears that they were full of them, and acquainted
with them betimes, they talk of them so frequently,
so familiarly, and with so much delight.
(2.) They cannot plead that they repent, or are
come to a better mind; no, as the guilt of their sin is
undeniable, so their inclination to sin is invincible
and incurable. In this sense many understand v.
1, 2. Their sin is deeply engraven as with a pen
of iron in the tables of their hearts; they have a
rooted affection to it, it is woven into their very na¬
ture; their sin is dear to them as that is of which we
say, It is engraven on our hearts. The bias of their
minds is still as strong as ever toward their idols,
and they are not wrought upon either by the word
or rod of God to forget them, and abate their af¬
fection to them. It is written upon the horns of
their a/tais, for they have given up their names to
their idols, and resolve to abide by what they have
done; they have bound themselves, as with cords, to
the horns of the altars. And v. 2. may be read
fully to this sense, As they remember their children,
so remember they their altars and their groves;
they are as fond of them and take as much pleasure
in them, as men do in their own children, and are
as loath to part with them; they will live and die
with their idols, and can no more forget them than
a woman can forget her sucking child.
2. The indictment being thus fully proved, the
judgment is affirmed, and the sentence ratified, v.
3, 4. Forasmuch as they are thus wedded to their
sins, and will not part with them.
(1.) They shall be made to part with their trea¬
sures, and those shall be given into the hands of
strangers. Jerusalem is God’s mountain in the field,
it was built on a hill in the midst of a plain; all the
treasures of that wealthy city will God give to the
spoil. Or, My mountains with the fields, thy wealth
and all thy treasures, will I eorpose to spoil; both
the products of the country, and the stores of the
city, shall be seized by the Chaldeans. Justly are
men stripped of that which they have served their
idols with, and have made the food and fuel of their
lusts. My mountain (so the whole land was, Ps.
Ixxviii. 54. Deut. xi. 11.) you have turned into your
high places for sin, have worshipped your idols upon
the high hills, (v. 2. ) and now they shall be giveti
for a spoil in all your borders. What we make for
a sin, God will make for a spoil; for what comfort
can we expect in that wherewith God is disho¬
noured?
(2.) They shall be made to part with their in¬
heritance, with their real estates, as well as per¬
sonal, and shall be carried captives into a strange
1 md; (f. 4.) Thou, even thyself, or thou thyself and
those that are in thee, all the inhabitants, shall dis¬
continue from thy heritage that I gave thee. God
owns that it was their heritage, and that he gave it
them; they had an unquestionable title to it, which
w s an aggravation of their folly in throwing them¬
selves out of the possession of it. It is through thy¬
self. (so some read it,) through thine own default,
Vol. iv -3 F
4H, XVII.
that thou an disseized. Thou shall discontinue, or
intermit, the occupation of thy land. The law ap¬
pointed them to let their land rest, (it is the word
here used,) one year in seven, Exi d. xxiii. 11.
They did not observe th t law, and now God would
compel them to let it rest; The 1 md shall enjoy her
sabbaths; (Lev. xx\ i. 34. ) and yet it shall be no rest
to them, they shall serve their enemies in a land they
know not. Observe, [1.] Sin works a discontinuance
of our covnfi ms, and deprives us < f the enjoyment of
that which God has given us. Yet, [2.J A discon¬
tinuance of the possession is not a defeasance of the
right, but it is intimated, that upon their repentance,
they shall recover possession again. For the pre¬
sent, ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which
burns so hot, that it seems as if it would bum for
ever; and so it will, unless you repent, for it is the
anger of an everlasting God fastening upon immortal
souls; and who knows the power of that anger?
4. Thus saitli the Lord, Cursed be the
man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh
his arm, and whose heart departeth from the
Lord: 6. For he shall be like the heath in
the desert, and shall not see when good
cometh ; but shall inhabit the parched places
in the wilderness, in g salt land and not in¬
habited. 7. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is:
8. For he shall be as a tree planted by the
waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by
the river, and shall not see when heat cometh,
but her leaf shall be green ; and shall not be
careful in the year of drought, neither shall
cease from yielding fruit. 9. The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately
wicked: who can know it? 10. I the Lord
search the heart, / try the reins, even to give
every man according to his ways, and ac¬
cording to the fruit of his doings. 11. As
the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth
them not; so he that gettelh riches, and not
by right, shall leave them in the midst of his
days, and at his end shall be a fool.
It is excellent doctrine that is preached in these
verses, and of general concern and use to us all, and
it does not appear to have any particular reference
to the present state of Judah and Jerusalem; the
prophet’s sermons were not all prophetical, but
some of them practical; yet this discourse, which,
probably, we have here only the heads of, would be
of singular use to them by way of caution, not to
misplace their confidence in the day of their dis¬
tress. Let us all learn what we are taught here,
1. Concerning the disappointment and vexation
they will certainly meet with who depend upon crea¬
tures for success and relief when they are in trouble;
(r>. 5, 6.) Cursed be the man that trusts in man;
God pronounces him cursed for the affront he there¬
by puts upon him; or, Cursed, that is, miserable, is
the man that does so, for he leans upon a broken
reed, which will not only fail him, but will run into
his hand and pierce it. "Observe, (1.) The sin here
condemned; it is trusting in man, putting that con¬
fidence in the wisdom and power, the kindness and
faithfulness, of men, which should be placed in those
attributes of God only; making our applications to
men, and raising our expectations from them as
principal agents, whereas they are but instruments
in the hand of Providence. It is making flesh the
410 JEREMIAH, XVII.
arm we stay upon, the arm we work with, and with
which we hope to work our point; the arm under
which we shelter ourselves, and on which we de¬
pend for protection. God is his people’s Arm, Isa.
xxxiii. 2. We must not think to make any crea¬
ture to be that to us, which God has undertaken to
be. Man is called flesh, to show the folly of those
that make them their confidence; he is flesh, weak
and feeble, as flesh without bones or sinews, that
has no strength at all in it; he is inactive as flesh
without spirit, which is a dead thing. He is mortal
and dying, as flesh which soon putrefies and cor¬
rupts, and is continually wasting. Nay, he is false
and sinful, and has lost his integrity; so his being
flesh signifies, Gen. vi. 3. (2.) The great malig¬
nity there is in this sin; it is the departure of the
evil heart of unbelief from the living God. They
that trust in man, perhaps draw nigh to God with
their mouth, and honour him with their lips, they
call him their Hope , and say that they trust in him;
but really their heart departs from him: they dis¬
trust him, despise him, and decline a correspondence
with him. Cleaving to the cistern is leaving the
Fountain, and is resented accordingly. (3.) The
fatal consequences of this sin. He that puts a con¬
fidence in man, puts a cheat upon himself; for, (v.
6. ) He shall be like the heath in the desert, a sorry
shrub, the product of barren ground, sapless, use¬
less, and worthless; his comforts shall all fail him,
and his hopes be blasted; he shall wither, be dejected
in himself, and trampled on by all about him. When
good comes, he shall not see it, he shall not share in
it; when the times mend, they shall not mend with
him, but he shall inhabit the parched places in the
wilderness ; his expectation shall be continually
frustrated; when others have a harvest, he shall
h sve none. They that trust to their own righteous¬
ness and strength', and think they can do well enough
without the merit and grace of Christ, thus make
Jiesh their arm, and their souls cannot prosper in
graces or comforts; they can neither produce the
fruits of acceptable services to God, nor reap the
fruits of saving blessings from him ; they dwell in a
dry land.
2. Concerning the abundant satisfaction which
they have, and will have, who make God their con¬
fidence, who live by faith in his providence and pro¬
mise, who refer themselves to him and his guidance
at all times, and repose themselves in him and his
love in the most unquiet times, v. 7, 8. Observe,
(1.) The duty required of us, To trust in the Lord,
to do our duty to him, and then depend upon him
to bear us out in doing it; when creatures and second
causes either deceive or threaten us, either are false
to us or fierce against us, to commit ourselves to
God as all-sufficient, both to fill up the place of those
who fail us, and to protect us from those who set
upon us. It is to make the Lord our Hope, his
favour the good we hope for, and his power the
strength we hope in. (2.) The comfort that attends
the doing of thi^ duty. He that does so, shall be as
a tree planted by the waters, a choice tree, about
which great care has been taken to set it in the best
soil, so far from being like the heath in the wilder¬
ness; like a tree that spreads out her roots, and
thereby is firmly fixed, spreads them out by the
rivers, whence it draws abundance of sap; which
denotes both the establishment and the comfort
which they have, who make God their Hope; they
are easy, they are pleasant, and enjoy a continual
security and serenity of mind; a tree thus planted,
thus watered, shall not see when heat comes, shall
not sustain any damage from the most scorching
heats of summer; it is so well moistened from its
roots, that it shall be sufficiently guarded against
drought. Those that make God their Hope, [1.]
They shall flourish in credit and comfort; like a tree
that is always green, whose leaf does not wither;
they shall be cheerful to themselves, and beautiful
in the eyes of others. Those who thus give honour
to God by giving him credit, God will put honour
upon them, and make them the ornament and de¬
light of the places where they live, as green trees
are. [2.] They shall be fixed in an inward peace
and satisfaction; they shall not be careful in a year
of drought, when there is want of rain, for, as it lias
seed in itself, so it has its moisture. These who
make God their Hope, have enough in him to make '
up the want of all creature-comforts. We need not
be solicitous about the breaking of a cistern, as long
as we have the fountain. [3.] They shall be fruit¬
ful in holiness, and in all good works. They who
trust in God, and by faith derive strength and grace
from him, shall not cease from yielding fruit ; they
shall still be enabled to do that which will redound
to the glory of God, the benefit of others, and their
own account.
3. Concerning the sinfulness of man’s heart, and
the divine inspection it is always under, v. 9, 10. It
is folly to trust in man, for he is not only frail, but
false and deceitful. We are apt to think that' we
trust in God, and are entitled to the blessings here
promised to them who do so. But this is a thing
about which our own hearts deceive us as much as
any thing; we think that we trust in Gcd, when
really we do not, as appears by this, that our hopes
and fears rise or fall, according as second causes
smile or frown. But it is true, in general.
(1.) 1 here is that wickedness in our hearts, which
we ourselves are not aware of, and do not suspect to
be there; nay, it is a common mistake among the
children of men to think themselves, their own
hearts at least, a great deal better than they really
are. The heart, the conscience of man, in his cor¬
rupt and fallen state, is deceitful above all things; it
is subtle and false, it is apt to supplant; so the word
properly signifies, it is that from which Jacob had
his name, a supp/anter. It calls evil good, and good
evil; puts false colours upon things, and cries peace
to those to whom peace does not belong. When
men say in their hearts, suffer their hearts to whisper
to them, that either there is no God, or he does net
see, or he will not require, or they shall have peace,
though they go on; in these, and a thousand similar
suggestions, the heart is deceitful: it cheats men into
their own ruin; and this will be the aggravation of it,
that they are self-deceivers, self-destroyers. Herein
the heart is desperately wicked; it is deadly, it is
desperate. The case is bad indeed, and in a man¬
ner deplorable, and past relief, if the conscience,
which should rectify the errors of the other facul ies,
is itself a mother of falsehood, and a ringleader in
the delusion. What will become of a man, if that
in him which should be the candle of the Lord, give
a false light, if God’s deputy in the soul, that is in¬
trusted to support his interests, betrays them? Such
is the deceitfulness of the heart, that we may truly
say, Who can know it? Who can describe how bad
the heart is? We cannot know our own hearts, not
what they will do in an hour of temptation, (Heze
kiah did not, Peter did not,) not what corrupt dis
positions there are in them, nor in how many things
they have turned aside; who can understand his
errors? Much less can we know the hearts of others,
or have any dependence upon them. But,
(2.) Whatever wickedness there is in the heart,
God sees it, and knows it, is perfectly acquainted
with it, and apprized of it; I the Lord search the
heart. This is true of all that is in the heart, all
the thoughts of it, the quickest, and those that are
most carelessly overlooked by ourselves; all the in¬
tents of it, the closest, and those that are most art¬
fully disguised, and industriously concealed firm
others. Men may be imposed upon, but Gcd can-
411
JEREMIAH, XVII.
ac t. He not only searches the heart with a piercing
eye, but he tries the reins, to pass a judgment upon
what he discovers, to give every thing its true cha¬
racter and due weight. He tries, as the gold is tried,
whether it be standard or no; as the prisoner is tried,
whether he be guilty or no. And this judgment
which he makes of the heart, is in order to his pass¬
ing judgment upon the man; it is to give to every
man according to his i ways , according to the desert
and the tendency of them; life to those that walked
in the ways of life, and death to those that persisted
in the { laths of the destroyer; and according to the
fruit of his doings, the effect and influence his
doings have had upon others; or, according to what
is settled by the word of God to be the fruit of men’s
doings, blessings to the obedient, and curses to the
disobedient. Note, Therefore God is Judge him¬
self, and he alone, because he, and none besides,
knows the hearts of the children of men. It is true
especially of all the deceitfulness and wickedness of
the heart; all its corrupt devices, desires, and de¬
signs, God observes and discerns; and (which is
more than any man can do) he judges of the overt
act by the heart. Note, God knows more evil of us
than we do by ourselves; which is a good reason why
we should not flatter ourselves, but always stand in
awe of the judgment of God.
4. Concerning the curse that attends wealth un¬
justly gotten: fraud and violence had been reigning,
crviiig sins in Judah and Jerusalem; now the pro¬
phet would have those who had been guilty of these
sins, and were now stripped of all they had, to read
their sin in their punishment; (v. 11.) He that gets
riches, and not by right, though he may make them
his hope, he shall never have joy of them. Observe,
It is possible that those who use unlawful means to
get wealth may succeed therein, and prosper for a
time; and it is a tempt .tion to many to defraud and
oppress their neighbours, when there is money to
be got by it. He who has got treasures by vanity
and a lying tongue, may hug himself in his success,
and say, I am rich; nay, and I am innocent too,
(Hos. xii. 8.) but he shall leave them in the midst of
his days; they shall be taken from him, or he from
them;’ God shall cut him off with some surprising
stroke then, when he says, Soul, take thine ease,
thou hast goods laid up for many years, Luke xii.
19, 20. He shall leave them to he knows not whom,
and shall not be able to take any of his riches away
with him. It intimates what a great vexation it is
to a worldly man at death, that he must leave his
riches behind him; and justly may it be a terror to
those who got them unjustly; for though the wealth
will not follow them to another world, the guilt will,
and the torment of an everlasting, Son, remember,
Luke xvi. 25. Thus, at his end, he shall be a fool,
a Nabul, whose wealth did him no good, which he
had so sordidly hoarded, when his heart became
dead as a stone. He was a fool all along, sometimes
perhaps his own conscience told him so, but at his
end he will appear to be so. Those are fools indeed,
who are fools in their latter end: and such multitudes
will prove, who were cried up as wise men, that did
well for themselves, Ps. xlix. 13, 18. They that
get grace will be wise in their latter end, will have
the comfort of it in death, and the benefit of it to
eternity; (Prov. xix. 20.) but they that place their
happiness in the wealth of the world, and, right or
wrong, will be rich, will rue the folly of it, when it
is too late to rectify the fatal mistake. This is like
the partridge that sits on eggs, and hatches them not,
but they are broken (as Job xxxix. 15.) or stolen,
(as Isa. x. 14.) or they become addle: some sort of
fowl there was, well known among the Jews, whose
case this commonly was. The rich man takes a
great deal of pains to get an estate together, and sits
brooding upon ;t, but never has any comfort or satis¬
faction in it; his projects to enrich himself by sinful
courses miscarry, and come to nothing. Let us
therefore be wise in time; what we get, to get t
honestly; and what we have, to use it charitably ;
that we may lay up in store a good foundation, and
be wise for eternity.
12. A glorious high throne from the be¬
ginning is the place of our sanctuary. 1 3. O
Lord, the Hope of Israel, all that forsake
thee shall be ashamed, and they that depar*
from me shall be written in the earth, be
cause they have forsaken the Lord, the
fountain of living waters. 1 4. Heal me, ( >
Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and
1 shall be saved : for thou art my praise. 1 5.
Behold, they say unto me, Where is the
word of the Lord ? let it come now. 16. As
for me, I have not hastened from being a
pastor to follow thee; neither have I desired*
the woful day, thou knowest: that which
came out of my lips was right before thee.
17. Be not a terror unto me: thou art my
hope in the day of evil. 1 8. Let them be
confounded that persecute me, but let not
me be confounded ; let them be dismayed,
but let not me be dismayed : bring upon them
the day of evil, and destroy them with dou¬
ble destruction.
Here, as often before, we have the prophet retir¬
ed for private meditation, and alone with God.
Those ministers that would have comfort in their
work, must be much so. In his converse here with
God and his own heart, he takes the liberty, which
devout souls sometimes use in their soliloquies, to
pass from one thing to another, without tying them¬
selves too strictly to the laws of method and cohe¬
rence.
1. He acknowledges the great favour of God to
his people, in setting up a revealed religion among
them, and dignifying them with divine institutions;
{v. 12.) A glorious high throne from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary; the temple at Jerusa¬
lem, where God manifested his special presence,
where the lively oracles were lodged, where the
people paid their homage to their Sovereign, and
whither they fled for refuge in distress, was the
place of their sanctuary. That was a. glorious high
throne; it was a throne of holiness, that made it
truly glorious; it was God’s throne, that made it
truly high. Jerusalem is called the city of the great
King, not only Israel’s King, but the King of the
whole earth, so that it might justly be deemed the
metropolis, or royal city of the world. It was from
the beginning so, from the first projecting of it by
David, and building of it by Solomon, 2 Chron. ii.
9. It was the honour of Israel, that God set up such
a glorious throne among them. As the glorious and
high throne, that is, heaven, is the place of our sanc¬
tuary; so some read it. Note, All good men have a
high value and veneration for the ordinances of God,
and reckon the place of the sanctuary a glorious
high throne. Jeremiah mentions this here, either
as a plea with God for mercy to their land, in honour
of the throne of his glory, {eh xiv. 21.) or as an ag¬
gravation of the sin of his people, in forsaking God,
though his throne was among them, and so profan¬
ing his crown, and the place of his sanctuary.
2. He acknowledges the righteousness of God, in
abandoning thos* to ruin, that forsook him, and re¬
volted from their allegiance to him, v. 13. He
4,2 JEREMIAH, XVII.
speaks it tn God, as subscribing both to the certain¬
ty and 1 1 the equity of it; 0 Lord, the Ho fie of those
in Isr..tl that adhere to thee, all that forsake thee
shall be ashamed. They must of necessity be so,
or they forsake thee for lying vanities, which will
deceive them and make them ashamed; they will
be ashamed, for they shame themselves; they will
justly be put to shame, for they have forsaken him
who alone can keep them in countenance, when
troubles come. Let them be ashamed; so some read
it; and so it is a pious imprecation of the wrath of
God upon them, or of petition for his grace, to make
them penitently ashamed. They that depart from
vie, from the word of God which I have preached,
they do in effect depart from God; as those that re¬
turn to God are said to return to the prophet, eh.
xv. 19. They that depart from thee, (so some read
it,) shall be written in the earth; they shall soon be
blotted out, as that is which is written in the dust;
they shall be trampled upon, and exposed to con¬
tempt; they belong to the earth, and shall be num¬
bered among earthly people, who lay up their trea¬
sure on earth, and whose names are not written in
.leaven. And they* deserve to be thus written with
the fools in Israel, that their folly may be made ma¬
nifest unto all, because they have forsaken the Lord,
the Fountain of living waters, spring waters, and
that for broken cisterns. Note, God is to all that
are his, a Fountain of living waters. There is a
fulness of comfort in him, an overflowing, ever-
flowing fulness, like that of a fountain; it is always
fresh, and clear, and clean, like spring water, while
the pleasures of sin are puddle-waters. They are
free to it, it is not a fountain sealed; they deserve
therefore to be condemned, as Adam, to red earth,
tn which by the corruption of their nature they are
allied, because they have forsaken the garden of
the Lord, which is«so well watered. Tb-y that de¬
part from God are written in the earth.
3. He prays to God for healing, saving mercy
for himself. “ If the case of those be so miserable,
that depart from God, let me always draw nigh to
him, (Ps. lxxiii. 2.7, 28.) and, in order to that, Lord
heal me, and save me, v. 14. Heal my backslidings,
mv bent to backslide, and save me from being car¬
ried away by the strength of the stream, to forsake
thee.” He was wounded in spirit with grief upon
many accounts; “ Lord, heal me with thy comforts,
and make me easy.” He was continually exposed
to the malice of unreasonable men; “ Lord, save me
from them, and let me not fall into their wicked
hands. Heal me, sanctify me by thy grace; save
me, bring me to thy glory.” All that shall be saved
hereafter are sanctified now; unless the disease of
sin be purged out, the soul cannot live. To enforce
this petition he pleads, (1.) The firm belief he had
of God’s power; Heal thou me, and then I shall be
healed; the cure will certainly be wrought if thou
undertake it; it shall be a thorough cure, and not a
palliative one. Those that come to God to be heal¬
ed, ought to be abundantly satisfied in the all-suffi¬
ciency of their Physician. Save me, and then I shall
certainly be saved, be my dangers and enemies ever
so threatening. If God hold us up, we shall live;
if he protect us, we shall be safe. (2. ) The sincere
regard he had to God’s glory; “For thou art my
Praise, and for that reason I desire to be healed and
saved, that I may live and praise thee, Ps. cxix.
175. Thou art he whom I praise, and the praise
due to thee I never gave to another. Thou art he
whom I glory in, and boast of, for on thee do I de¬
pend. Thou art he that furnishes me with continual
matter for praise, and I have given thee praise of
the favours already bestowed upon me. Thou shalt
be my praise;” (so some read it;) “ heal me, and save
me, and thou shalt have the glory o&it. My praise
shall be continually of thee,” Ps. lxxi. 6. — lxxix. 13.
4. He complains of the infidelity and daring im¬
piety of the people to win m he preached, ligrtatlv
troubled him, and he shows before God this trouble";
as the servant that had slights put upon him by the
guests he was sent to invite, came and showed his
Lord these things. He had faithfully delivered
.God’s message to them; and what answer has he to
return to him that sent him? Behold, they suy unto
me, Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come
now, v. 15. Isa. v. 19. They bantered the pro
phet, and made a jest of that which he delivered
with the greatest seriousness. (1.) They denied
the truth of what he said; “ If that be the word of
the Lord, which thou speakest to us, where is u?
Why is it not fulfilled?” Thus the patience of God
was impudently abused, as a ground to question his
veracity. (2.) They defied the terror of what he
said; “Let God Almighty do his worst, let all he
has said come to pass, we shall do will enough; the
lion is not so fierce as he is paintid, Amos\. 18.
Lord, to what purpose is it to speak to men that
will neither believe nor fear?”
5. He appeals to God concerning the faithful dis¬
charge of the office to which he was called, v. 16.
The people did all they could to make him weary
of his work, to exasperate him, and make him un¬
easy, and tempt him to prevaricate, and alter his
message, for fear of displeasing them ; but, “ Lord,”
says he, “ thou knowest I have not yielded to them.”
(1.) He continued constant to his work. His office,
instead of being his credit and protection, expostd
him to reproach, contempt, and injury; “Vet,”
says he, “ I have not hastened from being a pastor
after thee; I have not left my work, nor sued for a
discharge, or quietus." Prophets were pastors to
the people, to feed them with the good word of
God; but they were to be pastors after God, and all
ministers must be so, according to his heart, ( ch
iii. 15.) to follow him, and the directions and in¬
structions he gives; such a pastor Jeremiah was: and
though he met with as much difficulty and discou¬
ragement as ever any man did, yet he did not fly off
as Jonah did, nor desire to be excused from going
any more on God’s errands. Note, Those that are
employed for God, though their success answer not
their expectation, must not therefore throw up their
commission, but continue to follow God, though the
storm be in their faces. (2.) He kept up his affec¬
tion to the people. Though they were very abusive
to him, he was compassionate to them; 1 have not
desired the woful day. The day of the accomplish¬
ment of his prophecies would be a woful day indeed
to Jerusalem, and therefore he deprecated it, and
wished it might never come; though, as to himself,
it would be the avenging of him upon his persecu¬
tors, and the proving of him'a true prophet, (which
they had questioned, v. 15.) and upon those ac¬
counts he might be tempted to desire it. Note, God
does not, and therefore ministers must not, desire
the death of sinners, but rather that they may turn
and live. Though we warn of the woful day, we
must not wish for it, but rather weep because of it,
as Jeremiah did. (3.) He kept close to his instruc¬
tions; though he might have carried favour with the
people, or at least have avoided their displeasure,
if he had not been so sharp in his reproofs, and se¬
vere in his threatenings, yet he would deliver his
message faithfully; and that he had done so, was a
comfort to him; “Lord, thou knowest that that
which came out of my lips, was right before thee; it
exactly agreed with what I had received from thee,
and therefore thou art reflected upon in their quar¬
relling with me.” Note, If what we say and do be
right before God, we may easily despise the re¬
proaches and censures of men. It is a small thing
to be judged of their judgment.
6. He humbly begs of God, that he would own
JEREMI
him, and protect him, and carry him on cheerfully
in that work to which God had so plainly called
him, and he had so sincerely devoted himself Two
things he here desires,
(1.) That he might have comfort in serving the
God that sent him; (v. 17.) Be not thou a terror to
me. Surely more is implied than is expressed;
“ Be thou a Comfort to me, and let thy favour re¬
joice my heart, and encourage me, when my ene¬
mies do all they can to terrify me, and either to
drive me from my work, or to make me drive on
heavily in it.” Note, Th best have that in them,
which might justly make God a terror to them, as
he was for sometime to Job, (c//. vi. 4.) to Asaph,
(Ps. lxxvii. 3.) to Heman, (Ps. lxxxviii. 15.) And
this is that which good men, knowing the terrors of
the Lord, dread and deprecate more than any thing;
nay, whatever frightful accidents may befall them,
or how formidable soever their enemies may appear
to them, they can do well enough, so long as God is
not a Terror to them. He pleads, “ Thou art my
hofie; and then nothing else is my fear, no, not in
the day of evil, when it is most threatening, most
pressing. My dependence is upon thee; and there¬
fore be not a Terror to me.” Note, Those that by
faith make God their Confidence, shall have him
for their comfort in the worst of times, if it be net
their own fault: if we make him our trust, we shall
not find him our terror.
(2. ) That he might have courage in dealing with
the fieo/i/e to whom he was sent, v. 18. They per¬
secuted him, who should have entertained and en¬
couraged him; “ Lord,” says he, “ let them be con¬
founded, let them be overpowered by the convic¬
tions of the world, and made ashamed of their ob¬
stinacy, or else let the judgments threatened be at
length executed upon them ; but let not me be con¬
founded, let not me be terrified by their menace-,
so as to betray my trust. Note, God’s ministers
have work to do, which they need not be either
ashamed or afraid to go on in, but they do need to
be helped by the divine grace to go on in it without
shame or fear. Jeremiah had not desired the woful
day upon his country in general; but as to his per¬
secutors, in a just and holy indignation at their ma¬
lice, he prays, Bring ufion them the day of evil; in
hope that the bringing of it upon them might pre¬
vent the bringing of it upon the country; if they
were taken away, the people would be better;
“ Therefore destroy them with a double destruc¬
tion, let them be utterly destroyed, root and branch;
and let the prospect of that destruction be their pre¬
sent confusion.” This the prophet prays, not at all
that he might be avenged, nor so much that he
might be eased, but that the Lord may be known
by the judgments which he executes.
19. Thus saitli the Lord unto me, Go
and stand in the gate of the children of the
people, whereby the kings of Judah come
in, and by the which they go out, and in
all the gates of Jerusalem; 20. And say
unto them, Hear ye the* word of the Lord,
ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter
in by these gates: 21. Thus saith the
Lord, Take heed to yourselves, and bear
no burden on the sabbath-day, nor bring it
in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22. Neither
carry forth a burden out of your houses on
the sabbath-day, neither do ye any work,
but hallow ye the sabbath-day, as 1 com-
\H, XVII. 413
not, neither inclined their ear, but made
their neck still', that they might not hear,
nor receive instruction. 24. And it shall
come to pass, if ye- diligently hearken unto
me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden
through the gates of this city on the sab-
bath-day, but hallow the sabbath-day, to do
no work therein; 25. Then shall there en¬
ter into the gates of this city kings and
princes sitting upon the throne of David,
riding in chariots and on horses, they, and
their princes, the men of Judah, and the in¬
habitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall
remain for ever. 2G. And they shall come
from the cities of Judah, and from the places
about Jerusalem, and from the land of Ben¬
jamin, and from the plain, and from the
mountains, and from the south, bringing
burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and meat¬
offerings, and incense, and bringing sacri¬
fices of praise, nnlo the house of the Lord.
27. But if ye will not hearken unto me to
hallow the sabbath-day, and not to bear a
burden, even entering in at the gates of Je¬
rusalem on the sabbath-day; then will I
kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall
devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall
not be quenched.
These verses are a sermon concerning sabbath-
sanctification; it is a word which the prcphet re¬
ceived from the Lord, and was ordered to deliver in
the most solemn, public manner to the people; for
they were sent not only to reprove sin, and to press
obedience in general, but they must descend to par¬
ticulars. This message must be proclaimed in all
the places of coilcourse, and therefore in the gates,
not only because through them people were conti¬
nually passing and repassing, but because in them
they kept their courts, and laid up their stores. It
must be proclaimed (as the king or queen is usually
proclaimed) at the court-gate first, the gate by
which the kings of Judah come in, and go out, v.
19. Let them be told their duty first, particularly
this duty; for if sabbaths be not sanctified as they
should be, the rulers of Judah are to be contended
with, (so they were, Neh. xiii. 17.) for they arc cer¬
tainly wanting in their duty. He must also preach
it in all the gates of Jerusalem. It is a matter < f
great and general concern, therefore let all take no¬
tice of it. Let the kings of Judah hear the word of
the Lord, for, high as they are, he is above them;
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for, mean as
they are, he takes notice of them, and of what thev
say and do on sabbath-days. Observe,
1. How the sabbath is to b c sanctified, and what
is the law concerning it, v. 21, 22. (1.) They must
rest from their worldly employment on the sabbath-
day, must do no servile work. They must bear no
burthen into the city, or out of it, into their houses,
or out of them; husbandmen’s burthens cf corn must
not be carried in, nor manure carried cut; nor must
tradesmen’s burthens of wares or merchandises be
imported or exported. There must not a loaded
horse, or cart, or waggon, be seen on the sabbath-
day, either in the streets or in the roads; the por¬
ters must not ply c n that day, nor must the servants
be suffered to fetch in provisions or fuel. It is a
day of rest, and must not be made a o<»y cf labour,
414 JEREMIAH, XVIII.
unless in case of necessity. (2.) They must apply
themselves to that which is the proper work and
business of the day; “ Hallow ye the sabbath, conse¬
crate it to the honour of God, and spend it in his
service and worship.” It is in order to this, that
worldly business must be laid aside, that we may
be entire for, and intent upon, that work which
requires and deserves the whole man. (3.) They
must herein be very circumspect; “ Take heed to
yourselves, watch against every thing that borders
upon the profanation of the sabbath.” Where God
is jealous, we must be cautious. “ Take heed to
yourselves, for it is at your fieril, if you rob God of
that part of your time which he has reserved to
himself.” Take heed to your souls; so the word is;
in order to the right sanctifying of sabbaths, we
must look well to the frame ot our spirits, and have
a watchful eye upon all the motions of the inward
man. Let not the soul be burthened with the cares
of this world on sabbath-days, but let that be em¬
ployed, even all that is within us, in the work of
the day. And, (4.) He refers them to the law, the
statute in this case made and provided; “This is
no new imposition upon you, but is what I com¬
manded your fathers; it is an ancient law, it was
an article of the original contract; nay, it was a com¬
mand to the patriarchs. ”
2. How the sabbath had been profaned; (v. 23.)
“Your fathers were required to keep holy the sab-
bath-day; but they obeyed not, they hardened their
necks against this as well as other commands that
were given them.” This is mentioned, to show that
there needed a reformation in this matter, and that
God had a just controversy with them for the long
transgression of this law, which they had been guilty
of. They hardened their necks against this com¬
mand, that they might not hear and receive instruc¬
tion concerning other commands. Where sabbaths
are neglected, all religion sensibly goes to decay.
3. What blessings God had in store for them, if
they would make conscience of sabbath-sanctifica¬
tion. Though their fathers had been guilty of the
profan dion of the sabbath, they should not only not
smart for it, but their city and nation should reco¬
ver its ancient glory, if they would keep sabbaths
better, v. 24. — 26. Let them take care to hallow
the sabbath, and do no work therein; and then,
(1.) The court shall flourish. Kings in succes¬
sion, or the many branches of the royal family at
the same time, all as great as kings, with the other
princes that sit upon the thrones of judgment, the
thrones of the house of David, (Ps. cxxii. 5.) shall
ride in great pomp through the gates of Jerusalem,
some in chariots, and some on horses, attended with
a numerous retinue of the men of Judah. Note, The
honour of the government is the joy of the kingdom;
and the support of religion would contribute greatly
to both.
(2. ) The city shall flourish. Let there be a face
of religion kept up, in Jerusalem, by sabbath-sanc¬
tification, that it may answer to its title, the holy
city, and then it shall remain for ever, shall for
ever be inhabited; (so the word may be rendered;)
it shall not be destroyed and dispeopled, as it is
threatened to be. Whatever supports religion,
tends to establish the civil interests of a land.
(3.) The country shall flourish. The cities of
Judah and the land of Benjamin shall be replenish¬
ed with vast numbers of inhabitants, and those
abounding in plenty, and living in peace, which
will appear by the multitude and value of their of¬
ferings which they shall present to God. By this
the flourishing of a country may be judged of; What
docs it do for the honour of God? Those that starve
their religion, either are poor, or are in a fail' way
to be so.
(4.) The church shall flourish. Meat-offerings,
| and incense, and sacrifices of praise, shall be brought
to the house of the ford, for the maintenance of
the service of that house, and the servants that at¬
tend it. God’s institutions shall be conscientiously
observed, no sacrifices and incense shall be offered
to idols, ami alienated from God, but every thing
shall go in the right ch ,nnel. They shall have botn
occasion and hearts to bring sacrifices of praise to
God. This is made an instance of their prosperity.
Then a people truly flourish, when religion flou¬
rishes among them. And this is the effect of sab¬
bath-sanctification; when that branch of religion is
kept up, other instances of it are kept up likewise,
but when that is lost, devotion is lost either in super¬
stition or in profaneness. It is a true observation
which some have made, That the streams of all re¬
ligion run either deep or shallow, according as the
banks of the sabbath are kept up or neglected.
4. What judgments they must expect would come
upon them, if they persisted in the profanation of
the sabbath; (u. 27.) '‘If you will not hearken to
me in this matter, to keep the gates shut on sabbath-
days, so that there may be no unnecessary enter¬
ing in, or going cut, on that day; if you will break
through the enclosure of the divine law, and lay
that day in common with other days, know that
God will kindle a fire in the gates of your citv ;”
intimating, that it shall be kindled by an enemy bt
sieging the city, and assaulting the gates, who shall
take this course to force their entrance. Justly shall
those gates be fired, that are not used as they ought
to be, to shut out sin, and to keep people in to an
attendance on their duty. The hre shall devour
even the palaces of Jerusalem, where the princes
and nobles dwell, who did not use their power and
interest as they ought to have done, to keep up the
honour of God’s sabbaths; but it shall not be quench
ed, until it has laid the whole city in ruins. This
was fulfilled by the army of the Chaldeans, ch. lii.
13. The profanation of the sabbath is a sin fci
which God has often contended with a people by
fire.
CHAP. XVIII.
In this chapter, we have, I. A general declaration of God’s
ways in dealing with nations and kingdoms; that he can
easily do what he will with them, as easily as the potter
can with the clay; (v. 1..6.)but that he certainly will
do what is just and fair with them. If he threaten their
ruin, yet, upon their repentance, he will return in mercy
to them, and when he is coming toward them in mercy,
nothing but their sin will stop the progress of his fa¬
vours, v. 7. .10. II. A particular demonstration of the
folly of the men of Judah and Jerusalem, in departing
from their God to idols, and sobringing ruin upon them¬
selves, notwithstanding the fair warnings given them,
and God’s kind intentions toward them, v. 11.. 17. III.
The prophet’s complaint to God of the base ingratitude
and unreasonable malice of his enemies, persecutors, and
slanderers, and his prayers against them, v. 18 . . 23.
1. rpHE word which came to Jeremiah
JL from the Lord, saying, 2. Arise,
and go down to the potter’s house, and there
will I cause thee to hear my words. 3.
Then I went down to the potter’s house,
and, behold, he wrought a work on the
wheels. 4. And the vessel that he made
of clay was marred in the hand of the pot¬
ter; so he made it again another vessel, as
seemed good to the potter to make it. !>.
Then the word of the Lord came to me,
saying, 6. O house of Israel, cannot I do
with you as this potter? saith the Lord
Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s liar, ;
JEREMIAH XVI11.
415
re ye in my hand, O house of Israel. 7.
what instant I shall speak concerning a
on, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck
and to pull down, and to destroy it: 8.
hat nation, against whom I have pro-
need, turn from their evil, I will repent
he evil that 1 thought to do unto them.
Vnd at what instant I shall speak con-
ling a nation, and concerning a king-
1, to build, and to plant it :
said
The prophet is here sent to the flatter’s house,
(he knew where to find it,) not to preach a sermon,
as before to the gates of Jerusalem, but to prepare
a sermon, or rather to receive it ready prepared.
Those needed not tc study their sermons, that had
them, as he had this, by immediate inspiration.
“Go to the potter's house, and observe how he
manages his work, and there I will cause thee, by
silent whispers, to hear my words. There thou
shalt receive a message, to be delivered to the peo¬
ple.” Note, Those that would know God’s mind,
must observe his appointments, and attend there
where they may hear his words. The prophet was
never disobedient to the heavenly vision, and there¬
fore went to the potter’s house, ( v . 3.) and took
notice how he wrought his work upon the wheels,
just as he pleased, with a great deal of ease, and in
a little time. And, (v. 4.) when a lump of clay
that he designed to form into one shape, either
proved too stiff, or had a stone in it, or some way
or other came to be marred in his hand, he presently
God has an incontestable sovereignty over us, is not
Debtor to us, may dispose of us as he thinks fit, and
is not accountable to us; and that it would be as ab¬
surd tor us to dispute this as for the clay to quarrel
with the potter. (2. ) That it is a \ ery easy thing
with God to make what use he pleases of us, and
what changes he pleases with us, and that we can¬
not resist him. One turn of the hand, one turn of
the wheel, quite alters the shape of the clav, makes
it a vessel, unmakes it, new-makes it. Thus are
our tirnes in God’s hand, and not in our own, and it
is in vain for us to strive with him. It is spoken here
of nations; the most politic, the most potent, are
what God is pleased to make them, and no other:
10. If it do
in my sight, that it obey not my voice, r
1 I will repent of the good wherewith I t!)*s c>xP1;imed by Jeb, (ch. xii. 23.) He increas-
r ill c, ,i a ft/l tne nations and destroyeth them, he enlargeth
\ 1 would benefit them. . the nations and straiteneth them again; (Ps. evii.
33, 8cc.) and compare Job xxxiv. All nations before
God are as the drop of the bucket, soon wiped
away, or the small dust of the balance, soon blown
away, (Isa. xl. 15. ) and therefore, no doubt, as easily
managed as the clay by the potter. (3. ) That God
will not be a Loser by any in his glory, at long run,
but that if he be not glorified by them, he will be
glorified upon them.
honour, just as seems good to the potter. It is pro-'
bable that Jeremiah knew well enough how the
potter wrought his work, and how easily he threw
it into what form he pleased; but he must go, and
observe it now, that, having the idea of it fresh in
his mind, he might the more readily and distinctly
apprehend that truth which God designed thereby
to represent to him, and might the more intelli¬
gently explain it to the people. God used simili¬
tudes by his servants the prophets, (Hos. xii. 10.)
and it was requisite that they should themselves un¬
derstand the similitudes they used. Ministers will
make a good use of their converse with the busi¬
ness and affairs of this life, if they learn thereby to
speak more plainly and familiarly to people about
the things of God, and to expound scripture com¬
parisons. For they ought to make all their know¬
ledge, some way or other, serviceable to their pro¬
fession.
Now let us see what the message is, which Jere¬
miah receives, and is intrusted with the delivery of,
at the potter’s house. While he looks carefully
upon the potter’s work, God darts into his mind
these two great truths, which he must preach to the
house of Israel,
1. That God has both an incontestable authority,
and an irresistible ability, to form and fashion king¬
doms and nations as he pleases, so as to serve his
own purposes; “ Cannot I do with you as this pot¬
ter, saith the Lord? v. 6. Have not I as absolute
a power over you in respect both of might and of
right?” Nay, God has a clearer title to a dominion
over us than the potter has over the clay, for the
potter only gives it its form, whereas we have both
matter and form from God. As the clay is in the
potter’s hand to be moulded and shaped as he pleases,
so are ye in my hand. This intimates, (1.) That
If the potter’s vessel be mar¬
red for one use, it shall serve for another; those that
will not be monuments of mercy, shall be monu¬
ments of justice: The Lord has made alt things for
himself, yea even the wicked for the day of evil,
Hrov. xvi. 4. NGod formed us out of the clay, (Job
xxxiii. 6.) nay, and we are still as clay in his
hands; (Isa. lxiv. 8.) and has not he the same pow¬
er over us, that the potter has over the clay? Rom.
ix. 21. And are not we bound to submit, as the
clay to the potter’s wisdom, and will? Isa. xxix. 15,
i6. — xiv. 9. >
2. That, in the exercise of tiffs authority and
ability, he always goes by fixed rules of equity and
turned it into another shape; if it will not serve for goodness. He dispenses favours indeed in a way of
a vessel of honour, it will serve for a vessel of dis-^ -sovereignty, but never punishes by arbitrary power.
High is his right hand, yet he rules not with a high
hand, but, as it follows there, Justice and judgment
are the habitation of his throne, Ps. lxxxi. i3, 14.
God asserts his despotic power, andtellsus what he
might do, but at the same time assures us, that he
will act as a righteous and merciful Judge.
(1.) When God is coming against us in ways of
judgment, we may be sure that it is for our sins,
which shall appear by this, that national repentance
will stop the progress of the judgments; (t>. 7, 8.)
If God speak concerning a nation, to pluck up its
fences that secure it, and so lay it open, its fruit-
trees that adorn and enrich it, and so leave it deso¬
late; to pull down its fortifications, that the enemy
Imhy have liberty to enter in, its habitations, that
. the inhabitants may be under a necessity of going
out, and so destroy it, as either a vineyard or a city
is destroyed; in this case, if that nation take the
alarm, and repent of its sins, and reform its lives,
turn every one from his evil way, and return to
God, God will return in mercy to them, and though
he cannot change his mind, he will change his way,
so that it may be said, He repents him of the evil
he said he would do to them. Thus often in the
time of the Judges, when the oppressed people were
penitent people, still God raised them up saviours;'
and when they turned to God, their affairs immedi¬
ately took a new turn. It was Nineveh’s case, and
we wish it had oftener been Jerusalem’s; see 2
Chron. vii. 14. It is an undoubted truth, that a sin¬
cere conversion from the evil of sin will be an ef¬
fectual prevention of the evil of punishment; and
God can as easily raise up a penitent people from
their ruins, as the potter can make anew the vessel
of clay, when it was marred in his hand.
(2. ) When God is coming towards us in ways of
mercy, if any stop be given to the progress of that
416
JEREMIAH, XV1I1.
mercy, it is nothing but sin that gives it; ( v . 9, 10.)
If God speak concerning a nation , to build and to
plant it, to advance and establish all the true inter¬
ests of it, it is bis husbandry, and his building, (1
Cor. iii. 9. ) and if he speak in favour of it, it is done,
it is increased, it is enriched, it is enlarged, its tr ade
flourishes, its government is settled in good hands,
and all its affairs prosper, and its enterprises suc¬
ceed. But if this nation, which God had thus load¬
ed with benefits, do evil in his sight, and obey not
his voice; if it lose its virtue, and become debauched
and profane; if religion grow into contempt, and
vice get to be fashionable, and so be kept in counte¬
nance and reputation, and there be a general decav
of serious godliness among them, then God will
turn his hand against them, will pluck u/i what he
was planting, and pull down what he was building;
(r/i. xlv. 4.) the good work that was in the doing,
shall stand still, and be let fall; and what favours
were further designed, shall be withheld, and this
is called his repenting of the good wherewith he
said he would benefit them, as he changed his pur-
ose concerning hli’s house, (1 Sam. ii. 30.) and
urried Israel back into the wilderness, when he
had brought them within sight of Canaan. Note,
Sin is the great mischief-maker between God and a
people; it forfeits the benefit of his promises, and
spoils the success of their prayers. It defeats his
kind intentions concerning them, (Hos. vii. 1.) and
baffles their pleasing expectations from him. It
ruins their comforts, prolongs their grievances,
brings them into straits, and retards their deliver¬
ances, Isa. xlix. 1, 2.
1 1 . Now, therefore, go to, speak to the
men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Je¬
rusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Be¬
hold, I frame evil against you, and devise a
device against you : return ye now every
one from his evil way, and make your ways
and your doings good. 12. And they said,
There is no hope; but we will walk after
our own devices, and we will every one do
the imagination of his evil heart. 13.
Therefore thus saith the Lord, Ask ye
now among the heathen, who hath heard
such things ? the virgin of Israel hath done
a very horrible thing. 1 4. Will a man leave
the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the
rock of the field ? or shall the cold flowing
waters that come from another place be
forsaken ? 1 5. Because my people hath
forgotten me, they have burnt incense to
vanity, and they have caused them to stum¬
ble in th 'ir ways from the ancient paths, to
walk in paths m a way not cast up; 16.
To make their land desolate, and a per¬
petual hissing: every one that passeth there¬
by shall be astonished, and wag his head.
1 7. I will scatter them as with an east wind
before the enemy: I will shew them the
back, and not the face, in the day of their
calamity.
These verses seem to be the application of the
general truths laid down in the foregoing part of the
chapter, to the nation of the Jews and their present
state.
I. God was now speaking concerning them, to
pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy; for it
is that part of the rule of judgment that their case
agrees with; (v. 11.) “ Go, and tell them,” (saith
God,) “ Behold, I Jrame evil against you, and de¬
vise a device against you. Providence in all its
operations is plainly working toward your ruin.
Look upon your conduct toward God, and you can¬
not but see that you deserve it; look upon his deal¬
ings with you, and you cannot but see that he de¬
signs it.” He frames evil, as the potter frames the
vessel, so as to answer the end.
II. He invites them by repentance and reforma¬
tion to meet him in the way of his judgments, and
so to prevent his further proceedings against them;
“ Return ye now every one from his evil ways, that
so (according to the rule before laid down) God may
turn from the evil he had proposed to do unto you,
and that providence which seemed to have been
framed like a vessel on the wheel against you, shall
immediately be thrown into a new shape, and the
issue shall be in favour of you.” Note, The warn¬
ings of God’s word, and the threatenings of his pro¬
vidence, should be improved by us as strong induce¬
ments to us to reform our lives; in which it is net
enough to turn from our evil ways, but we must
make our ways and our doings good, conformable
to the rule, to the law.
III. He foresees their obstinacy, and their per¬
verse refusal to comply with this invitation, though
it tended so much to their own benefit, v. 12. They
said, “ There is no hope. If we must not be deliv¬
ered unless we return from our evil ways, we may
even despair of ever being delivered, for we are re¬
solved that we will walk after our own devices. It
is to no purpose for the prophets to say any more to
us, to use any more arguments, or to press the mat¬
ter any further; we will have our way., whatever it
cost us; we will do every one the imagination of his
own evil heart, and will not be under the restraint
of the divine law.” Note, That which ruins sin¬
ners, is, affecting to live as they list; they call it li¬
berty to live at large, whereas for a man to be a
slave to his lusts, is the worst of slaveries. See how
strangely some men’s hearts are hardened by the
deceitfulness of sin, that they will not so much as
promise amendment; nay, they set the judgments
of God at defiance; “ We will go on with our oum
dex’ices, and let God go on with his; and we will
venture the issue.”
IV. He upbraids them with the monstrous folly
of their obstinacy, and their hating to be reformed.
Surely never were people guilty of such an absur¬
dity, never any that pretended to reason, acted so
unreasonably; (t>. 13.) Ask ye among the heathen,
even those that had not the benefit of divine revela¬
tion, no oracles, no prophets, as Judah and Jerusa¬
lem had, yet, even among them, who hath heard
such a thing? The Ninevites, when thus warned,
turned from their evil ways. Some of the worst oi
men, when they are told of their faults, especially
when they begin to smart for them, will at least
promise reformation, and say that they will endea¬
vour to mend. But the virgin of Israel bids defi¬
ance to repentance, is resolved to go on frowardly,
whatever conscience and Providence say to the con¬
trary, and thus hath done a horrible thing. She
should have preserved herself pure and chaste for
God, who had espoused her to himself; but she has
alienated herself from him, and refuses to return to
him. Note. It is a horrible thing, enough to make
one tremble to think of it, that the se who have
made their condition sad by sinning, should make it
desperate by refusing to reform. Wilful impeni¬
tence is the grossest self-murder; and that is a hor¬
rible thing, which we should abhor the thought of.
He shows their folly in two things:
1. In the nature of the sin itself th t they were
guilty of. They forsook God for idols, which was
JEREMIAH, XVIII.
tile most horrible thing that could be, for they put
a cheat upon themselves, v. 14, 15. Wilt a thirsty
traveller leave the snow, which, being melted, runs
down from the mountains of Lebanon, and, passing
over the rock of the field, flows in clear, clean, crys¬
tal streams? Will he leave these, pass these by, and
think to mend himself with some dirty puddle-wa¬
ter? Or, Shall the cold flowing waters that come
from any other /ilace, be forsaken in the heat of
summer? No; when men are parched with heat
and drought, and meet with cooling, refreshing
streams, they will make use of them, and not turn
their backs upon them. The margin reads it, “Will
a man that is travelling the road, leave my fields,
which are plain and level, for a rock, which is rough
and hard, or for the snow of Lebanon, which, lying
in great drifts, makes the road unpassable? Or,
shall the running waters be forsaken for the strange
cold waters ? No; in these things men know when
they are well off, and will keep so: they will not
leave a certainty for an uncertainty; but my people
hai’e forgotten me, (v. 15.) have quitted a Fountain
of living waters for broken cisterns; they have
burnt incense to idols, that are as vain as vanity it¬
self, that are not what they pretend to be, nor can
perform what is expected f' om them.” They had
not the common wit of travellers, but even their
leaders caused them to err, and they were content to
be misled. (1.) They left the ancient paths, which
were appointed by the divine law, which had been
walked in by all the saints, which were therefore
the right way to th jir journey’s end, a safe way, and,
being well tracked, was both easy to hit, and easy
to walk in. But when they were advised to keep to
the good old way, they positively said that they
would not, ch. vi." 16. (2.) They chose by-paths;
ihev walked in a way not cast up; not in the high¬
way, the King’s highway, in which they might tra¬
vel safely, and which would certainly lead them to
their right end, but in a dirty way, a rough way, a
way in which they could not but stumble; such was
the way of idolatry; such is the way of all iniquity;
it is a false way, it is a way full of stumbling-blocks;
and yet this way they chose to walk in, and lead
others in.
2. In the mischievous consequences of it. Though
the thing itself had been bad, they might have had
some excuse for it, if they could have promised
themselves any good out of it. But the direct ten¬
dency of it was to make their land desolate, and,
consequently, themselves miserable, (for so the in¬
habitants must needs be, if their country be laid
waste,) and both themselves and their land a perpe¬
tual hissing. Those deserve to be hissed, that have
fair warning given them, and will not take it.
Every one that passes by their land shall make his
remarks upon it, and shall be astonished, and wag
his head; some wondering at, others commiserating,
others triumphing in, the desolations of a country
that had been the glory of all lands. They shall
wag their heads in derision, upbraiding them with
their folly in forsaking God and their duty, and so
pulling this misery upon their own heads. Note,
Those that revolt from God will justly be made the
scorn of all about them; and, having reproached
the Lord, will themselves be a reproach. Their
land being made desolate, in pursuance of their de¬
struction, it is threatened, (v. 17.) I will scatter
them as with an east-wind, which is fierce and vio¬
lent; by it they shall be hurried to and fro before
the enemy, and find no way open to escape. They
shall not only flee before the enemy, (that they may
do, and yet make an orderly retreat,) but they shall
be scattered, some one way, and some another.
That which completes their misery, is, I will show
them the back, and not the face, in the day of their
calamity. Our calamities may be easily borne, if
Vol iv. — 3 G
God look towards us, and smile upon us, when we
are under them, if he com tenance us, and show
us favour; but if he turn the back upon us, if he
show himself displeased, if he be deaf to our pray¬
ers, and refuse us his help; if he forsake us, leave
us to ourselves, and stand at a distance from us, we
are quite undone. If he hide his face, who then can
behold him ? Job xx’xiv. 39. Herein God would deal
with them as they had dealt with him; ( ch . ii. 27.)
They have turned their back unto me, and not their
face. It is a righteous thing with God to show him¬
self strange to those in the day of their trouble, who
have showed themselves rude and undutiful to him
in their prosperity. This will have its full accom¬
plishment in that day, when God will say to those,
who, though they have been professors of piety,
were yet workers of iniquity, Depart from me, 1
know you not, nay, I never knew you.
13. Then said they, Gome, and let us
devise devices against Jeremiah; for the
law shall not perish from the priest, nor
counsel from the wise, nor the word from
the prophet: come, and let us smite him
with the tongue, and let us not give heed to
any of his words. 1 9. Give heed to me, O
Lord, and hearken to the voice of them
that contend with me. 20. Shall evil be
recompensed for good ? for they have dig¬
ged a pit for my soul. Remember that I
stood before thee to speak good for them,
and to turn away thy wrath from them. 21.
Therefore deliver up their children to the
famine, and pour out their blood by the force
of the sword; and let their wives be be¬
reaved of their children, and be widows;
and let their men be put to death ; let their
young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22. Let a cry be heard from their houses,
when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly
upon them ; for they have digged a pit to
take me, and hid snares for my feet. 23.
Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel
against me to slay me: forgive not their ini¬
quity, neither blot out their sin from thy
sight; but let them be overthrown before
thee: deal thus with them in the time of
thine anger.
The prophet here, as sometimes before, brings in
his own affairs, but very much for instruction to us.
I. See here what are the common methods of
tlie persecutors. We may see this in Jeremiah’s
enemies, v. 18.
1. They laid their heads together, to consult what
they should do against him, both to be revenged on
him for what he had said, and to stop his mouth for
the future. They said, Come, and let us devise de¬
vices against Jeremiah. The enemies of God’s
people and ministers have been often very crafty
themselves, and confederate with one another, to.
do them mischief. What they cannot act to the
prejudice of religion separately, they will try to do
in concert. The wicked plots against the just. Caia-
phas, and the chief priests and i filers, did so agains*-
our blessed Saviour himself. The opposition w Inch
the gates of hell give to the kingdom c f heaven, is
carried on with a great deal of cursed policy. God
had said, (v. 11.) I devise a device against you;
and now, as if they resolved to be quits with him.
ilO JEREMIAH, XVIT1.
and to outwit Infinite Wisdom itself, they resolve to
devise devices against God’s prophet, not only
against his person, but against the word he deliver¬
ed to them, which they thought by their subtle
management to defeat. O the prodigious madness
of those that hope to disannul God’s counsel!
2. Herein they pretended a mighty zeal for the
church, which, they suggested, was in danger, if
Jeremiah was tolerated to preach as he did;
“ Came,” say they, let us silence and crush him,
for the law shall not perish from the priest: the law
of truth is in their mouths, (Mai. ii. 6.) and there
we will seek it; the administration of ordinances
according to the law is in their hands, and neither
the one nor the other shall be wrested from them.
Counsel shall not perish from the wise; the admin¬
istration of public affairs shall always be lodged with
the privy-counsellors and ministers of state, to
whom it belongs; nor shall the word perish from
the prophets;” they mean those of their own choos¬
ing, who prophesied to them smooth things, and
flattered them with visions of peace. Two things
they insinuated, (1.) That Jeremiah could not be
himself a true prophet, but was a pretender and
a usurper, because he was neither commissioned by
the priests, nor concurred with the other prophets,
whose authority therefore will be despised, if he be
suffered to go on. If Jeremiah be regarded as an
oracle, farewell the reputation of our priests, out-
wise men and prophets; but that must be supported,
which is reason enough why he must be suppressed.
(2.) That the matter of his prophecies could not be
from God, because it reflected sometimes upon the
prophets and priests; he had charged them with be¬
ing the ringleaders of all the mischief, ( ch . v. 31.)
and deceiving the people; ( ch . xiv. 14.) he had
foret >1 1 that their heart should perish, and be aston¬
ished, {ch. iv. 9.) that the wise men should be dis¬
mayed, {ch. viii. 9, 10.) that the priests and pro¬
phets should be intoxicated; {ch. xtii. 13.) now this
galled them more than any thing else; presuming
upon the promise of God’s presence with their
priests and prophets, they could not believe that he
would ever leave them. The guides of the church
must needs be infallible, and therefore he who fore¬
told their being infatuated, must be condemned as a
false prophet. Thus, under colour of zeal for the
church, have its best friends been run down.
3. Thev agreed to do all they could to blast his
reputation; “Come, let us smite him with the tongue,
fasten a bad character upon him, represent him to
some as despicable, and fit to be slighted; to others,
as dangerous, and fit to he prosecuted; to all, as
odious, and not fit to be tolerated.” This was their
device, fortiter calumniari, aliquid adhierebit — to
throw the vilest calumnies at him, in hope that some
would adhere, to dress him up in bear-skins, other¬
wise they could not bait him. They who projected
this, it is likely, were men of figure, whose tongue
was no small slander, whose representations, though
ever so false, would be credited both by princes and
people, to make him obnoxious to the justice of the
one and the fury of the other. The scourge of such
tongues will give not only smart lashes, but deep
wounds; it is a great mercy therefore to be hid from
it. Job v. 21.
4. To set others an example, they resolve that
they would not themselves regard any thing he said,
though it appeared ever so weighty, and ever so
well confirmed as a message from God; Let us not
give heed to any of his words; for, right or wrong,
they will look upon them to be his words, and not
the words of God. What good can be done with
those who hear the word of God with a resolution
not to heed it, or believe it? Nay,
5. That they may effectually silence him, they
resolve to be the death of him; (i>. 23.) All their
counsel against me is to slay me; they hunt Jor the
precious life; and a precious life indeed it was tha*
they hunted for. Long was this Jerusalem’s wretch
ed character. Thou that kil/est many of the pro
phets, and wouldest have killed them all.
II. See here what is the common relief of the
persecuted. This we niay see in the course that
Jeremiah took, when he met with this hard usage.
He immediately applied himself to his God by
prayer, and so gave himself ease.
1. He referred himself and his cause to God’s
cognizance, v. 19. They would not regard a word
he said, would not admit his complaints, or take any
notice of his grievances; but, Lord, (says he,) do
thou give heed to me. It is matter of comfort to
faithful ministers, that, if men will not give heed to
their preaching, yet God will give heed to then-
praying. He appeals to God as an impartial Judge,
that will hear both sides, as every judge ought to
do; “Do not only give heed to me, but hearken to
the voice of them that contend with me; hear what
they have to say against me, and for themselves,
and then make it to appear that thou sittest in the
throne, judging right. Hear the voice of my con¬
tenders, how noisy and clamorous they are, how
false and malicious all they say is, and let them be
judged out of their own mouth; cause their own
tongues to fall upon them.”
2. He complains of theirbase ingratitude tohim; (t>.
20.) “ Shall evil be recompensed for good, and shall
it yet go unpunished? Wilt not thou recompense
me good for that evil?” 2 Sam. xvi. 12. To render
good for good is human, evil for evil is brutish, good
for evil is Christian, but evil for good is devilish; it
is so very absurd and wicked a thing, that we can¬
not think but God will avenge it. See how great
the evil was, that they did against him; they digged
a pit for his soul; they aimed to take away his life,
no less would satisfy them, and that, not in a gene¬
rous way, by an open assault, against which he
might have an opportunity of defending himself, but
in a base, cowardly, clandestine way, they digged
pits for him, which there was no fence against, Ps.
cxix. 85. But see how great the good was, which
he had done for them; Remember that I stood be¬
fore thee to speak good for them; he had been an
intercessor with God for them, had used his interest
in heaven on their behalf, which was the greatest
kindness they could expect from one of his cha¬
racter. He is a prophet, and he shall pray for
thee, Gen. xx. 7. Moses often did this for Israel,
and yet they quarrelled with him, and sometimes
spake of stoning him. He did them this kindness
when they were in imminent danger of destruction,
and most needed it. They had themselves pro¬
voked God’s wrath against them, and it was ready
to break in upon them, but he stood in. the gap, (as
Moses, Ps. cvi. 23.) and turned away that wrath.
Now, (1.) This was very base in them. Call a man
ungrateful, and you can call him no worse. But it
was not strange that they who had forgotten their
God, did not know their best friends. (2.) It was
very grievous to him, as the like was to David; (Ps.
xxxv. 13. — cix. 4.) For my love they are my ad¬
versaries. Thus disingenuously do sinners deal with
the great Intercessor, crucifying him afresh, and
speaking against him on earth, while his blood is
speaking for them in heaven. See John x. 32. But,
(3.) It was a comfort to the prophet, that, when
they were so spiteful against him, he had the testi
monv of his conscience for him, that he had done
his duty to them; and the same will be our rejoic¬
ing in such a day of evil. The blood-thirsty hate
the upright, but the just seek his soul, Prov.
xxix. 10.
3. He imprecates the judgments of God upon
them, not from a revengeful disposition, but in a
JEREMIAH, XIX.
419
prophetical indignation against their horrid wicked¬
ness, v. 21. — 23. He prays, ( 1. ) That their fami¬
nes might be starved for want of bread; Deliver up
'-heir children to the famine, to the famine in the
country for want ot rain, and that in the city
through the straitness of the siege. Thus let this
iniquity of the fathers be visited upon the children.
(2.) That they might be cut off by the sword of
war, which, whatever it was in the enemy’s hand,
would be, in God’s hand, a sword of justice; “ Pour
them out (so the word is) by the hands of the sword;
let their blood be shed as profuseiy as water, that
their wives may be left childless and widows, their
husbands being taken away by death;” (some think
that the prophet refers to pestilence;) let their young
men, that are the strength of this generation, and
the hope of the next, be stain by the sword in battle.
(3.) That the terrors and desolations of war might
seize them suddenly and by surprise, that thus their
punishment might answer to their sin; ( v . 22.)
“ Let a cry be heard from their houses, loud shrieks,
when thou shall bring a troop of the Chaldeans sud¬
denly upon them, to seize them and all they have,
to make them prisoners, and their estates a prey;”
for thus they would have done by Jeremiah, they
aimed to ruin him at once ere he was aware; “ They
have digged a pit for me, as for a wild beast, and
have hid snares for me, as for some ravenous, nox¬
ious fowl.” Note, They that think to insnare
others, will justly be themselves insnared in an evil
time. (4.) That they might be dealt with accord¬
ing to the desert of this sin which was without ex¬
cuse; “ Forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out
their sin from thy sight; let them not escape the
just punishment of it: let them lie under all the
miseries of those whose sins are unpardoned.” (5.)
That God’s wrath against them might be their ruin;
Let them be overthrown before thee. This inti¬
mates, that justice is in pursuit of them, that they
endeavour to make their escape from it, but in vain;
they shall be made to stumble in their flight, and,
being overthrown, they will certainly be overtaken. ”
And then. Lord, in the time of thine, anger, do to
them, (he does not say what he would have done to
them, but,) do to them as thou thinkest fit, as thou
used to do with those whom thou art angry with;
deal thus with them.
Now this is not written for our imitation. Jere¬
miah was a prophet, and, by the impulse of the
spirit of prophecy, in the foresight of the rain cer¬
tainly coming upon his persecutors, might pray
such prayers as we may not; and if we think, by
this example, to justify ourselves in such impreca¬
tions, we know not what manner of spirit we are of:
our Master has taught us, by his precept and pat¬
tern, to bless them that curse us, ana pray for
them that dcspitefully use us; yet it is written for
our instruction, and is of use to teach us, [1.] That
those who have forfeited the benefit of the prayers
of God’s prophets for them, may justly expect to
have their prayers against them. [2.] That per¬
secution is a sin that fills the measure of a people’s
■niquity very fast, and will bring as sure and sore a
destruction upon them as any other. [3. ] Those
who will not be won upon by the kindness of God
and his prophets, will certainly at length feel the
just resentments of both.
CHAP. XIX.
The same melancholy theme is the subject of this chapter,
that was of those foregoing- — the approaching ruin of
Judah and Jerusalem for their sins; Jeremiah had often
foretold this; here he has particular full orders to do it
again. I. He must set their sins in order before them,
as he had often done, especially their idolatry, v. 4, 5.
II. He must describe the particular judgments which
were now coming apace UDon them for these sins, v. 6 . . 9.
III. He must do this in the valley of Tophet, with great
solemnity, and for some particular reasons, v. 2, 3. IV.
He must summon a company of the ciders together, to
be witnesses of this, v. 1. V. He must confirm this, and
endeavour to affect his hearers with it, by a sign, which
was, the breaking of an earthen bottle, signifying that
they should be dashed to pieces like a potter’s vessel, v.
10.. 13. \ 1. When he had done this in the valley of
Tophet, he ratified it in the court of the temple, v. 14,
15. Thus were all likely means tried to awaken this
stupid, senseless people to repentance, that their ruin
might be prevented; but all in vain.
1. r SMI US saith the Loitn, Go, and got a
JL potter’s earthen bottle, and take of
the ancients of the people, and of the an¬
cients of the priests, 2. And go forth unto
the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is
by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim
there the words that I shall tell thee; 3.
And say, Hear ye the word of the Lord,
O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusa¬
lem; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God
of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil upon this
place, the which whosoever heareth, his
ears shall tingle. 4. Because they have
forsaken me, and have estranged this place,
and have burnt incense in it unto other gods,
whom neither they nor their fathers have
known, nor the kings of Judah, and have
filled this place with the blood ol innocents;
5. They have built also the high places of
Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt-
offerings unto Baal, which I commanded
not, nor spake it, neither came it into my
mind : fi. Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that this place shall no
more he called Tophet, nor, The valley of
the son of Hinnom, but, The valley of
slaughter. 7. And I will make void the
counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this
place; and I will cause them to fall by the
sword before their enemies, and by the
hands of them that seek their lives; and
their carcases will I give to be meat for the
fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of
the earth. 8. And I will make this city
desolate, and a hissing: every one that pass-
eth thereby shall be astonished and hiss,
because of all the plagues thereof. 9. And
I will cause them to eat the flesh of their
sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and
they shall eat every one the flesh of his
friend, in the siege and straitness wherewith
their enemies, and they that seek their lives,
shall straiten them.
The corrnptii n of man having made it necessary
that precept sin uld be upon precept, and line upon
line, (so unapt are wc to receive, and so very apt to
let slip, the things of God,) the grace of God has
provided that there shall be, accordingly, precept
upon precept, and line upon line, that those who
are irreclaimable may be inexcusable. For this
reason, the prophet here is sent with a message to
the same purport with what he had often delivered,
but with some circumstances that might make it
the more taken notice of, a thing which ministers
<120
JEREMIAH, XIX.
should study, for a little circumstance may some¬
times be a great advantage, and they that would
win souls, must be wise.
1. He must take of the elders and chief men,
both in church and state, to be his auditors, and
witnesses to what he said; the ancietits of the people,
and the ancients of the priests, the most eminent
men both in the magistracy, and in the ministry,
that they might be faithful witnesses, to record, as
those, Isa. vtii. 2. It is strange that these great
men would be at the beck of a poor prophet, and
obey his summons to attend him out of the city, they
knew not whither, and they knew not why. But,
though the generality of the elders were disaffected
to him, yet it is likely that there were some few
among them, who looked upon him as a prophet of
the Lord, and would pay this respect to the hea¬
venly vision. Note, Persons of rank and figure have
an opportunity of honouring God by a diligent at¬
tendance on the ministry of the word, and other
divine institutions; and they ought to think it an
honour, and no disparagement to themselves, yea,
tho"gh the circumstances be mean and despicable.
It is certain that the greatest of men is less than the
least of the ordinances of God.
2. He must go to the valley of the son of Hin-
nom, and deliver this message there; for the word
of the Lord is not bound to any one place; as good
a sermon may be preached in the valley of T ophet
as in the gate of the temple. Christ preached on a
mountain, and out of a ship. This valley lay partly
on the south side of Jerusalem, but the prophet’s
way to it was by the entry of the east gate, the sun-
gate, (v. 2.) so some render it, and suppose it to
look not toward the sun-rising, but the noon-sun:
the potter’s gate; so some. This sermon must be
preached in that place, in the valley of the son of
Ifinnom, (1.) Because there they had been guilty
of the vilest of their idolatries, the sacrificing of their
children to Moloch, a horrid piece of impiety,
which the sight of the place might serve to remind
them of, and upbraid them with. (2.) Because
there they should feel the sorest of their calamities;
there the greatest slaughter should be made among
them; and it being the common sink of the city, let
them look upon it, and see what a miserable spec¬
tacle this magnificent city would be, when it should
be all like the valley of Tophet. God bids him go
thither, and proclaim there the words that I shall
tell thee, when thou comest thither; whereby it ap¬
pears, (as Mr. Gataker well observes,) that God’s
messages were frequently not revealed to the pro¬
phets before the very instant of time wherein they
were to deliver them.
3. He must give general notice of a general ruin
now shortly coming upon Judah and Jerusalem, x>.
3. He must, as those that make proclamations,
begin with an “ Oyes, Hear ye the word of the
Lord, though it be a terrible word, for you may
thank yourselves if it be so.” Both rulers and ruled
must attend to it, at their peril; the kings of Judah,
the king and his sons, the king and his princes, and
privy-counsellors, they must hear the word of the
King of kings, for, high as they are, he is above
them. The inhabitants of Jerusalem also must hear
wh it God has to say to them. Both princes and
people hive contributed to the national guilt, and
must concur in the national repentance, or they will
I > th share in the national ruin. Let them all know
that the Lord of hosts, who is therefore able to do
what he threatens, though he is the God of Israel,
n v, because he is so, will therefore punish them in
th ■ first place for their iniquities; (Amosiii. 2.) He
will bring evil upon this place, upon Judah and Je¬
rusalem, so surprising, and so dreadful, that who¬
ever hears it, his ears shall tir.gle; whosoever hears
' he prediction of it, hears the report and represen¬
tation of it, it shall make such an impression of ter¬
ror upon him, that he shall still think he hears it
sounding in his ears, and shall not be able to get it
out of his mind. The ruin of Eli’s house is thus de¬
scribed, (1 Sam. iii. 11.) and of Jerusalem, 2 Kings
xxi. 12.
4. He must plainly tell them what their sins were,
for which God had this controversy with them; (v.
4, 5.) they were, apostacy from God; They have
forsaken me; abuse of the privileges of the visible
church, with which they had been dignified; They
have estranged this place. Jerusalem, the holy city,
the temple, the holy house, which were designed
for the honour of God, and the support of his king¬
dom among men, they had alienated from those
purposes and (as some render the word) they had
strangely abused. They had so polluted both with
their wickedness, that God had disowned both, and
abandoned them to ruin. He charges them with an
affection for, and the adoration of, false gods, such
as neither they nor their fathers have known, such
as never had recommended themselves to their be¬
lief and esteem bv any acts of power or goodness
done for them or their ancestors, as that God had
abundantly done, whom they forsook; yet they took
them at a venture for their gods; nay, being fond
of change and novelty, they liked them the better
for their being upstarts; and new fashions in reli¬
gion were as grateful to their fancies as in other
things. They also stand charged with murder,
wilful murder, from malice prepense; They have
filled this place with the blood of innocents. It was
Manasseh’s sin, (2 Kings, xxiv. 4.) which the Lord
would not pardon. Nay, as if idolatry and murder,
committed separately, were not bad enough, and
affront enough to God and man, they have put them
together, have consolidated them into one compli¬
cated crime, that of burning their children in the
fire to Baal, (i>. 5. ) which was the most insolent
defiance to all the laws both of natural and revealed
religion that ever mankind was guilty of; and by it
they openly declared that they loved their new gods
better than ever they loved the true God, though
they were such cruel taskmasters, that they re¬
quired human sacrifices, Inhuman I should call
them, which the Lord Jehovah, whose all lives and
souls are, never demanded from his worshippers;
he never spake of such a thing, nor came it into his
mind. See ch. vii. 31.
5. He must endeavour to affect them with the
greatness of the desolation that was coming upon
them. He must tell them, (as he had done before,
ch. vii. 32.) that this valley of the son of Hinnom
shall acquire a new name, the valley of slaughter,
(y. 6. ) for (v. 7. ) multitudes shall fall there by the
sword, when either they sally out upon the besiegers,
and are repulsed, or attempt to make their escape,
and are seized; They shall fall before their enemies,
who not only endeavour to make themselves mas¬
ters of their houses and estates, but have such an
implacable enmity to them, that they seek their lives,
they thirst after their blood, and, when they are
dead, will not allow a cartel for the burying of the
slain, but their carcases shall be meat for the fowls
of the heaven and beasts of the earth. What a dis¬
mal place will the valley of Tophet be then! And
as for those that remain within the city, and will
not capitulate with the besiegers, they shall perish
for want of food, when first they have eaten the
flesh of their sons and daughters, and dearest
friends, through the straitness wherewith their ene¬
mies shall straiten them, v. 9. This was threatened
in the law, as an instance of the extremity to which
the judgments of God should reduce them, (Lev.
xxvi. 29. Deut. xxviii. 33.) and was accomplished,
Lam. iv. 10. And lastly, the while city sh- 11 be
desolate, the houses laid in ashes, the iuh diitants
JEREMIAH, XIX.
421
slain, or taken prisoners; there shall be no resort to
it, nor any thing in it but what looks rueful and hor¬
rid; so that every one that /lasses by shall be aston¬
ished, {v. 8.) as lie had said before, eh. xviii. 16.
That place which holiness had made the joy of the
whole earth, sin had made the reproach and shame
of the whole earth.
6. He must assure them that all their attempts to
prevent and avoid this ruin, so long as they continued
impenitent and unreformed, would be fruitless and
vain; (x>. 7.) 1 will make void the counsel of Judah
and Jerusalem, of the princes and senators of Ju¬
dah and Jerusalem, in this /dace, in the royal palace,
which lay on the south side of the city, not far from
the place where the prophet now stood. Note,
There is no fleeing from God’s justice, but by flee¬
ing to his mercy. They that will not make good
God’s counsel, by humbling themselves under his
mighty hand, God will make void their counsel,
and biast their projects, which they think ever so
well concerted for their own preservation. There
is no counsel or strength against the Lord.
10. Then shalt them break the bottle in
the sight of the men that go with thee, 11.
And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, Even so will I break this
people, and this city, as one breaketh a pot¬
ter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole
again; and they shall bury them, in Tophet,
till there be no place else to bury. 12. Thus
will I do unto this place, saith the Lord,
and to the inhabitants thereof, and even
make their city as Tophet: 13. And the
houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the
kings of Judah, shall be defiled, as the place
of Tophet, because of all the houses upon
whose roofs they have burnt incense unto
all the host of heaven, and have poured out
drink-offerings unto other gods. 14. Then
came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the
Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he
stood in the court of the Lord’s house, and
said to all the people, 15. Thus saith the
L >rd of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I
will bring upon this city, and upon all her
towns, all the evil that I have pronounced
against it; because they have hardened then-
necks, that they might not hear my words.
The message of wratli delivered in the foregoing
verses is here enforced, that it might gain credit,
two ways.
I. By a visible sign. The prophet was to take
along with him an earthen bottle, (v. 1.) and when
he had delivered his message, he was to break the
bottle to pieces, (y. 10. ) and the same that were au¬
ditors of the sermon, must be spectators of the sign.
He had compared this people, in the chapter before,
to the potter’s clay, which is easily marred in the
making; but some might say, “It is past that with
us, we have been made and hardened long since.”
“And what though you be,” says he, “the potter’s
vessel is as soon broken in the hand of any man, as
the vessel while it is soft clay is marred in the pot¬
ter’s hand, and its case is, in this respect much
worse; that the vessel, while it is soft clay, though
it be marred, may be moulded again, but after it is
hardened, when it is broken, it can never be pieced
again.” Perhaps what they see will affect them
more than what they onlv hear talk rf; that is the
intention of sacramental signs, and teaching by sym¬
bols was anciently used. In the explication of "this
sign, he must inculcate what he had before said,
with a further reference to the place where this
was done, in the valley of To/ihet.
1. As the bottle was easily, irresistibly, and irre¬
coverably broken, so shall Judah and Jerusalem be
broken by the Chaldean army, r. 11. They de¬
pended much upon the firmness of their constitu¬
tion, and the fixedness of their courage, which they
thought hardened them like a vessel of brass; but
the prophet shows that all that did but harden them
like a vessel of earth, which, though hard, is brit¬
tle, and sooner broken than that which is not so
hard. Though they were made vessels of honour,
still they were vessels of earth, and so they shall be
made to know, if they dishonour God and them¬
selves, and serve not the purposes for which they
were made. It is God himself who made them that
resolves to unmake them ; I will break this people,
and this city, dash them in pieces like a potter’s
vessel; the doom of the heathen, (Ps. ii. 9. Rev. ii.
27.) but now Jerusalem’s doom, Isa. xxx. 14. A
potter’s vessel, when once broken, cannot be made
whole again; cannot be cured, so the word is. The
ruin of Jerusalem shall be an utter ruin; no hand
can repair it, but his that broke it; and if they re¬
turn to him, though he has torn, he will heal.
2. This was done in Tophet to signify two things,
(1.) That Tophet should be the receptacle of the
slain; They shall burn in Tophet, for want of room
to bury elsewhere; (so some read it;) and "if thev
had had conveniencies any where else, they would
not have buried there, where all the filth of the
city was carried. Or, as we read it, They shall
bury in Tophet, till there be no place to bury any
more there; they shall justle for room to lay their
dead; and a very little room will then serve those,
who, while they lived, laid house to house, and field
to field. They that would be placed clone in the
midst of the earth, while they were above ground,
and obliged all about them to keep their distance,
must lie with the multitude when they are under
ground, for they are innumerable before them.
(2.) That Tophet should be a resemblance of the
whole city; ( v . 12.) I will make this city as Tophet.
As they had filled the valley of Tophet with the
slain which they sacrificed to their idols, so God
will fill the whole city with the slain, that shall fall
as sacrifices to the justice of God. We read (2
Kings xxiii. 10.) of Josiah’s defling Tophet, be¬
cause it had been abused to idolatry; which he did,
(as should seem, v. 14.) by filling' it with the bones
of men; and, whatever it was before, thenceforward
it was looked upon as a detestable place. Dead
carcases, and other filth of the city, were carried
thither, and a fire continually kept there, for the
burning of it. This was the posture of that valley,
when Jeremiah was sent thitherto prophesy; and
so execrable a place was it looked upon to be", that,
in the language of our Saviour’s time, hell was call
ed, in allusion to it, Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom.
“Now,” (says God,) “since that blessed reforma¬
tion, when Tophet was defiled, did not proceed as
it ought to have done, nor prove a thorough reforma¬
tion, but though the idols in Tophet were abolished
and made odious, those in Jerusalem remained, there
fore will I do with the city as Josiah did by Tophet.
fill it with the bodies of men, and make it an heap
of rubbish.” Even the houses of Jerusalem, and
those of the kings of Judah, the royal palaces not
excepted, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet,
(v. 13.) and for the same reason, because of the
idolatries that have been committed there; since
thev will not defile them by a reformation, God will
defile them by a destruction, because upon the roof
422
JEREMIAH, XX.
of their houses they have burnt incense unto the host
if heaven. The flat roofs of their houses were
sometimes used by devout people as convenient
places for prayer, (Actsx. 6.) and by idolaters they
were used as high places, on which they sacrificed
to strange gods, especially to the host of heaven, the
sun, moon, and stars, that there they might be so
much nearer to them, and have a clearer and fuller
view of them. We read of those that worshipped
the host of heaven on the house-tops, (Zeph. i. 5.)
and of altars on the tofi of the upper chamber of
Ahaz, 2 Kings xxiii. 12. This sin upon the house¬
tops brought a curse into the house, which consumed
it, and made it a dunghill like Tophet.
II. By a solemn recognition and ratification of
what he had said in the court of the Lord’s house,
v. 14, 15. The prophet returned from Tophet to
the temple, which stood upon the lull over that val¬
ley, and there confirmed, and, probably, repeated,
what he had said in the valley of Tophet, for the
benefit of those who had not heard it: what he had
said he would stand to. Here, as often before, he
both assures them of judgments coming upon them,
and assigns the cause of them, which was their sin.
Both these are here put together in a little compass,
with a reference to all that had gone before. 1. The
accomplishment of the prophecies is here the judg¬
ment threatened. The people flattered themselves
with a conceit that God would be better than his
word; the threatening was but to frighten them,
and keep them in awe a little; but the prophet tells
them that they deceive themselves if they think so;
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, who is able to
make his words good, I will bring upon this city,
and upon all her towns, all the lesser cities that be¬
long to Jerusalem the metropolis, all the evil that
I have pronounced against it. Note, Whatever
men may think to the contrary, the executions of
Providence will fully answer the predictions of the
word; and God will appear as terrible against sin
and sinners as the scripture makes him; nor shall
the unbelief of men make either his promise or his
threatenings of no effect, or of less effect than it was
thought to' be of. 2. The contempt of the prophe¬
cies is here the sin charged upon them, as the pro¬
curing cause of this judgment. It is because they
have hardened their necks, and would not bow and
bend them to the yoke of God’s commands, would
not hear my words, would not heed them, and yield
obedience to them. Note, The obstinacy of sinners
in their sinful ways, is altogether their own fault;
if their necks are hardened, it is their own act and
deed, thev have hardened them; if they are deaf
to the word of God, it is because they have stopped
their own ears. We have need therefore to pray
that God, by his grace, would deliver us from hard-
7iess of heart, and contempt of his word, and com¬
mandments.
CHAP. XX.
Such plain dealing as Jeremiah used in the foregoing chap¬
ter, one might easily foresee, if it did not convince and
humble men, would provoke and exasperate them ; and
so it. did ; for here we find, 1. Jeremiah persecuted by
Pashur, for preaching that sermon, v. 1, 2. II. Pashur
threatened for so doing, and the word, which Jeremiah
had preached, confirmed, v. 3. .6. III. Jeremiah com¬
plaining to God concerning it and the other instances of
hard measure that he had since he began to be a prophet,
and the grievous temptation he had struggled with, (v.
I. .10.) encouraging himself in God, lodging his appeal
with him, not doubting but that he shall yet praise him,
by which it appears that he had much grace, (v. 1 1 . . 13. )
and yet peevishly cursing the day of his birth, (v. 14..
18.) by which it appears that he had sad remainders of
corruption in him too, and was a man subject to like
passions as we are.
I. Pashur, the son of I miner the
priest, who was also the chief gover¬
nor in the house of the Lord, heard tha
Jeremiah prophesied these things. 2. Then
Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put
him in the stocks that were in the high gate
of Benjamin, which teas by the house of the
Lord. 3. And it came to pass on the mor¬
row, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah
out ot the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto
him, The Lord hath not called thy name
Pashur, but Magor-missabib. 4. For thus
saith the Lord, Behold, I w ill make thee a
terror to thyself, and to all thy friends; and
they shall fall by the sword of their enemies,
and thine eyes shall behold it : and I will
give all Judah into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and he shall carry them captive
into Babylon, and shall slay them with the
sword. 5. Moreover, I will deliver all the
strength of this city, and all the labours
thereof, and all the precious things thereof,
and all the treasures of the kings of Judah
will I give into the hand of their enemies,
which shall spoil them, and take them, and
carry them to Babylon. 6. And thou, Pa¬
shur, and all that dwell in thy house, shall
go into captivity: and thou shalt come to
Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt
be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to
whom thou hast prophesied lies.
Here is,
I. Pashur’s unjust displeasure against Jeremiah,
and the fruits of that displeasure, v. 1, 2. This
Pashur was a priest, and therefore, one would think,
should have protected Jeremiah, who was of his
own order, a priest too; and the more, because he
was a prophet of the Lord, whose interests the
priests, his ministers, ought to consult: but this
priest was a persecutor of him whom he should
have patronized. He was the son of Jmmer; he
was of the sixteenth course of the priests, of which
Immer, when these courses were first settled by
David, was father, (1 Chron. xxiv. 14.) as Zecha-
riah was of the order of Abiah, Luke i. 5. Thus
this Pashur is distinguished from another of the
same name, mentioned ch. xxi. 1. who was of the
fifth course. This Pashur was chief governor in
the temple ; perhaps he was only so pro tempore —
for a short period, the course he was head of being
now in waiting; or he was suffragan to the High
Priest; or, perhaps, captain of the temple, or of the
guards about it, Acts iv. 1. This was Jeremiah’s
great enemy. The greatest malignity to God’s pro¬
phets was found among those that professed sanctity,
and concern for God and the church.
We cannot suppose that Pashur was one of those
ancients of the priests that went with Jeremiah to
the valley of Tophet, to hear him prophesy, unless
it were with a malicious design to take advantage
against him; but when he came into the courts of
the Lord’s house, it is probable that he was himself
a witness of what he said, and so it may be read,
(v. 1. ) He heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.
As we read it, the information was brought him Dy
others, whose examinations he took; He heard that
Jeremiah prophesied these things, and could not bear
it; especially that he should dare to preach in the
courts of the Lord’s house, where he was chief go¬
vernor, without his leave. When power in the
JEREMIAH. XX. 423
church is abused, it is the most dangerous power
that can be employed against it. Being incensed at
Jeremiah, 1. He smote him, struck him with his
hand, or staff of authority. Perhaps it was a blow
intended only to disgrace him, like that which the
High Priest ordered to be given Paul; (Acts xxiii.
2.) he struck him on the mouth, and bade him hold
his prating. Or, perhaps, he gave him many blows
intended to hurt him; he beat him severely, as a
malefactor. It is charged upon the husbandmen,
(Matth. xxi. 35. ) that they beat the servants. The
method of proceeding here was illegal; the High
Priest, and the rest of the priests, ought to have
been consulted, Jeremiah’s credentials examined,
and the matter inquired into, whether he had an au¬
thority to say what he said. But these rules of jus¬
tice are set aside, and despised, as mere formalities;
right or wrong, Jeremiah must be run down. The
enemies of piety would never suffer themselves to
be bound by the laws of equity. 2. He put him in
the stocks. Some make it only a place of confine¬
ment; he imprisoned him. It rather seems to be
an instrument of closer restraint, and intended to
put him both to pain and shame. Some think it
.vas a pillory for his neck and arms; others (as we)
a pair of Stocks for his legs; whatever engine it
was, he continued in it all night, and in a public
pi ice too, in the high gate of Benjamin, •which was
in, or by the house of the Lord; probably, a gate
through which they passed between the city and the
temple. Pashur intended thus to chastise him, that
he might deter him from prophesying; and thus to
expose him to contempt, and render him odious,
that he might not be regarded if he did prophesy.
Thus have the best men met with the worst treat¬
ment from this ungracious, ungrateful world; and
the greatest blessings of their age have been count¬
ed as the off-scouring of all things. Would it not
raise a pious indignation, to see such a man as Pashur
upon the bench, and such a man as Jeremiah in the
stocks? It is well that there is another life after this,
when persons and things will appear with another
face.
II. God’s just displeasure against Pashur, and the
tokens of it. On the morrow, Pashur gave Jere¬
miah his discharge, brought him out of the stocks;
(v. 3. ) it is probable that he continued him there, in
little ease, as long as was usual to continue any in
that punishment. And no*' Jeremiah has a message
from God to him. We do not find that, when
Pashur put Jeremiah in the stocks, the latter gave
him any check for what he did; he appears to have
quietly and silently submitted to the abuse; when
he suffered, he threatened not : but, when he brought
him out of the stocks, then God put a word into the
prophet’s mouth, which would awaken his con¬
science, if he had any. For when the prophet of the
Lord was bound, the word of the Lord was not. —
What can we think Pashur aimed at, in smiting
and abusing Jeremiah? Whatever it is, we shall
see by what God says to him, that he is disap¬
pointed.
1. Did he aim to establish himself, and make
himself easy, by silencing one that told of his faults,
and would be likely to lessen his reputation with the
people? He shall not gain this point; for, (1.)
Though the prophet should be silent, his own con¬
science shall fly in his face, and make him always
uneasy. To confirm this, he shall have a name
given him, Magor-missabib — Terror round about,
or. Fear on every side. God himself shall give him
this name, whose calling him so, will make him so.
It seems to be a proverbial expression, bespeaking
a man not only in distress, but in despair; not only
in danger on every side, (that a man may be, and
yet by faith may be in no terror, as David, Ps. iii. 6.
xxvii. 3.) but in fear on every side; arid that a man
may be when there appears no danger; The wicked
fee when no man pursues; are in great feur where
nofearis. This shall be Pashur’s case; (v. 4.) “Be¬
hold, I will make thee a terror to thyself; thou shalt
be subject to continual frights, and thy own fancy
and imagination shall create thee a constant uneasi¬
ness.” Note, God can make the most daring sinner
a terror to himself, and will find out a way to fright¬
en those that frighten his people from doing their
duty. And those that will not hear of their faults
from God’s prophets, that are reprovers in the gate,
shall be made to hear of them from conscience,
which is a reprover in their own bosoms, that will
not be daunted or silenced. And miserable is the
man that is thus m ide a terror to himself ! Yet this
is not all; some arc very much a terror to them¬
selves, but they conceal it, and seem to others to be
pleasant; but, “Twill make thee a terror to all thy
friends; thou shalt, upon all occasions, express thy¬
self with so much horror and amazement, that all
thy friends shall be afraid of conversing with thee,
and shall choose to stand aloof from thy torment. ”
Persons in deep melancholy and distraction are a
terror to themselves and all about them; which is
a good reason why we should be very thankful, so
long as God continues to us the use of our reason
and the peace of our consciences. (2.) His friends,
whom he put a confidence in, and perhaps, studied
to oblige, in what he did against Jeremiah, shall all
fail him. God does not presently strike him dead
for what he did against Jeremiah, but lets him live
miserably, like Cain in the land of shaking; in such
a continual consternation, that, wherever he goes,
he shaii be a monument of divine justice; and when
it is asked, “What makes this man in such contin¬
ual terror?” it shall be answered, “It is God’s hand
upon him for putting Jeremiah in the stocks.” His
friends, who should encourage him, shall all be cut
off; they shall fall by the sword of the enemy, and
his eyes shall behold it; which dreadful sight shall
increase his terror. (3.) He shall find, in the issue,
that his terror is not causeless, but that divine ven¬
geance is waiting for him; (i». 6.) he and his family
shall go into captivity, even to Babylon; he shall
neither die before the evil comes, as Josiah, nor live
to survive it, as some did, but he shall die a captive,
and shall in effect, be buried in his chains, he and
all his friends. Thus far is the doom of Pashur. —
Let persecutors read it, and tremble; tremble to re¬
pentance before they be made to tremble to their
ruin.
2. Did he aim to keep the people easy, to prevent
the destruction that Jeremiah prophesied of, and by
sinking his reputation to make his words fall to the
ground? It is probable that he did; for it appears
by t'. 6. that he did himself set up for a prophet,
and told the people that they should have peace; he
prophesied lies to them, and because Jeremiah’s
prophecy contradicted his, and tended to awaken
those whom he endeavoured to rock asleep in their
sins, therefore he set himself against him. But could
he gain his point? No, Jeremiah stands to what he
has said against Judah and Jerusalem; and God by
his mouth repeats it. Men get nothing by silencing
those who reprove and want them, for the word
will have its course; so it had here.
(1.) The country shall be ruined: ( v . 4.) I will
gix'e all Judah into the hand of the king of Baby¬
lon. It had long been God’s own land, but he will
now transfer his title to it to Nebuchadnezzar, he
shall be master of the country, and dispose of the in¬
habitants; some to the sword, and some to captivitv,
as he pleases, but none shall escape him.
(2.) The city shall be ruined too, v. 5. The king
of Babylon shall spoil that, and carry all that is val¬
uable in it to Babvlon. [1.] He shall seize their
magazines and military stores, ,x'«ve called the
12.4
JEREMIAH, XX.
strength of the city,') and turn those against them.
Ta.se they trusted to as their strength; hut what
stead could they stand them in, when they had thrown
themselves out of God’s protection, and when he
who was indeed their Strength, was departed from
them? [2.] He shall carry off all their stock in
trade, their wares and merchandises, here called
their labours, because it was what they laboured
about, and got by their labour. [3.] He shall plun¬
der their fine houses, and take away their rich fur¬
niture, here called their precious things, because
they valued them, and set their hearts so much upon
them. Happy they who have secured to themselves
precious things in God’s precious promises, which are
out of the reach of soldiers. [4. ] He shall rifle the
exchequer, and take away the jewels of the crown
and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. This
was that instance of the calamity which was first of
all threatened to Hezekiah long ago, as his punish¬
ment for showing his treasures to the king of Baby¬
lon’s ambassadors, Isa. xxxix. 6. The treasury, they
thought, was their defence; but that betrayed them,
and became an easy prey to the enemy.
7. O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and
I was deceived; thou art stronger than I,
and hast prevailed : I am in derision daily,
every one mocketh me. 8. For since I
spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil ;
because the word of the Lord was made
a reproach unto me, and a derision daily.
9. Then I said, I will not make mention of
nim, nor speak any more in his name : but
his word, was in mine heart as a burning
tire shut up in my bones, and I was weary
with forbearing, and I cotdd not stay. 10.
For 1 heard the defaming of many, fear on
every side. Report, say they , and we will
report it. All my familiars watched for my
halting, saying , Peradventure he will be en¬
ticed, and we shall prevail against him, and
we shall take our revenge on him. 11.
But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible
one; therefore my persecutors shall stumble,
and they' shall not prevail ; they shall be
greatly ashamed ; for they shall not prosper:
their everlasting confusion shall never be
forgotten. 12. But, O Lord of hosts, that
triesl the righteous, and seest the reins and
the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them :
for unto thee have I opened my cause. 1 3.
Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord ;
for he hath delivered the soul of the poor
from the hand of evil-doers.
Pashur’s doom was, to be a terror to himself; Jere¬
miah, even now, in this hour of temptation, is far
from being so; and yet it cannot be denied but that
he is here, through the infirmity of the flesh, strange-
’v agitated within himself; good men are but men at
the best; God is not extreme to mark what they
say and do amiss, and therefore we must not be so,
but make the best of it. In these verses, it appears
that, upon occasion of thegreat indignation and injury
that Pashur did to Jeremiah, there was a struggle
in his breast between his graces and his corruptions.
His discourse with himself, and with his God, upon
this occasion, was somewhat perplexed; let us try
to methodise it
I. Here is a sad representation of the wrong that
was done him, and the affronts that were put upon
him; and this representation, no doubt, was acci rd-
ing to truth, and deserves no blame, but was very
justly and very fitly made to him that sent him, and,
no doubt, would bear him out. He complains, 1.
That he was ridiculed and laughed at; they made a
jest of every thing he said and did; and this cannot
but be a great grievance to an ingenuous mind; (7'.
7, 8.) Iam in derision, lam mocked. They play¬
ed upon him, and made themselves and one another
merry with him, as if he had been a fool, good for
nothing but to make sport. Thus he was continu¬
ally; I was in derision daily: thus he was univer¬
sally; Every one mocks me; the greatest so far forget
their own gravity, and the meanest so far forget
mine. Thus our Lord Jesus, on the cross, was revil¬
ed both by priests and people; and the revilings of
each had’ their peculiar aggravation. And what
was it that thus exposed him to contempt and scorn?
It was nothing but his faithful and zealous discharge
of his office; (v. 8. ) they could find nothing for
which to deride him, but his preaching; it was the
word of the Lord that was made a reproach: that
for which they should have honoured and respected
him — that he was instructed to deliver the word oj
the Lord to them, was the very thing for which
they reproached and reviled him. He never preach¬
ed a sermon, but, though he kept as closely as pos¬
sible to his instructions, they found something or
other in it, for which to banter and abuse him.
Note, It is sad to think that, though divine revela¬
tion be one of the greatest blessings and honours that
ever was bestowed upon the world, yet it has been
turned very much to the reproach of the most zeal¬
ous preachers and believers of it. Two things they
derided him for, (1.) The manner of his preach¬
ing: Since he spake, he cried out. He had always
been a lively, affectionate preacher, and since he
began to speak in God’s name, he always spake as
a man in earnest; he cried aloud, and did not spare,
spared neither himself, nor them to whom he
preached; and this was enough for them to laugh at,
who hated to be serious. It is common for these
that are unaffected with, and disaffected to, the
things of God themselves, to ridicule those that are
much affected with them. Lively preachers are
the scorn of careless, unbelieving hearers. (2.) The
matter of his preaching; he cried violence and spoil.
He reproved them for the violence and sfioil which
they were guilty of toward one another; and he
prophesied of the violence and spoil which should
be brought upon them, as the punishment of that
sin; for the former they ridiculed him as over-
precise, for the latter as over-credulous; in both
he was provoking to them, and therefore they re¬
solved to run him down. This was bad enough, yet
he complains further, 2. That he was plotted
against, and his ruin contrived; he was not cnly ridi¬
culed as a weak man, but reproached and misrepre¬
sented as a bad man, and dangerous to the govern¬
ment. This he laments as his grievance, v. 10.
Being laughed at, though it touches a man in point
of honour, is yet a thing that may be easily laughed at
again; for, as it has been well observed, it is no shame
to be laughed at, but to deserve to be so. But there
were those that acted a more spiteful part, and with
more subtilty. (1.) They spake ill of him behind
his back, when he had no opportunity of clearing
himself, and were industrious to spread false report,
concerning him ; I heard, at second-hand, the defam
ing of many , fear on every side, ( of many Magor
missabibs; so some read it,) of many such men as
Pashur was, and who may therefore expect his
doom. Or, this was the matter of their defamation,
they represented Jeremiah as a man that instilled
fears and jealousies on every side into the minds of
425
JEREMIAH, XX.
the people, and so made tliem uneasy under the
government, and disposed them to a rebellion. Or,
he perceived them so malicious against him, that he
could n it but be afraid on every side; wherever
he was, he had reason to fear informers; so that
they made him almost a Magor-m issa bib. These
wards are found in the original, verbatim , the same,
Ps. xxxi. 13. I have heard the slander, or defaming
of many, fear on every side. Jeremiah, in his com¬
plaint, chooses to make use of the same words that
David had made us of before him, that it might be
a comfort to him to think that other good men had
suffered the abuses before him, and to teach us to
m ike use of David’s psalms with application to our¬
selves, as there is occ ision. Whatever we have to
say, we may from thence take with us words. See
how Jeremiah’s enemies contrived the matter; Re-
fort, say they, and sue will re fort it. They resolve
to cast an odium upon him, and this is the method
they take; “ Let some very bad thing be said of him,
which may render him obnoxious to the govern¬
ment, and though it be ever so false, we will second
it, and spread it, and add to it. ” (For the reproaches
of good men lose nothing by the carriage. ) “Do you
that frame a story plausibly, or you that can pre¬
tend to some acquaintance with him, report it once,
and we will report it from you, in all companies that
we come into. Do you say it, and we will swear it;
do you set it agoing, and we will follow it.” And
thus both are equally guilty, they that raise, and they
that propagate, the false report. The receiver is as
had as the thief. (2.) They flattered him to his
fire, that they might get something from him, on
which to ground an accusation, as the spies that
came to Christ, feigning themselves to be just men,
Luke xx. 20. — xi. S3, 54. His familiars, that he
conversed freely with, and put a confidence in,
watched for hi\ halting, observed what he said,
which they could by any strained innuendo put a bad
construction upon, and carried it to his enemies.
His case was very sad, when those betrayed him
whom he took to be his friends. They said among
themselves, “If we accost him kindly, and insinu¬
ate ourselves into his acquaintance, peradventure he
will b • enticed to own that he is in confederacy with
the enemv, and a pensioner to the king of Babylon,
or we sh ill wheedle him to speak some treasonable
words; and then sue shall flrevail against hi?n, and
take our revenge on him for telling us of our faults,
and threatening us with the judgments of God.”
Note, Neither the innocence of the dove, no, nor
the prudence of the serpent to help it, can secure
men from unjust censure and false accusation.
II. Here is an account of the temptation he was in,
under this affliction; his feet were almost gone, as
the Psalmist’s, Ps. xxxi. 2. And this is that which is
to be most dreaded in affliction, being driven to it by
sin, Neh. vi. 13.
1. He was tempted to quarrel with God for mak¬
ing him a prophet. This he begins with; (u. 7.) O
Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I svas deceived.
This, as we read it, sounds very harsh. God’s ser¬
vants have been always ready to own that he is a
f lithful M ister, and never cheated them ; and there¬
fore this is the language of Jeremiah’s folly and cor¬
ruption. If, when God called him to be a prophet,
and told him he would stt him over the kingdoms,
( ch . i. 10.) and make him a defenced city, he flat¬
tered himself with an expectation of having uni¬
versal respect paid him as a messenger from heaven,
and living safe and easy, and afterward it proved
otherwise, he must not say that God had deceived
him, but that he had deceived himself; for he knew
how the prophets before him had been persecuted,
and had no reason to expect better treatment. Nay,
God had expressly told him that all the frinces,
/meits, and fieo/ile of the land, svould fight against
Vol. iv. — 3 H
him, ( ch . i. 19.) which he had forgotten, else he
would not h ive 1 lid the blame on God thus. Christ
thus told his disciples wh it opp' sition thev should
meet with, that they might not oe offended, John X vi.
1, 2. But the words may very wi ll be read thus,
Thou hast / lersuaded me, ami I svas fersuaded; it
is the same word that was used, Gen. ix. 27. margin,
God shall fiersuade Ja/ihet. And Prov. xxv. 15
By much forbearance is a Jirince fersuaded. And
Hos. ii. 14. I su !l allure her. And this agrees
best with what follows; “ Thou suast stronger than
I, didst over-persuade me with argument; nay,
didst overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit
upon me, and thou hast frevailed. ” Jeremiah was
very backward to undertake the prophetical office,
he pleaded that he was under age, and unfit for the
ser\ ice; but God overruled his pleas, and told him
that he must go, ch. i. 6, 7. “Now, Lord,” says he,
“since thou hast put this office upon me, why dost
thou not stand by me in it? Had I thrust myself
upon it, I might justly have been in derision; but
why am I so when thou didst thrust me into it. It
was Jeremiah’s infirmity to complain thus of God, as
putting a hardship upon him in calling him to be a
prophet, which he would not have done, had he
considered the lasting honour thereby done him,
sufficient to balance the present contempt he was un¬
der. Note, As long as we see ourselves in the way
of God and duty, it is weakness and foil)', when we
meet with difficulties and discouragements in it, to
wish we had never set out in it.
2. He was tempted to quit his work, and give it
over; partly because he himself met with so much
hardship in it, and partly because those to whom
he was sent, instead of being edified and made bet¬
ter, were exasperated and made worse; (v. 9.)
“ Then I said, Since by prophesying in the name
of the Lord I gain nothing to him or myself but
dishonour and disgrace, I suill not make mention of
him as my Author for any thing I say, ncr sfeak
any more in his name; since my enemies do all they
can to silence me, I will even silence myself, and
speak no more, since I may as well speak to the
stones as to them.” Note, It is strong temptation
to poor ministers to resolve that they will preach no
more, when they see their preaching slighted and
wholly ineffectual. But let people dread putting
their ministers into this temptation. Let not their
labour be in vain with us, lest we provoke them to
say that they will take no more pains with us, and
provoke God to say, They shall take no more.
Vet let not ministers hearken to this temptation, but
go on in their duty, notwithstanding their discourage¬
ments, for this is the more thank-worthy; and
though Israel be not gathered, yet they shall be glo¬
rious.
III. Here is an account of his faithful adherence
to his work, and cheerful dependence on his God,
notwithstanding.
1. He found the grace of God mighty in him to
keep him to his business, notwithstanding the temp¬
tation he was in to throw it up; “/ said, in my
haste, I will sfeak no more "in his name, what I have
in my heart to deliver I will stifle and suppress; but 1
soon found it was in my heart as a burning fire shut
uf in my bones, which glowed inwardly, and must
have vent, it was impossible to smother it; I was like
a man in a burning fever, uneasv, and in a continual
agitation; while I kef t silence from good, my heart
was hot within me, it was fain and grief to me, and
I must speak, that I may be refreshed Ps. xxxix.
2, 3. Job xxxii. 20. While Ikeft silence, my bones
waxed old, Ps. xxxii. 3. See the power of the
spirit of prophecy in those that were actuated by it;
and thus will a holy zeal for God even eat men uf,
and make them forget themselves. I be/iex’ed,
therefore have I sfoken. Jeremiah was soon weary
426
JEREMIAH, XX.
with forbearing to preach, and could not contain
himself; nothing puts faithful ministers to pain so
much as being silenced, nor to terror so much as si¬
lencing themselves. Their convictions will soon
triumph over temptations of that kind; for, Wo is
unto me if I preach not the gospel, whatever it cost
me, 1 Cor. ix. 16. And it is really a mercy to have
the word of God thus mighty in us to overpower our
corruptions.
2. He was assured of God’s presence with him,
which would be sufficient to baffle all the attempts
of his enemies against him; ( v . 11.) “ They say,
We shall prevail against him, the day will un¬
doubtedly be our own; but I am sure that they shall
not prevail, they shall not prosper, I can safely set
them all at defiance, for the Lord is with me, is on
my side, to take my part against them, (Rom. viii.
31.) to protect me from all their malicious designs
upon me. He is with me, to support me and bear
me up under the burthen which now presses me
down. He is with me, to make the word I preach
answer the end he designs, though not the end I de¬
sire. He is with me as a mighty terrible one, to
strike a terror upon them, and so to overcome them. ”
Note, Even that in God which is terrible, is really
comfortable to his servants that trust in him, for it
shall be turned against those that seek to terrify his
people. God’s being a mighty God, bespeaks him
a terrible God to all those that take up arms against
him, or any one that, like Jeremiah, was commis¬
sioned by him. How terrible will the wrath of God
be to those that think to daunt all about them, and
will themselves be daunted by nothing! The most
formidable enemies that act against us, appear des¬
picable when we see the Lord for us as a mighty
terrible one, Neh. iv. 14. Jeremiah speaks now
with a good assurance, “If the Lord be with me,
my persecutors shall stumble, so that when they
pursue me, they shall not overtake me, (Ps. xxvii.
2.) and then they shall be greatly ashamed of their
impotent malice and fruitless attempts. Nay, their
everlasting confusion and infamy shall never be for¬
gotten; they shall not forget it themselves, but it
shall be to them a constant and lasting vexation,
whenever they think of it; others shall not forget it,
but it shall leave upon them an indelible reproach.”
3. He appeals to God against them as a righteous
Judge, and prays judgment upon his cause, v. 12.
He looks upon God as the God that tries the right¬
eous, takes cognizance of them, and of every cause
that they are interested in. He does not judge in
favour of them, with partiality, but tries them, and,
finding that they have right on their side, and their
persecutors wrong them and are injurious to them, he
gives sentence for them. He that tries the righteous,
tries the unrighteous too, and he is very well qualified
to do both. For he sees the reins and the heart, he
certainly knows men’s thoughts and affections, their
aims and intentions, and therefore can pass an un¬
erring judgment on their words and actions. Now
this is the God, (1.) To whom the prophet here
refers himself, and in whose court he lodges his ap¬
peal; Unto thee have I opened my cause. Not but
that God perfectly knew his cause, and all the
merits of it, without his opening; but the cause we
commit to God we must spread before him, he
knows it, but he will know it from us, and allows
us to be particular in the opening of it, not to affect
him, but to affect ourselves. Note, It will be an
ease to our spirits, when we are oppressed and
Durthened, to open our cause to God, and pour out
our complaints before him. (2.) By whom he ex¬
pects to be righted; “ Let me see thy vengeance
upon them; such vengeance as thou thinkest fit to
take for their conviction and my vindication, the
vengeance thou usfest to take on prosecutors.”
Note, Whatever injuries are done us, we must not
study to avenge ourselves, but must leave it to that
God to do it, to whom vengeance belongs, and whc
hath said, I will repay.
4. He greatly rejoices and praises God, in a full
confidence that God would appear for his deliver¬
ance, v. 13. So full is he ot the comfort of God’s
presence with him, the divine protection he is
under, and the divine promise he has to depend
upon, that in a transport of joy he stirs up himself
and others to give God the glory of it; Sing unto
the Lord, praise ye the Lord. Here appears a
great change with him since he began this dis
course; the clouds are blown over, his complaints
all silenced, and turned into thanksgivings. He has
now an entire confidence in that God whom ( v . 7.)
he was distrusting; he stirs up himself to praise
that Name which (v. 9.) he was resolving no more
to make mention of. It was the lively exercise of
faith, that made this happy change, that turned his
sighs into songs, and his tremblings into triumphs.
It is proper to express our hope in God by out
praising him, and our praising God by our singing
to him. That which is the matter of the praise is,
He hath delivered the soul of the poor from the
hand of the evil-doers; he means especially himself,
his own poor soul. “ He hath delivered me for¬
merly when I was in distress, and now of late out
of the hand of Pashur, and he will continue to de¬
liver me, 2 Cor. i. 10. He will deliver my soui
from the sin that I am in danger of falling into,
when I am thus persecuted. He hath delivered me
from the hand of evil-doers, so that they hat e not
gained their point, nor had their will.” Note,
Those that are faithful in well-doing need not fear
those that are spiteful in evil-doing, for they have a
God to trust to, who has well-doers under the hand
of his protection, and evil-doers under the hand of
his restraint.
•
14. Cursed be the day wherein I was
born : let not the day wherein my mother
bare me be blessed. 15. Cursed be the
man who brought tidings to my father, say¬
ing, A man-child is born unto thee; making
him very glad. 16. And let that man be
as the cities which the Lord overthrew,
and repented not ; and let him hear the ciy
in the morning, and the shouting at noon¬
tide; 17. Because he slew me not from
the womb ; or that my mother might have
been my grave, and her womb to be always
great with me. 18. Wherefore came I
forth out of the womb to see labour and
sorrow, that my days should be consumed
with shame ?
What is the meaning of this? Does there proceed
out of the same mouth blessing and cursing? Could
he that said so cheerfully, (v. 13.) Sing unto the
Lord, praise ye the Lord, say so passionately, (v.
14. ) Cursed be the day wherein I was bom ? How
shall we reconcile these? What we have in these
verses the prophet records, I suppose, to his own
shame, as he had recorded that in the forego¬
ing verses, to God’s glory. It seems to be a relation
of the ferment he had been in, while he w,as in the
stocks, out of which by faith and hope he had re¬
covered himself, rather than a new temptation
which he afterwards fell into, and it should come in
like that of David, (Ps. xxxi. 22. ) I said in my haste,
1 am cut off This is also implied, Ps. Ixxvii. 7.
When grace has got the victory, it is good to re¬
member the struggles of corruption, that we may
497
JEREMIAH, XXI.
De ashamed of ourselves and our own folly, may ad¬
mire the goodness of God in not taking us at our
word, and may be warned by it to double our guard
upon our spirits, another time. See here how strong
the temptation was, which the prophet, by divine
assistance, got the victory over, and how far he
yielded to it, that we may not despair, if we through
the weakness of the flesh be at any time thus
tempted. Let us see here,
1. What the prophet’s language was, in this
temptation.
(1.) He fastened a brand of infamy upon his birth-
da}' , as Job did in a heat; (ch. iii. i.) “Cursed be
the day wherein I was born. It was an ill day to
me, [y. 14.) because it was the beginning of sor¬
rows, and an inlet to all this misery.” It is a wish
that he had never been born. Judas in hell had
reason to wish so; (Matth. xxvi. 24.) but no man
on earth has reason to wish so, because he knows
not but that he may yet become a vessel of mercy,
much less has any good man reason to wish so.
Whereas some keep their birth-day, at the return
of the year, with gladness, he will look upon his
birth-day as a melancholy day, and will solemnize
it with sorrows, and will have it looked upon as an
ominous day.
(2.) He wished ill to the messenger that brought
his father the news of his birth, v. 15. It made his
father very glad to hear that he had a child born,
(perhaps it was his first-born,) especially that it was
a man-child, for then being of the family of the
priests, he might live to have the honour of serving
God’s altar; and yet he is ready to curse the man
that brought him the tidings, when perhaps the
father to whom they were brought, gave him a gra¬
tuity for it. Here Mr. Gataker well observes,
“ That parents are often much rejoiced at the birth
of their children, when, if they did foresee what
misery they are horn to, they would rather lament
over them than rejoice in them.” He is very free
and very fierce in the curses he pronounces upon
the messenger of his birth; (it. 16.) “ Let him be as
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which the Lord
utterly overthrew, and repented not, did not in the
least mitigate or alleviate their misery. Let him
hear the cry of the invading, besieging enemy in
the morning, as soon as he is stirring, then let him
take the alarm, and by noon let him hear their
shouting for victory. And thus let him live in con¬
stant terror.”
(2.) He is angry that the fate of the Hebrews’
children in Egypt was not his, that he was not slain
from the womb, that his first breath was not his
last, and that he was not strangled as soon as he
came into the world, v. 17. He wishes the mes¬
senger of his birth had been better employed, and
had been his murderer; nay, that his mother of
whom he was bom, had been, to her great misery,
always with child of him, and so, the womb in
which he was conceived, would have served, with¬
out move ado, as a grave for him to be buried in.
Job intimates a near alliance and resemblance be¬
tween the womb and the grave; (Job i. 21.) JVaked
came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall
I return thither.
(4. ) He thinks his present calamities sufficient to
justify these passionate wishes; ( v . 18.) “ Where¬
fore came I forth out of the womb, where I lay
hid, was hot seen, was not hated, where I lay safe,
and knew no evil, to see all this labour and sorrow,
nay to have my days consumed with shame, to be
continually vexed and abused, to have my life not
only spent in trouble, but wasted and worn away by
trouble?”
2. What use we m?,v make of this. It is not re¬
corded for our imitation, and yet we may learn good
lessons from it.
(1.) See the vanity of human life, and the vexa¬
tion of spirit that attends it. If there were not
another life after this, we should be tempted many
a time to wish that we had never known this, for
our few days here are full of trouble.
(2.) See the folly and absurdity of sinful passion,
how unreasonably it talks when it is suffered to
ramble. What nonsense is it to curse a day — to
curse a messenger for the sake of his message!
What a brutish, barbarous thing for a child to wish
his own mother had never been delivered of him!
See Isa. xlv. 10. We can easily see the folly of it
in others, and should take warning thence to sup¬
press all such intemperate heats and passions in
ourselves, to stifle them at first, and not to suffer
these evil spirits to speak. When the heart is hot,
let the tongue be bridled, Ps. xxxix. 1, 2.
(3.) See the weakness even of good men, who
are but men at the best. See how much those who
think they stand, are concerned to take heed lest
they fall, and to pray daily, Father in heaven, lead
us not into temptation l
CHAP. XXI.
It is plain that the prophecies of this book are not placed
here in the same order in which they were preached ; for
there are chapters after this, which concern Jehoahaz,
Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah, who all reigned before Zede-
kiah, in whose reign the prophecy of this chapter bears
date. Here is, I. The message which Zedekiah sent to
the prophet, to desire him to inquire of the Lord for them,
v. 1, 2. II. The answer which Jeremiah, in God’s name,
sent to that message ; in which, 1. He foretells the cer¬
tain and inevitable ruin of the city, and the fruitlessness
of their attempts for its preservation, v. 3 . . 7. 2. He
advises the people to make the best of bad, by going
over to the king of Babylon, v. 8. . 10. 3. He advises
the king and his family to repent and reform, (v. 11, 12.)
and not to trust to the strength of their city, and grow
secure, v. 13, 14.
1 . r I THE word which came unto Jere-
JL miah from the Lord, when king
Zedeziah sent unto him Pashur the son of
Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maa-
seiah the priest, saying, 2. Inquire, I pray
thee, of the Lord for us; for Nebuchad¬
rezzar king of Babylon maketh war against
us ; if so be that the Lord will deal with us
according to all his wondrous works, that
lie may go up from us. 3. Then said Jere¬
miah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Ze¬
dekiah, 4. Thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, Behold, I will turn back the weapons
of war that are in your hands, wherewith
ye fight against the king of Babylon, and
against the Chaldeans, which besiege you
without the walls, and I will assemble them
into the midst of this city. 3. And I myself
will fight against you with an outstretched
hand, and with a strong arm, even in anger,
and in fuiy, and in great wrath. 6. And I
will smite the inhabitants of this city, both
man and beast : they shall die of a great
pestilence. 7. And afterward, saith the
Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Ju¬
dah, and his servants, and the people, and
such as are left in this city from the pesti¬
lence, from the sword, and from the famine,
into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of
428
JEREMIAH. XXL
Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies,
and into the hand of those that seek their
life: and he shall smite them with the edge
of the sword ; he shall not spare them,
neither have pity, nor have mercy.
Here is,
I. A very humble, decent message which king
Zedekiah sent to Jeremiah the prophet, when he
was in distress. It is indeed charged upon this
Zedekiah, that he humbled not himself before Jere¬
miah the prophet, sfieaking from the mouth of the
Lord; (2 Chron. xxxvi. 12.) he did not always hum¬
ble himself as he did sometimes; he never humbled
himself till necessity forced him to it; he humbled
himself so far as to desire the prophet’s assistance,
but not so far as to take his advice, or to be ruled
by him. Observe,
1. The distress which king Zedekiah was now in;
Nebuchadrezzar made tear u/ion him, not only in¬
vaded (he land, but besieged the city, and now
actually invested it. Note, Those that put the evil
day far from them, will be the more terrified when it
comes upon them: and they who before slighted
God’s ministers, may then perhaps be glad to court
an acquaintance with them.
2. The messengers he sent, Pashur and Zepha-
niah, one belonging to the 5th course of the priests,
the other to the 24th. 1 Chron. xxiv. 9, 18. It was
well that he sent, that he sent persons of rank; it
had been better if he had desired a personal con¬
ference with the prophet, which, no doubt, he might
easily have had if he would so far have humbled
himself. Perhaps these priests were no better than
the rest, and yet, when they were commanded by
the king, they must carry a respectful message to
the prophet, which was both a mortification to them
and an honour to Jeremiah. He had rashly said,
(c/i. xx. IS.) Mu days are consumed with shame;
and yet here wc find that he lived to see better days
than those were, when he made that complaint; now
he appears in reputation. Note, It is folly to say,
when things are bad with us, “They will always be
s i. ” It is possible that those who are despised, may
come to be respected; and it is promised, that those
who honour God, he will honour, and that those
who have afflicted his people, shall bow to them, Isa.
lx. 14.
3. The message itself, Inquire, I pray thee, of
the Lord for us, v. 2. Now that the Chaldean
army was got into their borders, into their bowels,
they were at length convinced that Jeremiah was a
true prophet, though loath to own it, and brought
too late to it. Under this conviction, they desire him
to stand their friend with God, believing him to have
that interest in heaven, which none of their other
prophets had, who had flattered them with hopes
of peace. They now employ Jeremiah, (1.) To
consult the mind of God for them; “ Inquire of the
Lord for us; ask him what course we shall take in
our present strait, for the measures we have hitherto
taken are all broken. ” Note, Those that will not
take the direction of God’s grace, how to get clear
of their sins, would yet be glad of the directions of
his providence, how to get clear of their troubles.
(2.) To seek the favour of God for them: so some
read it; “ Entreat the Lord for us; be an intercessor
for us with God.” Note, Those that slight the
prayers of God’s people and ministers when they
are in prosperity, may perhaps be glad of an interest
in them when they come to be in distress. Give us
of your oil. The benefit they promise themselves,
is, It may be, the Lord will deal with us now accord¬
ing to the wondrous works he wrought for our
fathers, that the enemy may raise the siege, and go
up from us. Observe, [1.] All their care is, to get
I rid of their trouble: not to make their peace with
I God, and be reconciled to him: “ That cur enemv
| may go up from us;” not, “That our God may re¬
turn to us.’’ Thus Pharaoh, (Exod. x. 17.) Entreat
the Lord that he may take away this death. [2. ] All
their h6pe is, that God had done wondrous works
formerly in the deliverance of Jerusalem when Sen¬
nacherib besieged it, at the prayer of Isaiah: so we
are told, 2 Chron. xxxii. 20, 21. And who can tell
but he may destroy these besiegers, (as he did those,)
at the prayer of Jeremiah? But the) did not consider
how different the character of Zedekiah and his
people was from that of Hezekiah and his people:
those were days of general reformation and pietv,
these of general corruption and apostacy. Jerusalem
is now the reverse of what it was then. Note, It is
folly to think that God should do for us while we
hold fast our iniquity, as he did for those that held
fast their integrity.
II. A very startling, cutting reply, which God, by
the prophet, sent to that message. If Jeremiah had
been to have answered the message of himself, we
have reason to think that he would have returned a
comfortable answer, in hope their sending of such a
message was an indication of some good purposes in
them, which he would be glad to make the best of,
for he did not desire the woful day. But God knows
their hearts better than Jeremiah does, and sends
them an answer which hath scarcely one word of
comfort in it. He sends it them in the name of the
Lord God o f Israel, {v. 3.) to intimate to them, that
though God allowed himself to be called the God
o f Israel, and had done great things for Israel for¬
merly, and had still great things in store for Israel,
pursuant to his covenants with them, yet this should
stand the present generation in no stead, who were
Israelites in name only, and not in deed, any more
than God’s dealings with them should cut off his re
lation to Israel as their God. It is here foretold,
1. That God will render all their endeavours for
their own security fruitless and ineffectual; (7'. 4.)
“ I will be so far from teaching your hands to war,
and putting an edge upon your swords, that I will
turn back the weapons of war that are in your hand,
when you sally out upon the besiegers to beat the m
off, so that they shall not give the stroke you design;
nay, they shall recoil into your own faces, and Ire
turned upon yourselves.” Nothing can make fri
those who have God against them.
2. That the besiegers shall in a little time make
themselves masters of Jerusalem, and of all its wealth
and strength; I will assemble them in the midst of
this city, who are now surrounding it. Note, If that
place, which should have been a centre of devotion,
be made a centre of wickedness, it is not strange if
God make it a rendezvous of destroyers.
3. That God himself will be their Enemy; and
then I know not who can befriend them, no, not
Jeremiah himself; (v. 5.) “I will be so far from
protecting vou, as 1 have done formerly in a like
case, that I myself will .fight against you. ” No te,
Those who rebel against God may justly expect that
he will make war upon them; and that. (1.) With
the power of a God who is irresistibly victorious; 7
will fight against you with an outstretched hard,
which will reach far, and with a strong arm. which
will strike home, and wound deep. (2.) With the
displeasure of a God, who is indisputably righteous.
It is a correction in love, but an execution in anger,
and in fury, and in great wrath; it is upon a sen¬
tence sworn in wrath, against which there will lie
no exception; and it will soon be found what a fear¬
ful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God.
4. That those who, for their own safety, decline
sallying out upon the besiegers, and so avoid their
sword, shall yet not escape the sword of God’s jus
tice; (v. 6.) I will smite those that abide in the city.
420
JEREMIAH, XXI.
(so it may be read,) both man and beast; both the
beasts that are for food, and those that tire for ser-
the enemies are encamped about them. Though
Jerusalem’s gates and walls may for a time keep out
the Chaldeans, they cannot keep out God’s judg¬
ments. His arrows of pestilence can reach those
til it 11111111 themselves sate from other arrows.
5. That the king himself, and all the people that
escape the sword, famine, and J lestilence , shall fall
into the hands of the Chaldeans, who shall cut them
off in cold blood; {v. 7.) They shall not spare them,
nor have pity on them. Let not them expect to find
mercy with men, who have forfeited God’s compas¬
sions, and shut themselves out from his mercy.
Thus was the decree gone forth; and then to what
purpose was it for Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord
for them?
8. And unto this people thou shalt say.
Thus saitli the Lord ; Behold, I set before
you the way of life, and the way of death,
tl. He that abideth in this city shall die by
the sword, and by the famine, and by the
pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth
to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall
live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
10. For I have set my face against this city,
lor evil, and not for good, saitli the Lord ;
it shall be given into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 1 1.
And touching the house of the king of Judah,
say. Hear ye the word of the Lord: 12. O
house of David, thus saith the Lord, Exe¬
cute judgment in the morning, and deliver
him that is spoiled out of the hand of the
oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and
burn that none can quench it, because of
the evil of your doings. 13. Behold, I am
against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and
rock of the plain, saith the Lord; which
say, Who shall come down against us ? or
who shall enter into our habitations ? 14.
But I will punish you according to the fruit
of your doings, saith the Lord : and I will
kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall
devour all things round about it.
By the civil message which the king sent to Jere¬
miah, it appeared that both he and the people began
to have a respect for him, which it had been Jere¬
miah’s policy to make some advantage of for him¬
self; but the reply which God obliges him to make,
is enough to crush the little respect they begin to
have for him, and to exasperate them against him
more than ever. Not only the predictions in the
foregoing verses, but the prescriptions in these, were
provoking; for here,
1. He advises the people to surrender and desert
to the Chaldeans, as the only means left them to
save their lives, v. 8. — 10. This counsel was very
displeasing to those who were flattered by their false
prophets into a desperate resolution to hold out to
the last extremity, trusting to the strength of their
walls and courage of their soldiery, to keep out the
enemy, or to their foreign aids to raise the siege.
The prophet assures them, “ The city shall be given
into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall
aot only plunder it, but burn it with fire, fur God
himself hath set his face against this city for evil,
and not for good, to lay it waste, and not to protect
h, for evil which shall have no good mixed with it,
no mitigation or merciful allay; and therefore if viu
would make the best of bad, you must beg quarter
ot the Chaldeans, and surrender prisoners il war.”
In vain did Rabshakeh persuade the Jews to do this
while they had find for them, (Isa. xxxvi. 16.) but
it was the best course they could take now that God
was against them. Both the law and the prophets
had often set before them life and death in another
sense — life, if they obey the voice of God, death, if
they persist in disobedience, Unit. xxx. 19. But
they had slighted that life which wiuld have made
them truly happy, to upbraid them with which the
prophet here uses the same expression; (v. 8.) Be¬
hold, I set before you the way of life and the way of
death, which denotes not, as that, a fair proposal,
but a melancholy dilemma, advising them of two
evils to choose the least; and that lesser evil, a
shameful and wretched captivity, is all the life now
left for them to propose to themselves. He that
abides in the c ty, and trusts to that to secure them,
shall certainly die either by the sword without the
walls, or famine or* pestilence within. But he that
can so far bring down his spirit, and quit his vain
hopes, as to go out, and fall to the Chaldeans, his life
shall be given him for a prey; he shall save his life,
but with much difficulty and hazard, as a prey is
taken from the mighty. It is an expression like
that, He shall be saved, yet so as by fire. He shall
escape, but very narrowly; or, he shall have such
surprising joy and satisfaction in escaping with his
life from such a universal destruction, as shall equal
theirs that divide the spoil. They thought to have
made a prey of the camp of the Chaldeans, as their
ancestors did that of the Assyrians, (Isa. xxxiii. 2 3. )
but they will be sadly disappointed; if by yielding at
discretion they can but save their lives’, that is all
the prey they must promise themselves. No-.v one
would think this advice from a prophet, in God’s
name, should have gained some credit with them,
and been universally followed; but, for aught that
appears, there were few or none that took it; so
wretchedly were their hearts hardened to their
destruction.
2. He advises the king and princes to reform, and
make conscience of the duty ot their place. Because
it was the king that sent the message to him, in the
reply there shall be a particular word for the house
of the king, not to compliment or court them, (that
was no part of a prophet’s business, no not when
they did him the honour to send to him,) but to give
them wholesome counsel; (v. 11, 12.) “Execute
judgment in the morning; do it carefully and dili¬
gently. Those magistrates that would fill up their
place with duty, had need rise betimes. Do it
quickly, and do not delay to do justice upon appeals
made to you, and tire out poor petitioners as you
have done. Do not lie in your beds in a morning,
to sleep away the debauch of the night before, nor
spend the morning in pampering the body, (as those
princes, Eccl. x. 16.) but spend it in the despatch
of business. You would be delivered out of the hand
of those that distress you, and expect that therein
God should do you justice; see then that you do jus¬
tice to those that apply themselves to you, and de¬
liver them out of the hand of their oppressors, lot
my fury go out like fire against you in a particular
maimer, and you fare worst, who think to escape
best, becauseof the evil of your doings.” Now, (1.)
This intimates that it was their neglect to do their
duty, that brought all this desolation upon the peo¬
ple. It was the evil of their doings, that kindled
the fire of God’s wrath. Tims plainly does he deal
even with the house of the king; fir those that would
have the henefitnf a prophet’s prayers, must thank-
430 JEREMIAH, XXII.
fully take a prophet’s reproofs. (2.) This directs
them to take the right method for a national refor¬
mation. The princes must begin, and set a good
example, and then the people will be invited to re¬
form. They must use their power for the punish¬
ment of wrong, and then the people will be obliged
to reform. He reminds them that they are the Ho use
of David, and therefore should tread in his steps,
who executed judgment and justice to his people.
(3.) This gives them some encouragement to hope
that there may yet be a lengthening of their tran¬
quillity, Dan. iv. 27. If any thing will recover their
state from the brink of ruin, this will.
3. He shows them the vanity of all their hopes so
long as they continued unreformed, v. 13, 14. Jeru¬
salem is an inhabitant of the valley, guarded with
mountains on all sides, which were their natural
fortifications, making it difficult for an army to ap¬
proach them. It is a rock of the plain, which made
it difficult for an armv to undermine them. These
advantages of their situation they trusted to more
than to the power and promise of God; and thinking
their city by these means to be impregnable, they
set the judgments of God at defiance, saying, “ Who
shall come down against us? None of our neighbours
dare make a descent upon us; or, if they do, who
shall enter into our habitations?” They had some
colour for this confidence; for it appears to have
been the sense of all their neighbours that no enemy
could force his way into Jerusalem, Lam. iv. 12.
But those are least safe, that are most secure. God
soon shows the vanity of that challenge, Who shall
come down against us? when he says, ( v . 13.) De-
hold, Jam against thee. They had indeed by their
wickedness driven God out of their city, when he
would have tarried with them as a Friend; but they
could not by their bulwarks keep him out of their
city, when he came against them as an Enemy. If
God be for us, who can be against us? But if he be
against us, who can be for us, to stand us in any
stead? Nay, he comes against them not as an Enemy
that may lawfully and with some hope of success be
resisted, but as a Judge that cannot be resisted; for
he says, ( v . 14.) I will furnish you, by due course
of law, according to the fruit of your doings, ac¬
cording to the merit of them, and the direct tendency
of them. That shall be brought upon you, which
is the natural product of sin. Nay, he will not only
come with the anger of an enemy, and the justice ot‘
a judge, but with the force of a consuming fire,
which has no compassion, as a judge sometimes has,
nor spares anv thing combustible, that comes in its
way. Jerusalem is become a forest, in which God
will kindle a fire that shall consume all before it;
for our God is himself a consuming Fire; and who
is able to stand in his sight, when once he is
angry.
CHAP. XXII.
Upon occasion of the message sent in the foregoing chap¬
ter to the house of the kino;, we have here recorded some
sermons which Jeremiah preached at court, in some
preceding reigns, that it might appear they had had fair
warning long before that fatal sentence was pronounced
upon them, and were put in a way to have prevented it.
Here is, 1. A message sent to the royal family, as it
should seem, in the reign of Jehoiakim, relating partly
to Jehoahaz, who was carried away captive into Egypt,
and partly to Jehoiakim, who succeeded him, and was
now upon the throne. The king and princes are ex¬
horted to execute judgment, and are assured that, if they
do so, the royal family should flourish, but otherwise it
should be ruined, v. 1 . .9. Jehoahaz, called here, Slml-
lum, is lamented, v. 10. .12. Jehoiakim is reproved and
threatened, v. 13. . 19. II. Another message sent them
in the reign of Jehoiachin, alias Jeconiah, the son of
Jehoiakim. He is charged with an obstinate refusal to
hear, and is threatened with destruction, and it is fore¬
told -Pat in him Solomon’s house should fail, v. 20 . . 30.
l.r|',HUS saith the Lord, Go down to
JL the house of the king of Judah, and
speak there this word, 2. And say, Hear
the word of the Lord, O king of Judah,
that sittest upon the throne of David, tin u,
and thy servants, and thy people that enter
in by these gates; 3. Thus saith the Lord,
Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and
deliver the spoiled out of the hand of tiie
oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence
to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow,
neither shed innocent blood in this place.
4. For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall
there enter in by the gates of this house
kings, sitting upon the throneof David, riding
in chariots and on horses, he, and his ser¬
vants, and his people. 5. But if ye will not
hear these words, I swear by vnyself, saith
the Lord, that this house shall become a
desolation. 6. For thus saith the Lord
unto the king’s house of Judah, Thou art
Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon :
yet surely I will make thee a wilderness,
and cities which are not inhabited. 7. .And
I will prepare destroyers against thee, every
one with his weapons; and they shall cut
down thy choice cedars, and cast them into
the fire. 8. And many nations shall pass
by this city, and they shall say every man
to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the Lord
done thus unto this great city? 9. Then
they shall answer, Because they have for¬
saken the covenant of the Lord their God,
and worshipped other gods, and served them.
Here we have,
I. Orders given to Jeremiah to preach before the
king. In the chapter before, Zedekiah sent mes¬
sengers to the prophet, but here the prophet is bid¬
den to go, in his own proper person, to the house of
the king, and demand his attention to the word of
the King of kings; ( v . 2.) //- ar the word of the
Lord, O king of Judah. Subjects must own, that
where the word of a king is, there is power over
them; but kings must own, that where the word of
the Lord is, there is power over them. The king
of Judah is here spoken to, as sitting ufion the
throne of David, who was a man after God’s own
heart, as holding their dignity and power by the co¬
venant made with him; let them therefore conform
to his example, that they may have the benefit of
the promises made to him. With the king his ser¬
vants are spoken to, because a good government
depends upon a good ministry as well as a good king.
II. Instructions given him what to preach.
1. He must tell them what was their duty, what
was the good which the Lord their God required of
them, v. 3. They must take care, (1.) That they
do all the good they can with the power they have.
They must do justice, in defence of those that were
injured, and must deliver the spoiled out of the hand
of their oppressors. This was the duty of their
place, Ps. lxxxii. 3. Herein they must be minis¬
ters of God for good. (2.) That they do no hurt
with it, no wrong, no violence. That is the great¬
est wrong and violence, which is d< ne under cclom
of law and justice, and by those whose busitv ;s h
is to punish and protect from wrong and violen. c
431
JEREMIAH, XXII.
They must do no wrong to the stranger, fatherless,
and widow, for these God does in a particular man¬
ner patronize, and take under his tuition, Exod.
xxii. 21, 22.
2. He must assure them that the faithful dis¬
charge of their duty would advance and secure their
prosperity, v. 4. There shall then be a succession
of kings, an uninterrupted succession, upon the
throne of David, and ot his line; these enjoying a
perfect tranquillity, and living in great state and
dignity, riding on chariots, and horses, as before,
ch. xvii. 25. Note, The most effectual way to pre¬
serve the dignity of the government, is, to do the
duty of it.
3. He must likewise assure them that the iniquity
of their family, if they persisted in it, would be the
ruin of their family, though it was a royal family;
(t». 5.) If ye will not hear, will not obey, this house
shall become a desolation, the palace of the kings
of Judah shall fare no better than other habitations
in Jerusalem. Sin has often been the ruin of royal
palaces, though ever so stately, ever so strong.
This sentence is ratified by an oath; I swear by my¬
self, (and God can swear by no greater, Heb. vi.
13.) that this house shall be laid in ruins. Note,
Sin will be the ruin of the houses of princes as well
as of mean men.
4. He must show how fatal their wickedness
would be to their kingdom as well as to themselves,
to Jerusalem especially, the royal city, d. 6. — 9. (1.)
It is confessed that Judah arid Jerusalem had been
valuable in God’s eyes, and considerable in their
own; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Le¬
banon. Their lot was cast in a place that was rich
and pleasant as Gilead; Zion was a strong hold, as
stately as Lebanon: this they trusted to as their se¬
curity. But, (2.) This shall not protect them; the
country that is now fruitful as Gilead, shall be made
a wilderness. The cities that are now strong as
Lebanon, shall be cities not inhabited; and when the
country is laid waste, the cities must be dispeopled.
See how easily God’s judgments can ruin a nation,
and how. certainly sin will do it.
When this desolating work is to be done, [1.]
There shall be those that shall do it effectually ; (y.
7.) “I will prepare destroyers against thee; I will
sanctify them,” (so the word is,) “ I will appoint
them to this service and use them in it. ” Note,
When destruction is designed, destroyers are pre¬
pared, and perhaps are in the preparing, and things
are working toward the designed destruction, and
are getting ready for it, long before. And who can
contend with the destroyers of God’s preparing?
They shall destroy cities as easily as men fell trees
in a forest; They shall cut down thy choice cedars;
and yet, when they are down, shall value them no
more than thorns or briers; they shall cast them into
the fire, for their choicest cedars are become rotten
ones, and good for nothing else. [2.] There shall
be those who shall be ready to justify God in the
doing of it; (n. 8, 9.) persons of many nations,
when they pass by the ruins of this city in their tra¬
vels, will ask, “ Wherefore hath the Lord done thus
unto this city? How came so strong a city to be
overpowered? So rich a city to be impoverished?
So populous a city to be depopulated? So holy a city
to be profaned? And a city that had been so dear to
God, to be abandoned by him? The reason is so
obvious, that it shall be ready in every man’s mouth.
Ask them that go by the way. Job xxi. 29. Ask the
next man you meet, and he will tell you it was be¬
cause they changed their gods, which other nations
never used to do. They forsook the covenant of Je¬
hovah their own God, revolted from their allegiance
to him, and from the duty which their covenant
with him bound them to, and they worshipped other
gods, and served them, in contempt of him; and
therefore he gave them up to this destruction. Note,
God never casts any off until they first cast him ofl.
“Go,” says God to the prophet, “and preach this
to the loyal family.”
10. Weep ye not for the dead, neither be¬
moan him; but weep sore for him that goeth
away: for he shall return no more, nor see
his native country. 11. For thus saith the
Lord touching Shallum the son of Josiah
king of Judah, which reigned instead of Jo¬
siah his father, which went forth out of this
place, He shall not return thither any more :
12. But he shall die in the place whither
they have led him captive, and shall see this
land no more. 1 3. Wo unto him that build-
eth his house by unrighteousness, and his
chambers by wrong ; that useth his neigh¬
bour’s service without wages, and giveth
him not for his work; 14. That saith, I w ill
build me a wide house, and large chambers,
and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled
with cedar, and painted with vermilion!
15. Shalt thou reign because thou closest
thyself in cedar? Did not thy father eat and
drink, and do judgment and justiecywr? then
it was well with him ? 16. He judged the
cause of the poor and needy ; then it was
well with him: was not this to know me?
saith the Lord. 17. But thine eyes and
thy heart are not but for thy covetousness,
. and for to shed innocent blood, and for op¬
pression, and for violence to do it. 1 8. There¬
fore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoia-
kim the. son of Josiah king of Judah, They
shall not lament for him, saying , Ah my
brother ! or, Ah sister ! they shall not la¬
ment for him, saying , Ah lord ! or, Ah his
glory ! 19. He shall be buried with the bu¬
rial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond
the gates of Jerusalem.
Kings, though they are gods to us, are men tc
God, and shall die like men; so it appears in these
verses, where we have a sentence of death past upon
two kings who reigned successively in Jerusalem,
two brothers, and both the ungracious sons of a
very pious father.
I. Here is the doom of Shallum, who doubtless is
the same with Jehoahaz, for he is that son of Josiah,
king of Judah, who reigned in the stead of Josiah
his father, (n. 11.) which Jehoahaz did by the act
of the people who made him king, though he was
not the eldest son, 2 Kings xxiii. 30. 2 Chron. xxxvi.
1. Among the sons of Josiah (1 Chron. iii. 15.)
there is one Shallum mentioned, and not Jehoahaz.
Perhaps the people preferred him before his elder
brother, because they thought him a more active,
daring young man, and fitter to rule; but God soon
showed them the folly of their injustice, and that it
could not prosper, for within three months the
kings of Egypt came upon them, deposed him, and
carried him away prisoner into Egypt, as God had
threatened, Deut. xxviii. 68. It does not appear
that any of the people were taken into captivity
with him. We have the story, 2 Kings xxiii. 34. 2
Chron. xxxvi. 4. Now here,
1. The people are directed to lament him rather
432
JEREMIAH, XXIT.
than his father Josiah; “Weep, not for the dead,
weep not any more for Josiah. ” Jeremiah had been
himself a true mourner for him, and had stirred up
the people to mourn for him; (2 Chron. xxxv. 25.)
yet now he will have them go out of mourning for
him, though it was but three months after his death,
and to turn their tears into another channel, they
must weep sore for Jehoahaz, who is gone into Egypt;
not that there was any great loss of him to the pub¬
lic, as there was of his father, but that his case was
much more deplorable. Josiah went to the grave
in peace and honour, was prevented from seeing
the evil to come in this world, and removed to see
the good to come in the other world; and therefore,
Weep not for him, but for his unhappy son, who is
likely to live and die in disgrace and misery, a
wretched captive. Note, Dying saints may be justly
envied, while living sinners are justly pitied. Anil
so dismal perhaps the prospect of the times may be,
that tears even tor a Josiah, even for a Jesus, must
be restrained, that they may be reserved for our¬
selves and for our children, Luke xxiii. 28.
2. The reason given is, because he shall never
return out of captivity, as he and his people expect¬
ed, but shall die there. They were loath to believe
this, therefore it is repeated here again and again,
he shall return no more, v. 10. He shall never have
the pleasure of seeing his native country, but shall
have the continual grief of hearing of the desola¬
tions of it. He is gone forth out of this place, and
shall never return, v. 11. He shall die in the place
whither they have led him captive, v. 12. This
came of his forsaking the good example of his fa¬
ther, and usurping the right of his elder brother.
In Ezekiel’s lamentation for the princes of Israel,
this Jehoahaz is represented as a young lion, that
soon learned to catch the prey, but was taken, and
brought in chains to Egypt, and was long expected
to return, but in vain. See Ezek. xix. 3. — 5.
II. Here is the doom of Jehoiakim, who succeed¬
ed him. Whether he had any better right to the
crown than Shallum, we know not; for though he
was elder than his predecessor, there seems to be
another son of Josian, elder than he, called Johan-
an, 1 Chron. iii. 15. But this we know, he ruled
no better, and fared no better at last. Here is,
1. His sins faithfully reproved. It is not fit for a '
rivate person to say to a king, Thou art wicked;
ut a prophet, who has a message from God, be¬
trays his trust if he does not deliver it, be it ever
so unpleasing, even to kings themselves. Jehoia¬
kim is not here charged with idolatry, and, proba¬
bly, he had not yet put Urijah the prophet to death,
(as we find afterward he did, ch. xxvi. 22, 23.) for
then he would have been told of it here; but the
crimes for which he is here reproved, are, (1.)
Pride, and affectation of pomp and splendour; as if
the business of a king were to look great, and to do
good were to be the least of his care. He must
build him a stately palace, a wide house, and large
chambers, v. 14. He must have windows cut out
after the newest fashion, perhaps like sash-windows
with us. The rooms must be ceiled with cedar, the
richest sort of wood. His house must be as well
roofed and wainscotted as the temple itself, or else
it will not please him, 1 Kings vi. 15, 16. Nay, it
must exceed that, for it must be painted with mini¬
um, or vermilion, which dyes red, or, as some read
it, with indigo, which dyes blue. No doubt, it is
lawful for princes and great men to build and beau¬
tify and furnish their houses, so as is agreeable to
their dignity; but he that knows what is in man,
knew that Jehoiakim did this in the pride of his
heart, which makes that to be sinful, exceeding
sinful, which is in itself lawful. Those therefore
that are enlarging their houses, and making them
more sumptuous, have need to look well to the
frame of their own spirits in the doing of it, and
carefully to watch against all the workings of vain¬
glory. But that which was particularly amiss in
Jehoiakim’s case, was, that he did this when he
could not but perceive, both by the word of God,
and by his providence, that divine judgments were
breaking in upon him. He reigned his three first
years by the permission and allowance of the king
! of Egypt, and all the rest by the permission and
allowance of the king of Babylon; and yet he that
was no better than a viceroy, will covet to vie with
the greatest monarch in building and furniture. Ob¬
serve how peremptory he is in this resolution; “1
will build me a wide house; I am resolved I will,
whoever advises me to the contrary.” Note, It is
the common folly of those that are sinking in their
estates, to covet to make a fair show. Many have
unhumbled hearts under humbling providences, and
look most haughty then when God is bringing them
down. This is striving with our Maker. (2.) Car¬
nal security and confidence in his wealth, depend¬
ing upon the continuance of his prosperity, as if his
mountain now stood so strong, that it could never
I be moved. He thought he must reign without any
disturbance or interruption, because he had closed
himself in cedar, (v. 15.) as if that were too fine
to be assaulted, and too strong to be broken through,
and as if God himself could not, for pity, give up
such a stately house as that to be burned. Thus
when Christ spake of the destruction of the tem¬
ple, his disciples came to him, to show him what a
magnificent structure it was, Matth. xxiii. 38. —
xxiv. 1. Note, Those wretchedly deceive them¬
selves, who think their present prosperity is a last¬
ing security, and dream of reigning, because they
are enclosed in cedar. It is but in his own conceit,
that the rich man’s wealth is his strong city. (3.)
Some think he is here charged with sacrilege, and-
robbing the house of God to beautify and adorn his
own house. He cuts him out my windows; so it is
in the margin; which some understand as if he had
taken windows out of the temple to put into his own
palace, and then painted them (as it follows) with
vermilion, that it might not be discovered, but
might look of a piece with his own building. Note,
Those cheat themselves, and ruin themselves at
last, who think to enrich themselves by robbing
God and his house; and however they may disguise
it, God discovers it. (4.) He is here charged with
extortion and oppression, violence and injustice.
He built his house by unrighteousness, with money
unjustly got, and materials which were not honestly
come by, and perhaps upon ground obtained as
Ahab obtained Naboth’s vineyard. And beemse
he went beyond what he could afford, he defraided
his workmen of their wages, which is one of the
sins that cries in the ears of the Lord of hosts, Jam.
v. 4. God takes notice of the wrong done by the
greatest of men to their poor servants and labourers,
and will repay them, in justice, that will not in jus¬
tice pay those whom they employ, but use their
neighbour’s service without wages. Observe, The
greatest of men must look upon the meanest as their
neighbours, and be just to them accordingly, and
love them as themselves. Jehoiakim was oppres¬
sive, not only in his buildings, but in the administra¬
tion of his government. He did not do justice, made
no conscience of shedding innocent blood, when it
was to serve the purposes of his ambition, avarice,
and revenge. He was all for oppression and vio¬
lence; not to threaten it only, but to do it; and when
he was set upon any act of injustice, nothing should
stop him, but he would go through with it. And
that which was at the bottom of all, was, covetous¬
ness, that love of money, which is the root of all evil.
Thine eyes and thine heart are not but for covetous¬
ness; they were for that, and nothing else. Observe,
435
JEREMIAH, XXII.
In covetousness the heart walks after the eyes: it is
therefore called Me lust of t lie eye, 1 John ii. 16. Job
xxxi. 7. It is setting the eyes upon that which is
not, Prov. xxxiii. 5. The eyes and the heart are
then for covetousness, when the aims and affections
are wholly set upon the wealth of this world; and
where they are so, the temptation is strong to mur¬
der, oppression, and all manner of violence and
villany. (5 A That which aggravated all his sins,
was, that he was the son of a good father, who had
left him a good example, if he would but have fol¬
lowed it; (v. 15, 16.) Did not thy father eat and
drink? When Jehoiakim enlarged and enlightened
hjs house, it is probable that he spake scornfully of
his father for contenting himself with such a mean
and inconvenient dwelling, below the grandeur of a ;
sovereign prince, and ridiculed him as one that had
:t dull fancy, a low spirit, that could not find in his
heart to lay out his money, nor cared for what was
fashionable; that should not serve him, that served
his father: but God, by the prophet, tells him that
his father, though he had not the spirit of building,
was a man of an excellent spirit, a better man than
he, and did better for himself and his family. Those
children that despise their parents’ old fashions,
commonly come short of their real excellencies.
Jeremiah tells him,
[1.] That he was directed to do his duty by his
father’s practice; He did judgment and justice; he
never did wrong to any of his subjects, never op¬
pressed them, or put any hardship upon them, but
was careful' to preserve all their just rights and pro¬
perties. Nay, he not only did not abuse his power
for the support of wrong, but he used it for the
maintaining of right. He judged the cause of the
floor and needy, was ready to hear the cause of the
meanest of his subjects, and do them justice. Note,
The care of magistrates must be, not to support
their grandeur and take their ease, but to do good;
not only not to oppress the poor themselves, but to
defend those that are oppressed.
[2.] That he was encouraged to do his duty by
his father’s prosperity. First, God accepted him;
“ IVas not this to know me, saith the Lord? Did he
not hereby make it to appear that he rightly knew
his God, and worshipped him, and, consequently,
was known and owned of him?” Note, The right
knowledge of God consists in doing our duty, par¬
ticularly that which is the duty of our place and
station in the world. Secondly, He himself had the
comfort of it; Did he not eat and drink soberly and
cheerfully, so as to fit himself for his business,
for strength, and not for drunkenness? Eccl. x. 17.
He did eat, and drink, and do judgment; he did
not (as perhaps Jehoiakim and his princes did)
drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment >
of the afflicted, Prov. xxxi. 5. He did eat and
drink; God blessed him with great plenty, and he
had the comfortable enjoyment of it himself, and
gave handsome entertainments to his friends, was
very hospitable, and very charitable. It was Je-
hoiakini’s pride, that he had built a fine house, but
Josiah’s true praise, that he kept a good house.
Many times those have least in them of true gene¬
rosity, that have the greatest affection for pomp and
grandeur; for, to support the extravagant expense
of that, hospitality, bounty to the poor, yea, and
justice itself, will be pinched. It is better to live
with Josiah in an old-fashioned house, and do good,
than live with Jehoiakim in a stately house, and
leave debts unpaid. Josiah did justice and judg¬
ment, and then it was well with him; (v. 15.) and
it is repeated again, v. 16. He lived very com¬
fortably, his own subjects, and all his neighbours,
respected him; and, whatever he put his hand to,
prospered. Note, While we do well, we may ex¬
pect it will be well with us. This Jehoiakim knew,
VOL. IV — 3 I
that his father found the way of duty to be the way
of comfort, and yet he would not tread in his steps.
Note, It should engage us to keep up religion in
our day, that our godly parents kept it up in theirs,
and recommended it to us from their own experi¬
ence of the benefit of it. They told us that they
had found the promises which godliness has, of the
life that now is made good to them, and that reli¬
gion and piety are friendly to outward prosperity.
So that we are inexcusable, if we turn aside from
that good way.
2. Here we have Jelioiakim’s doom faithfully
read, v. 18, 19. We may suppose that it was in
the utmost peril of his own life, that Jeremiah here
foretold the shameful death of Jehoiakim; but Th us
saith the Lord concerning him, and therefore thus
saith he; (1.) He shall die unlamentcd; he shall
make himself so odious by his oppression and cru¬
elty, that all about him shall be glad to part with
him, and none shall do him the honour of dropping
one tear for him; whereas his father, who did judg¬
ment and justice, was universally lamented; and it
is promised to Zedekiah, that he should be lamented
at his death, for he conducted himself better than
Jehoiakim had done, ch. xxxiv. 5. His relations
shall not lament him, no, not with the common ex¬
pressions of grief used at the funeral of the meanest,
where they cried, Ah, my brother! or, Ah, sister!
His subjects shall not lament him, nor cry cut, as
they used to do at the graves of their princes, Ah,
lord! or, Ah, his glory! It is sad for any to live so,
that, when they die, none will be 'sorry to part with
them. Nay, (2.) He shall lie unburie'd; this is
worse than the former. Even those that have no
tears to grace the funerals of the dead with, would
willingly have them buried out of their sight; but
Jehoiakim shall be buried with the burial of an ass,
he shall have no burial at all, but his dead body
shall be cast into a ditch, or upon a dunghill ; it shall
be drawn, or dragged, ignominiously, and cast forth
beyond the gates of Jerusalem. It is said, in the
story of Jehoiakim, (2 Chron. xxxvi. 6.) that Ne¬
buchadnezzar bound him in fetters, to carry him to
Babylon, and (Ezek. xix. 9.) that he was brought
in chains to the king of Babylon. But it is probable
that he died a prisoner, before he was carried away
to Babylon, as was intended; perhaps he died for
grief, or, in the pride of his heart, hastened his own
end, and, for that reason, was denied a decent burial,
as self-murderers usually are with us. Josephus
says that Nebuchadnezzar slew him at Jerusalem,
and left his body thus exposed, somewhere at a
great distance from the gates of Jerusalem. And it
is said, (2 Kings xxiv. 6. ) He slept with his fathers.
When he built himself a stately house, no doubt he
designed himself a stately sepulchre; but see how
he was disappointed. Note, Those that are lifted
up with great pride, are commonly reserved for
some great disgrace in life or death.
20. Go up to Lebanon, anti cry ; and lift
up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the
passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
21. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity ; but
thou saidst, I will not hear : this hath been
thy manner from thy youth, that thou obey-
edst not my voice. 22. The wind shall eat
up all thy pastures, and thy lovers shall go
into captivity: surely then shalt thou be
ashamed and confounded for all thy wick¬
edness. 23. O inhabitant of Lebanon, that
makest thy nest in the cedars, how gnu ious
shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee.
434
JEREM.AH, XXfl.
the pain as of a woman in travail ! 24. As I
live, saith the Loud, though Coniah the son
of Jehoiakini king of Judah were the signet
upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee
thence ; 25. And 1 will give thee into the
hand of them that seek thy life, and into the
hand of them whose face thou fearest, even
into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Ba¬
bylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother
that bare thee, into another country, where
ye were not born ; and there shall ye die.
27. But to the land whereunto they desire
to return, thither shall they not return.
28. Is this man Coniah a despised broken
idol ? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure ?
wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed,
and are cast into a land which they know
not? 29. O earth, earth, earth, hear the word
of the Lord: 30. Thus saith the Lord,
Write ye this man childless, a man that shall
not prosper in his days: for no man of his
seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne
of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
This prophecy seems to have been calculated for
the ungracious, inglorious reign of Jeconiah, or Je-
hoiakin, the somof Jehoiakini, who succeeded him
in the government, reigned but three months, and
was then carried captive to Bab) Ion, where he lived
many years, Jer. lii. 31. We have, in these verses,
a prophecy,
I. Of the desolations of the kingdom, which were
now hastening on apace, v. 20.— 23. Jerusalem
and Judah are here spoken to, or the Jewish state
as a single person, and we have it here under a
threefold character.
1. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety; i
(v. 21.) “ I spake unto thee in thy prosperity ; spake, f
by my servants the prophets, reproofs, admonitions, !
counsels, but thou saidst, I will not hear, I will not !
heed, thou obeyedst not my voice, and wast resolved
that thou wouldest not, and hadst the front to tell me |
so.” It is common for those that live at ease, to live
in contempt of the word of God; Jeshurun waxed
fat, and kicked. This is so much the worse, that
they had it by kind; This has been thy manner from
thy youth. They were called transgressors from
the womb, Isa. xlviii. 8.
2. Verv timorous upon the alarms of trouble; (x>.
20.) “When thou seest all thy lovers destroyed,
when thou findest thine idols unable to help thee,
and thy foreign alliances failing thee, thou wilt then
go up to Lebanon, and cry, as one undone, and giv¬
ing up all for lost, cry with a bitter cry; thou wilt
cry, Help, help, or we are lost; thou wilt lift up thy
voice in fearful shrieks, upon Lebanon and Bashan,
two high hills, in hope to be heard from thence by
the advantage of the rising ground. Thou wilt cry
from the passages, from the roads, where thou wilt
ever and anon be in distress.” Thou wilt cry from i
Abarim; so some read it, as a proper name, a fa- ;
mous mountain in the border of Moab. “ Thou
wilt cry, as those that are in great consternation use
to do, to all about thee; but in vain, for, (n. 22.) 1
the wind shall eat tip all thy pastors, or rulers, that
should protect and lead thee, and provide for thy
safety: they shall be blasted, and withered, and
brought to nothing, as buds and blossoms arc by a \
bleak or freezing wind; they shall be devoured sud- j|
deni)-, insensibly, and irresistibly, as fruits b\ the
wind. Thy lovers, that thou dependest upon, and
hast an affection for, shall go into captivitu, and
shall be so far from saving thee, that they shall not
be able to save themselves.”
3. Very tame under the heavy and lasting pres¬
sures ot trouble; “When there appears no relief
from any of thy confederates, and thy own priests
are at a loss, then shalt thou be asheyned'and con¬
founded for all thy wickedness, v. 22. Note, Many
will never be ashamed of their sins till they arc
brought by them to tlie last extremity ; and it is well
if we get this good by our straits, ‘bv them to be
brought to confession for our sins. The Jewish state
is here called an inhabitant of Lebanon, because
that famous forest was within their border, (x’. 23.)
and all their country was wealthy, and well guarded
as with Lebanon’s natural fastnesses; but so proud
and haughty were they, that they are said to make
their nest in the cedars, where they thought them¬
selves out of the reach of all danger, and whence
they looked with contempt upon all about them.
“But, how gracious wilt thou be when pangs cotne
upon thee! Then thou wilt humble thyself before
God, and promise amendment. When thou art
overthrown in stony places, thou wilt be glad to
hear those words which in thy prosperity thou
wouldest not hear, Ps. cxli. 6. Then thru wilt en¬
deavour to make thyself acceptable with that God
whom, before, thou madest light of.” Note, Many
j have their pangs of piety, who, when the pangs are
1 oyer, show that they have no true piety. Some
l give another sense of it; “What will all thy pomp,
and state, and wealth avail thee? What will be¬
come of it all, or what comfort shalt thou have of it,
when thou shalt be in these distresses? No more
than a woman in travail, full of pains and fears,
can take comfort in her ornaments while she is in
that condition.” So Mr. Gataker. Note, Those
that are proud of their worldly advantages, would
do well to consider how they will look when pangs
come upon them, and how they will then hive lost
i all their beauty.
II. Here is a prophecy of the disgrace of the king;
his name was Jeconiah, but he is here once and
again called Coniah, in contempt. The prophet
shortens his name, and gives him, as we say, a nick¬
name, perhaps to denote that he should be despoiled
of his dignity, that his reign should be shortened,
and the number of his months cut off in the midst.
T wo instances of dishonour are here put upon him.
1. He shall be carried away into captivitu, and
shall spend and end his days in bondage. He was
born to a crown, but it should quickly fall from his
head, and he should exchange it for fetters. Ob¬
serve the steps of this judgment.
(1.) God will abandon him, v. 24. The God of
truth says it, and confirms it with an oath ; “ Though
he were the signet upon my right hand, (his prede¬
cessors have been so, and he might have been so,
if he had conducted himself well; but he being de
generated,) / will pluck him thence.” The godly
kings of Judah had been as signets on God’s right
hand, near and dear to him; he had gloried in them,
and made use of them as instruments of his govern¬
ment, as the prince does of his signet-ring, or sign-
manual: but Coniah has made himself utterly un-
w«irthy of the honour, and therefore the privilege
of his birth shall be no security to him; notwith¬
standing that, he shall be thrown off. Answerable
to this threatening against Jeconiah is God’s promise
to Zertibbabel, when he made him his people’s guide
in their return out of captivity; (Hag. ii. 23.) I will
take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, and make thee
as a signet. Those that think themselves as signets
on God’s right hand, must not be secure, but fear
lest they be plucked thence.
JEREMIAH, XXIII.
435
^2.) The king of Bahvlon shall seize him. Those
Knew not what enemies and mischiefs they lie ex¬
posed to, who have thrown themselves out of God’s
protection, v. 25. The Chaldeans are here said to
be such as had a spite to Coniah, they sought his
life; no less than that, they thought, would satisfy
their rage; they were such as he had a dread ot,
(They are those whose face thou fearcst,) which
would make it the more terrible to him to fall into
their hands, especially when it was God himself
that gave him into their hands. And if God deliver
him to them, who can deliver him from them?
(3.) He and his family shall be carried to Baby-
'on, where they shall wear out the many tedious
years of their lives in a miserable captivity; he and
n:s mother, (v. 26.) he and his seed, ( v . 28.) he and
all the royal family, (for he had no children of his
own when h<* went into captivity,) or, he and the
children of his loins; they shall all be cast out to
another country, to a strung^ country, a country
where they were not born, nor such a country as
that where they were born, a land which they know
not, in which they have no acquaintance with whom
to converse, or from whom to expect any kindness.
Thither they shall be carried, from a land where
they were entitled to dominion, into a land where
they shall be compelled to servitude. But have
they no hopes of seeing their own country again?
No, To the land whereunto they desire to return,
thither shall they not return, v. 2 7. They conduct¬
ed themselves ill in it, when they were in it, and
therefore they shall never see it more. Jehoahaz
was carried to Egypt, the land of the south, (k. 10.)
Jeconiah to Babylon, the land of the north, both far
remote, the quite contrary way, and must never
expect to meet again, nor either of them to breathe
their native air again. Those that had abused the
dominion they had over others, were justly brought
thus under the dominion of others. Those that had
indulged and gratified their sinful desires, by their
oppression, luxury, and cruelty, were justly denied
the gratification of their inn cent desire to see their
own native country again. We may observe some¬
thing very emphatical in that part of this threaten¬
ing, (y. 26.) In the country where ye were not born,
there shall ye die. As there is a time to be born, and
a time to die, so there is a place to be born in, and a
place to die in. We know where we were born,
but where we shall die we know not; it is enough
th it our God knows. Let it be our care that we die
in Christ, and then it will be well with us wherever
we die, though it should be in a far country.
(4.) This shall render him very mean and des-
icable in the eyes of all his neighbours. They shall
e ready to say, (z>. 28.) “ Is this Coniah a des/iis-
ed, broken idol? Yes, certainly he is, and much de¬
based from what he was.” [1.] Time was when he
was dignified, nay, when he was almost deified.
This people, who had seen his father lately depos¬
ed, were ready to adore him when they saw him
upon the throne; but now he is a despised, broken
idol, which, when it was whole, was worshipped,
but, when it is rotten and broken, is thrown by and
despised, and nobody regards it, or remembers
what it has been. Note, What is idolized will, first
or last, be despised and broken; what is unjustly
honoured, will be justly contemned, and rivals
with God will be the scorn of man. Whatever we
idolize we shall be disappointed in, and then shall
despise. [2.] Time was, when he was delighted
in; but now he is a vessel in which is no pleasure,
or to which there is no desire, either because grown
out of fashion, or because cracked or dirted, and so
rendered unserviceable. Those whom God has no
pleasure in, will, some time or other, be so mortified,
ihat men will have no pleasure in them.
2 He shall leave no posterity to inherit his ho- i
nour. The prediction of this is ushered in with a
solemn preface, (t>, 29.) 0 earth, earth, earth, hear
the word of the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of
the world take notice of these judgments of God
upon a nation and a family that had been near and
dear to him, and thence infer that God is impartial
in the administration of justice. Or, it is an appeal
to the earth itself, on which we tread, since those
that dwell on earth are so deaf and careless, like
that, (Isa. i. 2.) Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O
earth. God’s word, however slighted, will be
heard; the earth itself will be made to hear it, and
yield to it, when it, and all the works that are
therein, shall be burnt up. Or, it is a call to men
that mind earthly things, that are swallowed up in
those things, and are inordinate in the pursuit of
them; such have need to be called upon again and
again, and a third time, to hear the word of the
Lord. Or, it is a call to men, considered as mortal,
ot the earth, and hastening to the earth again ; we
all are so, earth wc are, dust we are, and, in con¬
sideration ot that, are concerned to hear and regard
the word of the Lord, that, though we are earth,
we may be found among those whose names are
written in heaven.
Now that which is here to be taken notice of, is,
that Jeconiah is written childless, (v. 30.) that is, as
it follows, No man of his seed shall prosper, sitting
upon the throne of David. In him the line of Da¬
vid was extinct as a roval line. Some think that he
had children born in Babylon, because mention is
made of his seed being cast cut there, (z>. 28.) and
that they died before him. \Ye read in the gene¬
alogy, (i Citron, iii. 17.) of seven sons of Jeconiah
Assir, that is, Jeconiah the captive, of which Sala-
thiel is the first. Some think that they were only
his adopted sons, and that, when it is said, (Matth.
i. 12.) Jeconiah begat Salathiel, no more is meant
than that he bequeathed to him what claims and
pretensions he had to the government; the rather,
because Salathiel is called the son of Neri, (Luke
iii. 27.) of the house of A'athan, v. 31. Whether
he had children begotten, or only adopted, thus fai¬
lle was childless, that none of his seed ruled as kings
in Judah. He was the Augustulus of that empire,
in whom it determined. Whoever are childless, it
is God that writes them so; and those who take no
care to do good in their days, cannot expect to
prosper in their days.
CHAP. XXIII.
In this chapter, the prophet, in God’s name, is dealing his
reproofs and threatenings, I. Among the careless
princes, or pastors of the people ; (v. I, 2.) vet promis¬
ing to take care, of the flock, which they had'been want¬
ing in their duty to, v. 3 . . 8. II. Among the wicked
prophets and priests, whose bad character is here given
at large in divers instances, especially their imposing
upon the people with their pretended inspirations, at
which the prophet is astonished, and for which they
must expect to be punished, v. 9 .. 32. 111. Among the
profane people, who ridiculed God’s prophets, and 'ban¬
tered them, v. 33. . 40. When all have thus corrupted
their way, they must all expect to be told faithfully of it.
1. be unto the pastors that destroy
▼ ▼ and scatter the sheep of my pas¬
ture! saith the Lord. 2. Therefore thus
saith the Lord God of Israel against the
pastors that feed my people, Ye have scat¬
tered my flock, and driven them away,
and have not visited them: behold, I will
visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith
the Lord. 3. And I will gather the rem-
: nant of my flock out of all countries
i whither I have driven them, and will bring
•1,56
JEREMIAH, XXIII.
them again to their folds ; and they shall be
fruitful and increase. 4. And I will set up
shepherds over them, which shall feed
them; and they shall fear no more, nor be
dismayed, neither shall they be lacking,
saith the Lord. 5. Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will raise unto Da¬
vid a righteous Branch, and a King shall
reign and prosper, and shall execute judg¬
ment and justice in the earth. 6. In his days
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell
safely; and this is his name whereby he
shall be called, THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7. Therefore, be¬
hold, the days come, saith the Lord, that
they shall no more say. The Lord liveth,
which brought up the children of Israel out
of the land of Egypt; 8. But, The Lord
liveth, which brought up, and which led the
seed of the house of Israel out of the north
country, and from all countries whither I
had driven them; and they shall dwell in
their own land.
Here is,
I. A word of terror to the negligent shepherds;
the day is at hand when God will reckon with them
concerning the trust and charge committed to them;
Wo be to the pastors, to the rulers, both in church
and state, who should be to those they are set over
as pastors to lead them, feed them, protect them,
and take care of them. They are not owners of
the sheep; God here calls them the sheep of my
/ tasture , whom I am interested in, and have pro¬
vided good pasture for. IVo be to those therefore
who are commanded to feed God’s people, and pre¬
tend to do it; but who, instead of that, scatter the
flock , and drive them away, by their violence and
oppression, and have not visited them, nor taken
any care for their welfare, nor concerned themselves
at all to do them good. In not visiting them, and
doing their duty to them, they did in effect scatter
them, and drive them away. The beasts of prey
scattered them, and the shepherds are in the fault,
who should have kept them together. Wo be to
them, when God will visit upon them the evil of
their doings, and deal with them as they deserve.
They would not visit the flock in a way of duty, and
therefore God will visit them in a way of vengeance.
II. Here is a word of comfort to the neglected
sheep. Though the under-shepherds take no care
of them, no pains with them, but betray them, the
chief Shepherd will look after them ; When my
father ana my mother forsake me, then the Lord
tiketh me up. Though the interests of God’s
church in the world are neglected by those who
should take care of them, and postponed to their
own private secular interests, yet they shall not
therefore sink. God will perform his promise,
though those he employs do not perform their duty.
1. The dispersed Jews shall at length return to
their own land, and be happily settled there under
a good government, v. 3, 4. Though there be but
a remnant of God’s flock left, a little remnant, that
has narrowly escaped destruction, he will gather
tint remnant; will find them out wherever they
are, and find out ways and means to bring them
I >ick out of all countries whither he had driven
them. It was the justice of God, for the sin of their
sh pherds, that dispersed them; but the mercy of
G id shall gather in the sheep, when the shepherds
that betrayed them are cut off. They shall be
brought to their former habitations, as sheep to
their folds, and there they shall be fruitful, and
increase in numbers. And though their former
shepherds took no care of them, it does not there¬
fore follow that they shall have no more. If some
have abused a sacred office, that is no good reason
why it should be abolished; “ They destroyed the
sheep, but I will set shepherds over them, which
shall make it their business to feed them.” For¬
merly, they were continually exposed and disturbed
with some alarm or other; "but now they shall fear
no more, nor be dismayed; they shall be in no dan¬
ger from without, in no fright from within. For¬
merly, some or other of them were ever and anon
picked up by the beasts of prey; but now none of
them shall be lacking, none of them missing.
Though the times may have been long bad with the
church, it does not follow, that they will be ever so.
Such pastors as Zerubbabel and Nehemiah were,
though they lived not in the pomp that Jehoiakim
and Jeconiah did, nor made such a figure, were as
great blessings to the people as the others were
plagues to them. The church’s peace is not bound
up in the pomp of her rulers.
2. Messiah the Prince, that great and good Shep¬
herd of the sheep, shall in the latter days be raised
up to bless his church, and to be the Glory of his
people Israel, v. 5, 6. The house of David seemed
to be quite sunk and ruined by that threatening
against Jeconiah, (ch. xxii. 30.) that none of his
seed should ever sit upon the throne of David; but
here is a promise which effectually secures the
honour of the covenant made with David notwith¬
standing; for by it the house will be raised cut of its
ruins to a greater lustre than ever, and shine bright¬
er far than it did in Solomon himself. We have
not so many prophecies of Christ in this book as we
had in that of the prophet Isaiah but here we
have one, and a very illustrious one; of him doubt¬
less the prophet here speaks, of him, and of no
other man. The first words intimate, that it would
be long ere this promise should have its accomplish¬
ment; The days come, but they are not yet; I shall
see him, but not now; but all the rest intimate that
the accomplishment of them will be glorious.
(1.) Christ is here spoken of as a Branch from
David, the Man the Branch; (Zech. iii. 8.) his
appearance mean, his beginnings small, like those
of a bud or sprout, and his rise seemingly out of the
earth, but growing to be green, to be great, to be
loaded with fruits. A branch from David’s family,
when it seemed to be a root in a dry ground, buried,
and not likely to revive. Christ is the Root and
Offspring of David, Rev. xxii. 16. In him doth
the horn of David bud, Ps. cxxxii. 17, 18. He is
a Branch of God’s raising up; he sanctified him,
and sent him into the w*rld, gave him his commis¬
sion and qualifications. He is a righteous Branch,
for he is righteous himself, and through him many,
even all that are his, are made righteous; as an
Advocate, he is Jesus Christ the righteous.
(2.) He is here spoken of as his church’s King.
This Branch shall be raised as high as the throne of
his father David, and there he shall reign and pros¬
per, not as the kings that now were of the house of
David, who went backward in all their affairs; no,
he shall setup a kingdom in the world, that shall be
victorious over all opposition. In the chariot of the
everlasting gospel he shall go forth, he shall go on
conquering and to conquer. If God raise him up,
he will prosper him, for he will own the work of
his own hands; what is the good pleasure of the
Lord, shall prosper in the hands of those to whom
it is committed. He shall prosper, for he shall ex¬
ecute judgment and justice in the earth, all the
world over. Ps. cvi. 13. The present kings of me
JEREMIAH, XXIII.
house of Davicf were unjust and oppressive, and
therefore it is no wonder that they did not prosper;
but Christ shall, by his gospel, break the usurped
power of Satan, institute a perfect rule of holy
living, and, as far as it prevails-, make all the world
righteous. The effect of this shall be a holy secu¬
rity and serenity of mind in all his faithful, loyal
subjects. In his days, under his dominion, Judah
shall be saved, and Israel shall dwelt safely; all the
spiritual seed of believing Abraham and praying
Jacob shall be protected from the curse of heaven
and the malice of hell; shall be privileged from the
arrests of God’s law, and delivered from the at¬
tempts of Satan’s power; shall be saved from sin,
the guilt and dominion of it, and then shall dwell
safely, and be quiet from the fear of all evil. See
Luke i. 74, 75. Those that shall be saved hereafter
from the wrath to come, may dwell safely now; for
if God be for us, who can be against us? In the
days of Christ’s government in the soul, when he is
uppermost there, the soul dwells at ease.
(3.) He is here spoken of as The Lord our
Righteousness. Observe,
[1.] Who and what he is. As God, he is Jeho¬
vah, the incommunicable name of God, denoting
his eternity and self-existence. As Mediator, he is
our Righteousness; by making satisfaction to the
justice of God for the sin of man, he has brought in
an everlasting righteousness, and so made it over
to us in the covenant of grace, that, upon our be¬
lieving consent to that covenant, it becomes ours.
His being Jehovah our Righteousness implies that
he is so our Righteousness, as no creature could be.
He is a sovereign, all-sufficient, eternal Righteous¬
ness. All our righteousness has its being from him,
and by him it subsists, and we are made the righte¬
ousness of God in him. [2.] The profession and
declaration of this; This is the name whereby he
shall be called; not only he shall be so, but he shall
be known to be so. God shall call him by this
name, for he shall appoint him to be our Righte¬
ousness. By this name Israel shall call him, every
true believer shall call him, and call upon him.
That is our righteousness, by which, as an allowed
plea, we are justified before God, acquitted from
guilt, and accepted into favour; and nothing else
have we to plead but this, “ Christ has died, yea,
rather, is risen again;” and we have taken him for
our Lord.
3. This great salvation, which will come to the
Jews in the latter days of their state, after their re¬
turn out of Babylon, shall be so illustrious as far to
outshine the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt; (v.
7, 8.) They shall no more say. The Lora liveth,
that brought u/i Israel out of Egypt; but, The
Lord liveth, that brought them up out of the north.
This we had before, cli. xvi. 14, 15. But here it
seems to point more plainly than it did there to the
days of the Messiah, and to compare not so much
the two deliverances themselves, giving the prefer¬
ence to the latter, as the two states to which the
church by degrees grew after those deliverances.
Observe the proportion: Just 480 years after they
were come out of Egypt, Solomon’s temple was
built, (1 Kings vi. 1.) and at that time that nation,
which was so wonderfully brought up out of Egypt,
was gradually arrived to its height, to its zenith.
Just 490 years (70 weeks) after they came out of
Babylon, Messiah the Prince set up tlie gospel-tem¬
ple, which was the greatest glory of that nation that
was so wonderfully brought out of Babylon; see
Dan. ix. 24, 25. Now the spiritual glory of the se¬
cond part of that nation, especially as transferred to
the gospel-church, is much more admirable and il- 1
lustrious than all the temporal glory of the first part
of it in the days of Solomon; for that was no glory,
compared with the glory which excelleth.
9. My heart within me is broken beeaus*
of the prophets; all my bones shake : I am
like a drunken man, and like a man whom
wine hath overcome, because of the Lord,
and because ol the words of his holiness.
10. For the land is full of adulterers; for be¬
cause of swearing the land mourneth, the
pleasant places of the wilderness are dried
up, and their course is evil, and their force
is not right. 1 1 . For both prophet and priest
are profane; yea, in my house have 1 found
their wickedness, saith the Lord. 12.
Wherefore their w'ay shall be unto them as
slippery ways in the darkness; they shall be
driven on, and fall therein: for I w ill bring
evil upon them, even the year of their visita¬
tion, saith the Lord. 13. And I have seen
folly in the prophets of Samaria; they pro¬
phesied in Baal, and caused my people Is¬
rael to err. 14. 1 have seen also in the pro¬
phets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they
commit adultery, and walk in lies: they
strengthen also the hands of evil-doers, that
none doth return from his wickedness: they
are all of them unto me as Sodom, and
the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 15.
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts con¬
cerning the prophets, Behold, 1 will feed
them with wormwood, and make them
drink the water of gall : for from the prophets
of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into
all the land. 16. Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the
prophets that prophesy unto you; they make
you vain: they speak a vision of their own
heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord
17. They say still unto them that despise
me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have
peace; and they say unto every one that
walketh after the imagination of his own
heart, J\o evil shall come upon you. 18.
For who hath stood in the counsel of the
Lord, and hath perceived and heard his
word ? who hath marked his word, arid heard
it? 19. Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is
gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirl¬
wind: it shall fall grievously upon the head
of the wicked. 20. The anger of the Lord
shall not return, until he have executed,
and till he have performed, the thoughts of
his heart: in the latter days ye shall consi¬
der it perfectly. 21. I have not sent these
prophets, yet they ran : I have not spoken
to them, yet they prophesied. 22. But if
they had stood in my counsel, and had
caused my people to hear my words, then
they should have turned them from their
evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23. Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord,
and not a God afar off? 24. Can any hide
•138
JEREMIAH, XX1I1.
himself in secret places hat I shall not see
him ? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven
and earth ? saith the Lord. 25. I have
heard what the prophets said, that prophesy
lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I
have dreamed. 26. How long shall this be
in the heart of the prophets that prophesy
lies ? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of
their own heart; 27. Which think to cause
my people to forget my name by their
dreams, which they tell every man to his
neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten
my name for Baal. 28. The prophet that
hath a dream, let him tell a dream ; and he
that hath my word, let him speak my word
faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat ?
saith the Lord. 29. Is not my word like
as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a ham¬
mer breaketh the rock in pieces? 30.
Therefore, behold, I am against the pro¬
phets, saith the Lord, that steal my word,
every one from his neighbour. 31. Behold,
1 am against the prophets, saith the Lord,
that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
32. Behold, I am against them that pro¬
phesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do
tell them, and cause my people to err by
their lies, and by their lightness; yet 1 sent
them not, nor commanded them: therefore
they shall not profit this people at all, saith
the Lord.
Here is a long lesson for-the false prophets. As
none were more bitter and spiteful against God’s
true prophets than they, so there were none on
whom the true prophets were more severe, and
justly. The prophet had complained to God of
those false prophets, (ch. xiv. 13.) and had often
foretold that they should be involved in the com¬
mon ruin; but here they have woes of their own.
I. He expresses the deep concern that he was
under, upon this account, and what a trouble it was
to him to see men who pretended to a divine com¬
mission and inspiration, ruining themselves, and the
people among whom they dwelt, by their falsehood
and treachery ; (v. 9. ) My heart within me is broken,
I am like a drunken man. His head was in confu¬
sion with wonder and astonishment, his heart was
under oppression with grief and vexation. Jere¬
miah was a man that laid things much to heart, and
what was any way threatening to his country, made
a deep impression upon his spirits. He is here in
trouble, 1. Because of the prophets, and their sin,
the false doctrine they preached, the wicked lives
they lived; especially it filled him with horror, to
hear them making use of God’s name, and pretend¬
ing to have their instructions from him. Never was
ihe Lord so abused, and the words of his holiness,
as by these men. Note, The dishonour done to
God’s name, and the profanation of his holy word,
are the greatest grief imaginable to a gracious soul.
2. Because of the Lord, and his judgments, which
by this means are brought in upon us like a deluge.
He trembled to think of the ruin and desolation
which were coming from the face of the Lord, (so
the word is,) and from the face of the word of his
holiness, which will be inflicted by the power of
God’s wiath, according to the threatenings of his
word, confirmed by his holiness. *Note, Even those
that have God for them, cannot but tremble to
think of the misery of those that have God against
them.
II. He laments the abounding abominable wick¬
edness of the land, and the present tokens of God’s
displeasure they were under for it; (i\ 10.) The
land is full of adulterers, it is full both of spiritual
'and corporal whoredom; they go a whoring from
God, and, having cast off the fear of him, no marvel
that they abandon themselves to all manner cf lewd¬
ness; and having dishonoured themselves and their
own bodies, they dishonour God and his name by
rash and false swearing, because of which the land
mourns. Both perjury and common swearing are
sins, for which a land must mourn in true repent¬
ance, or it will be made to mourn under the judg¬
ments of God. Their land mourned now under the
judgment of famine; the / ileasant places, or, rather,
the pastures, or, as some read it, the habitations of
the wilderness, are dried up for want of rain, and
yet we see no signs of repentance; they answer not
the end of the correction: the tenour and tendency cf
men’s conversations are sinful, their course continues
evil, as bad as ever, and they will not be diverted
from it. They have a great deal of resolution, but
it is turned the wrong way, they are zealously ef¬
fected, but not in a good thing, their force is not
right; their heart is fully set in them to do evil, and
they are not valiant for the truth, have not courage
enough to break off their evil courses, though the)
see God thus contending with them.
III. He charges it all upon the prophets and
priests, especially the prophets. They are both
profane ; (v. 11.) the priests profane the ordinances
of God they pretend to administer, the prophets
profane the word of God they pretend to deliver;
their converse and all their conversation are pro¬
fane, and then it is not strange that the people are
so debauched. They both play the hypocrite; so
some read it; under sacred pretensions they carry
on the vilest designs; yea, not only in their own
houses, and the bad houses they frequent, but A; my
house have I found their wickedness; in the temple,
where the priests ministered, where the prophets
prophesied, there were they guilty both of idolatry
and immorality. See a woful instance in Hophni
and Phinehas, 1 Sam. ii. 22. God searches his
house, and what wickedness is there he will find it
out; and the nearer it is to him, the more offensive
it is. Two things are charged upon them :
1. That they taught people to sin by their exam¬
ples. He compares them with the prophets of Sa¬
maria, the head city of the kingdom cf the ten
tribes, which had been long since laid waste. It
was the folly of the prophets of Samaria, that they
prophesied in Baal, in Baal’s name; so Ahab’s pro¬
phets did, and so they caused my people Israel to
err, to forsake the service of the true God, and to
worship Baal, x>. 13. Now the prophets of Jerusa¬
lem did not do so, they prophesied in the name of
the true God, and valued themselves upon that, that
they were not like the prophets of Samaria, who
prophesied in Baal; but what the better, when they
debauched the nation as much by their immorali
ties as the other had done by their idolatries? It is
a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem, that
they make use of the name of the holy God, and
yet'wallow in all manner of impurity! they make
nothing of committing adultery, they make use of
the name of the God of truth, and yet walk in lies,
they not only prophesy lies, but in their common
conversation one cannot believe a word they say. It
is all either jest and banter, or fraud and design.
Thus they encourage sinners to go on in their wick¬
ed ways; for every one will say, “Surely we may-
do as'the prophets do; who can expect that we
JEREMIAH, XX1I1. 430
should be better than our teachers?” By this means
it is, that none returns from his wickedness; but
they all say that they shall have peace, though they
go on, for their prophets tell them so. By this
means Judah and Jerusalem are become as Sodom
and Gomorrah, that were wicked, and sinners be¬
fore the Lord exceedingly ; and God looked upon
them accordingly, as fit for nothing but to be de¬
stroyed, as they were, with fire and brimstone.
2. That they encouraged people in sin by their
false prophecies. They made themselves believe
th at there was no harm, no danger in sin, ahd prac¬
tised accordingly; and then no marvel that they
made others believe so too, v. 16. They speak a
vision of their own heart; it is the product of their
own invention, and agrees with their own inclina¬
tion, but it is not out of the mouth of the Lord; he
never dictated it to them, nor does it agree either
with the law of Moses, or with what God has spoken
by other prophets. They tell sinners that it shall
be well with them, though they persist in their sins,
v. 17. See here who they are that they encourage;
those that despise God, that slight his authority,
and have low and mean thoughts of his institutions,
and those that walk after the imagination of their
own heart, that are worshippers ot idols, and slaves
to their own lusts; those that are devoted to their
pleasures, put contempt upon their God. Yet see
how these prophets caressed and flattered them;
they should have been still saying, There is no
peace to them that go on in their evil ways; Those
that despise God, shall be lightly esteemed; Wo,
and a thousand woes, to them; but they still said,
Ye shall have peace, no evil shall come upon you.
And, which was worst of all, they told them, God
has said so; so making him to patronise sin, and to
contradict himself. Note, Those that are resolved
to. go on in their evil ways, will justly be given up to
believe the strong delusions of those who tell them
that they shall have peace, though they go on.
IV. God disowns all that these false prophets
said to soothe people up in their sins; {y, 21.) I
have not sent these prophets; they never had any
mission from God, they were not only not sent by
him on his errand, but they were never sent by him
on any errand, he never had employed them in any
service or business for him ; and as to this matter,
whereas they pretended to have instructions from
him to assure this people of peace, he declares that
he never gave them any such instructions; yet they
were very forward, they ran, they were very bold,
they prophesied without any of that difficulty with
which the true prophets sometimes struggled. They
said to sinners, You shall have peace. But v. 18.
“ Who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord? Who
of you has, that are so confident of this? You deliver
this message with a great deal of assurance; but
have you consulted God about it? No, you never
considered whether it be agreeable to the discove¬
ries God has made of himself, whether it will con¬
sist with the honour of his holiness and justice, to
let sinners go unpunished. You have not perceived
and heard his word, nor marked that, you have not
compared this with the scripture; if you had taken
notice of that, and of the constant tenour of it, vou
would never have delivered such a message.” The
prophets themselves must try the spirits by the
touchstone of the law and of the testimony, as well
as those to whom they prophesy; but which of those
did so, that prophesied of peace? That they did not
stand in God’ftounsel nav hear his word, is proved
afterward, v. 22. If they had stood in my counsel,
as they pretend, 1. They would have made the
scriptures their standard; They would have caused
my people to hear my words, and would have con¬
scientiously kept close to them. But, not speaking
according to that rule, it is a plain evidence that
there is no light in them. 2. They would have
made the conversion of souls their business, and
would have aimed at that in all their preaching;
they would have done all they could to turn people
from their evil way in general, from all the parti¬
cular evil of their doings. They would have en¬
couraged and assisted, the reformation of manners,
would have made this their scope in all their
preaching, to part between men and their sins; but
it appeared that this was a thing they never aimed
at, but, on the contrary, to encourage sinners in
their sins. 5. They would have had some seals of
their ministry. This sense our translation gives it;
If they had stood in my counsel, and the words they
had preached had been my words, then they should
have turned them from their evil way: a divine
power should have gone along with the word for
the conviction of sinners; God will bless his own
institutions. Yet this is no certain rule; Jeremiah
himself, though God sent him, prevailed with but
few to turn from their evil way.
V. God threatens to punish these prophets for
their wickedness. They promised the people peace;
to show them the folly of that, God tells them that
they should have no peace themselves; they were
very unfit to warrant the people, and pass their
word to them, that no evil shall come upon them,
when all evil is coming upon themselves, and they
are not aware of it, v. 12. Because the prophets
and priests are profane, therefore their ways shall
be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness.
They that undertake to lead others, because they
mislead them, and know they do so, they shall
themselves have no comfort in their way. 1. They
pretend to show others the way, but they shall them¬
selves be in the dark, or in a mist; their light cr
sight shall fail, so that they shall not be able to look
before them, shall have no forecast for themselves.
2. They pretend to give assurances to others, but
they themselves shall find no firm footing; Their
ways shall be to them as slippery ways, in which
they shall not go with any steadiness, safety, or
satisfaction. 3. They pretend to make the people
easy with their flatteries, but they shall themselves
be uneasy: They shall be driven, forced forward as
captives, or making their escape as those that are
pursued, and they shall fall in the way by which they
hoped to escape, and so fall into the enemies’ hands.
4. They pretend to prevent the evils that threatens
others, but God will bring evil upon them, even
' the year of their visitation, the time fixed for call¬
ing them to an account; such a time is fixed con-
I corning all that do not judge themselves, and it will
be an evil time. The year of visitation is the year
of recompenses. It is further threatened, (i>. 15.)
I will feed them with wormwood, or poison, with
that which is not only nauseous, but noxious, and
make them drink waters of gall, or, as some read
it, juice of hemlock; see ch. ix. 15. Justly is the
cup of trembling put into their hand first, for from
the prophets of Jerusalem, who should have been
patterns of piety and every thing that is praise- wor¬
thy, even from them is profaneness gone forth into
all the lands. Nothing more effectually debauches
a nation, than the debauchery of ministers.
VI. The people are here warned not to give any
credit to these false prophets; for though they flat¬
tered them with hopes of impunity, the judgments of
God would certainly break out against them, unless
they repented; (v. 16.) “ Take notice of what Grd
says, and hearken not to the words of these prophets;
for you will find, in the issue, that God’s word shall
stand, and not theirs. God’s word will make you
serious, but they make you vain, feed veu with vain
hopes, which will fail you at last. They tell vru,
JVo evil shall come upon you; but hear what Grd
snvs, ( v . 19.) Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is
440
JEREMIAH, XXIII.
gone forth in fury: they tell you, All shall be calm
and serene; but God tells you, There is a storm
coming, a whirlwind of the Lord, of his sending, and
therefore there is no standing before it; it is a whirl¬
wind raised by divine wrath ; it is gone forth in fury,
a wind that is brought forth out of the treasures of
divine vengeance, and therefore it is a grievous
whirlwind, and shall light heavy, with rain and hail,
nfion the head of the wicked, which they c mnot
avoid, nor find any shelter from.” It shall fall,
upon the wicked prophets themselves who deceived
the people, and the wicked people who suffered
themselves to be deceived. A horrible tempest shall
be the portion of their cup, Ps. xi. 6. This sentence
is bound on as irreversible; (y. 20.) The anger of
the Lord shall not return, for the decree is gone
forth, God will not alter his mind, nor suffer his an¬
ger to be turned away, till he have executed the
sentence, and performed the thoughts of his heart.
God’s whirlwind, when it comes down from heaven,
returns not thither, but accomplishes that for which
he sent it, Isa. lv. 11. This they will not consider
now; But in the latter days he shall consider it per¬
fectly, consider it with understandirig, (so the word
is,) or, with consideration. Note, Those that will
not fear the threatenings, shall feel the execution of
them, and will then perfectly understand what they
will not now admit the evidence of, what a fearful
thing it is to fall into the hands of a just and jealous
God. They that will not consider in time, will be
made to consider when it is too late. Son, remember.
VII. Divers things are here offered to the con¬
sideration of these false prophets for their convic¬
tion, that, if possible, they might be brought to re¬
cant their error, and acknowledge the cheat they
had put upon God’s people.
1. Let them consider, that though they may im-
ose upon men, God is too wise to be imposed upon,
len cannot see through their fallacies, but God j
can, and does. Here,
(1.) God asserts his own omnipresence and omni¬
science in general, v. 23, 24. When they told the
people that no evil should befall them though they
went on in their evil ways, they went upon athe¬
istical principles, that the Lord doth not see their
sin, that he cannot judge through the dark cloud,
that he will not require it; and therefore they must
be taught the first principles of their religion, and
confronted with the most incontestable, self-evident
truths, [l.j That though God’s throne is.prepartd
in the heavens, and this earth seems to be at a dis¬
tance from him, yet he is a God here in this lower
world, which seems to be afar off, as well as in the
upper world, which seems to be at hand, v. 23.
The eye of God is the same on earth that it is in
heaven; here it runs to and fro as well as there; (2
Chron. xvi. 9.) and what is in the minds of men,
whose spirits are veiled in flesh, is as clearly seen by
him, as what is in the mind of angels, those unveiled
spirits above, that surround his throne. The po>ver
of God is the same on earth among its inhabitants
that it is in heaven among his armies. With us,
nearness and distance make a great difference both
in our observations and in our operations, but it is
not so with God; to him darkness and light, at hand,
and afar off, are both alike. [2.] That how ingeni¬
ous and industrious soever men are to disguise them¬
selves and their own characters and counsels, they
cannot possibly be concealed from God’s all-seeing
eye; (r. 24.) “Can any hide himself in the secret
places of the earth, that I shall not see him? Can
any hide his projects and intentions in the secret
/ daces of the heart, that I shall not see them?” No
arts of concealment can hide from the eve of God,
nor deceive his judgment of them. [3.] That he is
every where present ; he does not only rule hea ven and
earth, and uphold both by his universal providence, |
but he fills heaven and earth by his essential pre¬
sence, Ps. cxxxviii. 7, 8, & c. Noplace can either
delude him, or exclude him.
(2.) He applies this to these prophets, who had a
notable art of disguising themselves; ( v . 25, 26.) 1
have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy
lies in my name. They thought that he was sc
wholly taken up with the other world, that he had
no leisure to take cognizance of what passed in this.
But God will make them know that he knows al!
their impostures, all the shams they have put upon
the world, under colour of divine revelation. What
they intended to humour the people with, they pre¬
tended to have had from God in a dream, when
there was no such thing. This they could not dis¬
cover; if a man tell me that he dreamed so and so,
I cannot contradict him; he knows I cannot; but
God discovered the fraud. Perhaps the false pro¬
phets whispered what they had to say in the ears cf
such as were their confidants, saying. So and so I
have dreamed; but God overheard them. The
heart-searching eye of God traced them in all the
methods thev took to deceive the people, and he
cries out, How long? Shall I always bear with
them ? Is it in the hearts of those prophets (so seme
read it) to be ever prophesying lies, and prophesying
the deceits of their own hearts? Will they never see
what an affront they put upon God, what an abuse
they put upon the people, and what judgments they
are preparing for themselves?
2. Let them consider that their palming upon peo¬
ple counterfeit revelations, and fathering their own
fancies upon divine inspiration, was the ready way
to bring all religion into contempt, and make men
turn atheists and infidels; and this was' the thing
they really intended, though they frequently made
mention of the name of God, and prefaced all they
said with, Thus saith the Lord. Yet, says God,
They think to cause my people to forget my name,
by their dreams. They designed to draw people off
from the worship of God, from all regard to God’s
laws and ordinances, and the true prophets, as their
fathers forgot God’s name for Baal. Note, The
great thing' Satan aims at, is, to make people forget
God, and all that whereby he has made himself
known; and he has many subtle methods to bring
them to this: sometimes he does it by setting up
false gods; (bring men in love with Baal, and they
soon forget the name of God;) sometimes by misre¬
presenting the true God, as if he were altogether
such a one as ourselves. Pretences to new revela¬
tion may prove as dangerous to religion as the deny¬
ing of all revelation; and false prophets in God’s
name may perhaps do more mischief to the power
of godliness than false prophets in Baal’s name, as
being less guarded agairist.
3. Let tiiem consider what a vast difference there
was between their prophecies and those that were
delivered by the true prophets of the Lord ; (v. 28. )
The prophet that has a dream, which was the way
of inspiration that the false prophets most pretend¬
ed to, if he has a dream, let him tell it as a dream;
so Mr. Gataker reads it. “Let him lay no more
stress upon it than men do upon their dreams, nor
expect any more regard to be had to it; let them
not say that it is from God, nor call their foe lish
dreams divine oracles; but let the true prophet,
that has my word, speak my word faithfully , speak
it as a truth;” { so some read it;) “let him keep
close to his instructions, and you will soon perceive
a vast difference between the dreams that the false
prophets tell, and the divine dictates which the true
prophets do-liver; he that pretends to have a mes¬
sage from God, whether f y dream or voice, let him
declare it, and it will easily appear which is of God,
and which is not. Those that have spiritual senses
exercised will be able to distinguish; for what is tl;e
441
JEREMIAH, XXIII.
chaff to the wheat? The promises of peace which
these prophets make to you, arc no more to be com-
arecl to God’s promises, than chaff to wheat,
len’s fancies arc light, and vain, and worthless, as
the chaff which the wind drives away. But the
word of God has substance in it; it is of value, is
food for the soul, the bread of life. Wheat was the
staple commodity of Canaan, that valley of vision,
Deut. viii. 8. Ezek. xxvii. 17. There is as much
difference between the vain fancies of men, and the
pure word of God, as between the chaff and the
wheat. It follows, , c. 29.) Is not my word like a
fire, saith the Lord? Is their word so? Has it the
power and efficacv that the word of God has? No,
yothing like it; there is no more comparison than
between painted fire and real fire. Theirs is like an
ignus fatuus — a deceh’ing meteor, leadingmen into
bv-paths and dangerous precipices. Note, The word
of God is like fire. The law was a fiery law ; (Deut.
xxxii. 2.) and of the gospel, Christ says, lam come
to send Jire on the earth, Luke xii. 49. Fire has dif¬
ferent effects, according as the matter is on which
it works; it hardens clay, but softens wax; it con¬
sumes the dross, but purifies the gold; so the word
of God is to some a savour of life unto life, to others
of death unto death. God appeals here to the con¬
sciences of those to whom the word was sent; “ Is
not my word like fire? Has it not been so to you?
Zech. i. 6. Speak as you have found.” It is com¬
pared likewise to a hammer breaking the rock in
fiieces. The unhumbled heart of man is like a rock;
if it will not be melted by the word of God as the
fire, it will be broken to /lieces by it as the hammer.
Whatever opposition is given to the word, it will be
borne down and broken to pieces.
4. Let them consider that while they went on in
this course, God was against them. Three times ,
they are told this, v. 30, 31, 32. Behold, I am
against the firo/ihets. They pretended to be for
God, and made use of his name, but were really
against him ; he looks upon them as they were
really, and is against them. How can they be long
safe, or at all easy, that have a God of almighty
power against them? While these prophets were
promising peace to the people, God was proclaim¬
ing war against them. They stand indicted here,
(1.) For robbery; They steal my word every one
from his neighbour. Some understand it of that
word which the good prophets preached; they
stole their sermons, their expressions, and mingled
them with their own, as hucksters mingled bad
wares with some that are good, to make them vendi¬
ble. Those that were strangers to the spirit of the
true prophets, mimicked their language, picked up
some good sayings of theirs, and delivered them to
the people as if they had been their own, but with
an ill grace; it was not of apiece with the rest of
their discourses. The legs of the lame are not equal,
so is a / mrable in the mouth of fools, Prov. xxvi. 7.
Others understand it of the word of God as it was
received and entertained by some of the people;
they stole it out of their hearts, as the wicked one in
the parable is said to steal the good seed of the word,
M nth. xiii. 19. By their insinuations they dimi¬
nished the authority, and so weakened the efficacy,
of the word of God upon the minds of those that
seemed to be under convictions by it.
(2.) They stand indicted for counterfeiting the
broad seal. Therefore God is against them, (v. 31.)
because they use their tongues at their pleasure in
their discourses to the people, they say what they
themselves think fit, and then father it upon God,
pretend they had it from him, and say, He saith it.
Some read it, They smooth their tongues; they are
very complais mt to the people, and say nothing but
what is pleasing and plausible; they never reprove
them or threaten them, but their words are smoother
Vol. iv. — 3 K
than butter; thus they ingratiate themselves with
them, and get money by them, and they have the
impudence and impiety "to make God the Patron of
their lies; they say, “ He saith so.” What greater
indignity can be done to the God of truth than to
lay tlie brats of the father of lies at his door?
(3.) They stand indicted as common cheats; ( v .
32.)/ um against them, for they f.rojihesy false
dreams, pretending that to be a divine inspiration,
which is but an invention of their own; this is a hor¬
rid fraud; nor will it excuse them to say. Caveat
emfilor — Let the buyer take care of himself, and Si
/wjhulus vult deci/ii, decifiiatur — If /it ofi'lc will be
deceived, let them. No, it is the people’s fault,
that they err, that they take things upon trust, and
do not try the spirits; but it is much more their fault,
that they cause God’s people to err by their lies, and
by their lightness, by the flatteries rf their preach
ing, soothing them up in their sins, and by the
looseness and lewdness of their conversation, en
couraging them to persist in them. [1.] God dis
owns their having any commission from him; I sent
them not, nor commanded them; they are not God’s
messengers, nor is what they say his message. [2.]
He therefore justly denies his blessing with them,
Therefore they shall not firojit thisfieojile at all. All
the profit they aim at is, to make them easy; but they
shall not so much as do that, for God’s providences
will at the same time be making them uneasy. They
do not firofit this J teo/ile ; so some read it; and more
is implied than is expressed; they not only do them
no good, but do them a great deal of hurt. Note,
Those that corrupt the word of God, while they
pretend to preach it, are so far from edifying the
church, that they do it the greatest mischief ima¬
ginable.
33. And when this people, or the prophet,
or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is
the burden of the Lord ? thou shalt then say
unto them, What burden ? I will even for¬
sake you, saith the Lord. 34. And as for
the prophet, and the priest, and the people,
that shall say, The burden of the Lord, I
will even punish that man and his house.
35. Thus shall ye say every one to his neigh¬
bour, and every one to bis brother, What
hath the Lord answered ? and, What hath
the Lord spoken ? 36. And the burden ol
the Lord shall ye mention no more ; for
every man’s word shall be his burden: for
ye have perverted the words of the living
God, of the Lord of hosts our God. 37.
Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What
hath the Lord answered thee? and. What
hath the Lord spoken? 38. But since ye
say, The burden of the Lord; therefore
thus saith the Lord, Because you say this
word, The burden of the Lord, and I have
sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say,
The burden of the Lord ; 39. Therefore,
behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you,
and I will forsake you, and the city that I
gave you and your fathers, and cast yon
out of my presence: 40. And I will bring
an everlasting reproach upon you, and a per¬
petual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
The profaneness of the people, with that of tne
442
JEREMIAH, XXIJ1.
Iiriests and prophets, is here reproved in a particu-
ar instance, which may seem of small moment in
comparison of their greater crimes; but profaneness
in common discourse, and the debauching of the lan¬
guage of a nation, being a notorious evidence of the
prevalency of wickedness in it, we are not to think
it strange that this matter was so largely and warmly
insisted upon here. Observe,
1. The sin here charged upon them is, bantering
God’s prophets, and the dialect they used, and jest¬
ing with sacred things. They asked, What is the
burthen of the Lord '? v. 33. and v. 34. They say,
7 'he burthen of the Lord, v. 38. This was the word
that gave great offence to God, that, whenever they
spake of the luord of the Lord, they called it, in
scorn and derision, the burthen of the Lord. Now,
(1.) This was the word that the prophets much
used, and used it seriously, to show what a weight
the word of God was upon their spirits, of what im¬
portance it was, and how pressingly it should come
upon those that heard it. The words of the false
prophets had nothing ponderous in them, but God’s
Words had; those were as chaff, these as wheat.
Now the profane scoffers took this word, and made
a jest and a by-word of it; they made people merry
with it, that so, when the prophets used it, they
might not make people serious with it. Note, It
has been the artifice of Satan, in all ages, to obstruct
the efficacy of sacred things by turning them into
matter of sport and ridicule; the mocking of God’s
messengers was the baffling of his messages. (2. )
Perhaps this word was caught at and reproached by
the scoffers as an improper word, new-coined by the
prophets, and not used in that sense by any classic
author. It was only in this and the last age, that
the word of the Lord was called the burthen of the
Lord, and it could not be found in their lexicons to
have that signification. But if men take a liberty,
as we see they do, to form new phrases which they
think more expressive and significant in other parts
of learning, why not in divinity? But especially we
must observe it as a rule, that the Spirit of God is
not tied to our rules of speaking. (3. ) Some think
that, because, when the word, of the Lord is called
a burthen, it signifies some word of reproof and
threatening, which would lay a load upon the hear¬
ers, (yet I know not whether that observation will
always hold,) that in using this word, the burthen of
the Lord, in a canting way, they reflected upon
God as always bearing hard upon them, always
teazingthem, always frightening them, and =o mak¬
ing the word of God a perpetual uneasiness to them.
They make the word of God a burthen to them¬
selves, and then quarrel with the ministers for
making it a burthen to them. Thus the scoffers of
the latter days, while they slight heaven and salva¬
tion, reproach faithful ministers for preaching hell
and damnation. Upon the whole, we may observe.
That how light soever men may make of ic, the
great God takes notice of, and is much displeased
with, those who burlesque sacred things, and who,
that they may make a jest of scripture-truths and
laws, put jests upon scripture-language. In such
wit as this I am sure there is no wisdom, and so it
will appear at last. Be ye not mockers, lest your
bands be made strong. Those that were here
guilty of this sin, were some of the false prophets,
who perhaps came to steal the word of God from
the true prophets, some of the priests, who perhaps
came to seek occasions against them, on which to
ground an information, and some of the people,
who had learned of the profane priests and prophets
to play with the things of God. The people would
not have affronted the prophet and his God thus, if
the priests and the prophets, those ringleaders of
mischief, had not shown them the way.
2 When they are reproved for this profane way
of speaking, they are directed how to express them
selves more decently. We do not find that the pro¬
phets are directed to make no more use of this word;
we find it used long after this; (Zech. ix. 1. Mai. i.
1. Nah. i. 1. Hab. i. 1.) and we do not find it once
used in this sense by Jeremiah either before or after.
It is true indeed, that in many cases it is advisable
to make no use of such words and things as somt
have made bad use of, and it may be prudence tc
avoid such phrases as, though innocent enough, are
in danger of being perverted and made stumbling-
blocks. But here God will have the prophet keep
to his rule; (r/i. xv. 19.) Let them return unto thee,
but return not thou unto them. Do not thou leave
off using this word, but let them leave off abusing it;
ye shall not mention the burthen of the Lord any
more in this profane, careless manner, (y. 36.) for
it is perverting the words of the living God, and
making a bad use of them, which is an impicus,
dangerous thing; for consider, he is the Lord oj hosts
our God. Note, If we will but look upon God, rs
we ought to do, in his greatness and goodness, and
be but duly sensible of our relation and obligation to
him, it may be hoped that we shall not dare to af¬
front him by making a jest of his words. It is an
impudent thing to abuse him that is the living God,
the Lord of hosts and our God. How then must
they express themselves? He tells them, (n. 37.)
Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, when theu art
i inquiring of him, What hath the Lord answered
] thee? And what hath the Lord spoken? And they
must say thus, when they inquire of their neigh¬
bours, v. 3.5. Note, We must always speak of the
things of God reverently and seriously, and as be¬
comes the oracles of God. It is a commendable
practice to inquire after the mind of God, to inquire
of our brethren what they have heard, to inquire
of our prophets what they have to say from God;
but then, to show that we do it for a right end, we
must do it after a right manner. Ministers may
learn here, when they reprove people for what they
say and do amiss, to teach them how to say and do
better.
3. Because they would not leave off this bad way
of speaking, though they were admonished of it,
God threatens them here with utter ruin. They
would still say, The burthen of the Lord, though
God had sent to them to forbid them, v. 38. What
little regard have those to the divine authority, that
will not be persuaded by it to leave an idle word!
But see what will come of it.
(1.) Those shall be severely reckoned with, that
thus pervert the words of God, that put a wrong
construction on them, and make a bad use of them;
and it shall be made to appear that it is a great pro¬
vocation to God, to mock his messengers; I will
even punish that man and his house, whether he be
prophet or priest, or one ot the common people, it
shall be visited upon him, v. 34. Perverting God’s
word, and ridiculing the preachers of it, are sins
that bring ruining judgments upon families, and en¬
tail a curse upon a house. Another threatening we
have, v. 36. Every man’s word shall be his own
burthen; the guilt of this sin shall be so heavy upon
him, as to sink him into the pit of destruction. God
shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves,
Ps. lxiv. 8. God will give them enough of their jest,
so that the burthen of the Lord they shall have no
heart to mention any more; it will be too heavy to
make a jest of. They are as the madman that casts
firebrands, arrows, and death, while they pretend
to be in sport.
(2. ) The words of God, though thus perverted,
shall be accomplished. Do they ask, What is the
burthen of the ford? Let the prophet ask them,
Il’hat burtheti do you mean? Is it this? Twill even
forsake you, v. 33. This is the burthen that shall
JEREMIAH, XXIV.
44.3
Du laid and bound upon them, (t\ 39, 40.) “Behold,
/, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will for¬
sake you.” I will leave you, and have no thoughts
of returning to you. Those are miserable indeed,
that are forsaken and forgotten of God; and men’s
bantering God’s judgments will not baffle them. Je¬
rusalem was the city God had taken to himself as a
holy city, and then given to them and their fathers;
but that shall now be forsaken and forgotten. God
had taken them to be a people near to him, but
they shall now be cast out of his presence. They
had been great and honourable among the nations,
but now God will bring upon them an everlasting
reproach and a perpetual shame; both their sin and
their punishment shall be their lasting disgrace. It
is here upon record, to their infamy, and will re¬
main so to the world’s end. Note, God’s word will
be magnified and made honourable, when those that
mock at it shall be vilified and made contemptible.
They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
CHAP. XXIV.
In the close of the foregoing chapter, we had a general pre¬
diction of the utter ruin of Jerusalem, that it should be
forsaken and forgotten; which, whatever ett'ect it had
upon others, we have reason to think, made the prophet
himself very melancholy. Now, in this chapter, God
encourages him, by showing him that though the dcsoja-
tion seemed to be universal, yet all were not equally in¬
volved in it, but God knew how to distinguish, how to
separate, between the precious and the vile. Some were
gone into captivity already with Jeconiah, over them
Jeremiah lamented, but God tells him that it should turn
to their good; others yet remained hardened in their
sins, against whom Jeremiah had a just indignation; but
those, God tells him, should go into captivity, and it
should prove to their hurt. To inform the prophet of
this, and atiect him with it; here is, I. A vision of two
baskets of figs, one very good, and the other very bad,
v. 1 . .3. II. The explication of this vision, applying the
good figs to those that were already sent into captivity
for their good, (v. 4.. 7.) the bad figs to those that
should hereafter be sent into captivity for their hurt, v.
8.. 10.
1 . TjpHE Lord shewed me, and, behold,
JL two baskets of figs were set before
the temple of the Lord, after that Nebu¬
chadrezzar king of Babylon had carried
away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoia-
kim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah,
with the carpenters and smiths, from Jeru¬
salem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2. One basket had very good figs, even like
the figs that are first ripe; and the other
basket had very naughty figs, which could
not be eaten, they were so bad. 3. Then
said the Lord unto me, What seest thou,
Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs,
very good; and the evil, very evil, that can¬
not be eaten, they are so evil. 4. Again the
word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
5. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel,
Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge
them that are carried away captive of Ju¬
dah; whom I have sent out of this place
into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
6. For I will set mine eyes upon them for
good, and I will bring them again to this
land : and I will build them, and not pull
them down; and I will plant them, and not
pluck them up. 7. And I will give them a
heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and
they shall be my people, and I will be their
God: for they shall return unto me with
their whole heart. 8. And as the evil figs,
which cannot be eaten, they are so evil;
surely thus saith the Lord, So will i give
Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes,
and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain
in this land, and them that dwell in the land
of Egypt; 9. And I will deliver them to
be removed into all the kingdoms of the
earth for their hurt, to he a reproach and a
proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places
whither I shall drive them. 10. And I w ill
send the sword, the famine, and the pesti¬
lence, among them, till they be consumed
from off the land that I gave unto them and
to their fathers.
This short chapter helps us to put a very com¬
fortable construction upon a great many long ones,
by showing us that tire same providence which to
some is a savour of death unto death, may by the
grace and blessing of God be made to others a sa¬
vour of life unto life; and that though God’s people
share with others in the same calamity, r et that it
is not the same to them that it is to ethers, but is
designed for their good, and shall issue in their
good; to them it is a correcting rod in the hand of a
tender Father, while to others it is an avenging
sword in the hand of a righteous Judge.
Observe, I. The date of this sermon. It was af¬
ter, a little after, Jeconiah’s captiv ity, v. 1. Jeco¬
niah was himself a despised, broken vessel, but with
him were carried away some very valuable persons,
Ezekiel for one; ( ch . i. 2.) many of the princes of
Judah then went into captivity; Daniel and his fel¬
lows were carried off a little before; of the people
only the carpenters and the smiths were forced away,
either because the Chaldeans needed some ingenious
men of those trades, (they had a great plenty of
astrologers and stargazers, but a great scarcity of
smiths and carpenters ,) or because the Jews would
severely feel the loss of them, and would, for want
of them, be unable to fortify their cities, and furnish
themselves with weapons of war. Now, it should
seem, there were many good people carried away
in that captivity, which the pious prophet laid
much to heart, while there were those that tri¬
umphed in it, and insulted over those to whose lot
it fell to go into captivity. Note, We must not con¬
clude concerning the first and greatest sufferers,
that they were the worst and greatest s'nners; for
perhaps it may appear quite otherwise, as it did
here.
II. The vision by which this distinction of the
captives was represented to the prophet’s mind;
He saw two baskets of Jigs set before the temple,
there ready to be offered as first-fruits to the honour
of God. Perhaps the priests, being remiss in their
duty, were not ready to receive them, and dispose
of them, according to the law, and therefore Jere¬
miah sees them standing before the temple. But
that which was the significancy of the vision, was,
that the figs in one basket were extraordinarily good,
those in tire other basket extremely bad. The chil¬
dren of men are all as the fruits of the fig-tree, ca¬
pable of being made serviceable to God and man;
(Judg. ix. 11.) but some areas good figs, than which
nothing is more pleasant, others as damaged, rotten
figs, than which nothing is more nauseous. Whai
creature viler than a wicked man, and what more
valuable than a godly man? 'Ihegood figs were like
those that are first ripe, which are most acceptable.
444
JEREMIAH, XXIV.
(Mic. vii. 1.) and most prized, when newly come
into season. The bad fgs are such as could not be
eaten, theij were so evil; they could not answer the
end of their creation, were neither pleasant, nor good
for food; and what then were they good for? If
God has no honour from men, nor their generation
any service, they are even like the bad Jigs, that can¬
not be eaten, that will not answer any good purpose;
if the salt have lost its savour, it is thenceforth fit
tor nothing but the dunghill. Of the persons that
are presented to the Lord at the door of his taber¬
nacle, some are sincere, and they are very good;
others dissemble with God, and they are very bad;
sinners are the? worst of men, hypocrites the worst
of sinners. Corruptio ofitimi est fiessima — That
which is best becomes, when corrupted, the worst.
Ill. The exposition and application of this vision.
God intended by it to raise the dejected spirits of
those that were gone into captivity, by assuring
them of a happy return, and to humble and awaken
the proud and secure spirits of those who continued
yet in Jerusalem, by assuring them of a miserable
captivity.
1. Here is the moral of the good Jigs, that were
very good, the first ripe; these represented the pious
captives, that seemed first ripe for ruin, for they
went first into captivity, but should prove first ripe
for mercy, and their captivity should help to ripen
them; these are pleasing to God, as good Jigs are to
us, and shall be carefully preserved for use. Now
observe here,
(1.) Those that were already carried into captiv¬
ity, w ere the good Jigs that God would own. This
shows, [1.] That we cannot determine of God’s
love or hatred by all that is before us. When God’s
judgments are abroad, they are not always the worst
that are first seized by them. [2.] That early suf¬
ferings sometimes prove for the best to us. The
sooner the child is corrected, the better effect the
correction is likely to have: those that went first
into captivity were as the son whom the father
loves, and chastens betimes, chastens while there is
hope, and it did well; but those that staid behind
were like a child long left to himself, who, when
afterward corrected, is stubborn, and made worse
by it, Lam. iii. 27.
(2.) God owns their captivity to be his doing;
whoever were the instruments of it, he ordered and
directed it; (t’. 5.) I have sent them out of this
place into the land of the Chaldeans. It is God that
puts his gold into the furnace, to be tried; his hand
is, in an especial manner, to be eyed in tbe afflic¬
tions of good people. The judge orders the male¬
factor into the hand of an executioner, but the father
corrects the child with his own hand.
(3.) Even this disgraceful, uncomfortable cap¬
tivity, God intended for their benefit; and we are
sure that his intentions are never frustrated; I have
sent them into the land of the Chaldeans for their
good. It seemed to be every way for their hurt,
not only as it was the ruin of their estates, honours,
and liberties, parted them from their relations and
friends, and put them under the power of their ene¬
mies and oppressors, but as it sunk their spirits,
discouraged their faith, deprived them of the bene¬
fit of God’s oracles and ordinances, and exposed
them to temptations; and yet it was designed for
their good, and proved so, in the issue, as to many
of them. Out of the eater came forth meat. By
their afflictions they were convinced of sin, humbled
under the hand of God, weaned from the world,
made serious, taught to pray, and turned from their
iniquity, particularly they were cured of their in¬
clination to idolatry; and thus it was good for them
that they were afflicted, Ps. cxix. 67, 71.
(4.) God promises them that he will own them
in their captivity; though they seem abandoned,
they shall be acknowledged; the scornful relations
they left behind will scarcely own them, or their
kindred to them, but God says, I will acknowledge
them. Note, The Lord knows them that are his,
and will own them in all conditions; nakedness and
sword shall not separate them from his love.
(5.) God assures them of his protection in their
trouble, and a glorious deliverance out of it in due
time, v. 6. Being sent into captivity for their good,
they shall not be lost there; but it shall be with
them as it is with gold which the refiner puts into
the furnace. [1.] He has his eye upon it while it
is there, and it is a careful eye, to see that it sustain
no damage; “/ will set mine eyes upon them for
good, to order every thing for the best, that all the
circumstances of the affliction may concur to the
answering of the great intention of it.” [2.] He
will be sure to take it out of the furnace again, as
soon as the work designed upon it is done; I will
bring them again to this land. They were sent
abroad for improvement awhile, under a divine dis¬
cipline: but they shall be fetched back, when they
have gone through theirtrial there, to their Father’s
house. [3.] He will fashion his gold when he has
refined it, will make it a vessel of honour fit for his
use; so, when God has brought them back from
their trial, he will build them, and make them a
habitation for himself, will plant them, and make
them a vineyard for himself. Their captivity was
to square the rough stones, and make them fit for
his building, to prune up the young trees, and make
them fit for his planting.
(6.) He engages to prepare them for these tem¬
poral mercies which he designed for them, by be¬
stowing spiritual mercies upon them, x>. 7. It is
this that will make their captivity be for their good;
this shall be both the improvement of their afflic¬
tion, and their qualification for deliverance. When
our troubles are sanctified to us, then we may be
sure that they will end well. Now that which is
promised, is, [1.] That they' should be better ac-
uainted with God; they shall learn more of God
y his providences in Babylon than they had learned
by all his oracles and ordinances in Jerusalem;
thanks to divine grace, for if that had not wrought
mightily upon them in Babylon, they would for ever
have forgotten God. It is here promised, I will
give them, not so much a head to know me, as a
heart to know me, for the right knowledge of God
consists not in notion and speculation, but in the con¬
victions of the practical judgment directing and go¬
verning the will and affections. A good understand¬
ing have all they that do his commandments, Ps.
cxi. 10. Where God gives a sincere desire and in¬
clination to know him, he will give that knowledge.
It is God himself that gives a heart to know him,
else we should perish for ever in our ignorance.
[2.] That they should be entirely converted to God;
to his will as their rule, his service as their busi¬
ness, and his glory as their end; They shall return
to me with their whole heart. God himself under¬
takes for them that they shall; and if he turn us,
we shall be turned. This follows upon the former;
for those that have a heart to know God aright,
! will not onlv turn to him, but turn with their whole
heart; for "those that are either obstinate in their
rebellion, or hypocritical in their religion, may truly
be said to be ignorant of God. [3.] That thus they
should be again taken into covenant with God, as
much to their comfort as ever; They shall be my
people, and I will be their God. God will own
them, as formerly, for his people, in the discoveries
of himself to them, in his acceptance of their ser¬
vices, and in his gracious appearances on their be¬
half, and they shall have liberty to own him for
their God, in "their prayers to him, and their ex-
| pectations from him. Note, Those that have back-
445
JEREML
Midden from God, if they do in sincerity return
to him, arc admitted as freely as any to all the pri¬
vileges and comforts of the everlasting covenant,
which is herein well ordered, that every transgres¬
sion in the covenant does not throw us out of cove¬
nant, and that afflictions are not only consistent with,
but flowing from, covenant-love.
2. Here is the moral of the bad Jigs; Zedekiah
and his princes and partisans yet remain in the land,
roud and secure enough, Ezek. xi. 3. Many were
ed into Egypt for shelter, and they thought they
had shifted well for themselves and their own safety,
and boasted that though therein they had gone con¬
trary to the command of God, yet they had acted
prudently for themselves. Now as to these that
looked so scornfully upon those that were gone into
captivity, it is here threatened,
(1.) That, whereas those who were already car¬
ried away were settled in one country, where they
had the comfort of one another’s society, though in
captivity, these should be dispered and removed
into all the kingdoms of the earth, where they
should have no joy one of another.
(2. ) That, whereas these were carried away cap¬
tives for their good, these should be removed into all
countries for their hurt. Their afflictions shculd
be so far from humbling them, that they should
harden them; not bring them nearer to God, but
set them at a greater distance from him.
(3.) That, whereas those should have the honour
of being owned of God in their troubles, these
should have the shame of being abandoned by all
mankind; In all places whither I shall drive them,
they shall be a reproach and a proverb. “Such a
one is as false and proud as a Jew;” “Such a one is
as poor and miserable as a Jew.” All their neigh¬
bours shall make a jest of them, and of the calami¬
ties brought upon them.
(4.) That, whereas those should return to their
own land, these shall be consumed from that land,
never to see it more, and it shall be of no avail to
them to plead, that it was the land God gave to
their fathers, for they had it from God, and he
gave it them upon condition of their obedience.
(5.) That, whereas those were reserved for better
times, these were reserved for worse; wherever
they are removed, the sword, and famine, and pes¬
tilence, shall be sent after them, shall soon overtake
them, and, coming with commission so to do, shall
overcome them. God has variety of judgments
wherewith to prosecute those that fly from jus¬
tice; and those that have escaped one, may expect
another, till they are brought to repent and reform.
Doubtless, this prophecy had its accomplishment
in the men of that generation: yea, because we
read not of any such remarkable difference between
those of Jeconiah’s captivity and those of Zedeki-
ah’s, it is probable that this was a typical reference
to the last destruction of the Jews bv the Romans,
in which those of them that believed were taken
care of; but those that continued obstinate in unbe¬
lief, were driven into all countries for a taunt and a
curse, and so they remain to this day.
CHAP. XXV.
The prophecy of this chapter bears date some time before
those propnecies in the chapters next foregoing, for they
are not placed in the exact order of time in which they
were delivered. This is dated in the first year of Nebu¬
chadrezzar, that remarkable year w'hen the sword of
the Lord began to be drawn and furbished. Here is, I.
A review of the prophecies that had been delivered to
Judah and Jerusalem for many years past, by Jeremiah
himself and other prophets, with the little regard given
to them, and the little success of them, v. 1 . . 7. II. A
very express threatening of the destruction of Judah and
Jerusalem, by the king of Babylon, for their contempt
of God ana their continuance in sin, v. 8 . . 1 1. To which
is annexed a promise of their deliverance out of their
\H, XXV.
captivity in Babylon, after 70 years, v. 12. 14. III. A
prediction of the devastation of divers other nations
about, by Nebuchadrezzar, represented by a cup of fury
put into their hands, (v. J5 . . 28.) by a sword sent among
them, (v. 29. .33.) and a desolation made among the
shepherds, and their flocks and pastures; (v. 34.. 38.)
so that we have here judgment beginning at the liutise
of God , but not ending there.
1. rgTHE word that came to Jeremiah eou-
JL ceraing all tlie people of Judah, in
the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Jo-
siali king of Judah, that tens the first year of
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; 2. The
which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all
the people of Judah, and to all the inha¬
bitants of Jerusalem, saying, 3. From the
thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon
king of Judah, even unto this day, (that is
the three and twentieth year,) the word of
the Lord hath come unto me, and I have
spoken unto you, rising caily and speaking;
but ye have not hearkened. 4. And the
Lord hath sent unto you all his servants
the prophets, rising early and sending them;
but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined
your ear to hear. 5. They said, Turn ye
again now every one from his evil way, and
from the evil of your doings, and dwell in
the land that the Lord hath given unto you
and to your fathers for ever and ever: 6.
And go not after other gods to serve them,
and to worship them, and provoke me not
to anger with the works of your hands; and
1 will do you no hurt. 7. Yet ye have not
hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; that
ye might provoke me to anger with the
works of your hands to your own hurt.
We have here a message from God concerning
all the people of Judah, (v. 1.) which Jeremiah de¬
livered, in his name, unto all the people of Judah,
v. 2. Note, That which is of universal concern,
ought to be of universal cognizance. It 4s fit that
the word which concerns all the people, as the word
of God does, the word of the gospel particularly,
should be divulged to all in general, and as far as
may be, addressed to each in particular. Jere¬
miah had been sent to the house of the king, ( ch .
xxii. 1.) and he took courage to deliver his mes¬
sage there; here he is sent to all the people, and he
takes the pains to deliver his message to them, pro¬
bably when they were all come up to Jerusalem, to
worship at some of the solemn feasts; then he had
them together, and it was to be hoped then, if ever,
they would be well disposed to hear counsel and re¬
ceive instruction.
This prophecy is dated in the 4th year of Jehoia¬
kim, and the 1st of Nebuchadrezzar. It was in the
latter end of Jehoiakim’s 3d year, that Nebuchad¬
rezzar began to reign himself alone, (having reigned
some time before in conjunction with his father,) as
appears, Dan. i. 1. but Jehoiakim’s 4th year was
begun before Nebuchadrezzar’s 1st was completed.
Now that that active, daring, martial prince began
to set up for the world’s master, God, by his pro¬
phet, gives notice that he is his sen’ant, and inti¬
mates what work he intends to employ him in, that
his growing greatness, which was so formidable to
the nations, might not be construed as any reflection
upon the power and providence cf Gcd in the go-
*46 JEREMIAH, XXV.
vernment of the world. Nebuchadrezzar should
not bid so fair for universal monarchy, (I should
have said universal tyranny ,) but that God had
purposes of his own to serve by him; in the exe¬
cution of which, the world shall see the meaning of
God’s permitting and ordering a thing that seemed
such a reflection on his sovereignty and goodness.
Now in this message we may observe the great
pains that had been taken with the people to bring
them to repentance, which they are here put in
mind of, as an aggravation of their sin, and a justifi¬
cation of God in Ins proceedings against them.
1. Jeremiah, for his part, had been a constant
preacher among them 23 years; he began in the
13th year of Josiah, who reigned 31 years, so that
he prophesied about 18 or 19 years in his reign, then
in the reign of Jehoahaz, and now 4 years of Jehoi-
akim’s reign. Note, God keeps an account, whe¬
ther we do or no, how long we have enjoyed the
means of grace; and the longer we have enjoyed
them, the heavier will our account be if we have
not improved them. These three years (these three
and twenty years) have I come seeking fruit on this
fig-tree. All this while, (1.) God had been con¬
stant in sending messages to them, as there was oc¬
casion for them; “ From that time to this very day,
the word of the Lord has come unto me, for your
use.” Though they had the substance of the warn¬
ing sent them already in the books of Moses, j et,
because those were not duly regarded and applied,
God sent to enforce them, and make them more
particular, that they might be without excuse.
Thus God’s Spirit was striving with them, as with
the old world, Gen. vi. 3. (2.) Jeremiah had been
faithful and industrious in delivering those messages;
he could appeal to themselves, as well as to God
and his own conscience, concerning this; I have
spoken to you, rising early and s/teaking. He had
declared to them the whole counsel of God; he had
taken a great deal of care and pains to discharge
his trust in such a manner as might be most likely
to win and work upon them. What men are soli¬
citous about and intent upon, they rise up early to
prosecute. It intimates that his head was so full of
thoughts about it, and his heart so intent upon doing
good, that it broke his sleep, and made him get up
betimes to project which way he might take, that
would be most likely to do them good. He rose
earlv, both because he would lose no time, and be¬
cause he would lay hold on and improve the best
time to work upon them, when, if ever, they were
sober and sedate. Christ came early in the morn¬
ing to preach in the temple, and the people as
early to hear him, Luke xxi. 38. Morning-lectures
have their advantages. My voice shall thou hear
in the morning.
2. Beside him, God had sent them other pro¬
phets, on the same errand, v. 4. Of the writing
prophets, Micah, Nahum, and Habakkuk, were a
little before him, and Zephaniah cotemporary with
him. But, beside those, there were many other of
God’s servants the prophets, who preached awaken¬
ing sermons, which were never published. And here
God himself is said to rise early and send them; inti¬
mating how much his heart also was upon it, that
this people should turn and live, and not go on and
die , Ezek. xxxiii. 11.
3. All the messages sent them were to the pur¬
pose, and much to the same purpose, v. 5, 6. (1.)
They all told them of their faults, their evil way,
and the evil of their doings. Those were not of
God’s sending, who flattered them as if there were
nothing amiss among them. (2.) They all reproved
them particularly for their idolatry, as a sin that
was in a special manner provoking to God; their
going after other gods, to serve them, and to wor¬
ship them, gods that were the work of their own
hands. (3.) They all called on them to repent ( f
their sins, and to reform their lives. This was the
burthen of every song. Turn ye now every one
from his evil way. Note, Personal and particular
reformation must be insisted on as necessary to a
national deliverance; every one must turn from his
own evil way. The street will not be clean unless
everyone sweep before his own door. (4.) They
all assured them, that, if they did so, it would cer¬
tainly be the lengthening out of their tranquillity.
The mercies they enjoyed should be continued to
them; “You shall dwell in the land, dwell at ease,
dwell in peace, in this good land, which the Lord
has given you and your fathers. Nothing but sin
will turn you out of it, and that shall not if you turn
from it.” The judgments they feared should be
prevented; Provoke me not, and I will do you no
hurt. Note, We should never receive from God
the evil of punishment if we did not provoke him
by the evil of sin. God deals fairly with us, never
corrects his children without cause, nor causes grief
to us unless we give offence to him.
4. Vet all was to no purpose. They were not
wrought upon to take the right and only method to
turn away the wrath of God. Jeremiah was a lively,
affectionate preacher, yet they hearkened not to
him, v. 3. The other prophets dealt faithfully
with them, but neither did they hearken to them,
nor incline their ear, v. 4. That very particular
sin which they were told, of all ethers, was most
offensive to God, and made them obnoxious to his
justice, they wilfully persisted in; You provoke me
with the works of your hands, to your own hurt.
Note, What is a provocation to God will prove, in
the end, hurt to ourselves, and we must bear the
blame of it. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.
8. Therefore thus saitli the Loud of hosts.
Because ye have not heard my words, 9.
Behold, i will send and take all the fami¬
lies of the north, saitli the Lord, and Ne¬
buchadrezzar the king of Babylon my ser¬
vant, and will bring them against this land,
and against, the inhabitants thereof, and
against all these nations round about, and
will utterly destroy them, and make them
an astonishment, and a hissing, and per¬
petual desolations. 10. Moreover, I will
take from them the voice of mirth, and
the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom, and the voice of the bride,
the sound of the millstones, and the light
of the candle. 11. And this whole land
shall be a .desolation, and an astonishment;
and these nations shall serve the king of
Babylon seventy years. 12. And it shall
come to pass, when seventy years are ac¬
complished, that I will punish the king of
Babylon, and that nation, saitli the Lord,
for their iniquity, and the land of the Chal¬
deans, and will make it perpetual desola¬
tions. 1 3. And I will bring upon that land
all my words which I have pronounced
against it, et -en all that is written in this book,
which Jeremiah hath prophesied against
all the nations. 14. For many nations and
great kings shall serve themselves of them
also : and I will recompense them accord-
447
JEREM1
ing to their deeds, and according to the
works of their own hands.
Here is the sentence grounded upon the forego-
going charge. ‘‘Because ye have not heard my
words, I must take another course with you,” v. 8.
Note, When men will not regard the judgments of
God’s mouth, they may expect to feel the judg¬
ments of his hands; to hear the rod, since they
would not hear the word; for the sinner must either
be parted from his sin, or perish in it. Wrath
comes without remedy against those only that sin
without repentance. It is not so much men’s turn¬
ing aside that ruins them as their not returning.
1. The ruin of the land of Judah by the king of Ba¬
bylon’s armies is here decreed, v. 9. God sent them
his servants the prophets, and they were not heeded,
and therefore God will send for his servant the king
of Babylon, whom they cannot mock, and despise,
and persecute, as they did his servants the prophets.
Note, The messengers of God’s wrath will be sent
against those that would not receive the messengers
ot his mercy. One way or other, God will be
heeded, and will make men know that he is the
Lord. Nebuchadrezzar, though a stranger to the
true God, the God of Israel, nay, an enemy to him,
and afterward a rival with him, was yet, in the
descent he made upon this country, God’s servant,
accomplished his purpose, was employed by him,
and was an instrument in his hand for the correction
of his people. He was really serving God’s designs
when he thought he was serving his own ends.
Justly therefore does God here call himself, The
Lord of hosts, ( v . 8.) for here is an instance of his
sovereign dominion, not only over the inhabitants,
but over the armies, of this earth, of which he
makes what use he pleases. He has them all at his
command; the most potent and absolute monarchs
are his servants. Nebuchadrezzar, who is an in¬
strument of his wrath, is as truly his servant, as
Cyrus is an instrument of his mercy. The land of
Judah being to be m ule desolate, God here musters
his army that is to do it, gathers it together, takes
all the families of the north, if there be occasion
for them, leads them on as their Commander
in chief, brings them against this land, gives
them sufccess, not only against Judah and Jerusalem,
but against all the nations round about, that there
might be no dependence upon them as allies, or as¬
sistants against that threatening force. The utter
destruction of this and all the neighbouring lands is
here described, v. 9. — 11. It shall be total; The
whole land shall be a desolation; not only desolate,
but a desolation itself, both city and country shall
be laid waste, and all the wealth of both be made a
prey of ; it shall be lasting, even perpetual desola¬
tions; they shall continue so long in ruins, and after
long waiting there shall appear so little prospect of
relief, that every one shall call it per/iftual. This
desolation shall be the ruin of their credit among
their neighbours; it shall bury their honour in the
dust, shall make them an astonishment and an hiss¬
ing; every one will be amazed at them, and hiss
them off the stage of action with just disgrace, for
deserting God who would have been their protec¬
tion, for impostors who would certainly be their de¬
struction. It will likewise be the rum of all their
comfort among themselves; it shall be a final period
of all their joy; I will take from them the voice of
mirth, hang their harps on the willow trees, and put
them out of tune for songs. I will take from them
the voice of mirth; they shall neither have cause
foi it, nor hearts for it. They would not hear the
voice of God’s word, and therefore the voice of mirth
shall no more be heard among them. They shall
be deprived of food; the sound of the millstones
shall not be heard, for when the enemy has seized
AH, XXV.
their stores, the sound of the grinding must needs
be low, Eccl. xii. 4. An end shall be put to all
business, there shall not be seen the light of a candle,
fur there shall be no work to be done worth candle¬
light. And, lastly, they shall be deprived of their
liberty; Those nations shall serve the king of Baby¬
lon 7 0 years. The fixing of the time during which
the captivity should last, would be of great use, not
only for the confirmation of the prophecy, when the
event (which in this particular could by no human
sagacity be foreseen) shculd exactly answer the
prediction, but for the comfort cf the people of God
in their calamity, and the encouragement of faith
and prayer. Daniel, who was himself a prophet,
had an eye to it, Dan. ix. 2. Nay, God himself had
an eye to it, (2 Chron. xxx\i. 22.) for then fore he
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, that the word spoken
by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished.
Known unto God are all his works, from the begin¬
ning of the world; which appears by tiffs, that,
when he has thought fit, some of them have been
made known to his servants the prophets, and by
them to his church.
2. The ruin of Babylon, at last, is here likewise
foretold, as it had been, long before, by Isaiah, v.
12. — 14. The destroyers must themselves be de¬
stroyed, and the rod thrown into the fire, when the
correcting-work is done with it. This shall be done
when 70 years are acctimplished, for the destruction
of Babylon must make way for the deliverance of
the captives. It is a great doubt when these 70
years commence; some date them from the capti¬
vity in the 4th year of Jehoiakim, and 1st cf Nebu¬
chadrezzar; others from the captivity of Jehoiachin
eight years after. I rather incline to the former,
because then these nations began to serve the king
of Babylon, and because usually God has taken the
earliest time from which to reckon the accomplish¬
ment of a promise of mercy, as will appear in com¬
puting the 400 years’ servitude in Egypt. And if
so, 18 or 19 years of the 70 were run out before Je¬
rusalem and the temple were quite destroyed in the
11th year of Zedekiah. However that be, when
the time, the set time, to favour Zion is come, the
king of Babylon must be visited, and all the in¬
stances of his tyranny reckoned for; then that
nation shall be punished for their iniquity, as the
other nations have been punished for theirs. That
land must then be a perpetual desolation, such as
they had made other lands; for the Judge of all the
earth will botli do right, and avenge wrong, as King
of nations, and King of saints. Let proud conquerors
and oppressors be moderate in the use of their
power and success, for it will come at last to their
own turn to suffer; their day will come to fall. In
this destruction of Babylon, which was to be brought
about by the Medes and Persians, reference shall
be had, (1.) To what God had said; I will bring
upon that land all my words; for all the wealth and
honour of Babylon shall be sacrificed to the truth
of the divine predictions, and all its power broken,
rather than one iota or tittle of God’s word shall fall
to the ground. The same Jeremiah that prophesied
the destruction of other nations by the Chaldeans,
foretold also the destructian of the Chaldeans them¬
selves; and this must be brought upon them, v. 13. It
is with reference to this very event, that God says,
I will confirm the word of my servant, and per¬
form the counsel of my messengers, Isa. xliv. 26.
(2.) To what they had done; (n. 14.) I will recom¬
pense them according to their deeds, by which they
transgressed the law of God, even then when they
were made to serve his purposes. They had made
many nations to serve them, and trampled upon
them with the greatest insolence imaginable: but
now that the measure of their iniquity is full, many
nations and great kings, that are in alliance with,
443
JEREMIAH, XXV.
V
and come in to the assistance of, Cyras king of
Persia, sh.dl serve the pi selves of them also, shall
make themselves masters of their country, enrich
themselves with their spoils, and make them the
footstool by which to mount the throne of universal
monarchy. They shall make use of them for ser¬
vants anil soldiers. He that tends into captivity,
shall go into captivity.
15. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel
unto me, Take the wine-cup of this fury at
my hand, and cause all the nations to whom
I send thee, to drink it. 16. And they shall
drink, and be moved, and be mad, because
of the sword that 1 will send among them.
17. Then took 1 the cup at the Loud’s
hand, and made all the nations to drink,
unto whom the Lord had sent me: 18.
To wit , Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah,
and the kings thereof, and the princes
thereof, to make them a desolation, an as¬
tonishment, a hissing, and a curse ; (as it is
this day;) 19. Pharaoh king of Egypt,
and his servants, and his princes, and all
his people ; 20. And all the mingled peo¬
ple, and all the kings of the land of Uz,
and all the kings of the land ol the Philis¬
tines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron,
and the remnant ol Ashdod. 21. Edom,
and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
22. And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the
kings of Zidon, and the kings ol the isles
which are beyond the sea, 23. Dedan,
and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the
utmost corners, 24. And all the kings ol
Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled
people that dwell in the desert, 25. And
all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of
Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, 26.
And all the kings of the north, far and near,
one with another, and all the kingdoms of
the world, which are upon the face of the
earth : and the king of Sheshach shall drink
after them. 27." Therefore thou shalt
say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel, Drink ye, and be
drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no
more, because of the sword which I will
send among you. 28. And it shall be, if they
refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink,
then shalt thou- say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, Ye shall certainly drink.
29. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city
which is called by my name, and should ye
be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be un¬
punished': for I will call for a sword upon
all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the
Lord of hosts.
Under the similitude of a cup going round, which
all the company must drink of, is here represented
the universal desolation that was now coming upon
that part of the world, which Nebuchadrezzar, who
just now began to reign and act, was to be the in¬
strument of, and which should at length recoil upon
his own country. The cup in the vision is to be a
sworcl in the accomplishment of it: so it is explain¬
ed, v. 16. It is the sword that I will send among
them, the sword of war, that should be irresistibly
strong and implacably cruel. 1 Observe,
1. Whence this destroying sword should ccme;
from the hand of God, it is the sword of the Lord,
i (Vi. xlvii. 6.) bathed in heaven, Isa. xxxiv. 5.
Wicked men are made use of as his sword, Ps. xvii.
13. It is the wine-cup of his Jury. It is the just
anger of God that sends this judgment; the nations
have provoked him by their sins, and they must fall
under the tokens of his wrath. These are compared
to some intoxicating liquor, which they shall be
forced to drink of, as formerly condemned male¬
factors were sometimes executed by being com¬
pelled to drink poison. The, wicked are said to
drink the wrath of the Almighty, Job xxi. 20. Rev.
xiv. 10. Their share of troubles in this world is
represented bv the dregs of a cup of red wine full
of mixture, Ps. lxxv. 8. See Ps. xi. 6. The
wrath of God in this world is but as a cup, in com¬
parison of the full streams of it in the ether world.
2. By whose hand it should be sent them; by the
hand of Jeremiah, as the judge set over the nations,
( ch . i. 10.) to pass this sentence upon them; and by
the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, as the executioner.
What a much greater figure then does the poor pro¬
phet make, than what the potent prince makes, if
we look upon their relation to God, though in the
eye of the world it was the reverse of it ! Jeremiah
must take the cup at God’s /.and, and compel the
nations to driuk it. He foretells no hurt to them,
but what God appoints him to fortell; .and what is
foretold by a divine authority, will certainly be ful¬
filled by a divine power.
3. On whom it should be sent; on all the nations
within the verge of Israel’s acquaintance, and the
lines of their communication. Jeremiah took the
cup, and made all nations to drink of it, that is, he
prophesied concerning each of the nations here
mentioned, that they should share in this great de¬
solation that was coming. Jerusalem and the cities
of Judah are put first; (y. 18.) (or judgment begins
at the house of God, (1 Pet. iv. 17.) at the sanc¬
tuary, Ezek. ix. 6. Whether Nebuchadrezzar
had his eye principally upon Jerusalem and Judah
in this expedition or no, does not appear; probably
he had; tor it was as considerable as any of the na¬
tions here mentioned; however, God had his eye
principally to them. And this part of the prophecy
was already begun to be accomplished; this is de¬
noted by that melancholy parenthesis, ( as it is this
day,) for in the 4th year ot Jehoiakim things were
come into a very bad posture, and all the founda¬
tions were cut of course. Pharaoh, king of Kgypt,
comes next, because the Jews trasted to that broken
reed; (r>. 19.) the remains of them fled to Egypt,
and then Jeremiah particularly foretold the destruc¬
tion of that country, ch. xliii. 10, 11. All the other
nations that bordered upon Canaan, must pledge
Jerusalem in this bitter cup, this cup of trembling.
The mingled people, the Arabians, so some; some
rovers ot divers nations that lived by rapine, so
others; the kings of the land of Uz, joined to the
country of the Edomites. The Philistines had
been vexatious to Israel, but now their cities and
their lords became a prey to this mighty conqueror.
Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon, are places
well known to border upon Israel; the Isles beyond,
or beside, the sea, are supposed to be those parts of
Phoenicia and Syria, that lay upon the coast of the
Mediterranean sea. Dedan, and the other countries
mentioned, (y. 23, 24.) seem to have lain upon the
confines of Idumea and Arabia the desert. Those
of Elam are the Persians, with whom the Medes
449
JEREMIAH, XXV.
are joined, now looked upon as inconsiderable, and
yet afterward able to make reprisals upon Babylon
For themselves and all their neighbours. The kings
of the north, that lay nearer to Babylon, and others
that lay up at some distance, will be sure to be seized
on, and made a prey of, by the victorious sword of
Nebuchadrezzar. Nay, he shall push on his victo¬
ries with such incredible fury and success, that all
the kingdoms of the world that were then and there
known, should become sacrifices to his ambition.
Thus Alexander is said to have conquered the
world, and the Roman empire is called the world,
Luke ii. 1. Or it may be taken as reading the
doom of all the kingdoms of the earth; one time or
other they shall feel the dreadful effects of war.
The world has been, and will be, a great cock-pit,
while men’s lusts war as they do in their members,
Jam. iv. 1. But that the conquerors may see their
fate with the conquered, it concludes, The king of
Sheshach shall drink after them, that is, the king
of Babylon himself, who has given his neighbours
all this trouble and vexation, shall at length have
it return upon his own head. That by Sheshach is
meant Babylon, is plain, from eh. li. 41. but whether
it was another name of the same city, or the name
of another city of the same kingdom, is uncertain.
Babylon’s ruin was foretold, x'. 12, 13. Upon this
prophecy of its being the author of the ruin of so
many nations, it was very fitly repeated here again.
4. What should be the effect of it. The desola¬
tions which the sword should make in all these
kingdoms, are represented by the consequences of
excessive drinking; ( v . 16. ) They shall drink and
be moved, and be mad. They shall be drunken
and s/iue, and fall and rise no more, v. 27. Now
this may serve, ( 1. ) To make us loathe the sin of
drunkenness, that the consequences of it are made
use of to set forth a most woful and miserable con¬
dition. Drunkenness deprives men, for the pre¬
sent, of the use of their reason, makes them mad.
It takes from them likewise that which, next to
reason, is the most valuable blessing, and that is
health; it makes them sick, and endangers the
bones and the life. Men in drink often fall, and
rise no more; it is a sin that is its own punishment.
I low wretchedly are they intoxicated and besotted,
that suffer themselves at any time to be intoxicated,
especially to be, by the frequent commission of this
sin, besotted .with wine or strong drink! (2.) To
make us dread the judgments of war. When God
sends the sword upon a nation, with warrant to
make it desolate, it soon becomes like a drunken
man, filled with confusion at the alarms of war, put
into a hurry; its counsellors mad, and at their wit’s
end, staggering in all the measures they take, all
the motions they make; sick at heart with continual
vexation; vomiting up. the riches they have greedily
swallowed down; (Job xx. 15. ) falling down before
the enemy, and as unable to get up again, or do any
thing to help themselves, as a man dead drunk is,
Hab. ii. 16.
5. The undoubted certainty of it, with the reason
given for it, v. 28, 29. They will refuse to take
the cup at thy hand; not only they will be loath that
the judgment should come, but they will be loath to
believe that ever it will come; they will not give
credit to the prediction of so despicable a man as
Jeremiah; but he must tell them that it is the word
of the Lord of hosts, he hath said it; and it is in
vain for them to struggle with Omnipotence; Ye
shall certainly drink. The prophet must give them
this reason, It is a time of visitation, it is a reckon¬
ing day, and Jerusalem has been called to an ac¬
count already; I begin to bring evil on the city that
is called by my name; its relation to me will not
exempt it from punishment, and should ye be utterly
unpunished? No, If this be done in the green tree,
Vol. iv. — 3 L
what will be done in the dry? If they who have
some good in them, smart so severely for the evil
that is found in them, can they expect to escape,
who have worse evils, and no good, found among
them? If Jerusalem be punished for learning idola¬
try of the nations, shall not the nations be punished
of whom they learned it? No doubt they shall; /
will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the
earth, for they have helped to debauch the inhabi¬
tants of Jerusalem.
Upon this whole matter we may observe, (1.)
That there is a God that judges in the eaith, to
whom all the nations of the earth are accountable,
and by whose judgment they must abide. (2.)
That God can easily bring to ruin the greatest na¬
tions, the most numerous and powerful, and such as
have been most secure. (3.) That those w.ho have
been vexatious and mischievous to the people of
God, will be reckoned with for it at last. Many of
these nations had in their turns given disturbance to
Israel, but now comes destruction on them. The
year of the Redeemer will come, even the year of
recompenses for the controversy of Zion. (4. ) That
the burthen of the word of the Lord will at last be¬
come the burthen of his judgments. Isaiah had
prophesied long since against most of these nations,
\ch. xiii. &c.) and now at length all his prophecies
will have their complete fulfilling. (5. ) That those
who are ambitious of power and dominion, common¬
ly become the troublers of the earth and the plagues
of their generation; Nebuchadrezzar was so proud
of his might, that he had no sense of right. These
are the men that turned the world upside down, and
yet expect to be admired and adored. Alexander
thought himself a great prince, when others thought
him no better than a great pirate. (6.) That the
greatest pomp and power of this world are of very
uncertain continuance. Before Nebuchadrezzar’s
greater force kings themselves must yield, and be¬
come captives.
30. Therefore prophesy thou against them
all these words, and say unto them, The
Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his
voice from his holy habitation; he shall
mightily roar upon his habitation ; he shall
give a shout, as they that tread the grapes,
against all the inhabitants of the earth. 31.
A noise shall come even to the ends of the
earth: for the Lord hath a controversy
with the nations; he will plead with all
flesh: he will give them that are wicked to
the sword, saith the Lord. 32. Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go
forth from nation to nation, and a great
whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts
of the earth. 33. And the slain of the
Lord shall be at that day from one end of
the earth even unto the other end of the
earth: they shall not be lamented, neither
gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung
upon the ground. 34. Howl, ye shepherds,
and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes,
ye principal of the flock: for the days of
your slaughter and of your dispersions are
accomplished; and ye shall fall like a plea¬
sant vessel. 35. And the shepherds shal’
have no way to flee, nor the principal of
the flock to escape. 36. A voice of the erv
450
JEREMIAH, XXV.
of the shepherds, and a howling of the prin¬
cipal of the flock, shall be heard: for the
Lord hath spoiled their pasture. 37. And
the peaceable habitations are cut down, be¬
cause of the fierce anger of the Lord. 38.
He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion :
for their land is desolate, because of the
fierceness of the oppressor, and because of
his fierce anger.
We have in these verses, a further description of
those terrible desolations which the king ot Baby¬
lon with his armies should make in all the countries
and nations round about Jerusalem. In Jerusalem
God had erected his temple; there were his oracles
and ordinances which the neighbouring nations
should have attended to, and might have received
benefit by; thither they should have applied them¬
selves for the knowledge of God and their duty, and
then they might have had reason to bless God for
their neighbourhood to Jerusalem; but they, instead
of that, taking all opportunities either to debauch or
to disturb that holy city, when God came to reckon
with Jerusalem, (because it learned so much of the
way of the nations,') he reckoned with the nations
because they learned so little of the way of Jeru¬
salem.
They will soon be aware of Nebuchadnezzar’s
making war upon them; but the prophet is here
bidden to tell them that it is God himself that makes
war upon them, a God with whom there is no con¬
tending.
1. The war is here proclaimed; (t\ 30.) The
Lord shall roar from on high; not from mount Zion
and Jerusalem, (as Joel iii. 16. Amos i. 2.) but from
heaven, from his holy habitation there; for now Je¬
rusalem is one of the places against which he roars;
he shall mightily roar upon his habitation on earth
from that above. He has been long silent, and
seemed not to take notice of the wickedness of the
nations; the times of this ignorance God winked at;
but now he shall give a shout, as the assailants in
battle do, against all the inhabitants of the earth, to
whom it shall be a shout of terror, and yet a shout
of joy in heaven, as theirs that tread the grapes; for
when God is reckoning with the proud enemies of
his kingdom among men, there is a great voice of
much people heard in heaven, saying, Hallelujah,
Rev. xix. 1. He roars as a lion, (Amos iii. 4, 8.)
as a lion that has forsaken his covert, {v. 38.) and
is going abroad to seek his prey, upon which he
roars, that he may the more easily seize it.
2. The manifesto is here published, showing the
causes and reasons why God proclaims this war;
(y. 31.) The Lord has a controversy with the na¬
tions; he has just cause to contend with them, and
he will take this way of pleading with them. His
quarrel with them is, in one word, for their wicked¬
ness, their contempt of him, and his authority over
them, and kindness to them; He will give them that
are wicked to the sword. They have provoked
God to anger, and thence comes all this destruction ;
it is because of the fierce anger of the Lord, (v. 37.)
and again (v. 38. ) the fierceness of the oppressor;
or, as it might be better read, the fierceness of the op¬
pressing sword (for the word is feminine) is because
of his fierce anger; and we are sure that he is never
angry without cause; but who knows the power of
his anger?
3. The alarm is here given and taken; A noise
will come even to the ends of the earth, so loud shall
it roar, so far shall it reach, v. 31. The alarm is
not given by sound of trumpet, or beat of dram, but
by a whirlwind, a great whirlwind, storm or tem¬
pest, which shall fie raised up from the coasts, the
remote coasts of the earth, v. 32. The Chaldean
army shall be like a hurricane raised in the north,
but thence carried on with incredible fierceness and
swiftness, bearing down all before it. It is like the
whirlwind out of which God answered Job, which
was exceeding terrible, Job xxxvii. 1. — xxxviii. 1.
And when the wrath of God thus roars like a lion
from heaven, no marvel if it be echoed with shrieks
from earth; for who can choose but tremfile when
God thus speaks in displeasure? See Hosea xi. 10.
Now the shepherds shall howl and cry, the kings
and princes, and great ones of the earth, the prin¬
cipal of the flock; they used to be the most coura¬
geous and secure, but now their hearts shall fail
them, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes, v.
34. _ Seeing themselves utterly unafile to make head
against the enemy, and seeing their country, which
they have the charge of, and a concern for, inevita¬
bly ruined, they shall abandon themselves to sor¬
row. There shall be a voice of the cry of the shep¬
herds, and a howling of the principal of the flock
shall be heard, v. 36. Those are great calamities
indeed, that strike such a terror upon the great
men, and put them into this consternation; The
Lord hath spoiled their pasture, in which they fed
their flocks, and out of which they fed themselves;
the spoiling of that makes them cry out thus. Per¬
haps, carrying on the metaphor of a lion roaring, it
alludes to the great fright that shepherds are in
when they hear a roaring lion coming toward their
flocks, and find they have no way to flee (v. 35. )
for their own safety, neither can the principal of
the flock escape. The enemy will be so numerous,
so. furious, so sedulous, and the extent of their ar¬
mies so vast, that it will be impossible to avoid fall¬
ing into their hands. Note, As we cannot outface,
so we cannot outrun, the judgments of Gcd. This
is that for which the shepherds howl and cry.
4. The progress of this war is here described;
(t>. 32.) Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to
nation; as the cup goes round, every nation shall
have its share, and take its turn, because one does
not take warning by the calamities of another to re¬
pent and reform. Nay, as if this were to be a little
representation of the last and general judgment, it
shall reach from one end of the earth even unto the
other end of the earth, v. 33. The day of vengeance
is in his heart, and now his hand shall find out all
his enemies wherever they are, Ps. xxi. 8. Note,
When our neighbour’s house is on fire, it is time to
be concerned for our own. When one nation is a
seat of war, every neighbouring nation should hear,
and fear, and make its peace with God.
5. The dismal consequences of this war are here
foretold; The days of slaughter and dispersions are
accomplished, they are fully come, (t>. 34.) the time
fixed in the divine counsel for the slaughter of some
and the dispersion of the rest, which will make the
nations completely desolate. Multitudes shall fall
by the sword of the merciless Chaldeans, so that the
slain of the Lord shall be every where found; they
are slain by commission from him, and are sacri
ficed to his justice. The slain for sin are the slain of
the Lord. To complete the misery of their slaugh¬
ter, they shall not be lamented in particular, so gen¬
eral shall the matter of lamentation be. Nay, they
shall not be gathered up, nor buried, for they shall
have no friends left to do it, and the enemies shall
not have so much humanity in them as to do it; and
then they shall be as dung upon the earth, so vile
and noisome: and it is well if, as dung manures the
earth, and makes it fruitful, so these horrid specta¬
cles, which lie as monuments of divine justice, might
be a means to a^vaken the inhabitants of the earth to
learn righteousness. The effect of this war will be
the desolation of the whole land that is the seat of it,
(it. 38.) one land after another. But here are two
451
JEREMIAH, XXVI.
expressions more, that seem to make the case in a
particular manner piteous, (1.) Ye shall fall like a
pleasant -vessel, v. 34. The most desirable persons
among them who most valued themselves, and were
most valued, shall fall by the sword; who were
looked upon as vessels of honour. Ye shall fall as a
Venice glass or a China dish, which is scon broken
all to pieces: even the tender and delicate shall
share in the common calamity; the sword devours
one as well as another. (2.) Even the peaceable
habitations are cut down. Those that used to be
quiet, and not molested, the habitations in which ye
have long dwelt in peac.-, shall now be no longer
such, but cut down by the war; or, Those who used
to be quiet, and not molesting any of their neigh- I
hours, those who lived in peace, easily, and gave no
provocation to any, even those shall not escape.
This is one of the direful effects of war, that even
those who were most harmless and inoffensive suf¬
fer hard things. Blessed be God, there is a peacea¬
ble habitation above for all the sons of peace, which
is out of the reach of fire and sword.
CHAP. XXVI.
As in the historv of the Ads of the Apostles , that of their
preaching and that of their suffering are interwoven, so
it is in the account we have of the prophet Jeremiah;
witness this chapter, where we are told, I. How faith¬
fully he preached, v. 1 . . 6. II. How spitefully he was
persecuted for so doing by the priests and the prophets,
v. 7 . . 1 1. III. How bravely he stood to his doctrine, in
the face of his persecutors, v. 12 . . 15. IV. How won¬
derfully he was protected and delivered by the prudence
of the princes and elders, v. 16. . 19. Though Urijah,
another prophet, was about the same time put to death
by Jehoiakim, ( v. 20 . . 23.) yet Jeremiah met with those
that sheltered him, v. 24.
1 . TN the beginning of the reign of Jehoia-
JL kina, the son of Josiah king of Judah,
came this word from the Lord, saying, 2.
Thus saith the Lord, Stand in the court of
the Lord’s house, and speak unto all the
cities of Judah, which come to worship in
the Lord’s house, all the words that I com¬
mand thee to speak unto them : diminish not
a word : 3. If so be they will hearken, and
turn every man from his evil way, that I
may repent me of the evil, which I purposed
to do unto them because of the evil of their
doings. 4. And thou shalt say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord, If ye will not hearken
to me, to walk in my law which I have set
before you, 5. To hearken to the words
of my servants the prophets, whom I sent
unto you, both rising up early, and sending J
them, but ye have not hearkened ; 6. Then
will I make this house like Shiloh, and will
make this city a curse to all the nations of
the earth.
We have here the sermon that Jeremiah preach¬
ed, which gave such offence, that he was in danger
of losing his life for it. It is here left upon record,
as it were, by way of appeal to the judgment of
impartial men in all ages, whether Jeremiah was
worthv to die for delivering such a message as this
from God, and whether his pei-secutors were not
very wicked and unreasonable men.
I. God directed him where to preach this sermon,
and when, and to what auditorv, v. 2. Let not any
censure Jeremiah as indiscreet in the choice of place
•>nd time, nor say that he might have delivered his
message more privately, in a comer, among his
friends that he could confide in, and that he deserved
to smart for not acting more cautiously; for God
gave him orders to preach in the court of the Lord’s
house, which was within the peculiar jurisdiction
of his sworn enemies the priests, and who would
therefore take themselves to be in a particular
manner affronted. He must preach this, as it
should seem, at the time of one of the most solemn
festivals, when persons were come from all the
cities of Judah to worship in the Lord’s house.
These worshippers, we may suppose, had a great
veneration for their priests, would credit the cha¬
racter they gave of men, and be exasperated against,
those whom they defamed, and would, consequently,
side with them and strengthen their hands against
Jeremiah: but none of these things must move him
or daunt him ; in the face of all this danger, he must
preach this sermon, which, if it were not convincing,
would be very provoking. And because the prophet
might be in some temptation to palliate the matter,
and make it better to his hearers than God had
made it to him, to exchange an offensive expression
! for one more plausible, therefore God charges him
particularly not to diminish a word, but to speak
all the things, nay, and all the words, that he had
commanded him. Note, Gcd’s ambassadors must
keep close to their instructions, and not in the least
vary from them, either to please men, or to save
themselves from harm. 1 hey must neither add
nor diminish, Deut. iv. 2.
II. God directed him what to preach, and it is
that which could not give offence to any but such as
were resolved to go on still in their trespasses.
1. He must assure them that if they would repent
of their sins, and turn from them, though they
were in imminent danger of ruin, and desolating
judgments were just at the door, yet a stop should
be put to them, and God would proceed no fur¬
ther in his controversy with them; (x\ 3.) this
was the main thing God intended in sending him to
them, to try if they would return from their sins,
that so God might turn from his anger, and turn
away the judgments that threatened them; which
he was not only willing, but very desirous, to do, as
soon as he could do it without prejudice to the
honour of his justice and holiness. See how God
waits to be gracious, waits till we are duly qualified,
till we are fit for him to be gracious to, and in the
mean time tries a variety of methods to bring us to
be so.
2. He must, on the other hand, assure them that
if they continued obstinate to all the calls God gave
them, and would persist in their disobedience, it
would certainly end in the ruin of their city and
temple, v. 4. — 6. (1.) That which God required
of them, was, that they should be observant of what
he had said to them, both by the written word and
by his ministers; that they should walk in all his law
which he set before them, the law of Moses, and the
ordinances and commandments of it; and that they
should hearken to the words of his servants the pro¬
phets, who pressed nothing upon them but what
was agreeable to the law of Moses, which was set
before them as a touchstone to try the spirits by;
and by this they were distinguished from the false
prophets, who drew them from the law, instead of
drawing them to it. The law was what God him¬
self set before them. The prophets were his own
servants, and were immediately sent by him to
them, and sent with a great deal of care and con¬
cern, rising early to send them, lest they should
come too late, when their prejudices had got pos¬
session, and were become invincible. They had
hitherto been deaf both to the law and to the pro¬
phets; Ye have not hearkened; all he expects now,
is, that at length they should heed what he said,
452
JEREMIAH, XXVI.
and make his word their rule. A reasonable de¬
mand! (2.) That which is threatened in case of
refusal, is, that this city, and the temple in it, shall
fare as their predecessors did, Shiloh and the taber¬
nacle there, for a like refusal to walk in God’s law
and hearken to his prophets, then when the present
dispensation of prophecy just began in Samuel.
Now could a sentence be expressed more unex-
ceptionably? Is it not a rule of justice, Parium par
sit ratio — Let those whose cases are the same, be
dealt with alike? If Jerusalem be like Shiloh in
respect of sin, why should it not be like Shiloh in
respect of punishment? Can any other be expected?
This was not the first time he had given them warn¬
ing to this effect; see ch. vii. 12. — 14. When the
temple, which was the glory of Jerusalem, was de¬
stroyed, the city was thereby made a curse; for the
temple was that which made it a blessing. If the
salt lose that savour, it is thenceforth good for
nothing. It shall be a curse, it shall be the pattern
of a curse; if a man would curse any city, he would
say, God make it like Jerusalem! Note, Those that
will not be subject to the commands of God, make
themselves subject to the curse of God.
7. So the priests, and the prophets, and
all the people, heard Jeremiah speaking
these words in the house of the Lord. 8.
Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had
made an end of speaking all that the Lord
hacl commanded him to speak unto all the
people, that the priests, and the prophets,
and all the people, took him, saying, Thou
shalt surely die. 9. Why hast thou prophe¬
sied in the name of the Lord, saying, This
house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall
be desolate without an inhabitant? And all
the people were gathered against Jeremiah
in the house of the Lord. 10. When the
princes of Judah heard these things, then
they came up from the king’s house unto
the house of the Lord, and sat down in the
entry of the new gate of the Lord’s house.
1 1 . Then spake the priests and the prophets
unto the princes, and to all the people, say¬
ing, This man is worthy to die; for he hath
prophesied against this city, as ye have
heard with your ears. 12. Then spake
Jeremiah unto all the princes, and to all the
people, saying, The Lord sent me to pro¬
phesy against this house, and against this
city, all the words that ye have heard. 1 3.
Therefore now amend your ways and your
doings, and obey the voice of the Lord
your God; and the Lord will repent him
of the evil that he hath pronounced against
you. 1 4. As for me, behold, I am in your
hand ; do with me as seemeth good and meet
unto you: 15. But know ye for certain,
that, if ye put me to death, ye shall surely
bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and
upon this city, and upon the inhabitants
thereof: for of a truth the Lord hath sent
me unto you, to speak all these words in
your ears.
One would have hoped that such a sermon as that
in the foregoing verses, so plain and practical, so
rational and pathetic, and delivered in God’s name,
should have wrought upon even this people, espe¬
cially meeting them now at their devotions, and
should have prevailed with them to repent and
reform; but instead of awakening their convictions,
it did but exasperate their corruptions, as appears
by this account of the effect cf it.
I. Jeremiah is charged with it as a crime, that he
had preached such a sermon, and is apprehended
for it as a criminal. The priests and false prophets,
and people, heard him speak these words, v. 7.
They had patience, it seems, to hear him out, did
not disturb him when he was preaching, nor give
him any interruption till he had made an end of
speaking all that the Lord commanded him to speak:
so far they were fairer with him than some cf the
persecutors of God’s ministers have been; they let
him say all he had to say, and yet perhaps with a
bad design, in hopes to have something worse yet
to lay to his charge; but, having no worse, this shall
suffice to ground an indictment upon; He hath said.
This house shall be like Shiloh. See how unfair
they are in representing his words. He had said,
in God’s name, If ye will not hearken to me, then
will I make this house like Shiloh; but they leave
out God’s hand in the desolation, (/ will make it so,)
and their own hand in it, in not hearkening to the
voice of God, and charge it upon him, that he
blasphemed this holy place; the crime charged both
on our Lord Jesus and on Stephen; He said, This
house shall be like Shiloh. Well might he complain,
as David does, (Ps. lvi. 5.) Every day they wrest
my words; and we must not think it strange if we,
and what we say and do, be thus misrepresented.
When the accusation was so weakly grounded, nc
marvel that the sentence passed upon it was unjust.
Thou shalt surely die. What he had said agreed
with what God had said when he took possession
of the temple, (1 Kings ix. 6. — 8.) If you shall at
all turn from following after me, then this house
shall be abandoned; and yet he is condemned to die
for saying it. It is not out of any concern for the
honour of the temple, that they appear thus warm,
but because they are resolved not to part with their
sins, in which they flatter themselves with a conceit
that the temple of the Lord will protect them;
therefore, right or wrong. Thou shalt surely die.
This outcry of the priests and prophets laised the
mob, and all the people were gathered together
against Jeremiah, in a popular tumult, ready to
pull him to pieces; were gathered about him; (so
some read it;) they flocked together, some crying-
one thing, and some another. The people that were
at first present, were hot against him, (v. 8.) but
their clamours drew more together, only to see
what the matter was.
II. He is arraigned and indicted for it before the
highest court of judicature they had. Here, 1. The
princes of Judah were his judges, v. 10. Those
that filled the thrones of judgment, the thrones of
the house of David, the elders of Israel, they, hear¬
ing of this tumult in the temple, came up from the
king’s house, where they usually sat near the court,
to the house of the Lord, to inquire into this matter,,
and to see that nothing was done disorderly. They
sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord’s
house, and held a court, as it were, bv a special
commission of Oyer and Terminer. 2. The priests
and prophets were his persecutors and accusers,
and were violently set against him. They appealed
to the princes and to all the people, to the court and
the jury, whether this man be not worthy to die, v.
11. The corrupt priests and counterfeit prophets
have always been the most bitter enemies of the
prophets of the Lord; they had ends of their own to
453
JEREMIAH, XXVI.
serve, which they thought such preaching as this
would be an obstruction to. When Jeremiah pro¬
phesied in the house of the king concerning the fall
of the royal family, (ch. xxii. 1.) the court, though
very corrupt, bore it patiently, and we do not find
that they persecuted him for it; but when he comes
into the house of the Lord, and touches the copy-
hold of the priests, and contradicts the lies and flat¬
teries of the false prophets, then he is- adjudged
worthy to die. For the prophets prophesied falsely,
and the priests bore rule by their means, Jer. v. 31.
Observe, When Jeremiah is indicted before the
princes, the stress of his accusation is laid upon
what he said concerning the city, because they
thought the princes would be most concerned about
that. But concerning the words spoken, they ap¬
peal to the people, “Ye have heard what he hath
said, let it be given in evidence.”
III. Jeremiah makes his defence before the prin¬
ces and the people. He does not go about to deny
the words, or to diminish aught from them ; what
he has said he will stand to, though it cost him his
life; he owns that he had prophesied against this
house, and this city. But,
3. He asserts that he did this by good authority;
not maliciously or seditiously, not out of any ill-will
to his country, or any disaffection to the government
in church or state, but, The Lord sent me to pro¬
phesy thus; so he begins his apology, (u. 12.) and
so he concludes it, for this is that he resolves to
abide by as sufficient to bear him out; (y. 15.) Of a
truth the Lord hath sent me unto you, to speak all
these words. As long as ministers keep close to the
instructions they have from heaven, they need not
fear the opposition they may meet with from hell or
earth. He pleads that he is but a messenger, and
if he faithfully deliver his message, he must bear
no blame; but he is a messenger from the Lord, to
whom they were accountable as well as he, and
therefore might demand regard. If he speak but
what God appointed him to speak, he is under the
divine protection, and whatever affront they offer
to the ambassador, will be resented by the Prince
that sent him.
2. He shows them that he did it with a good de¬
sign, and that it was their fault if they did not make a
good use of it. It was said, not by way of fatal sen¬
tence, but of fair warning; if they would take the
warning, they might prevent the execution of the
sentence, v. 13. Shall I take it ill of a man that
tells me of my danger, while I have an opportunity
of avoiding it, and not rather return him thanks for
it, as the greatest kindness he could do me? “I have
indeed (says Jeremiah) prophesied against this city;
but if you will now amend your ways and your
doings, the threatened ruin shall be prevented,
which was the thing I aimed at in giving you the
warning.” Those are very unjust who complain
of ministers for preaching hell and damnation, when
it is only to keep them from that place of torment,
and to bring them to heaven and salvation.
3. He therefore warns them of their danger, if
they proceed against him; (v. 14.) ‘ ‘As for me, the
matter is not great what becomes of me; behold, I
am in your hand; you know I am; I neither have
any power, nor can make any interest, to oppose
you, nor is it so much my concern to save my own
life; do with me as seems meet unto you; If I be led
to the slaughter, it shall be as a lamb.” Note, It
becomes God’s ministers, that are warm in preach¬
ing, to be calm in suffering, and to behave submis¬
sively to the powers that are over them, though
they be persecuting powers. But for themselves,
he tells them that it is at their peril if they put him
to death; Ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon
yourselves, v. 15. They might think that killing
the prophet would help to defeat the prophecy, but
they would prove wretchedly deceived, it would but
add to their guilt, and aggravate their ruin. Their
own consciences could not but tell them, that if
Jeremiah was (as certainly he was) sent of God to
bring them this message, it was at their utmost
eril if they treated him for it as a malefactor.
’hose that persecute God’s ministers, hurt not them
so much as themselves.
16. Then said the princes and all the peo¬
ple unto the priests and to the prophets, This
man is not worthy to die ; for he hath spo¬
ken to us in the name of the Lord our God.
1 7. Then rose up certain of the elders of the
land, and spake to all the assembly of the
people, saying, 1 8. Micah the Morasthite
prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of
Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah,
saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Zion
shall be ploughed like afield, and Jerusalem
shall become heaps, and the mountain of
the house as the high places of a forest. 19.
Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah
put him at all to death? did he not fear the
Lord, and besought the Lord, and the
Lord repented him of the evil which he
had pronounced against them? Thus might
we procure great evil against our souls. 20.
And there was also a man that prophesied
in the name of the Lord, Urijah the son
of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who pro¬
phesied against this city, and against this
land, according to all the words of Jere¬
miah: 21. And when Jehoiakim the king,
with all his mighty men, and all the princes,
heard his words, the king sought to put him
to death; but when Urijah heard it, he was
afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt; 22.
And Jehoiakim the king sent men into
Egypt ; namely, Elnathan the son of Aeh-
bor, and certain men with him into Egypt:
23. And they fetched, forth Urijah out of
Egypt; and brought him unto Jehoiakim
the king, who slew him with the sword, and
cast his dead body into the graves of the
common people. 24. Nevertheless, the hand
of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with
Jeremiah, that they should not give him into
the hand of the people to put him to death.
Here is, 1. The acquitting of Jeremiah from the
charge exhibited against him. He had indeed
spoken the words as they were laid in the indict¬
ment, but they are not looked upon to be seditious
or treasonable, ill-intended, or of any bad tendency,
and therefore the court and country agree to find
him net guilty. The priests and prophets, notwith¬
standing his rational plea for himself, continued to
demand judgment against him; but the princes, and
all the people, are clear in it, This man is not worthy
to die; (v. 16.) for (say they) he hath spoken to us,
not of himself, but in the name of the Lord our God.
And are they willing to own that he did indeed
speak to them in the name of the Lord, and that
that Lord is their God? Why then did they not
amend their ways and doings, and take the method
454
JEREMIAH, XXVI.
he prescribed to prevent the ruin of their country?
If they say, His prophecy is from heaven, it may
justly be asked. Why did ye not then believe him?
Matth. xxi. 25. Note, It is pity that those who
are so far convinced of the divine original of gospel¬
preaching, as to protect it from the malice of others,
do not submit to the power and influence of it them¬
selves.
2. A precedent quoted to justify them in acquit¬
ting Jeremiah. Some of the elders of the land, either
the princes before mentioned, or the more intelli¬
gent men of the people, stood up, and put the as¬
sembly in mind of a former case, as is usual with us
in giving judgment; for the wisdom of our predeces¬
sors is a direction to us. The case referred to is
that of Micah. We have extant the book of his
prophecy among the minor prophets. (1.) Was it
thought strange that Jeremiah prophesied against
this city and the temple? Micah did so before him,
even in the reign of Hezekiah, that reign of reforma¬
tion, v. 18. Micah said it as publicly as Jeremiah
had now spoken to the same purport, Zion shall be
ploughed like a field, the building shall be all de¬
stroyed, so that nothing shall hinder but it may be
ploughed; Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins,
and the mountain of the house on which the temple
is built shall be as the high places of the forest, over¬
run with briers and thorns. That prophet not only
spake this, but wrote it, and left it on record; we
find it, Mic. iii. 12. By this it appears that a man
may be, as Micah was, a true prophet of the Lord,
and yet may prophesy the destruction of Zion and
Jerusalem. When we threaten secure sinners with
the taking away of the Spirit of God and the king¬
dom of God from them, and declining churches with
the removal of the candlestick, we say no more
than what has been said many a time, and what we
have warrant from the word of God to say. (2.)
Was it thought fit by the princes to justify Jeremiah
in what he had done? It was what Hezekiah did
before them in a like case. Did Hezekiah, and the
people of Judah, the representatives of the people,
the commons in parliament, did they complain of
Micah the prophet? Did they impeach him, or
make an act to silence him, and put him to death?
No; on the contrary, they took the warning he gave
them. Hezekiah, that renowned prince, of blessed
memory, set a good example before his successors,
for he feared the Lord as Noah, who, being warned
of God of things not seen as yet, was moved with
fear. Micah’s preaching drove him to his knees;
he besought the Lord to turn away the judgment
threatened, and to be reconciled to them ; and he
found it was not in vain to do so, for the Lord re¬
pented him of the evil, and returned in mercy to
them ; he sent an angel, who routed the army of the
Assyrians, that threatened to have ploughed Zion
like a field, v. 19. Hezekiah got good by the
preaching, and then you may be sure he would do
no harm to the preacher. These elders conclude
that it would be of dangerous consequence to the
state, if they should gratify the importunity of the
priests and prophets in putting Jeremiah to death;
Thus might ive procure great evil against our souls.
Note, It is good to deter ourselves from sin, with
the consideration of the mischief we shall certainly
do to ourselves by it, and the irreparable damage it
will be to our own souls.
3. Here is an instance of another prophet that was
put to death by Jehoiakim for prophesying as Jere¬
miah had done, v. 20, &c. Some make this to be
urged by the persecutors, as a case that favoured
the prosecution, a modern case, in which speaking
such words as Jeremiah had spoken was adjudged
treason. Others think that the elders who were
advocates for Jeremiah, alleged this, to show that
thus they might procure great evil against their
souls, for it would be adding sin to sin. Jehoiakim,
the present king, had slain one prophet already,
let them not fill up the measure by slaying another.
Hezekiah, who protected Micah, prospered; but
did Jehoiakim prosper, who slew Urijah? No, they
all saw the contrary. As good examples, and the
good consequences of them, should encourage us in
that which is good, so the examples of bad men,
and the bad consequences of them, should deter us
from that which is evil. But some good interpre¬
ters take this narrative from the historian that pen¬
ned the book, Jeremiah himself, or Baruch, who, to
make Jeremiah’s deliverance by means of the
princes the more wonderful, takes notice of this
that happened about the same time; for both were
in the reign of Jehoiakim, and this in the beginning
o f his reign, v. 1. Observe, (1.) Urijah ’s prophe¬
cy; it was against this city, and this land, accord¬
ing to all the words of Jeremiah. The prophets of
the Lord agreed in their testimony, and one would
have thought that out of the mouth of so many wit¬
nesses the word should have been regarded. (2. )
The prosecution of him for it, v. 21. Jehoiakim
and his courtiers were exasperated against him, and
sought to put him to death ; in this wicked design
the king himself was principally concerned. (3.)
His absconding thereupon; When he heard that the
king was become his enemy, and sought his life, he
was afraid, and feel, and went into Egypt. This
was certainly his fault, and an effect of the weak
ness of his faith, and it sped accordingly. He dis¬
trusted God, and his power to protect him and bear
him out; he was too much under the power of that
fear of man, which brings a snare. It looked as
if he durst not stand to what he had said, or was
ashamed of his Master. It was especially unbe¬
coming him to flee into Egypt, and so in effect to
abandon the land of Israel, and to throw himself
quite out of the way of being useful. Note, There
are many that have much grace, but they have little
courage; that are very honest, but withal very
timorous. (4. ) His execution notwithstanding. Je-
hoiakim’s malice, one would have thought, might
have contented itself with his banishment, and it
might suffice to have driven him outof the country;
but they are blood thirsty that hate the upright;
(Prov. xxix. 10.) it was the life, that precious life,
that he hunted after, and nothing else would satisfy
him. So implacable is his revenge, that he sends a
party of soldiers into Egypt, some hundreds of miles,
and thev bring him back by force of arms. It would
not sufficiently gratify him to have him slain in
Egypt, but he must feed his eyes with the bloody
spectacle; they brought him to Jehoiakim, and he
slew him with the sword, for aught I know, with his
own hands. Yet neither did this satisfy his insatia¬
ble malice, but he loads the dead body of the good
man with infamy, would not allow it the decent re¬
spects usually and justly paid to the remains of men of
distinction, but cast it into the graves of the common
people, as if he had not been a prophet of the Lord;
thus was the shield of Saul vilely cast away, as
though he had not been anointed with oil. Thus Je¬
hoiakim hoped to ruin his reputation with the people,
that no heed might be given to his predictions, and
to deter others from prophesying in like manner;
but in vain; Jeremiah says the same. There is no
contending with the word of God. Herod thought
he had gained his point when he had cut off John
Baptist’s head, but found himself deceived, when,
soon after, he heard of Jesus Christ, and said, in a
fright, This is John the Baptist.
4. Here is Jeremiah’s deliverance. Though Uri¬
jah was lately put to death, and persecutors, when
they have tasted the blood of saints, are apt to thirst
after more, (as Herod, Acts xii. 2, 3.) yet God
wonderfully preserved Jeremiah, though he did not
JEREMIAH, XXVJi.
flee, as Urijah did, but stood his ground. Ordinary
ministers may use ordinary means, provided they
be lawful ones, for their own preservation; but they
that had an extraordinary mission, might expect an
extraordinary protection. God raised up a friend
for Jeremiah, whose hand was with him; he took
him by the hand in a friendly way, encouraged him,
assisted him, appeared for him. It was Ahikam the
son of Shafihan, one that was a minister of state in
Josiah’s time; we read of him, 2 Kings xxii. 12.
Some think Gedaliah was the son of this Ahikam.
He had a great interest, it should seem, among the
princes, and he used it in favour of Jeremiah, to
prevent the further designs of the priests and pro¬
phets against him, who would have had him turned
over into the hand. of. the f leofile ; not those people
(v. 16.) that had adjudged him innocent, but the
rude and insolent mob, whom they could persuade
by their cursed insinuations not only to cry, Crucify
him, crucify him, but to stone him to death, in a
popular tumult; for perhaps Jehoiakim had been so
reproached by his own conscience for slaying Uri¬
jah, that they despaired of making him the tool of
their malice. Note, God can, when he pleases,
raise up great men to patronise good men; and it is
an encouragement to us to trust him in the way of
duty, that he has all men’s hearts in his hands.
CHAP. XXVII.
Jeremiah the prophet, since he cannot persuade people to
submit to God’s precept, and so to prevent the destruc¬
tion of their country by the king of Babylon, is here
persuading them to submit to God’s providence, by yield¬
ing tamely to the king of Babylon, and becoming tribu¬
taries to him, which was the wisest course they could
now take, and would be a mitigation of the calamity,
and prevent the laying of their country waste by fire and
sword; the sacrificing of their liberties would be the sav¬
ing of their lives. I. He gives this counsel, in God’s
name, to the kings of the neighbouring nations, that they
might make the best of bad, assuring them that there
was no remedy, but they must serve the king of Baby¬
lon; and yet in time there should be relief, for his domi¬
nion should last but 70 years, v. 1 . .11. II. He gives this
counsel to Zedekiah king of Judah particularly, (v. 12. .
14.) and to the priests and people, assuring them that the
king of Babylon should still proceed against them, till
things were brought to the last extremity, and a patient
submission would be the only way to mitigate the cala¬
mity, and make it easy, v. 12. .22. Thus the prophet, if
they would but have hearkened to him, would have di¬
rected them in the paths of true policy as well as of true
piety.
1 . TN the beginning of the reign of Jehoia-
A kim the son of Josiah king of Judah,
came this word unto Jeremiah from the
Lord, saying, 2. Thus saith the Lord to
me, Make thee bonds and yokes, and put
them upon thy neck. 3. And send them to
the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab,
and to the king of the Ammonites, and to
the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon,
by the hand of the messengers which come
to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah ;
4. And command them to say unto their
masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, Thus shall ye say unto your
masters; 5. I have made the earth, the
man and the beast that are upon the ground,
by my great power, and by my out-stretched
arm, and have given it unto whom it seem¬
ed meet unto me. 6. And now have I
given all these lands into the hand of Ne-
455
buchai ?jezzar the king of Babylon, my ser¬
vant ^nd the beasts of the field have I
givei/.Am also to serve him. 7. And all na-
tionsmyall serve him, and his son, and his
son’s son, until the veiy time of his land
come; and then many nations and great
kings shall serve themselVes of him. 8. And
; it shall come to pass, that the nation and
kingdom which will not serve the same Ne¬
buchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that
will not put their neck under the yoke of
the king of Babylon, that nation will I pun¬
ish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and
with the famine, and with the pestilence,
until I have consumed them by his hand.
9. Therefore hearken not ye to your pro¬
phets, nor to your diviners, nor to 30 ur
dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to
your sorcerers, which speak unto you, say¬
ing, Ye shall not serve the king of Baby¬
lon : 10. For they prophesy a lie unto you,
to remove you far from your land ; and that
I should drive you out, and ye should perish,
11. But the nations that bring their neck
under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and
serve him, those will I let remain still in
their own land, saith the Lord; and they
shall till it, and dwell therein.
Some difficulty occurs in the date of this pro¬
phecy. This word is said to come to Jeremiah in the
begmning of the reign of Jehoiakim, (v. 1.) and yet
the messengers, to whom he is to deliver the badges
of servitude, are said (t>. 3. ) to come to Zedekiah
king of Judah, who reigned not till 11 years after
the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign. Some make it
an error of the copy, and that it should be read, (v.
1.) In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, for
which some negligent scribe, having his eye on the
title of the foregoing chapter, wrote Jehoiakim.
And if one would admit a mistake any where, it
should be here, for Zedekiah is mentioned again,
(v. 12.) and the next prophecy is dated the same
year, and said to be in the beginning of the reign of
Zedekiah, ch. xxviii. 1. Dr. Lightfoot solves it thus,
In the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign, Jeremiah is to
make these bonds and yokes, and to put them upon his
own neck, in token of Judah’s subjection to the king
of Babylon, which began at that time; but he is to
send them to the neighbouring kings afterward in
the reign of Zedekiah, of whose succession to Jehoia-
kim, and the ambassadors sent to him, mention is
made by way of prediction.
I. Jeremiah is to prepare a sign of the general re¬
duction of all these countries into subjection to the
king of Babylon, v. 2. Make thee bonds and yokes,
yokes witli bonds to fasten them, that the beast may
not slip his neck out of the yoke. Into these the
prophet must put his own neck, to make them taken
notice of as a prophetic representation; for every
one would inquire. What is the meaning of Jere¬
miah’s yokes? We find him with one on, ch. xxviii. 10.
Hereby he intimated that he advised them to nothing
but what he was resolved to do himself; for he was
none of those that bind heavy burthens on others,
which they themselves will not touch with one of
their fingers. Ministers must thus lay themselves
under the weight and obligation of what they preach
to others.
45l>
JEREMIAH, XXVII.
II. He is to send this, with a sermon a-, aexed to
it, to all the neighbouring princes; those a, e men¬
tioned, (t>. 3.) that lay next to the land ofeuanaan.
It should seem, there was a treaty of allian'aose £oot
between the king of Judah and all those oth'f gp ;gs.
Jerusalem was the place appointed for the" J „75y;
thither they all sent their plenipotentiaries; afia it
was agreed that they, should bind themselves in a
league offensive and defensive, to stand by one an¬
other, in opposition to the growing, threatening
greatness of the king of Babylon, and to reduce his
exorbitant power. They had great confidence in
their strength thus united, and were ready to call
themselves the High Allies; but when the envoys
were returning to their respective masters, with the
ratification of this treaty, Jeremiah gives each of
them a yoke to carry to his master, to signify to
him that he must either by consent or by compulsion
become a servant to the king of Babylon, let him
choose which he will. In the sermon upon this
sign,
1. God asserts his own indisputable right to dis¬
pose of kingdoms as he pleases, v. 5. He is the
Creator of all things; he made the earth at first,
established it, and it abides; it is still the same, though
one generation passeth away, and another comes;
he still by a continued creation produces man and
beast upon the ground; and it is by his great power
and outstretched arm. His arm has infinite strength,
though it be stretched out. Upon this account, he
may give and convey a property and dominion to
whomsoever he pleases. As he hath graciously
given the earth to the children of men in general,
(Ps. cxv. 16.) so he gives to each his share of it, be
it more or less. Note, Whatever any have of
the good things of this world, it is what God sees fit
to give them; we ourselves should therefore be con¬
tent, though we have ever so little, and not envy any
their share, though they have ever so much.
2. He publishes a grant of all these countries
to Nebuchadnezzar. Know all men by these pres¬
ents. Sciant prtesentes ct futun — Let those of the
present and those of the future age know. “ This
is to certify all whom it may concern, that I have
given all these lands, with all the wealth of them,
into the hands of the king of Babylon, even the
beasts of the field, whether tame or wild, have I
given to him, parks and pastures, they are all
his own.” Nebuchadnezzar was a proud, wicked
man, an idolater; and yet God, in his providence,
gives him this large dominion, these vast posses¬
sions. Note, The things of this world are not
the best things, for God often gives the largest
share of them to bad men, that are rivals with
him, and rebels against him. He was a wicked
man, and yet what he had, he had by divine
grant. Note, Dominion is not founded in grace.
Those that have not any colourable title to eternal
happiness, may yet have a justifiable title_ to their
temporal good things. Nebuchadnezzar is a very
bad man, and yet God calls him his servant, because
he employed him as an instrument of his provi¬
dence for the chastising of the nations, and particu-
larlv his own people; and for his service therein,
he thus liberally repaid him. Those whom God
makes use of, shall not lose by him; much more will
he be found the bountiful Rewarder of all those that
designedly and sincerely serve him.
3. He assures them that they should all be una¬
voidably brought under the dominion of the king of
Babylon, for a time; (i>. 7.) All nations, all these
nations, and many others, shall serve him and his
son, and his son’s son. His son was Evil-merodach,
and his son’s son Belshazzar, in whom his kingdom
ceased: then the time of reckoning with his land
came, when the tables were turned, and many nations
and great kings, incorporated into the empire of the
Medes and Persians, served themselves of him, as
before, ch. xxv. 14. Thus Adonibezek was tram¬
pled upon himself, as he had trampled on other
kings.
4. He threatens those with military execution,
that stood out, and would not submit to the king of
Babylon; (u. 8.) That nation that will not put their
neck under his yoke, I will punish with sword and
famine, with one judgment after another, till it is
consumed by his hand. Nebuchadnezzar was very
unjust and barbarous in invading the rights and li¬
berties of his neighbours thus, and forcing them into
a subjection to him; yet God had just and holy ends
in permitting it, to punish these nations for their
idolatry and gross immoralities. They that would
not serve the God that made them, were justly made
to serve their enemies that sought to ruin them.
5. He shows them the vanity of all the hopes they
fed themselves with, that they should preserve their
liberties, v. 9, 10. These nations had their pro¬
phets too, that pretended to foretell future events by
the stars, or by dreams, or enchantments; and they,
to please their patrons, and because they would
themselves have it so, flattered them with assur¬
ances that they should not serve the king of Babylon.
Thus they designed to animate them to a vigorous
resistance; and though they had no ground for it,
they hoped hereby to do them service. But he tells
them that it would prove to their destruction; for
by resisting they' would provoke the conqueror to
deal severely with them, to remove them, and drive
them out into a miserable captivity, in which they
should all be lost, and buried in oblivion. Parti¬
cular prophecies against these nations that bordered
on Israel severally, the ruin of which is here fore¬
told in the general, w£ shall meet with, ch. xlviii.
and Ezek. xxv. which had the same accomplish¬
ment with this here. Note, When God judges, he
will overcome.
6. He puts them in a fair way to prevent their
destruction, by a quiet and easy submission, v. 11.
The nations that will be content to seme the king of
Babylon, and pay him tribute for seventy years, (ten
apprenticeships,) those will I let retrain still hi
their own land. They that will bend shall not break.
Perhaps the dominion of the king of Babylon may
bear no harder upon them than that of their own
kings had done. It is often more a point of honour
than true wisdom, to prefer liberty before life. It
is not mentioned to the disgrace of Issachar, that
because he saw rest was good, and the land pleasant,
that he might peaceably enjoy it, he bowed his
shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute,
(Gen. lix. 14, 15.) as these here are advised to do;
Serve the king of Babylon, and you shall till the land
and dwell therein. Some would condemn this as the
evidence of a mean spirit, but the prophet recom¬
mends it as that of a meek spirit, which yields to
necessity, and by a quiet submission to the hardest
turns of Providence, makes the best of bad: it is
better to do so, than by struggling to make it worse.
- - — Levius fit patientia
Quicquid corrigere est nefas. - Hor.
- When we needs must bear,
Enduring patience makes the burthen light. — Creech.
Many might have prevented destroying provi¬
dences, by humbling themselves under humbling
providences. It is better to take up a lighter cross
in our way than to pull a heavier on our own head.
12. I spake also to Zedekiah king of
Judah according to all these words, saying
Bring your necks under the yoke of the king
of Babylon, and serve him and his people,
and live 1 3 Why will ye die, thou and
457
JEREMIAH, XXVII.
thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and
by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken
against the nation that will not serve the
king of Babylon? 14. Therefore hearken
not unto the words of the prophets that
speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve
the king of Babylon : for they prophesy a
lie unto you. 1 5. For I have not sent them,
saith the Lord, yet they prophesy a lie in
my name, that I might drive you out, and
that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets
that prophesy unto you. 16. Also I spake
to the priests, and to all this people, saying,
Thus saith the Lord, Hearken not to the
words of your prophets that prophesy unto
you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the Lord’s
house shall now shortly be brought again
from Babylon : for they prophesy a lie unto
you. 17. Hearken not unto them; serve
the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore
should this city be laid waste ? 1 8. But it
they be prophets, and if the word of the
Lord be with them, let them now make in¬
tercession to the Lord of hosts, that the
vessels which are left in the house of the
Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah,
and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon. 1 9.
For thus saith the Lord of hosts concern¬
ing the pillars, and concerning the sea, and
concerning the bases, and concerning the
residue of the vessels that remain in this
city, 20. Which Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon took not, when he carried away
captive Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim
king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon,
and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;
21. Yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, concerning the vessels that
remain in the house of the Lord, and in the
house of the king of Judah and of Jerusa¬
lem; 22. They shall be carried to Babylon,
and there shall they be until the day that I
visit them, saith the Lord : then will I bring
them up, and restore them to this place.
What was said to all the nations, is here with a
particular tenderness applied to the nation of the
Jews, for whom Jeremiah was sens’ibly concerned.
The case at present stood thus; Judah and Jerusa¬
lem had often contested with the king of Babylon,
and still were worsted; many both of their valuable
persons and their valuable goods were carried to
Babylon already, and some of the vessels of the
Lord’s house particularly. Now, how this struggle
would issue, was the question. They had those
among them at Jerusalem, who pretended to be
prophets, who bade them hold out, and they should,
m a little time, be too hard for the king of Babylon,
and recover all that they had lost. Now Jeremiah
is sent to bid them yield and knock under, for that,
instead of recovering what they had lost, they
should otherwise lose all that remained; and to press
them to this, is the scope of these verses.
I. Jeremiah humbly addresses the king of Judah,
to persuade him to surrender to the king of Baby-
Vol. IV.— 3 M
Ion; his act would be the people’s, and would de¬
termine them, and therefore he speaks to him as to
them all; (v. 12.) Bring your necks under the yoke
of thakingof Babylon, and live. Is it their wisdom
to submit to the heavy iron yoke of a cruel tyrant,
that they may secure the lives of their bodies; and
is it not much more our wisdom to submit to the
sweet and easy yoke of our rightful Lord and Mas¬
ter Jesus Christ, that we may secure the lives of out
souls? Bring down your spirits to repentance and
faith, and that is the way to bring up your spirits to
heaven and glory. And with much more cogency
and compassion may we expostulate with perishing
souls than Jeremiah here expostulates with a pe¬
rishing people, “ Why mill ye die by the sword and
the famine — miserable deaths, which you inevita
bly run yourselves upon, under pretence of avoid
ing miserable lives?” What God had spoken, it
general, of all those that would not submit to the
king of Babylon, he would have them to apply to
themselves, and be afraid of. It were well if sinners
would, in like manner, be afraid of the destruction
threatened against all those that will not have Christ
to reign over them, and reason thus with them¬
selves, “ Why should we die the second death, which
is a thousand times worse than that by sword and
famine, when we might submit and live?”
II. He addresses himself likewise to the priests
and the people, (u. 16.) to persuade them to serve
the king of Babylon, that they might live, and
might prevent the desolation of the city; (t>_. 17.)
“ Wherefore should it be laid waste, as certainly it
will be it you stand it out?” The priests had been
Jeremiah’s enemies, and had sought his life to de¬
stroy it, yet he approves himself their friend, and
seeks their lives, to preserve and secure them;
which is an example to us to render good for evil.
When the bloodthirsty hate the upright, yet the just
seek his soul, and the welfare of it, Prov. xxix. 10.
The matter was far gone here, they were upon the
brink of ruin, which they had not been brought to
if they would have taken Jeremiah’s counsel, yet he
continues his friendly admonitions to them, to save
the last stake and manage that wisely, and now at
length in this their day to understand the things that
belong to their peace, when they had but one day to
turn them in.
III. In both these addresses he warns them
against giving credit to the false prophets that rock¬
ed them asleep in their security, because they saw
that they loved to slumber; “ Hearken not to the
words of the prophets, (t>. 14.) your prophets, v. 16.
They are not God’s prophets, he never sent them,
they do not serve him, nor seek to please him; they
are yours, for they say what you would have them
say,’ and aim at nothing but to please you.” _
Two things their prophets flattered them into th
belief of.
1. That the power which the king of Babylon had
gained over them, should now shortly be broken.
They said, (v. 14. ) “ You shall not serve the king of
Babylon; you need not submit voluntarily, for you
shall not be compelled to submit.” This they prophe¬
sied in the name of the Lord, ( v . 15.) as if God had
sent them to the people on this errand, in kindness to
them, that they might not disparage themselves by
an inglorious surrender. But it was a lie. They
said that God sent them; but that was false, he
disowns it, I have not sent them, saith the Lord.
They said that they should neverbe brought into sub¬
jection to the king of Babylon ; but that was false too,
the event proved it so. They said that to hold out
to the last would be the way to secure themselves
and their city; but that was false, for it would
certainly end in their being driven out and perish¬
ing. So that it was all a lie, from first to last; and
the prophets that deceived the people with these
*58 JEREMIAH, XXVIII.
lies, did, in the issue, but deceive themselves, the
blind leaders and the blind followers fell together
into the ditch; that ye might perish, ye, and the
prophets that prophesy unto you; who will tie so
far from warranting your security, that they cannot
secure themselves. Note, They that encourage
sinners to go on in their sinful ways, will in the end
perish with them.
2. They prophesied that the vessels of the tem¬
ple, which the king of Babylon had already carried
away, should now shortly be brought back; (n. 16.)
this they fed the priests with the hopes of, knowing-
how acceptable it would be to them who loved the
gold of the temple better than the temple that sancti¬
fied the gold. These vessels were taken away when
Jeconiah was carried captive into Babylon, v. 20.
We have the story, and it is a melancholy one, 2
Kings xxiv. 13. — 15. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 10. All the
goodly vessels, that is, all the vessels of gold that
were in the house of the Lord, with all the trea¬
sures, were taken as prey, and brought to Babylon.
This was grievous to them above any thing, for the
temple was their pride and confidence, and the
stripping of that was too plain an indication of that
which the true prophet told them, that their God
•was departed from them. Their false prophets
therefore had no other way to make them easy than
by telling them that the King of Babylon should be
forced to restore them in alittle while. Now here,
(1.) Jeremiah bids them think of preserving the
vessels that remained, by their prayers, rather than
of bringing back those that were gone, by their pro¬
phecies; (v. 18.) If they be prophets, as they pre¬
tend, and if the word of the Lord be with them — if
they have any intercourse with Heaven, and any
interest there, let them improve it for the stopping
of the progress of the judgment, let them step into
the gap, and stand with their censer between the
living and the dead, between that which is carried
away and that which remains, that the plague may
be stayed; let them make intercession with the Lord
of hosts, that the vessels which are left go not after
the rest. [1.] Instead of prophesying, let them
pray. Note, Prophets must be praying men; by
being much in prayer they must make it to appear
that they keep up a correspondence with Heaven.
We cannot think that those do, as prophets, ever
hear thence, who do not frequently by prayer send
thither. By praying for the safety and prosperity
of the sanctuary they must make it to appear that,
as becomes prophets, they are of a public spirit; and
by the success of their prayers it will appear that
God favours them. [2.] Instead of being concerned
for the retrieving of what the); had lost, they must
bestir themselves for the securing of what was left,
and take it as a great favour if they can gain that
point. When God’s judgments are abroad, we must
not seek great things, but be thankful for a little.
(2.) He assures them that even this point should
not be gained, but the brazen vessels should go after
the golden ones, v. 19. — 22. Nebuchadnezzar had
found so good a booty once, that he would be sure to
come again, and take all he could find, not only in
the house of the Lord, but in the king’s house. They
shall all be carried to Babylon in triumph, and there
shall they be. But he concludes with a gracious
promise, that the time should come when they should
all be returned; Until the day that I visit them in
mercy, according to appointment, and then I will
bring those vessels up again, and restore them to
this place, to their place. Surely they were under
the protection of a special Providence, else they had
been melted down, and put to some other use; but
there was to be a second temple, for which they
were to be reserved. We read particularly of the
return of them, Ezra i. 8. Note, Though the return
of the church’s prosperity do not come in our time,
we must not therefore despair of it, for it will come
in God’s time. Though they who said, The vessels
of the Lord’s house shall shortly be brought again,
prophesied a lie, ( v . 16.) yet he that said. They
shall at length be brought again, prophesied the
truth. We are apt to set our clock before God’s
dial, and then to quarrel because they do not agree;
but the Lord is a God of judgment, and it is fit that
we should wait for him.
CHAP. XXVIII.
In the foregoing chapter, Jeremiah had charged those pro¬
phets with lies, who foretold the speedy breaking of the
yoke of the king of Babylon, and the speedy return of
the vessels of the sanctuary; now here we have his con¬
test with a particular prophet upon those heads. I.
Hananiah, a pretender to prophecy, in contradiction to
Jeremiah, foretold the sinking of Nebuchadnezzar’s
power, and the return both of the persons and of the
vessels that were carried away; (v. 1 . . 4. ) and, as a sign
of this, he brake the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah, v.
10, 11. II. Jeremiah wished his words might prove true,
but appealed to the event, whether they were so or no,
not doubting but they would disprove them, v. 5.-9.
III. The doom both of the deceived and the deceiver is
here read. The people that were deceived, should have
their yoke of wood turned into a yoke of iron, (v. 12. .
14.) and the prophet that was the deceiver, should be
shortly cut off by death, and he was so, accordingly,
within two months, v. 15 . . 17.
1. 4 ND it came to-pass the same year, in
1%. the beginning of the reign of Zede-
kiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and
in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of
Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon,
spake unto me in the house of the Lord, in
the presence of the priests, and of all the
people, saying, 2. Thus speaketh the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have
broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
3. Within two full years will I bring again
into this place all the vessels of the Lord’s
house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
took away from this place, and carried them
to Babylon: 4. And I will bring again to
this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim
king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah,
that went into Babylon, saith the Lord: for
I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
5. Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the
prophet Hananiah, in the presence of the
priests, and in the presence of all the people
that stood in the house of the Lord, 6. Even
the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen : the Lord
do so; the Lord perform thy words which
thou hast prophesied, to bring again the ves¬
sels of the Lord’s house, and all that is
carried away captive, from Babylon into
this place. 7. Nevertheless, hear thou now
this word that I speak in thine ears, and in
the ears of all the people ; 8. The prophets
that have been before me, and before thee
of old, prophesied both against many coun¬
tries, and against great kingdoms, of war,
and of evil, and of pestilence. 9. The pro¬
phet which prophesieth of peace, when the
word of the prophet shall come to pass,//; m
JEREMIAH, XXVIII. 459
shall the prophet be known that the Lord
hath truly sent him.
This straggle between a true prophet and a false
one, is said here to have happened in the beginning
of the reign of Zedekiah, and yet in the fourth year,
for the tour first years of his reign might well be
called the beginning, or former part of it, because
during those years he reigned under the dominion
of the king of Babylon, and as a tributary to him;
whereas the rest of his reign, which might well be
called the latter part of it, in distinction from that
former part, he reigned in rebellion against the king
of Babylon. In this fourth year of his reign, he went
m person to Babylon, (as we find, ch. li. 59. ) and it
is probable that this gave the people some hope that
his negotiation in person would put a good end to the
war, in which hope the false prophets encouraged
them, this Hananiah particularly, who was of
Gibeon, a priest’s city, and therefore probably, him¬
self a priest, as well as Jeremiah. Now here we
have,
I. The prediction which Hananiah delivered
publicly, solemnly, in the house of the Lord, and in
the name of the Lord, in an august assembly, in the
presence of the priests, and of all the people, who,
probably, were expecting to have some message
from heaven. In delivering this prophecy, he faced
Jeremiah, he spake it to him, (i\ 1.) designing to
confront and contradict him, as much as to say,
“Jeremiah, thou liest. ” Now his prediction is, that
the king of Babylon’s power, at least his power over
Judah and Jerusalem, should be speedily broken,
that within two full years the vessels of the temple
should be brought back, and Jeconiah, and all the
captives that were carried away with him, should
return ; whereas Jeremiah had foretold that the yoke
of the king of Babylon should be bound on yet faster,
and that the vessels and captives should not return
for "0 years, v. 2. — 4-. Now, upon the reading of
this sham prophecy, and comparing it with the mes¬
sages that God sent by the true prophets, we may
observe what a vast difference there is between
them. Here is nothing of the spirit and life, the
majesty of style and sublimity of expression, that
appear in the discourses of God’s prophets, nothing
of that divine flame and flatus. But that which is
especially wanting here, is, an air of piety; he speaks
with a great deal of confidence of the return of their
prosperity, but here is not a word of good counsel
given them to repent and reform, and return to God,
to pray, and seek his face, that they might be pre¬
pared for the favours God had in reserve for them.
He promises them temporal mercies, in God’s name,
but makes no mention of those spiritual mercies
which God always promised should go along with
them, as ch. pcxiv. 7. I will give them a heart to
know me. By all which it appears that, whatever
he pretended, he had only the spirit of the world,
not the Spirit of God, (1 Cor. ii. 12.) that he aimed
to please, not to profit.
II. Jeremiah’s reply to this pretended prophecy:
1. He heartily wishes it might prove true; such
an affection has he for his country, and so truly de¬
sirous is he of the welfare of it, that he would be
content to lie under the imputation of a false pro¬
phet, so that their ruin might be prevented. He
said, Amen, the Lord do so, the Lord perform thy
words, v. 5, 6. This was not the first time that
Jeremiah had prayed for his people, though he had
prophesied against them, and deprecated the judg¬
ments, which yet he certainly knew would come; as
Christ prayed, Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me, when yet he knew it must not pass
from him. Though, as a faithful prophet, he fore¬
saw and foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, yet,
as a faithful Israelite, he prayed earnestly for the
preservation of it, in obedience to that command.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Though the will
of God’s purpose is the rule of prophecy and patience,
the will of his precept is the rule of prayer and
practice. God himself, though he has determined,
does not desire, the death of sinners, but would have
all men to be saved. Jeremiah often interceded for
his people, ch. xviii. 20. The false prophets thought
to ingratiate themselves with the people by pro¬
mising them peace; now the prophet shows that he
bore them as great a good-will as their prophets did,
whom they were so lond of; and though he had no
warrant from God to promise them peace, yet he
earnestly desired it, and prayed for it. How strangely
were they besotted, who caressed- those who did
them the greatest wrong imaginable by flattering
them, and persecuted him who did them the greatest
service imaginable by interceding for them ! See ch.
xxvii. 18.
2. He appeals to the event, to prove it false, v. 7.
— 9. The false prophets reflected upon Jeremiah,
as Ahab upon Micaiah, because he never prophesied
good concerning them, but evil; now he pleads that
this had been the purport of the prophecies that
other prophets had delivered, so that it ought not to
be looked upon as a strange tiling, or as rendering
his mission doubtful, for prophets of old prophesied
against many countries and great kingdoms, so bold
were they in delivering the messages which God
sent by them, and so far from fearing men, or seek¬
ing to please them, as Hananiah did; they made no
difficulty, any more than Jeremiah did, of threaten¬
ing war, famine, and pestilence, and what they said
was regarded as coming from God; why then should
Jeremiah be run down as a pestilent fellow, and a
sower of sedition, who preached no otherwise than
God’s prophets had always done before him? Other
prophets had foretold destruction, and sometimes the
destruction did not come, which yet did not disprove
their divine mission, as in the case of Jonah, for God
is gracious, and ready to turn away his wrath from
those that turn away from their sins: but the prophet
that prophesied of peace and prosperity, especially
as Hananiah did, absolutely and unconditionally,
without adding that necessary proviso, that they do
not by wilful sin put a bar in their own door, and
stop the current of God’s favours, will be proved a
true prophet only by the accomplishment ol his pre¬
diction; if it come to pass, then it shall be known
that the Lord has sent him, but if not, he will appear
to be a cheat arid an impostor.
10. Then Hananiah the prophet took the
yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck,
and brake it. 11. And Hananiah spake in
the presence of all the people, saying, Thus
saith the Lord, Even so will I break the
yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
from the neck of all nations, within the space
of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah
went his way. 1 2. Then the word of the
Lord came unto Jeremiah the prophet , (after
that Hananiah the prophet had broken the
yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jere¬
miah,) saying, 1 3. Go and tell Hananiah,
saying, Thus saith the Lord, Thou hast
broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt
make for them yokes of iron. 1 4. For thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I
have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all
these nations, that they may serve Nebu¬
chadnezzar king of Babylon ; and they shall
460
JEREMIAH, XXIX.
serve him : and I have given him the beasts
of the field also. 1 5. Then said the prophet
Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear
now, Hananiah, The Lord hath not sent
thee; but thou makest this people to trust in
a lie. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord,
Behold, 1 will cast thee from off the face of
the earth : this year thou shalt die, because
thou hast taught rebellion against the- Lord.
1 7. So Hananiah the prophet died the same
year, in the seventh mqpth.
We have here an instance,
I. Of the insolence of the false prophet. To com¬
plete the affront he designed Jeremiah, he took the
yoke from off his neck, which he carried as a me¬
morial of what he had prophesied concerning the
enslaving of the nations to Nebuchadnezzar, and he
brake it, that he might give a sign of the accomplish¬
ment of his prophecy, as Jeremiah had given of his,
and might seem to have conquered him, and to have
defeated the intention of his prophecy. See how
the lying spirit in the mouth of this false prophet
mimics the language of the Spirit of truth; Thus
saith the Lord, So will I break the yoke of the king
of Babylon, not only from the neck of this nation,
but from the neck of all nations, within two full
years. Whether by the force of a heated imagina¬
tion Hananiah had persuaded himself to believe this,
or whether he knew it to be false, and only per¬
suaded them to believe it, does not appear; but it is
plain that he speaks with abundance of assurance.
It is no new thing for lies to be fathered upon the
God of truth.
II. Of the patience of the true prophet. Jeremiah
quietly went his way, and, when he was reviled, he
reviled not again, and would not contend with one
that was in the height of his fury, and in the midst
of the priests and people that were violently set
against him. The reason why he went his way,
was, not because he had nothing to answer, but be¬
cause he was willing to stay till God was pleased to
furnish him with a direct and immediate answer,
which as yet he had not received. He expected
that God would send a special message to Hananiah,
and he would say nothing till he had received that;
I, as a deaf man, heard not, for thou wilt hear, and
thou shalt answer, Lord, for me. It may sometimes
be our wisdom rather to retreat than to contend.
Currenti cede furori — Give place unto wrath.
III. Of the justice of God in giving judgment be¬
tween Jeremiah and his adversary. Jeremiah went
his way, as a man in whose mouth there was no re¬
buke, but God soon put a word into his mouth, for
he will appear for those who silently commit their
cause to him.
1. The word of God, in the mouth of Jeremiah, is
ratified and confirmed. Let not Jeremiah himself
distrust the truth of what he had delivered in God’s
name, because it met with such a daring opposition
and contradiction. If what we have spoken be the
truth of God, we must not unsay it because men
gainsay it; for great is the truth, and will prevail.
It will stand, therefore let us stand to it, and not fear
that men’s unbelief or blasphemy will make it of no
effect. Hananiah has broken the yokes of wood, but
Jeremiah must make for them yokes of iron, which
cannot be broken; (v. 13.) for (says God) “ I have
put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations,
which shall lie heavier, and bind harder, upon them,
(v 14.) that they may serve the king of Babylon,
and not be able to shake off the yoke, however they
may struggle, for they shall serve him whether they
will or no;” and who is he that can contend with
God’s counsel? What was said before is repeated
again, I have given him the beasts of the field also,
as if there were something significant in that; men
had by their wickedness made themselves like the
beasts that perish, and therefore deserved to be ruled
by an arbitrary power, as beasts are ruled, and such
a power Nebuchadnezzar ruled with, for whom he
would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive.
2. Hananiah is sentenced to die for contradicting
it, and Jeremiah, when he has received commission
from God, boldly tells him so to his face; though,
before he received that commission, he went away,
and said nothing.
(1.) The crimes of which Hananiah stands con¬
victed, are, cheating the people, and affronting
God; Thou makest this people to trust in a lie, en¬
couraging them to hope that they shall have peace,
which will make their destruction the more terrible
to them when it comes; yet this was not the worst;
Thou hast taught rebellion agaijist the Lord, thou
hast taught them to despise all the good counsel
given them in God’s name by the true prophets,
and hast rendered it ineffectual. Those have a
great deal to answer for, who, by telling sinners
that they shall have peace though they go on, har¬
den their hearts in a contempt of the reproofs and
admonitions of the word, and the means and
methods God takes to bring them to repentance.
(2.) The judgment given against him, is, “ I will
cast thee off from the face of the earth, as unworthy
to live upon it; thou shalt be buried in it; this year
thou shalt die, and die as a rebel against the Lord,
to whom death will come with a sting and a curse.”
This sentence was executed, v. 17. Hananiah died
the same year, within two months: for his prophecy
is dated the fifth month, ( v . 1.) and his death the
seventh. Good men may perhaps bi suddenly
taken off by death, in the midst of their days, and
in mercy to them, as Josiah was; but this being
foretold, as the punishment of his sin, and coming
to pass accordingly, it may safely be construed as a
testimony from Heaven against him, and a confir¬
mation of Jeremiah’s mission. And if the people’s
hearts had not been wretchedly hardened by the
deceitfulness of sin, it would have prevented their
being further hardened by the deceitfulness of their
prophets.
CHAP. XXIX.
The contest between Jeremiah and the false prophets was
carried on before by preaching, here by writing : there
we had sermon against sermon, here we have letter
against letter ; for some of the false prophets are now
carried away into captivity in Babylon, while Jeremiah
remains in his own country. Now here is, I. A letter
which Jeremiah wrote to the captives in Babylon, against
their prophets that they had there, (v. 1..3. ) in which
letter, 1. He endeavours to reconcile them to their cap¬
tivity, to be easy under it, and to make the best of it, v.
4 . . 7. 2. He cautions them not to give any credit to
their false prophets, who fed them with hopes o’f a speedy
release, v. 8, 9. 3. He assures them that God would
restore them in mercy to their own land again, at the
end of 70,years, v. 10. .14. 4. He foretells the destruction
of those who yet continued, and that they should be
persecuted with one judgment after another, and sent at
last into captivity, v. 15.. 19. 5. He prophesies the
destruction of two of their false prophets that they had
in Babylon, that both soothed them up in their sins, and
set them bad examples; (v. 20.. 23.) and this is the
purport of Jeremiah’s letter. II. Here is a letter which
Shemaiah, a false prophet in Babylon, wrote to the
priests at Jerusalem, to stir them up to persecute Jere¬
miah, (v. 24. . 29.) and a denunciation of God’s wrath
against him for writing such a letter, v. 30 . . 32. Such
struggles as these have there always been between the
seed°of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
1. I^TOW these are the words of the let-
ter that Jeremiah the prophet sent
461
JEREMIAH, XXIX.
from Jerusalem unto the residue of the el¬
ders which were carried away captives,
and to. the priests, and to the prophets, and
to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar
had carried away captive from Jerusalem
to Babylon, 2. (After that Jeeoniah the
king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the
princes of Judah and' Jerusalem, and the
carpenters, and the smiths, were departed
from Jerusalem,) 3. By the hand of Ela-
sah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the
son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of
Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnez¬
zar king of Babylon,) saying, 4. Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
unto all that are carried away captives,
whom I have caused to be carried away
from Jerusalem unto Babylon, 5. Build
ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant
gardens, .and eat the fruit of them ; 6.
Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughr
ters; and take wives for your sons, and give
your daughters to husbands, that they may
bear sons and daughters; that ye may be
increased there, and not diminished. 7.
And seek the peace of the city whither I
have caused you to be carried away cap¬
tives, and pray unto the Lord for it; for in
the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
W e are here told,
I. That Jeremiah wrote to the captives in Baby¬
lon, in the name of the Lord. Jeeoniah had sur¬
rendered himself a prisoner, with the queen his
mother, the chamberlains of his household, called
here the eunuchs, many of the princes of Judah
and Jerusalem, who were at that time the most
active men; the carpenters and stniths likewise,
being demanded, were yielded up, that those who
remained might not have any proper hands to
fortify their city, or furnish themselves with
weapons of war; by this tame submission it was
hoped that Nebuchadnezzar would be pacified;
Satis est proslrasse leoni — It suffices the lion to have
laid his antagonist prostrate; but the imperious
conqueror grows upon their concessions, like Ben-
hadad upon Ahab’s, 1 Kings xx. 5, 6. And not
content with this, when these were departed from
Jerusalem, he comes again, and fetches away many
more of the elders, the priests, the prophets, and the
people, (y. 1.) such as he thought fit, or such as
his soldiers could lay hands on, and carries them to
Babylon. The case of these captives was very
melancholy, the rather, because they, being thus
distinguished from the rest of their brethren who
continued in their own land, looked as if they were
greater sinners than all men who dwelt at Jerusa¬
lem. Jeremiah therefore writes a letter to them to
comfort them, assuring them that they had no rea¬
son either to despair of succour themselves, or to
envy their brethren that were left behind. Note, 1.
The word of God written, is as truly given by in¬
spiration of God as his word spoken was; and this
was the proper way of spreading the knowledge of
God’s will among his children scattered abroad. 2.
We may serve God, and do good, by writing to our
f riends at a distance pious letters of seasonable com¬
forts and wholesome counsels. Whom we cannot
speak to, we ma; write to; that which is written
remains. This letter of Jeremiah’s was sent to the
captives in Babylon by the hands of the ambassa¬
dors whom king Zedekiah sent to Nebuchadnezzar,
probably to pay him his tribute, and renew his sub
mission to him, or to treat of peace with him, in
which treaty the captives might perhaps hope that
they should be included, v. 3. By such messengers
Jeremiah chose to send this message, to put an ho¬
nour upon it because it was a message from God.
Or, perhaps, because there was no settled way of
sending letters to Babylon, but as such an occasion
as this offered. And then it made the condition of
the captives there the more melancholy, that they
could rarely hear from their friends and relations
they had left behind, which is some reviving and
satisfaction to those that are separated from one
another.
II. We are here told what he wrote. A copy of
a letter at large follows here to v. 24. In these
verses,
1. He assures them that he wrote in the name ol
the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, who endited
the letter; Jeremiah was but the scribe or amanu¬
ensis. It would be comfortable to them, in theii
captivity, to hear that God is the Lord of hosts, of
all hosts, and is therefore able to help and deliver
them; and that he is the God of Israel still, a God
in covenant with his people, though he contend with
them, and their enemies for the present are too hard
for them; this would likewise be an admonition to
them to stand upon their guard against all temptations
to the idolatry of Babylon, because the God of Israel,
the God whom they served, is Lord of hosts. God’s
sending to them in this letter might be an encou¬
ragement to them in their captivity, as it was an
evidence that he had not cast them eff, had not
abandoned them and disinherited them, though he
was displeased with them and corrected them; for
if the Lord had been pleased to kill them, he would
not have written to them.
2. God by him owns the hand he had in their
captivitv; I have caused you to be carried assay, (v.
4. ) and again, v. 7. All the force of the king of
Babylon could not have dene it, if God had not or¬
dered it; nor could he have any power against
them, but what was given him from above. If God
caused them to be carried captives, they might be
sure that he neither did them any wrong, nor meant
them any hurt. Note, It will help very much to
reconcile us to our troubles, and to make us patient
under them, to consider that they are what Ged
has appointed us to; I opened not my mouth, be¬
cause thou didst it.
3. He bids them think of nothing but settling
there; and therefore let them resolve to make the
best of it; ( v . 5, 6.) Build ye houses, and dwell in
them, &c. By all this it is intimated to them, (1.)
That they must not feed themselves with hopes of
a speedy return out of their captivity, for that
would keep them still unsettled, and, consequently,
uneasy; they would apply themselves to no busi¬
ness, take no comfort, but be always tiring them¬
selves, and provoking their conquerors, with the
expectations of relief; and their disappointment at
last would sink them into despair, and make their
condition much more miserable than otherwise it
would be; let them therefore count upon a continu¬
ance there, and accommodate themselves to it as
well as they can. Let them build, and plant, and
marry, and dispose of their children there, as if
they were at home in their own land; let them take
a pleasure in seeing their families built up and mul¬
tiplied, for though they must expect themselves to
die in captivitv, yet their children may live to see
better days. If they live in the fear of God, what
should hinder them but they may live comfortably
in Babylon? They cannot but weep sometimes
JEREMIAH, XXIX.
when they remember Zion; but let not weeping
binder sowing, let them not sorrow as those that
have no hope, no joy, for they have both. Note, In
all conditions of life, it is our wisdom and duty to
make the best of that which is, and not to throw
away the comfort of what we may have, because
we have not all we would have. We have a natu¬
ral affection for our native country, it strangely
draws our minds; but it is with a nescio qua dul-
cedine — we can give no good account of the sweet
attraction; and therefore if Providence remove us
to some other country, we must resolve to live easy
there, to bring our mind to our condition, when our
condition is not in every thing to our mind; if the
earth be the Lord’s, then, wherever a child of God
goes, he does not go off his father’s ground; Patria
est ubicunque bene est — That place is our country
■in which we are well off. If tilings be not as they
have been, instead of fretting at that, we must live
in hopes that they will be better than they are.
Non si male nunc, et olim sic erit.
Though we suffer now, we shall not always.
(2.) That they must not disquiet themselves with
fears of intolerable hardships in their captivity.
They might be ready to suggest (as persons in trou¬
ble are always apt to make the worst of things,)
that it would be in vain to build houses, for their
lords and masters would not suffer them to dwell in
them when they had built them, nor to eat the fruit
of the vineyards they planted; “ Never fear,” says
God; “if vou live peaceably with them, you shall
find them civil to you.” Meek and quiet people,
that work, and mind their own business, have often
found much better treatment, even with strangers
and enemies, than they expected; and God has
made his people to be pitied of those that carried
them captive; (Ps. cvi. 40.) and pity it is, but that
those who have built houses, should dwell in them.
Nav,
4. He directs them to seek the good of the coun¬
try where tliev were captives, (v. 7.) to pray for it,
to endeavour it. This forbids them to attempt any
thing against the public peace, while they were
subjects to the king of Babylon; though he was a
heathen, an idolater, an oppressor, and an enemy
to God and his church, yet, while he gave them
protection, they must pay him allegiance; and live
quiet and peaceable lives ooder him, in all godliness
and honesty; not plotting to shake off his yoke, but
patiently leaving it to Gnd in due time to work de¬
liverance for them. Nay, they must pray to God
for the peace of the place where they were, that
they might oblige them to continue their kindness
to them, and disprove the character that had been
given their nation, that they were hurtful to. Pings
and provinces, and moved sedition, Ezra iv. 15.
Both the wisdom of the serpent, and the innocency
of the dove, required them to be true to the govern¬
ment they lived under; for in the peace thereof ye
shall have peace; should the country be embroiled
in war, they would have the greatest share in the
calamitous effects of it. Thus the primitive Chris¬
tians, according to the temper of their holy religion,
prayed for the powers that were, though they were
persecuting powers. And if they were to pray for,
and seek the peace of, the land of their captivity,
much more reason have we to pray for the welfare
of the land of our nativity, where we are a free
people under a good government, that in the peace
thereof we and ours may have peace. Every pas¬
senger is concerned in the safety of the ship.
8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, Let not your prophets and
your diviners, that be in the midst of you,
deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams
which ye cause to be dreamed. .9. For
they prophesy falsely unto you in my name;
I have not sent them, saith the Lord. 10.
For thus saith the Lord, That after se¬
venty years be accomplished at Babylon 1
will visit you, and perform my good word
towards you, in causing you to return to this
place. 1 1 . For I khow the thoughts that I
think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts
of peace, and not of evil, to give you an
expected end. 12. Then shall ye call upon
me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and
1 will hearken unto you. 13. And ye shall
seek me, and find me, when ye shall search
for me with all your heart. 14. And I will
be found of you, saith the Lord; and I
will turn away your captivity, and I will
gather you from all the nations, and from
all the places whither I have driven you,
saith the Lord; and I will bring ^ou again
into the place whence I caused you to be
carried away captive.
To make the people quiet and easy in their cap
tivlty,
I. 'God takes them off from building upon tin
false bottom which their pretended prophets laid,
xe 8, 9. They told them that their captivity should
be short, and therefore that they must not think of
taking root in Babylon, but be upon the wing to gc
back: “Now, herein, they deceive you,” (says
God,) “they prophesy a lie to you, though they
prophesy in my name. But let them not deceive
you, suffer not yourselves to be deluded by them.”
As long as we have the word of truth to try the
spirits by, it is cur own fault if we be deceived; ’for
by it we may be undeceived. Hearken not to your
dreams, which ye cause to be dreamed. He means
either the dreams or fancies which the people
pleased themselves with, and with which they filled
their own heads; by thinking and speaking of no¬
thing else but a speedy enlargement when they
were awake, they caused themselves to dream of it
when they were "asleep, and then took that for a
good omen, and with it strenghtened themselves in
their vain expectations; or, the dreams which the
prophets dreamed, and grounded their prophecies
upon. God tells the people, They are your dreams,
because thev pleasNl them, were the dreams that
they desired and wished for; they caused them to
be dreamed, for they hearkened to them, and en¬
couraged the prophets to put such deceits upon
them, desiring them to prophesy nothing but smooth
things, Isa. xxx. 10. They were dreams of their
own bespeaking. False prophets would not flatter
people in their sins, but that they love to be flatter¬
ed, and speak smoothly to their "prophets that their
prophets may speak smoothly to them.
II. He gives them a good bottom to build their
hopes upon. We would not persuade people to
pull down the house they have built upon the sand,
but that there is a rock ready for them to rebuild
upon. God here promises them, that though they
should not return quickly, they should return at
length, after 70 years be 'accomplished. By this it
appears, that the 70 years of the captivity are not
to be reckoned from the last captivity, but the first.
Note, Though the deliverance of the church do not
come in our time, it is sufficient that it will come in
God’s time, and we are sure that that is the best
time. The promise is, that God will visit them in
463
JEREMIAH, XXIX.
mercy; though he had long seemed to be strange to
them, he will come among them, and appear for
them, and put honour upon them, as great men do
upon their inferiors, by coming to visit them. He
will put an end to their captivity, and turn away all
the calamities of it. Though they are dis/iersed,
some in one country, and some in another, he will
gather them from all the places whither they are
driven, will set up a standard for them all to resort
to, and incorporate them again in one body. And
though they are at a great distance, they shall be
brought again to their own land, to the place whence
they were carried captive, v. 14.
Now, 1. This shall be the performance of God’s
promise to them; ( v . 10.) I will perform my good
word toward you. Let not the failing of those pre¬
dictions which are delivered as from God, lessen
the reputation of those that really are from him.
That which is indeed God’s word, is a good word,
and therefore it will be made good, and not one iota
or tittle of it shall fall to the ground. Hath he said,
and shall he not do it? This will make their return
out of captivity very comfortable, that it will be the
performance of God’s good word, to them, the pro¬
duct of a gracious promise.
2. This shall be in pursuance of God’s purposes
concerning them : ( v . 11.) I know the thoughts that
I think toward you. Known unto God are all his
works, for known unto him are all his thoughts,
(Acts xv. 18.) and his works agree exactly with
his thoughts; he doeth all according to the counsel
of his will. We often do not know ourown thoughts,
not know our own mind, but God is never at any
uncertainty within himself. We are sometimes
ready to fear that God’s designs concerning us are
all against us; but he knows the contrary concerning
his own people, that they are thoughts of good, ana
not of evil; even that which seems evil, is designed
for good. His thoughts are all working toward the
expected end, which he will give in due time. The
end they expect will come, though perhaps not
when they expect it. Let them have patience till
the fruit is ripe, and then they shall have it. He
will give them an end, and expectation; so it is in
the original. (1.) He will give them to see the end,
the comfortable period, of their trouble; though it
last long, it shall not last always; the time to favour
Zion, yea, the set time, will come; when things are
at the worst, they will begin to mend; and he will
give them to see the glorious perfection of their de¬
liverance; for, as for God, his work is perfect. He
that in the beginning finished the heavens and the
earth, and all the hosts of both, will finish all the
blessings of both to his people. When he begins in
ways of mercy, he will make an end. God does
nothing by halves. (2.) He will give them to see
the expectation, that end which they desire and
hope for, and have been long waiting for. He will
give them, not the expectations of their fears, or the
expectations of their fancies, but the expectations
of their faith; the end which he has promised, and
which will turn for the best to them.
3. This shall be in answer to their prayers and
supplications to God, v. 12. — 14. (1.) God will
stir them up to pray; Then shall ye call upon me,
and ye shall go, and pray unto me. Note, When
God is about to give his people the expected good,
he pours out a spirit of prayer, and it is a good sign
that he is coming toward them in mercy. Then
when you see the expected end approaching, then
you shall call upon me. Note, Promises are given,
not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage,
prayer; and when deliverance is coming, we must
by prayer go forth to meet it. When Daniel un¬
derstood that the 70 years were near expiring, then
he set his face with more fervency than ever to seek
the Lord, Dan. ix. 2,3. (2.) He will then stir up
himself to come and save them, (Ps. lxxx. 2.) I will
hearken unto you, oxdklwill be found of you. God
has said it, and we may depend upon it; seek, and
ye shall find. We have a general rule laid down,
(z>. 13.) Ye shall find me, when ye shall search for
me with all your heart. In seeking God, we must
search for him, accomplish a diligent search, search
for directions in seeking him, and encouragements
to our faith and hope. We must continue seeking,
and take pains in seeking, as those that search; and
this we must do with our heart, in sincerity and up¬
rightness, and with our whole heart, with vigour
and fervency, putting forth all that is within us, in
prayer; those who thus seek God, shall find him,
and shall find him their bountiful Rewarder, Hob.
xi. 6. He never said to such, Seek ye me in vain .
15. Because ye have said, The Lord
hath raised us up prophets in Babylon; 1G.
Know that thus saitli the L<5rd of the king
that sitteth upon the throne of David, and
of all the people that dwelleth in this city,
and of your brethren that are not gone forth
with you into captivity ; 1 7. Thus saitli the
Lord of hosts, Behold, I will send upon
them the sword, the famine, and the pesti¬
lence, and will make them like vile figs, that
cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 18. And
I will persecute them with the sword, with
the famine, and with the pestilence, and
will deliver them to be removed to all the
kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an
astonishment, and a hissing, and a re¬
proach, among all the nations whither I
have driven them: 19. Because they have
not hearkened to my words, saitli the Lord,
which I sent unto them by my servants the
prophets, rising up early and sending them ;
but ye would not hear, saith the Lord. 20.
Hear ye, therefore, the word of the Lord,
all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent
from Jerusalem to Babylon : 21. Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, of
Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah
the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie
unto you in my name, Behold, I will deliver
them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon, and he shall slay them before
your eyes ; 22. And of them shall, be taken
up a curse by all the captivity of Judah
which are in Babylon, saying, The Lord
make thee like Zedekiah, and like Ahab,
whom the king of Babylon roasted in the
fire; 23. Because thev have committed
illany in Israel, and have committed adul¬
tery with their neighbours’ wives, and have
spoken lying words in my name, which I
have not commanded them ; even I know,
and am a witness, saith the Lord.
Jeremiah, having given great encouragement to
those among the captives whom he knew to be seri¬
ous and well-affected, assuring them that God had
very kind and favourable intentions concerning
them, here turns to those among them who slighted
464
JEREMIAH, XXIX.
the counsels and comforts that Jeremiah ministered
to them, and depended upon what the false pro¬
phets flattered them with. When this letter came
from Jeremiah, they would be ready to say, “Why
should he make himself so busy, and take upon him
to advise us? The Lord has raised us up prophets
in Babylon, v. 15. We are satisfied with those
prophets, and can depend upon them, and have no
occasion to hear from any prophets in Jerusalem.”
See the impudent wickedness of this people; as the
prophets, when they prophesied lies, said that they
had them from God, so the people, when they in¬
vited those prophets thus to flatter them, fathered
it upon God, and said that it was the Lord that
raised them up those prophets. Whereas we may
be sure that those who harden people in their sins,
and deceive them with false and groundless hopes
of God’s mercy, are no prophets of God’s raising
up. These prophets of their own told them that no
more should be carried captive, but that those who
were in captivity should shortly return. Now, in
answer to this,
1. The prophet here foretells the utter destruc¬
tion of those who remained still at Jerusalem, not¬
withstanding what those false prophets said to the
contrary; “As for the king and people that dwell in
the city, who, you think, will be ready to bid you
welcome when you return, you are deceived, they
shall be followed with one judgment after another,
sword, famine, and pestilence, which shall cut off
multitudes; and the poor and miserable remains
shall be removed into all kingdoms of the earth,”
v. 16. — 18. And thus God will make them, or rather
deal with them, like vile Jdgs; they have made them¬
selves so by their wickedness, and God will use
them accordingly; as the salt that has lost its savour,
which, being good for nothing, is cast to the dung¬
hill; and so are rotten figs. This refers to the vision,
and the prophecy upon it, which we had, ch. xxiv.
And the reason given for these proceedings against
them, is the same that has often been given, and
will justify God in the eternal ruin of impenitent
sinners, ( y . 19.) Because they have not. hearkened
to my words; I called, but they refused.
2. He foretells the judgment of God upon the
false prophets in Babylon, who deceived the people
of God there. He calls upon all the children of the
captivity, who boasted of them as prophets of God’s
raising up; (u. 20.) “ Stand still, and hear the doom
of the prophets you are so fond of.” The two pro-
prets are named here Ahab and Zedekiah, v. 21.
Observe, (1.) The crimes charged upon them —
impiety and immorality; They prophesied lies in
God’s'name, (n. 21.) and again, (v. 23.) They have
spoken lying words in my name. Lying was bad,
lying to the people of God to delude them into a
false hope was worse, but fathering their lies upon
the God of truth was worst of all. And no marvel
if they that had the face to do that, could allow
themselves in the gratification of those vile affec¬
tions to which Godwin a way of righteous judgment,
gave them up. Thev have done villany in Israel,
for they have committed adultery with their neigh¬
bours' wives. Adultery is villany, and it is an ag¬
gravation of it, if it be villany in Israel, and in such
as pretend to be prophets, who by such wickedness
manifestly disprove their own pretensions. God
never sent such profligate wretches on his errands.
He is the Lord God of the holy prophets, not of
such impure ones. Here it appears why they flat¬
tered others in their sins — because they could not
reprove them without condemning themselves.
These lewd practices of theirs they knew how to
conceal from the eye of the world, that they might
preserve their credit: but I know it, and am a Wit¬
ness, saith the Lord. The most secret sins are known
to God; he can see the villany that is covered with
the thickest cloak of hypocrisy, and there is a day
coming when he will bring to light all these hidden
works of darkness, and every man will appear in
his own colours. (2. ) The judgments threatened
against them; The king of Babylon shall slay them
before your eyes; nay, he shall put them to a misera¬
ble death, roast them in the fire, v. 22. We may
suppose that it was not for their impiety and im¬
morality that Nebuchadnezzar punished them thus
severely, but for sedition, and some attempts of their
turbulent spirits upon the public peace, and stir¬
ring up the people to revolt and rebel. So much
of their wickedness shall then be detected, and
in such a wretched manner they shall end their
day's, that their names shall be a curse among the
captives in Babylon, v. 22. When men would im¬
precate the greatest evil upon one they hated, they
would think they could not load them with a heavier
curse, in fewer words, than to say. The Lord make
thee like Zedekiah, and like Ahab! Thus were
they made ashamed of the prophets they had been
proud of, and convinced at least of their folly in
hearkening to them. God’s faithful prophets were
sometimes charged with being the troublers of the
land, and, as such, were tortured and slain; but their
names were a blessing when they were gone, and
their memory sweet, not as these here. As male¬
factors are attended with infamy and disgrace, so
martyrs with glory and honour.
24. Thus shalt thou also speak to She-
maiah the Nehelamite, saying, 25. Thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters
in thy name unto all the people that are at
Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of
Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests,
saying, 26. The Lord hath made thee
priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest,
that ye should be officers in the house of the
Lord, for every man that is mad, and mak-
eth himself a prophet, that thou shouldest
put him in prison, and in the stocks: 27.
Now, therefore, why hast thou not reproved
Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh him¬
self a prophet to you? 23. For therefore he
sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This cap¬
tivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in
them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit
of them. 29. And Zephaniah the priest read
this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the pro¬
phet. 30. Then came the word of the Lord
unto Jeremiah, saying, 31. Send to all
them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the
Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelam¬
ite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophe¬
sied unto you, and I sent him not, and he
caused you to trust in a lie; 32. Therefore
thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will punish
Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he
shall not have a man to dwell among this
people ; neither shall he behold the good that
I will do for my people, saith the Lord ;
because he hath taught rebellion against- the
Lord.
W e have perused the contents of Jeremiah’s lettei
to the captives in Babylon, who had reason, with a
4G5
JEREMIAH, XXIX.
great deal of thanks to God and him, to acknow-
't'dgc the receipt of it, and lay it up among their
treasures. But we cannot wonder if the false pro¬
phets they had among them were enraged at it, for
it gave them their true character. Now here we
are told concerning one of them,
I. How lie discovers his malice against Jeremiah.
This busy fellow is called Shemaiah the JVehe/am-
ite; the dreamer, (so the margin reads it,) because
all his prophecies he pretended to have received
from God in a dream. He had got a copy of Jere¬
miah’s letter to the captives, or had heard it read,
or information was given to him concerning it, and
it nettled him exceedingly; and he will take pen in
hand, and answer it, yea, that he will. But how?
He does not write to Jeremiah in justification of his
own mission, nor offer any rational arguments for
the support of his prophecies concerning the speedy
return of the captives; but he writes to the priests,
tjiose faithful patrons of the false prophets, and in¬
stigates them to persecute Jeremiah. He writes in
his own name, not so much as pretending to have
the people’s consent to it, but, as if he must be dic¬
tator to all mankind, he sends a circular letter (as
it should seem) among the priests at Jerusalem,
and the rest of the people, probably by the same
messengers that brought the letter from Jeremiah.
But it is chiefly directed to Zephaniah, who was
either the immediate son of Maaseiali, or of the
twenty-fourth course of the priests, of which Maa-
seiah was the father and head. He was not the
High Priest, but sagan or suffragan to the High
Priest, or in some other considerable post of com¬
mand in the temple, asPashur, ch. xx. 1. Perhaps
he was chairman of that committee of priests that
was appointed in a particular manner to take cog¬
nizance of those that pretended to be prophets, of
which there were very many at this time, and to
give judgment concerning them. Now,
1. He puts him and the other priests in mind of
the duty of their place; (v. 26.) The Lord hath
made thee priest instead of Jehoiada the priest.
Some think that he refers to the famous Jehoiada,
that great reformer in the days of Joash; and (says
Mr. Gataker) he would insinuate that this Zepha¬
niah is for spirit and zeal such another as he, and
raised up, as he was, for the glory of God and the
good of the church; and therefore it was expected
from him that he should proceed against Jeremiah.
Thus (says he) there is no act so injurious or im¬
pious, but that wicked wretches and false prophets
will not only attempt it, but colour it also with some
specious pretence of piety, and zeal for God’s glory,
Isa. lxvi. 5. John xvi. 2. Or, rather, it was some
other Jehoiada, his immediate predecessor in this
office, who perhaps was carried to Babylon among
the priests, v. 1. Zephaniah is advanced, sooner
than he expected, to this place of trust and power,
and Shemaiah would have him think that Provi¬
dence h id preferred him, that he might persecute
God’s prophets, that he was come to this govern¬
ment for such a time as this, and that he was un¬
just and ungrateful, if he did not thus improve his
power, or, rather, abuse it Their hearts are
wretchedly hard, who can justify the doing of mis¬
chief by their having a power to do it. These
priests’ business was to examine every man that is
mad, and makes himself a j irofihet . God’s faithful
prophets are here represented as prophets of their
own making, usurpers of the office, and lay-intru¬
ders; and as men that were mad, actuated by some
demon, and not divinely inspired; or as distracted
men, and men in a frenzy. Thus the characters
of the false prophets are thrown upon the true ones;
if this had been indeed their character, they ought
to be bound as madmen and punished as pretenders,
and therefore he concludes that Jeremiah must be
V OL. IV. — 3 X
so done to. He does not bid them examine whether
Jeremiah could produce any proofs of his mission,
and could make it to appear that he was not mad;
no, that is taken for granted, and when once he has
had a bad name given him, he must be run down of
course.
2. He informs them of the letter which Jeremiah
had written to the captives; (y. 28.) He sent unto
us in Babylon, with the authority of a prophet, say¬
ing, This captivity is long, and therefore resolve to
make the best of it. And what harm was there in
this, that it should be objected to him as a crime?
The false prophets had formerly said that the cap¬
tivity would never come, ch. xiv. 13. Jeremiah
had said that it would come, and the event had al¬
ready proved him in the right, which obliged them
to give credit to him, who now said that it would be
long, rather than to them who said it would be short,
but had once before been found liars.
3. He demands judgment against him ; taking it
for granted that he is mad, and makes himself a
prophet. He expects that they will order him to
be put in prison, and in the stocks, (it. 26.) that they
will thus punish him, and by putting him to dis¬
grace possess the people with prejudices against
him, ruin his reputation, and so prevent the giving
of any credit to his prophecies at Jerusalem, hoping
that if they could gain that point, the captives in
Babylon would not be influenced by him. Nay, he
takes upon him to chide Zephaniah for his neglect,
(ti. 27.) Why hast thou not rebuked and restrained
Jeremiah of Anathoth ? See how insolent and im¬
perious these false prophets were grown, that
though they were in captivity, they would give law
to the priests, who were not only at libeity but in
power. It is common for those that pretend to
more knowledge than their neighbours, to be thus
assuming. Now here is a remarkable instance of
the hardness of the hearts of sinners, and it is enough
to make us all fear, lest our hearts be at any time
hardened. For here we find, (1.) That these sin¬
ners would not be1 convinced by the clearest evi¬
dence. God had confirmed his word in the mouth
of Jeremiah, it had taken hold of them ; (Zech. i. 6.)
and yet, because he does not prophesy to them the
smooth things they desired, they are resolved to look
upon him as not duly called to the office of a pro¬
phet. None so blind as those that will not see. (2.)
That they would not be reclaimed and reformed by
the most severe chastisement. They were now
sent into a miserable thraldom for mocking the mes¬
sengers of the Lord, and misusing his prophets; this
was the sin for which God now contended with
them ; and yet in their distress they trespass yet more
against the Lord, 2 Chron. xxviii. 22. This very
sin they are notoriously guilty of in their captivity,
which shows that afflictions will not of themselves
cure men of their sins, unless the grace of God work
with them, but will rather exasperate the corrup¬
tions they are intended to mortify; so true is that
adage of Solomon, (Prov. xxvii. 22.) Though thou
shou/dest bray a fool in a mortar, yet will not his
foolishness depart from him.
II. How Jeremiah came to the knowledge of this;
(v. 29.) Z,ephaniah read this letter in the ears of
Jeremiah. He did not design to do as Shemaiah
would have him, but, as it should seem, had a re¬
spect for Jeremiah, (for we find him employed in
messages to him as a. prophet, ch. xxi. 1. — xxxvii.
3. ) and therefore protected him. He that continued
in his dignity and power, stood more in awe of God
and his judgments than he that was now a captive.
Nay, he made Jeremiah acquainted with the con¬
tents of the latter, that he might see what enemies
he had even among the captives. Note, It is kind¬
ness to our friends, to let them know their foes.
III. What was the sentence passed upon She-
466
JEREMIAH, XXX.
maiah for writing this letter. God sent him an an¬
swer, for to him Jeremiah committed his cause: it
was ordered to be sent not to him, but to them of
the captivity, who encouraged and countenanced
him, as if he had been a prophet of God’s raising
up, v. 31, 32. Let them know,
1. That Shemaiah had made fools of them; he
promised them peace in God’s name, but God
did not send him, he forged a commission, and
counterfeited the broad seal of Heaven to it, and
made the people to trust in a lie, and by preaching
false comfort to them deprived them of true
Cumfort; nay, he had not only made fools of them,
but, which was worse, had made traitors of them,
he had taught rebellion against the Lord, as Hana-
niah had done, ch. xxviii. 16. And if vengeance
shall be taken on them that rebel, much more on
them that teach rebellion by their doctrine and ex¬
ample.
2. That at his end he shall also be a fool; (as the
expression is, ch. xvii. 11.) his name and family
shall be extinct, and shall be buried in oblivion; he
shall leave no issue behind him to bear up his
name, his pedigree shall end in him; he shall not
have a man to dwell among this people; and neither
he, nor any that come from him, shall behold the
good that I will do for my people. Note, Those
are unworthy to snare in God’s favours to his
church, that are not willing to stay his time for
them. Shemaiah was angry at Jeremiah’s advice
to the captives, to see to the building up of their
families in Babylon, that they might be increased,
and not diminished, and therefore justly is he writ¬
ten childless there. Those that slight the blessings
of God’s word, deserve to lose the benefit of them.
See Amos vii. 16, 17.
CHAP. XXX.
The sermon which we have in this and the following chap¬
ter, is of a very different complexion from all those be¬
fore. The prophet does indeed, by direction from God,
change his voice. Most of what he had said hitherto,
was by way of reproof and threatening; but these two
chapters are wholly taken up with precious promises of
a return out of captivity, and that typical of the glorious
things reserved for the church in the days of the Messiah.
The prophet is bid not only to preach this, but to write
it, because it is intended for the comfort of the genera¬
tion to come, v. 1 . . 3. It is here promised, I. That
they should hereafter have a joyful restoration. 1.
Though they were now in a great deal of pain and ter¬
ror, v. 4 . . 7. 2. Though their oppressors were very
strong, v. 8. . 10. 3. Though a full end was made of
other nations, and they were not restored, v. 11. 4.
Though all means of their deliverance seemed to fail and
be cut off, v. 12.. 14. 5. Though God himself had sent
them into captivity, and justly, for their sins, v. 15, 16.
6. Though all about them looked upon their case as des¬
perate, v. 17. II. That after their joyful restoration
they should have a happy settlement; that their city
should be rebuilt, (v. 18.) their numbers increased, (v.
19, 20.) their government established, (v. 21.) God’s
covenant with them renewed, (v. 22.) and their enemies
destroyed and cut off, v. 23, 24.
l.r|MIE word that came to Jeremiah
-I. from the Lord, saying, 2. Thus
speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying,
Write thee all the words that 1 have spoken
unto thee in a book. 3. For, lo, the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again
the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,
saith the Lord; and I will cause them to
return to the land that I gave to their fathers,
and they shall possess it. 4. And these are
the words that the Lord spake concerning
Israel, and concerning ludah. 5. For thus
saith the Lord, We have heard a voice of
trembling, of fear, and not of peace. 6. Ask
ye now, and see whether a man doth travail
with child? wherefore do I see every man
with his hands on his loins, as a woman in
travail, and all faces are turned into pale¬
ness? 7. Alas! for that day is great, so that
none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s-
trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. 3
For it shall come to pass in that day, saith
the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke
from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds
and strangers shall no more serve themselves
of him: 9. But they shall serve the Lord
their God, and David their king, whom I
will raise up unto them.
Here,
I. Jeremiah is directed to write what God had
spoken to him; which perhaps refers to all the
foregoing prophecies; he must write them and pub
lish them, in hopes that they who had not profited
by it upon once hearing it, might take more notice
of it when, in reading it, they had leisure for a more
considerate review. Or, rather, it refers to the
promises of their enlargement, which had been of
ten mixed with his other discourses. He must col¬
lect them and put them together, and God will now
add unto them many like words. He must write
them for the generations to erme, who should see
them accomplished, and thereby have their faith ip
the prophecy confirmed. He must write it not in c
letter, as that in the chapter before, to the captives,
but in a book, to be carefully preserved in the ar¬
chives, or among the public rolls or registers of the
state. Daniel understood by these books when the
captivity was about coming to an end, Dan. ix. 2.
He must write it in a book, not in loose papers; For
the days come, and are yet at a great distance, when
I will bring again the captivity of Israel and Ju¬
dah, great numbers of the ten tribes, with those of
the two, v. 3. And it must be written, that it may
be read then also, that so it may appear how ex¬
actly the accomplishment answers the prediction,
which is one. end of the writing of prophecies. It is
intimated that they shall be beloved for their fathers'
sake; (Rom. xi. 28.) for therefore God will bring
them again to Canaan, because it was the land that
he gave to their fathers, which therefore they shall
possess.
II. He is directed what to write. The very
words are such as the Holy Ghost teaches, v. 4.
These are the words which God ordered to be writ¬
ten; and those promises which are written by his
order, are as truly his word as the ten command¬
ments, which were written with his finger.
1. He must write a description of the fright and
consternation which the people were now in, and
were likely to be still in upon every attack that the
Chaldeans made upon them, which will much mag¬
nify both the wonder and the welcomeness of their
deliverance; (v. 5.) We have heard a voice of
trembling — the shrieks of terror echoing to the
alarms of danger. The false prophets told them
that they should have peace, but there is fear, and
not peace; so the margin reads it. No marvel that
when without are fightings, within are fears. The
men, even the men of war, shall be quite over¬
whelmed with the calamities of their nation, shall
sink under them, and yield to them, and shall look
like women in labour, whose pains come upon them
in great extremity, and they know that they cannot
escape them, v. 6. You never heard of a man tra-
467
JEREMIAH, XXX.
vailing with child, and yet here you find not here
and there a timorous man, but every man, with his
hands on his loins, in the utmost anguish and agony,
as women in travail, when they see their cities
burnt and their countries laid waste. But this pain
is compared to that of a woman in travail, not to
that of a death-bed, because it shall end in joy at
last, and the pain, like that of a travailing woman,
shall be forgotten. All faces shall be turned into
paleness. The word signifies not only such pale¬
ness as arises froui a sudden fright, but that whjch
is the effect of a bad habit of body, the jaundice, or
green sickness. The prophet laments the calamity,
upon the foresight of it; (y. 7.) Alas, for that day
is great, a day of judgment, which is culled the great
day, the great and terrible day of the Lord; (Joel
ii. 31. Jude 6.) great, so that there has been none
like it. The last destruction of Jerusalem is thus
spoken of bv our Saviour as unparalleled, Matth.
xxiv. 21. ft is even the time of Jacob's trouble, a
sad time, when God’s professing people shall be in
distress, above other people. I'he whole time of
the captivity was a time of. Jacob's trouble; and such
times ought to be greatly lamented by all that are
concerned for the welfare of Jacob, and the honour
of the God of Jacob.
2. He must write the assurances which God had
given, that a happy end should at length be put to
these calamities, (1.) Jacob’s troubles shall cease;
He shall be saved out of them. Though the afflic¬
tions of the church may last long, they shall not last
always. Salvation belongs to the Lord, and shall be
wrought for his church. (2.) Jacob’s troublers
shdl be disabled to do him any further mischief,
and shall be reckoned with for the mischief they
have done him, v. 1. The Lord of hosts, who has
all power in his hand, undertakes to do it; “I will
break his yoke from off thy neck, which has long
lain so heavy, and hath so sorely galled thee; I will
burst thy bonds and restore thee to liberty and ease,
and thou shalt no more be at the beck and com¬
mand of strangers, shalt no more serve them, nor
shall they any more serve themselves of thee, they
shall no more enrich themselves either by thy pos¬
sessions or by thy labours.” And, (3.) That which
crowns and completes the mercy is, that they shall
be restored to the free exercise of their religion
again, v. 9. They shall be delivered from serving
their enemies, not that they may live at large, and do
v. hat they please, but that they may serve the Lord
their God and David their king, that they may
come again in order, under the established govern¬
ment both in church and state. Therefore they are
brought into trouble and made to serve their ene¬
mies, because they had not served the Lord their
God as they ought to have done, with joyfulness and
gladness of heart, Deut. xxviii. 47. But when the
time is come that they should be saved out of their
trouble, God will prepare and qualify them for it,
by giving them a heart to sen’e him; and will make
it doubly comfortable, by giving them opportu¬
nity to serve him. Therefore we are delivered out
of the hands of our enemies, that we may serve
God, Luke i. 74, 75. And then deliverances out of
temporal calamities are mercies indeed to us, when
by them we find ourselves engaged to, and enlarged
in, the service of God. They shall serve their own
God, and neither be inclined, as they had been of
old in the day of their apostacy, nor compelled, as
they had been of late in the day of their captivity,
to serve other gods. They shall serve David their
king, such governors as God should from time to
time set over them, of the line of David, as Zerub-
babel; or, at least, sitting on the thrones of judg¬
ment, the thrones of the house of David, as Nehe-
miah. But certainly this has a further meaning.
The Chaldee Paraphrase reads it, They shall obey,
or hearken to, the Messiah, or Christ, the Son of
David, their king. Tohim theJewish interpreters
apply it. That dispensation, which commenced at
their return out of captivity, brought them to the
Messiah. He is called David their king, because
he was the Son of David, (Matth. xxii. 42.) and he
answered to the name. Matth. xx. 31, 32. David
was an illustrious type of him both in his humilia¬
tion and his exaltation. The covenant of royalty
made with David had principal reference to him,
and in him the promises of that covenant had their
full accomplishment. God gave him the throne of
his father David, he raised him up unto them, set
him upon the holy hill of Zion. God is often in the
New Testament said to have raised up Jesus, raised
him up as a King, Acts iii. 26. — xiii. 23, 33. Ob¬
serve, [1. ] Those that serve the Lord as their God,
must also serve David their King, must give up
themselves to Jesus Christ, to be ruled by him. For
all men must honour the Son as they honour the
Father, and come into the service and worship of
God by him as Mediator. [2. ] Those that are de¬
livered out of spiritual bondage, must make it ap¬
pear that they are so by giving up themselves to
the service of Christ. They to whom he gives
rest, must take his yoke upon them.
10. Therefore fear thou not, O my ser¬
vant Jacob, saith the Lord ; neither be
dismayed, O Israel : for, lo, I will save thee
from afar, and thy seed from the land of
their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and
shall be in rest and be quiet, and none shall
make him afraid. 1 1 . For I am with thee,
saith the Lord, to save thee : though I make
a full end of all nations whither I have scat¬
tered thee, yet will I not make a full end
of thee ; but I will correct thee in measure,
and will not leave thee altogether unpunish¬
ed. 12. For thus saith the Lord, Thy
bruise is incurable, and thy wound is griev¬
ous. 13. There is none to plead thy
cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou
hast no healing medicines. 14. All thy
lovers have forgotten thee ; they seek thee
not: fori have wounded thee with the wound
of an enemy, with the chastisement of a
cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity;
because thy sins were increased. 15. Why
criest thou for thine affliction ? thy sorrow
is incurable for the multitude of thine ini¬
quity : because thy sins were increased I
have done these things unto thee. 16.
Therefore all they that devour thee shall
be devoured; and all thine adversaries,
every one of them, shall go into captivity ;
and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and
all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
17. For I will restore health unto thee, and I
will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord;
because they called thee an Outcast, saying,
This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
In these verses, as in those foregoing, the deplo¬
rable case of the Jews in captivity is set forth, but
many precious promises are given them, that in due
time they should be relieved, and a glorious salva¬
tion wrought for them.
408
JEREMIAH, XXX.
4. God himself appeared against them; he scat¬
tered them; ( v . 11.) he did all these things unto
them, v. 15. All their calamities came from his
hands; whoever were the instruments, he was the
principal Agent. And this made their case very
sad, that God, even their own God, spake concern¬
ing them, to pull down and to destroy. Now, (1.)
This was intended by him as a fatherly chastise¬
ment, and no other; (y. 11.) “I will correct thee
in measure, or according to judgment,- with discre¬
tion, no more than thou desen est, nay, no more
than thou canst well bear.” What God does
against his people, is in a way of correction, and
that correction is always moderated, and always
proceeds from love. “I will not leave thee alto¬
gether unpunished, as thou art ready to think I
should, because of thy relation to me.” Note, A
rofession of religion, though ever so plausible, will
e far from securing to us impunity in sin. God is
no Respecter of persons, but will show his hatred
of sin, wherever he finds it, and that he hates it
most in those that are nearest to him. God here
corrects his people for the multitude of their ini¬
quity, and because their sins were increased, v. 14,
15. Are our sorrows multiplied at any time, and
do they increase? We must acknowledge that it is
becaus’e our sins have been multiplied, and they
have increased. Iniquities grow in us, and there¬
fore troubles grow upon us. But, (2.) What God
intended as a fatherly chastisement, they and others
interpreted as an act of hostility; they looked upon
him as having wounded them with the wound of an
enemy, and with the chastisement of a cruel one, (y.
14. ) as if he had designed their ruin, and neither
mitigated the correction, nor had any mercy in re¬
serve for them. It did indeed seem as if God had
dealt thus severely with them, as if he had turned
to be their Enemy, and had fought against them,
Isa. lxiii. 10. Job complains that God was become
cruel to him, and multiplied his wounds. When
troubles are great and long, we have need carefully
to watch over our own hearts, that we entertain
not such hard thoughts as these of God and his
providence. His are the chastisements of a mer¬
ciful one, not of a cruel one, however they may
appear.
2. Their friends forsook them, and were shy of
them; none of those who had courted them in their
prosperity, would take notice of them now in their
distress, v. 13. It is commonly thus when families go
to decay; those hang off from them, that had been
their hangers-on. In two cases we are glad of the
assistance of our friends, and need their service; (1. )
If we be impeached, accused, or reproached, we
expect that our friends should appear in vindication
of us, should speak a good word for us, when we
cannot put on a face to speak for ourselves; but
here there is none to plead thy cause, none to stand
up in thy defence, none to intercede for thee with
thine oppressors: therefoi’e God will plead their
cause, for he might well wonder there was none to
uphold a people that had been so much the. fa¬
vourites of heaven, Isa. lxiii. 5. (2.) If we be sick,
or sore, or wounded, we expect our friends should
attend us, advise us, sympathize with us, and, if
occasion be, lend a hand for the applying of healing
medicines; but here, there is none to do that, none
to bind up thy wounds, and by counsels and comforts
to make proper applications to thy case; nay, (r.
14.) All thy lovers have forgotten thee; out of sight
out of mind; instead of seeking thee they forsake
thee. Such as this has often been the case of reli¬
gion and serious godliness in the world; those, that
from their education, profession, and hopeful begin¬
nings, one might have expected to have been its
friends and lovers, its patrons and protectors, desert
it, forget it, and have nothing to say in its defence,
nor will do any thing toward the healing of its
wounds. Observe, Thy ' 'lovers have forgotten thee,
for I have wounded thee. When God is against a
people, who will be for them? Who can be for
them, so as to do them any kindness? See Job xxx.
11. Now, upon this account, their case seemed
desperate and past relief; (v. 12.) Thy bruise is in
curable, thy wound grievous, and (x>. 15.) thy sot-
row is incurable; the condition of the Jews in cap¬
tivity was such as no human power could redress
the grievances of ; there they were like a valley full
of dead and dry boties, which nothing less than Om¬
nipotence can put life into. Who could imagine
that a people so diminished, so impoverished,
should ever be restored to their own land, and re¬
established there? So many were the aggravations
of their calamity, that their sorrow would not ad¬
mit of any alleviation, but they seemed to be hard¬
ened in it, and their souls refused to be comforted,
till divine consolations proved strong ones, too strong
to be borne dowm even by the floods of grief that
overwhelmed them. Thy sorrow is incurable, be¬
cause thy sins, instead of being repented of and for¬
saken, were increased. Note, Incurable griefs are
owing to incurable lusts. Now in this deplorable
condition they are looked upon with disdain; (x». 17.)
They called thee an outcast, abandoned by all, aban¬
doned to ruin; they said, This is Zion, whom no
man seeks after. When they looked on the place
where the city and temple had been built, they
called that an outcast; now all was in ruins, there
was no resort to it, no residence in it, none asked
the way. to Zion, as formerly, no man seeks after it.
When they looked on the people that formerly
dwelt in Zion, but were now m captivity, (and we
read of Zion dwelling with the daughter of Baby¬
lon, Zech. ii. 7.) they called them outcasts; these
are they who belong to Zion, and talk much of it,
and weep at the remembrance of it, but no man
seeks after them, or inquires concerning them.
Note, It is often the lot ot Zion to be deserted and
despised by those about her.
3. For all this, God will work deliverance and
salvation for them in due time. Though no other
hand, nay, because no other hand, can cure their
wound, his will and shall. (1.) Though he seem¬
ed to stand at a distance frbm them, yet he as¬
sures them of his presence with them, his powerful
and gracious presence; I will save thee, v. 10. I
am with thee, to save thee; v. 11. When they are
in their troubles, he is with them, to save them
from sinking under them; when the time is come
for their deliverance, he is with them, to be ready
upon the first opportunity, to save them out of their
trouble. (2.) Though they were at a distance, re¬
mote from their own land, afar off in the land of
their captivity, yet there shall salvation find them
out, thence shall it fetch them, them and their seed,
for they also shall be known among the Gentiles,
and distinguished from them, that they may re¬
turn, v. 10. (3.) Though they were now full of
fears, and continually alarmed, yet the time shall
come when they shall be in rest and quiet, safe and
easy, and none shall make them afraid, v. 10. (4.)
Though the nations into which they were dispersed,
should be brought to ruin, yet they should be pre¬
served from that ruin; (v. 11.) Though I make
a full end of the nations whither I have scattered
thee, and there might be danger of thy being lost
among them, yet I will not make a full end of thee.
It was promised that in the peace of these nations
they should have peace; ( ch . xxix. 7.) and yet in
the destruction of these nations they should escape
destruction. God’s church may sometimes be
brought very low, but he will not make a full end
of it, ch. v. 10, 18. (5.) Though God correct them,
and justly, for their sins, their manifold transgres-
JEREMIAH, XXX.
409
sions and mighty sins, yet he will return in mercy
to them, and even their sin shall not prevent their
deliverance when God’s time is come. (6. ) Though
their adversaries were mighty, God will bring them
down, and break their power; ( y . 16.) All that de¬
vour thee shall be devoured, and thus Zion’s cause
will be pleaded, and will be made to appear to all
the world a righteous cause. Thus Zion's deliver¬
ance will be brought about by the destruction of her
oppressors; and thus her enemies will be recom¬
pensed for all the injury they have done her; for
there is a God that judges in the earth, a God to
whom vengeance belongs; they shall every one of
them, without exception, go into captivity, and the
day will come when they that now spoil thee, shall
be a spoil; they that lead into captivity, shall go
into captivity, Rev. xiii. 10. This might serve to
oblige the present conquerors to use their captives
well, because the wheel would turn round, and the
day would come when they also should be captives,
and let them do now as they would then be done by.
(7.) Though the wound would seem incurable, God
will make a cure of it; (y. 17.) I will restore health
unto thee. Be the disease ever so dangerous, the
patient is safe if God undertake the cure.
4. Upon the whole matter, they are cautioned
against inordinate fear and grief, for in these pre¬
cious promises there is enough to silence both. ( 1. )
They must not tremble as those that have no hope,
in the apprehension of future further trouble that
might threaten them; (y. 10.) Fear thou not, 0 my
servant Jacob, neither be dismayed. Note, Those
that are God’s servants must not give way to dis¬
quieting fears, whatever difficulties and dangers
may be before them. (2.) They must not sorrow
as those that have no hope, for the troubles which
at present they lie under, v. 15. “ Why criest thou
for thine affliction? It is true, thy carnal confi¬
dences fail thee, creatures are physicians of no
value, but I will heal thy wound, and therefore, Why
criest thou? Why dost thou fret and complain
thus? It is for thy sin, ( v . 14, 15.) and therefore,
instead of repining, thou shouldest be repenting.
Wherefore should a man complain for the punish¬
ment of his sins ? The issue will be good at last,
and therefore rejoice in hope.”
18. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will
bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents,
and have mercy on his dwelling-places; and
the city shall be budded upon her own heap,
and the palace shall remain after the man¬
ner thereof. 19. And out of them shall
proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of
them that make merry : and I will multiply
them, and they shall not be few ; I w ill also
glorify them, and they shall not be small.
20. Their children also shall be as afore¬
time, and their congregation shall be es¬
tablished before me, and I will punish all
that oppress them. 21. And their nobles
shall be of themselves, and their governor
shall proceed from the midst of them ; and
1 will cause him to draw near, and he shall
approach unto me : for who is this that en¬
gaged his heart to approach unto me ? saith
the Lord. 22. And ye shall be my people,
and I will be your God. 23. Behold, the
whirlwind of {he Lord goeth forth with
fury, a continuing whirlwind ; it shall fall
; with pain upon the head of the wicked.
24. '1'he fierce anger of the Lord shall not
return, until he have done it, and until he
have performed the intents of his heart : in
the latter days ye shall consider it.
We have here further intimations of the favour
God had in reserve for them after the days of then
calamity were over. It is promised,
1. That the city and temple should be rebuilt, (v.
18. ) Jacob’s tents, and his dwelling-places, felt the
effects of the captivity, for they lay in ruins when
the inhabitants were carried away captives; but
when they are returned, the habitations shall be re
paired, and raised up out of their ruins, and therein
God will have mercy upon their dwelling-places,
that had been monuments of his justice. Then the cit /
of Jerusalem shall be built upon her own heap, her
own hill, though now it be no better than a ruinous
heap. The situation was unexceptionable, and there¬
fore it shall be rebuilt upon the same spot of ground.
He that can make of a city a heap, (Isa. xxv. 2.)
can, when he pleases, make of a heap a city again.
The palace, the temple, God’s palace shall retrain
after the manner t/hreof it shall be built after the
old model; and the service of God shall be con¬
stantly kept up there, and attended as formerly.
2. That the sacred feasts should again be so¬
lemnized; (r>. 19.) Out of the city, and the temple,
and all the dwelling-places of Jacob, shall proceed
thanksgiving, and the voice of them that make
merry. They shall go with expressions of joy to
the temple-service, and with the like shall return
from it. Observe, The voice of thanksgiving is
the same with the voice of them that make merry ;
for whatever is the matter of our joy, should be the
matter of our praise. Is any merry? Let him sing
psalms. What makes us cheerful should make us
thankful. Serve the Lord with gladness.
3. That the people should be multiplied and in¬
creased, and made considerable; They shall not be
few, they shall not be small, but shall become nume¬
rous and illustrious, and make a figure among the
nations; for I will multiply them and I will glorify
them. It is for the honour of the church to have
many added to it, that shall be saved; this would
make them to be of some weight among their neigh¬
bours. Let a people be ever so much diminished
and despised, God can multiply and glorify them.
They shall be restored to their former honour, their
children shall be as aforetime, playing in the streets;
(Zech. viii. 5.) they shall inherit their parents’ es¬
tates and honours as formerly, and their congrega¬
tions shall, both in civil and sacred things, be esta
blished before me. There shall be a constant suc¬
cession of faithful magistrates in the congregation
of the elders, to establish that, and of faithful wor¬
shippers in the congregation of the saints. As one
generation passes away, another shall be raised up,
and so the congregation shall be established before
God.
4. That they shall be blessed with a good govern¬
ment; (t. 21.) Their nobles and judges shall be of
thetnselves, of their own nation, and they shall no
longer be ruled by strangers and enemies; their go¬
vernor shall proceed from the midst of them, shall
be one that has been a sharer with them in the af¬
flictions of their captive state; and this has refer¬
ence to Christ our Governor, David our King; (v.
9.) he is of ourselves, in all things made like unto
his brethren. And I will cause them to draw near:
this may be understood, either, (1.) Of the people,
Jacob and Israel; “/ will cause them to draw near
to me in the temple-service, as formerly, to come
into covenant with me, as my people, (v. 22.) to ap¬
proach to me in communion; for, who hatii engaga.
470
JEREMIAH, XXXI.
his heart, made a covenant with it, and brought it
into bonds, to approach unto me?” How few are
there that do so! None can do it but by the special
grace of God, causing them to draw near. Note,
Whenever we approach to God in any holy ordi¬
nance, we must engage our hearts to do it; the heart
must tie prepared for the duty, employed in it, and
kept close to it. The heart is the main thing that
God looks at and requires; but it is deceitful, and
will start aside, if a great deal of care and pains be
not taken to engage it to bind this sacrifice with
cords. Or, (2.) It may be understood of the gover¬
nor, for it is a single person that is spoken of; their
governor shall be duly called to his office, shall
draw near to God to consult him upon all occasions.
God will cause him to approach to him, for other¬
wise, who would engage to take care of so weak a
people, and let this ruin come under their hand?
But when God has work to do, though attended
with many discouragements, he will raise up in¬
struments to do it. But it looks further, to Christ,
to him as Mediator. Note, [1.] The proper work
and office of Christ, as Mediator, is to draw near
and approach unto God, not for himself only, but
for us, and in our name and stead, as the High
Priest of our profession. The priests are said to
draw nigh to God, Lev. x. 3. — xxi. 17. Moses
drew near, Exod. xx. 21. [2.] God the Father
did cause Jesus Christ thus to draw near and ap¬
proach to him as Mediator. He commanded and
appointed him to do it, he sanctified and sealed him,
anointed him for this purpose, and accepted of him,
and declared himself well-pleased in him. [3.] Je¬
sus Christ, being caused by the Father to approach
unto him as Mediator, did engage his heart to do it,
he bound and obliged himself to it, undertook for
his heart, (so some read it,) for his soul, that, in the
fulness of time, it should be made an offering for sin.
His own voluntary susception, in compliance with
his Father’s will, and in compassion to fallen man,
engaged him, and then his own honour kept him to
it. It also intimates that he was hearty and reso¬
lute, free and cheerful, in it, and made nothing of
the difficulties that lay in his way, Isa. lxiii. 3. —
5. [4.] Jesus Christ was, in all this, truly wonder¬
ful; we may well ask, with admiration, Who is this
that thus engages his heart to such an undertaking?
5. That they shall be taken again into covenant
with God, according to the covenant made with
their fathers; (v. 22.) Ye shall be my people; and
it is God’s good work in us, that makes us to him a
people, a people for his name, Acts xv. 14. I will
be your God; it is his good-will to us, that is the
summary of that part of the covenant.
6. That their enemies shall be reckoned with and
brought down; (i\ 20.) I will punish all them that
oppress them, so that it shall appear to all a danger¬
ous thing to touch God’s anointed, Ps. cv. 15. The
two last verses come under this head, The whirl¬
wind of the Lord shall fall with pain upon the
head of the wicked. These two verses we had be¬
fore: (ch. xxiii. 19, 20.) there they were a denunci¬
ation of God’s wrath against the wicked hypocrites
in Israel; here, against the wicked oppressors of
Israel; the expressions, exactly agreeing, speak the
same with that, (Isa. li. 22, 23. ) I will take the cup
of trembling out of thy hand, and put it into the
hand of them that a fflict thee. The wrath of God
against the wicked is here represented to be, (1.)
Very terrible, like a whirlwind, surprising and irre¬
sistible. (2.) Very grievous; it shall fall with pain
upon their heads, they shall be as much hurt as
frightened. (3.) It shall pursue them ; whirlwinds
are usually short, but this shall be a continuing
whir'wind. (4. ) It shall accomplish that for which
it is sent; The anger of the Lord shall not return,
till he hate done it; the purposes of his wrath, as
well as the purposes of his love, will all be fulfilled;
he will perform the intents of his heart: and, (5. )
Those that will not lay this to heart now, will then
be unable to put off the thoughts of it; In the latter
days ye shall consider it, when it will be too late to
prevent it.
CHAP. XXXI.
This chapter goes on with the good words and comforta¬
ble words which we had in the chapter before, for the
encouragement of the captives, assuring them that God
would in due time return them or their children to their
own land, and make them a great and happy nation
again, especially by sending them the Messiah, in whose
kingdom and grace many of these promises were to have
their full accomplishment. 1. They shall be restored to
peace and honour, and joy and great plenty, v. 1 - .14.
II. Their sorrow for the loss of their children shall be at
an end, v. 15 . . 17. III. They shall repent of their sins,
and God will graciously accept them in their repent¬
ance, v. 18. . 20. IV. They shall be multiplied and in¬
creased, both their children and their cattle, and not be
cut off and diminished as they had been, v. 21 . . 30. V.
God Mill renew his covenant with them, and enrich it
with spiritual blessings, v. 31 • . 34. VI. These blessings
shall be secured to theirs after them, even to the spiritual
seed of Israel forever, v. 35- -37. VII. As an earnest
of this, the city of Jerusalem shall be rebuilt, v. 38. .40.
These exceeding great and precious promises were firm
foundations of hope, and full foundations of joy, to the
poor captives; and we also may apply them to ourselves,
and mix faith with them.
1. i T the same time, saith the Lord,
J\. will 1 be the God of all the families
of Israel, and they shall be my people. 2.
Thus saith the Lord, The people which
were left of the sword found grace in the
wilderness; even Israel, when 1 went to
cause him to rest. 3. The Lord hath ap¬
peared of old unto me, saying , Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love; there¬
fore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.
4. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt
be built, O virgin of Israel : thou shalt again
be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go
forth in the dances of them that make merry.
5. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the moun¬
tains of Samaria : the planters shall plant,
and shall eat them as common things. 6.
For there shall be a day, that the watchmen
upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise
ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord
our God. 7. For thus saifh the Lord, Sing
with gladness for Jacob, and shout among
the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise
ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the
remnant of Israel. 8. Behold, 1 will bring
them from the north country, and gather
them from the coasts of the earth, and with
them the blind and the lame, the woman
with child and her that travaileth with child
together: a great company shall return
thither. 9. They shall come with weeping,
and with supplications will I lead them : I
will cause them to walk by the rivers of
waters in a straight way, wherein they shall
not stumble; for I am a father to fsrael,
and Ephraim is my first-born
JEREMIAH XXXI. 471
God here assures his people,
1. That he will again take them into a covenant-
relation to himself, from which they seemed to have
been cut off. At the same time, when God’s anger
breaks out against the wicked, (c/i. xxx. 24.) his
own people shall be owned by him as the children
of his love; I will be the God, I will show myself
to be the God, of all the families of Israel; (v. 1.)
not of the two tribes only, but of all the tribes; not
of the house of Aaron only, and the families of
Levi, but of all their families; not only their state
in general, but their particular families, and the in¬
terests of them, shall have the benefit of a special
relation to God. Note, The families of good peo¬
ple, in their family-capacity, may apply themselves
to God, and stay themselves upon him as their God.
If we and our houses serve the Lord, we and our
houses shall be protected and blessed by him, Prov.
iii. 33.
2. That he will do for them, in bringing them
out of Babylon, as he had done for their fathers
when he delivered them out of Egypt, and as he
had purposed to do when he first took them to be
his people. (1.) He puts them in mind of what he
did for their fathers when he brought them out of
Egypt; (xj. 2.) they were then, as these were, a
people left of the sword, that sword of Pharaoh,
with which he cut off all the male children as soon
as they were bom, (a bloody sword indeed they had
narrowly escaped,) and that sword with which he
threatened to cut them off when he pursued them to
the Red Sea. They were then in the wilderness, where
they seemed to be lost and forgotten, as they were
now in a strange land, and yet they found grace in
God’s sight, were owned and highly honoured by
him, and blessed with wonderful instances of his
peculiar favour, and he was at this time going to
cause them to rest in Canaan. Note, When we are
brought very low, and insuperable difficulties ap¬
pear in the way of our deliverance, it is good to
remember that it has been so with the church for¬
merly, and yet that it has been raised up from its
low estate, and has got to Canaan through all the
hardships of a wilderness; and God is still the same.
(2.) 'They put him in mind of what God had done
for their fathers, intimating that they now saw not
such signs, and were ready to ask, as Gideon did,
Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us
of? x>. 3. It is true, The Lord hath appeared of
old unto me, in Egypt, in the wilderness, hath ap¬
peared with me, and for me, hath been seen in his
glory as my God; the years of ancient times were
glorious years; but now it is otherwise; what good
will it do us, that he appeared of old to us, when
now he is a God that hides himself from us? Isa.
xlv. 15. Note, It is hard to take comfort from for¬
mer smiles, under present frowns. (3.) To this he
answers, with an assurance of the constancy of his
love. Yea, I have loved thee, not only with an an¬
cient love, but with an everlasting love, a love that
shall never fail, however the comforts of it may for
a time be suspended. It is an everlasting love,
therefore have I extended or drawn out loving-
kindness unto thee also, as well as to thine ances¬
tors; or, with loving-kindness have I drawn thee to
myself as thy God, from all the idols to which
thou hadst turned aside. Note, It is the happiness
of those who are through grace interested in the
love of God, that it is an everlasting love, ( from
everlasting in the counsels of it, to everlasting in
the continuance and consequences of it,) and that
nothing can separate them from that love. Those
whom God loves with this love, he will draw into
covenant and communion with himself, by the in¬
fluences of his Spirit upon their souls; he will draw
them with loving-kindness, with the cords of a man.
| and bands of love, than which no attractive can b>‘
more powerful.
3. That he will again form them into a people,
and give them a very joyful settlement in their own
land, i>. 4, 5. Is the church cf Gcd his house, his
temple? Is it now in ruins? It is so; but, Again I
will build thee, and thou shalt be built. Ax-e the
parts of this building dispersed? They shall be col¬
lected, and put together again, each in its place.
If God undertake to build them, they shall be built,
whatever opposition may be given to it. Is Israel
a beautiful virgin? Is she now stripped of her or¬
naments, and reduced to a melancholy state? She
i is so; but thou shalt again be adorned, and made
fine, adorned with thy tabrets, or timbrels, the or¬
naments of thy chamber, and made merry. They
shall resume their harps which had been hung upon
the willow trees, shall tune them, and shall them¬
selves be in tune to make use of them ; they shall
be adorned with their tabrets, for now their mirth
and music shall be seasonable, it shall be a proper
time for it, God in his providence shall call them to
it, and then it shall be an ornament to them; where¬
as tabrets, at a time of common calamity, when
Gcd called to mourning, were a shame to them.
Or, it may refer to their use of tabrets in the so¬
lemnizing of their religious feasts, and their going
forth in dances then, as the daughters of Shiloh,
Judg. xxi. 19, 21. Our mirth is then indeed an or¬
nament to us, when we serve God and honour him
with it. Is the joy of the city maintained by the
products of the country? It is so; and therefore it
is promised, (x\ 5.) Thou shalt yet plant vines
upon the mountains of Samaria, which had been
the head city of the kingdom of Israel, in opposi¬
tion to that of Judah: but they shall now be united,
(Ezek. xxxvii. 22.) and there shall be such perfect
peace and security, that men riiall apply themselves
wholly to the improvement of their ground; the
planters shall plant , not fearing the soldiers’ coming
| to eat the fruits of what they had planted, or to
pluck it up; but they themselves shall eat them
freely, as common things, not forbidden fruits, not
forbidden bv the law of God, (as they were till the
fifth year, Lev. xix. 23. — 25.) net forbidden by the
owners, because there shall be such plenty as to
yield enough for all, for each.
4. That they shall have liberty and opportunity
to worship God in the ordinances of his own ap¬
pointment, and shall have both invitations and incli¬
nations to do so; (x>. 6.) There shall be a day, and a
glorious day it will be, when the watchmen upon
mount Ephraim, that are set to stand sentinel
there, to give notice of the approach of the enemy,
finding that all is very quiet, and that there is no
appearance of danger, shall desire for a time to be
discharged from their post, that they may go up to
Zion , to praise God for the public peace. Or, the
watchmen that tend the vineyards, spoken of, v. 5.
shall stir up themselves, and one another, and all
their neighbours, to go, and keep the solemn feast
at Jerusalem. Now this implies that the service of
God shall be again set up in Zion, that there shall
be a general resort to it, with much affection and
mutual excitement, as in David’s time, Ps. exxii. 1.
But that which is most observable here, is, that the
watchmen of Ephraim are forward to promote the
worship of God at Jerusalem, whereas formerly
the watchman of Ephraim was hatred against the
house of his God, (Hos. ix. 8.) and, instead of in¬
viting people to Zion, laid snares for those that set
their faces thitherward, Hos. v. 1. Note, God can
make those who have been enemies to religion and
the true worship of God, to become encouragers of
them, and leaders in them. This promise was to
have its full accomplishment in the days of the
JEREMIAH, XXXI.
Messiah, when the gospel should be preached to
all these countries, and a general invitation .here¬
by given into the church of Christ, of which Zion
was a type.
5. That God shall have the glory, and the church
both the honour and comfort, of this blessed change;
7 Sing with gladness for Jacob, let all her
friends ami well-wishers rejoice with her, Deut.
xxxii. 43. Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his / teofile ,
Rom. xv. 10. The restoration of Jacob will be taken
notice of by all the neighbours, it will be matter
of joy to them all, and they shall all join with Ja¬
cob in his joys, and thereby pay him respect, and
put a reputation upon him. Even the chief of the
nations, that make the greatest figure, shall think
it an honour to them to congratulate the restoration
of Jacob, and shall do themselves the honour to send
their ambassadors on that errand. Publish ye, praise
ye; in publishing these tidings, praise the God of
Israel, praise the Israel of God, speak honourably
of both. The publishers of the gospel must do it
with /iraise, and therefore it is often spoken of in
the Psalms, as mingled with praises, Ps. lxvii. 2,
3. _ xcvi. 2, 3. What we either bring to others, or
take to ourselves the comfort of, we must be sure
to give God the praise of. Praise ye, and say, 0
Lord, save thy people; perfect their salvation, go
on to save the remnant of Israel, that are yet in
bondage; as Ps. cxxvi. 3, 4. Note, When we are
praising God for what he has done, we must call
upon him for the future favours which his church
is in need and expectation of; and in praying to
him we really praise him, and give him glory; he
takes it so.
6. That, in order to a happy settlement in their
own land, they shall have a joyful return out of the
land of their captivity, and a very comfortable pas¬
sage homeward, (x'.' 8, 9.) and this beginning of
mercy shall be to them a pledge of all the other
blessings here promised. (1.) Though they are
scattered to places far remote, yet they shall be
brought together from the north country, and from
the coasts of the earth; wherever they are, God will
find them out. (2.) Though many of them are very
unfit for travel, yet that shall be no hinderance to
them; the blind and the lame shall come; such a
good-will shall they have to their journey, and such
a good heart upon it, that they shall not make their
blindness and lameness an excuse for staying where
they are. Their companions will be ready to help
them, will be eyes to the blind, and legs to the lame,
as good Christians ought to be to one another in their
travels heavenward. Job xxix. 15. But, above all,
their God will help them; and let none plead that
he is blind, who has God for his Guide; or lame,
who has God for his Strength. The women with
child are heavy, and it is not fit that they should
undertake such' a journey, much less those that tra¬
vail with child; and yet, when it is to return to Zion,
neither the one nor the other shall make any diffi¬
culty of it. Note, When God calls, we must not
plead any inability to come; for he that calls us will
help us, will strengthen us. (3. ) Though they seem
to be diminished, and to become few in numbers,
yet, when they come all together, they shall be a
great company ; and so will God’s spiritual Israel
be, when there shall be a general rendezvous of
them, though now they are but a little flock. (4.)
Though their return will be matter of joy to them,
yet prayers and tears will be both their stores and
their artillery; (x>. 9.) They shall come with weep¬
ing, and with supplications; weeping for sin, sup¬
plication for pardon; for the goodness of God shall
lead them to repentance; and they shall weep with
more bitterness and more tenderness for sin, when
they are delivered out of their captivity, than ever
they did when they were groaning under it. Weep¬
ing and praying do well together; tears put life into
prayers, and express the liveliness of them, and
prayers help to wipe away tears. With favours
will I lead them; (so the margin reads it;) in their
journey they shall be compassed with God’s favours,
the fruits of his favour. (5.) Though they have a
perilous journey, yet they shall be safe under a divine
convoy. Is the country they pass through dry and
thirsty? I will cause them to walk by the rivers of
waters, not the waters of a land-flood, which fail in
summer. Is it a wilderness where there is no road,
no track? I will cause them to walk in a straight
way, which they shall not miss. Is it a rough and
rocky country? Yet they shall not stumble. Note,
Whithersoever God gives his people a clear call, he
will either find them, or make them, a ready way;
and while we are following Providence, we may be
sure that Providence will not be wanting to us. And,
lastly, here is a reason given why God will take all
this care of his people; for lam a Father to Israel,
a father that begat ’him, and therefore will maintain
him, that have the care and compassion cf a father
for him ; (Ps. ciii. 13. ) and Fphraim is my first-born,
even Ephraim, who, having gone astray from God,
was no more worthy to be called a son, shall yet be
owned as a first-born, particularly dear, and heir of
a double portion of blessings. The same reason that
was given for their release out of Egypt, is given for
their release out of Babylon; they are free-born, and
therefore must not be enslaved; are born to God,
and therefore must not be the servants of men;
(Exod. iv. 22, 23.) Israel is my son, my first-born;
let my son go, that he may serve me. If we take
God for our Father, and join ourselves to the church
of the first-born, we may be assured that we shall
want nothing that is good for us.
1 0. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye na¬
tions, and declare it in the isles afar off, and
say, He that scaltereth Israel will gather
him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his
flock. 11. For the Lord hath redeemed
Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of
him that ivas stronger than he. 1 2. There¬
fore they shall come and sing in the height
of Zion, and shall flow together to the good¬
ness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine,
and for oil, and for the young of the flock,
and of the herd : and their souls shall be as
a watered garden ; and they shall not sor¬
row anymore at all. 13. Then shall the
virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men
and old together: for I will turn their mourn¬
ing into joy, and will comfort them, and
make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14.
And I will satiate the soul of the priests
with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied
with my goodness, saith the Lord. 15.
Thus saith the Lord, A voice was heard
in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping;
Rachel weeping for her children, refused to
be comforted for her children, because they
were not. 1 6. Thus saith the Lord, Re¬
frain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes
from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded,
saith the Lord ; and they shall come again
from the land of the enemy. 1 7. And there
is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that
473
JEREMIAH, XXXI.
thy children shall come again to their own
border.
This paragraph is much to the same purport with
the last, publishing to the world, as well as to the
church, the purposes of God’s love concerning his
people. This is a word of the Lord, which the
nations must hear, for it is a prophecy of a work of
the Lord, which the nations cannot but take notice
of. Let them hear the prophecy, that they may the
better understand and improve the performance;
and let them that hear it themselves, declare it to
others, declare it in the isles afar off. It will be a
Jiiece of news that will spread all the world over,
t will look very great in history; let us see how it
looks in prophecy. It is foretold,
1. That those who are dispersed, shall be brought
together again from their dispersions; He that scat¬
tered Israel will gather him; for he knows whither j
lit scattered them, and therefore where to find them ,
v. 10. Una eademque manus vulnus o/iemque tulit
— The hand that inflicted the wound shall heal it.
And when he has gathered him into one body, one
fold, he will keep him, as a shepherd does his flock,
from being scattered again.
2. That those who are sold and alienated, shall
be redeemed and brought back, v. 11. Though the
enemy that had got possession of him, was stronger
than he, yet the Lord, who is stronger than all, has
redeemed and ransomed him, not by price, but by
power, as of old out of the Egyptians’ hands.
3. That with their liberty they shall have plenty
and joy, and God shall be honoured and served with
it, v. i2, 13. When they are returned to their own
land, they shall come, and sing in the high filace of
Zion; on the top of that holy mountain they shall
sing to the praise and glory of God. We read that
they did so when the foundation of the temple was
laid there; they sang together, praising, and giving
thanks to the Lord, Ezra iii. 11. They shall flow
together to the goodness of the Lord; they shall nock
in great numbers and with great forwardness and
cheerfulness, as streams of water, to the goodness of
the Lord, to the temple where he causes his good¬
ness to pass before his people. They shall come
together in solemn assemblies, to praise him for his
goodness, and to pray for the fruits of it, and the
continuance of it; they shall come to bless him for
his goodness, in giving them wheat, and wine, and
oil, and the young of the flock and of the herd,
which, now that they have obtained their freedom,
they have an uncontested property in, and the quiet
and peaceable enjoyment of; and which therefore
they honour God with the first-fruits of, and out of
which they bring offerings to his altar. Note, It is
comfortable to observe the goodness of the Lord in
the gifts of common providence, and even in them
to taste covenant-love. Having plenty, (plenty out
of want and scarcity,) they shall greatly rejoice,
their soul shall be as a watered garden, flourishing
and fruitful, (Isa. lviii. 11.) pleasant and fragrant,
and abounding in all good things. Note, Our souls
are never valuable as gardens but when they are
watered with the dews of God’s Spirit and grace.
It is a precious promise which follows, and which
will not have its full accomplishment any where on
this side the height of the heavenly Zion, that they
shall not sorrow any more at all; for it is only in that
new Jerusalem that all tears shall be wiped away,
Rev. xxi. 4. However, so far it was fulfilled to the
returned captives, that they had not any more those
causes for sorrow, that they had had; and therefore
(in 13.) young men and old shall rejoice together;
so grave shall the young men be in their joys, as to
keep company with the old men, and so transported
shall the old men be, as to associate with the young.
Salva res est, saltat senex — The state prospers, and
Vol. IV. — 3 O
the aged dance. God will turn their mourning into
joy, their fasts into solemn feasts, Zech. viii. ly. it
was in the return out of Babylon that they who
sowed in tears, were made to reap in joy, Ps. cxxvi.
5, 6. Those are comforted indeed, whom God
comforts, and may forget their troubles, when he
makes them to rejoice front their sorrow; not only
rejoice after it, but rejoice from it; their joy shall
borrow lustre from their sorrow, which shall serve
as a foil to it; and the more they think of their trou¬
bles, the more shall they rejoice in their deliverance.
4. That both the ministers, and those they minis¬
ter to, shall have abundant satisfaction in what God
gives them; (re 14.) I will satiate the soul of the
priests with fatness; there shall be such plenty of
sacrifices brought to the altar, that they who live
upon the altar, shall live very comfortably, they
and their families shall be satiated with fatness, they
shall have enough, and that of the best; and my peo¬
ple shall be satisfied with my goodness, and shall
think there is enough in that to make them happy;
and so there is. God’s people have an abundant
satisfaction in God’s goodness, though they have but
little of this world. Let them be satisfied of God’s
loving-kindness, and they will be satisfied with it,
and desire no more to make them happy. All this
is applicable to the spiritual blessings which the re¬
deemed of the Lord enjoy by Jesus Christ, infinitely
more valuable than corn, and wine, and oil, and the
satisfaction of soul which they have in the enjoyment
of them.
5. That those, particularly, who had been in sor¬
row for the loss of their children who were carried
into captivity, should have that sorrow turned into
joy upon their return, v. 15. — 17. Here we have,
(1.) The sad lamentation which the mothers made
for the loss of their children; ( v . 15.) In Hamah
was there a voice heard, at the time when the gene¬
ral captivity was, nothing but lamentation, and bitter
weeping, more there than in other places, because
there Nebuzaradan had the general rendezvous of
his captives, as appears, ch. xl. 1. where we find
him sending Jeremiah back from Ramah. Rachel
is here said to weep for her children. The sepulchre
of Rachel was between Ramah and Bethlehem.
Benjamin, one of the two tribes, and Ephraim, head
of the ten tribes, were both descendants from Rachel.
She had but two sons, the elder of which was one for
whom his father grieved, and refused to be comforted,
(Gen. xxxvii. 35. ) the other she herself called Renom
— the son of my sorrow. Now the inhabitants of
Ramah did in like manner grieve for their sons and
their daughters that were carried away, (as 1 Sam.
xxx. 6.) and such a voice of lamentation was there,
as, to speak poetically, might even have raised
Rachel out of her grave to mourn with them. The
tender parents even refused to be comforted for their
children, because they were not, were not with them,
but were in the hands of their enemies; they were
never likely to see them more. This is applied by
the evangelists to the great mourning that was at
Bethlehem for the murder of the infants there by
Herod; (Matth. ii. 17, 18.) and this scripture is said
to be then fulfilled. They wept for them, and would
not be comforted, supposing the case would not admit
any ground of comfort, because they were not. Note,
Sorrow for the loss of children cannot but be great
sorrow, especially if we so far mistake as to think
they are not.
(2.) Seasonable comfort administered to them in
reference hereunto, v. 16, 17. They are advised to
moderate that sorrow, and to set bounds to it; Re¬
frain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from
tears. We are not forbidden to mourn in such a
case, allowances are made for natural affection; but
we must not suffer our sorrow to run into an extreme,
to hinder our joy in God, or take us off from cur
474
JEREMIAH, XXXI.
duty to him; though we mourn, we must not mur¬
mur, nor must we resolve, as Jacob did, to go to the
grave mourning. In order to repress inordinate
grief, we must consider that there is hope in our end,
hope that there will be an end, the trouble will not
last always, that it will be a happy end, the end will
be peace. Note, It ought to support us under our
troubles, that we have reason to hope they will end
well. The righteous has hope in his death; that will
be the blessed period of his griefs, and the blessed
passage to his joys. “ There is hope for thy pos¬
terity;” (so some read it;) “ though thou mayest not
live to see these glorious days thyself, there is hope
that thy posterity shall. Though one generation
falls in the wilderness, the next shall enter Canaan.
Two things thou mayest comfoit thyself with the
hope of,” [1.] “The reward of thy work; Thy suf-
fering-TOorX- shall be rewarded. The comforts of
the deliverance shall be sufficient to balance all the
grievances of thy captivity. ” God makes his people
glad according to the days wherein he has afflicted
them , and so there is a proportion between the joys
and the sorrows, as between the reward and the
work. The glory to be revealed, which the saints
hope for in their end, will abundantly countervail the
sufferings of this present time, Rom. viii. 18. [2.]
“The restoration of thy children;” 'They shall come
again from the land of the enemy, (t>. 16. ) they shall
come again to their own border, v. 17. There is hope
that children at a distance may be brought home;
Jacob had a comfortable meeting with Joseph, after
he had despaired of ever seeing him. There is hope
concerning children removed by death, that they
shall return to their own border, to the happy lot
assigned them in the resurrection, a lot in the hea¬
venly Canaan, that border of his sanctuary. We shall
see reason to repress our grief for the death of our
children that are taken into covenant with God, when
we consider the hopes we have of their resurrection
to eternal life. They are not lost, but gone before.
1 8. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoan¬
ing himself thus; Thou hast chastised me,
and I was chastised, as a bullock unac¬
customed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I
shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my
God. 19. Surely after that I was turned, 1
repented; and after that I was instructed, I
smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea,
even confounded, because I did bear the re¬
proach of my youth. 20. Is Ephraim my
dear son ? is he a pleasant child ? F or since
I spake against him, I do earnestly remem¬
ber him still ; therefore my bowels are trou¬
bled for him: I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord. 21. Set thee up way-
marks, make thee high heaps: set thy heart
toward the highway, even the way which
thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel,
turn again to these thy cities. 22. How
long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding
daughter ? for the Lord hath created a new
thing in the earth, A woman shall compass
a man. 23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, As yet they shall use this
speech in the land of Judah, and in the cities
thereof, when I shall bring again their cap¬
tivity; The Lord bless thee, O habitation
of justice, and mountain of holiness. 24.
And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and
in all the cities thereof together, husband¬
men, and they that go forth with flocks. 25,
For I have satiated the weary soul, and I
have replenished every sorrowful soul. 26.
Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and mj
sleep was sweet unto me.
We have here,
1. Ephraim’s repentance, and return to God
Not only Judah, but Ephraim, the ten tribes, shall
be restored, and therefore shall thus be prepared
and qualified for it, Hos. xiv. 8. Ephraim shall say,
What have I to do any more with idols? Ephraim,
the people, is here spoken of as a single person, co
denote their unanimity; they shall be as one man in
their repentance, and shall glorify God in it with
one mind and one mouth, one and all. It is likevise
thus expressed, that it might be the better accom¬
modated to particular penitents, for whose direc¬
tion and encouragement this passage is interded.
Ephraim is here brought in, weeping for sin, per¬
haps because Ephraim, the person from whom that
tribe had its denomination, was a man of a lendei
spirit, mourned for his children many days; (1
Chron. vii. 21, 22.) and sorrow for sin is compared
to that for an only son. This penitent i, here
broughtin, (1.) Bemoaning himself, and the miseries
of his present case. T rue penitents do thus bemoan
themselves. (2.) Accusing himself, laying a load
upon himself as a sinner, a great sinner. He cnarges
upon himself, in the first place, that sin which his
conscience told him that he was more especially
guilty of at this time; and that was, impatience un
der correction; “ Thou hast chastised me; I have
been under the rod, and I needed it; I deserved it;
I was justly chastised, chastised as a bullock, who
had never felt the goad if he had not first rebelled
against the yoke.” True penitents look upon their
afflictions as fatherly chastisements; “ Thou hast
chastised me, and I was chastised ; it was well that I
was chastised, otherwise I had been undone; it did
me good, or at least was intended to do me good;
and yet I have been impatient under it.” Or, it
may- speak his want of feeling under the affliction;
“ Thou hast chastised me, and / was chastised, that
was all, I was not awakened by it, and quickened
by it; 1 looked no further than the chastisement. 1
have been under the chastisement as a bullock un¬
accustomed to the yoke, unruly and unmanageable,
kicking against the pricks, like a wild bull in a net,”
Isa. li. 20. This is the sin he finds himself gui*lty
of now; but (r. 19. ) he reflects upon his former sins,
and looks as far back as the days of his youth. The
discovery of one sin should put us upon searching
out more; now he remembers the reproach of his
youth. Ephraim, as a people, reflects upon the mis¬
conduct of their ancestors, when they were first
formed into a people. It is applicable to particular
persons. Note, The sin of our youth was the re¬
proach of our youth, and we ought often to remem¬
ber it against ourselves, and to bear it in a peniten¬
tial sorrow and shame. (3.) He is here brought in,
angrv at himself, having a holy indignation at him¬
self for his sin and folly; he smote upon his thigh, as
the publican upon his breast; he was even amazed
at himself, and at his own stupidity and froward-
ness; he was ashamed, yea, even corifounded, could
not with any confidence look up to God, nor with
any comfort reflect upon himself. (4.) He is here
recommending himself to the mercy and grace of
God. He finds he is bent to backslide from God,
and cannot by any power of his own keep himself
close with God, much less, when he is revolted,
bring himself back to God, and therefore he prays,
475
JEREMIAH, XXXI.
1'um thou me, and I shall be turned; which im¬
plies that unless God do turn him by his grace, he
shall never be turned, but wander endlessly; that
therefore he is very desirous of converting grace,
has a dependence upon it, and doubts not but that
that grace will be sufficient for him, to help him over
all the difficulties that were in the way ot his return
to God. See ch. xvii. 14. Heal me, and I shall be
healed. God works with power, can make the un¬
willing willing; if he undertake the conversion of a
soul, it will be converted. (5.) He is here pleasing
himself with the experience he had of the blessed
effect of divine grace; Surely after that I was turn¬
ed, I refiented. Note, All the pious workings of
our hearts toward God, are the fruit and conse¬
quence of the powerful working of his grace in us.
And observe, He was turned, he was instructed, his
will was bowed to the will of God, by the right in¬
forming of his judgment concerning the truths of
God. Note, The way God takes of converting souls
to himself, is, by opening the eyes of their under¬
standings, and all good follows thereupon; After
that I was instructed, I yielded, I smote ufion my
thigh. When sinners come to a right knowledge,
they will come to a right way. Ephraim was chas¬
tised, and that did not produce the desired effect,
it went no further; I was chastised, and that was
all. But when the instructions of God’s Spirit ac¬
companied the corrections of his providence, then
the work was done, then he smote upon his thigh,
was so humbled for sin as to have no more to do
with it.
2. God’s compassion on Ephraim, and the kind
reception he finds with God, v. 20. (1.) He owns
him for a child, though he has been an undutiful
child and a prodigal; Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he
a /ileasant child ? Thus when Ephraim bemoans
himself, God bemoans him, as one whom his mother
comforts, though she had chidden him, Isa. lxvi.
13. Is this Ephraim my dear son? Is this that
pleasant child ? Is it he that is thus sad in spirit,
and that complains so bitterly? So it is like that of
Saul, (1 Sam. xxvi. 17.) Is this thy voice, my son
David? Or, as it is sometimes supplied, Is not
Ephraim my dear son? Is he not a pleasant child?
Yes, now he is, now he repents and returns. Note,
Those that have been undutiful, backsliding chil¬
dren, if they sincerely return and repent, however
they have been under the chastisement of the rod,
shall be accepted ot God as dear and pleasant chil¬
dren. Ephraim had afflicted himself, but God thus
heals him: and abased himself, but God thus ho¬
nours him; as the returning prodigal, who thought
himself no more worthy to be called a son, yet, by
his father, had the best robe put upon him, and a
ring on his hand. (2.) He relents toward him, and
speaks of him with a great deal of tender compas¬
sion; Since I spake against him, by the threatemngs
of the word and the rebukes of providence, I do
earnestly remember him still, mv thoughts toward
him are thoughts of peace. Note, When God afflicts
his people, yet he does not forget them; when he
casts them out of their land, yet he does not cast
them out of sight, nor out of mind. Even then
when God is speaking against us, yet he is acting
for us, and designing our good in all; and this is our
comfort in our affliction, that the Lord thinks upon
us, though we have forgotten him. I remember
him still, and therefore my bowels are troubled for
him, as Joseph’s yearned toward his brethren, even
then when he spake roughly to them. When Israel’s
afflictions extorted a penitent confession and submis¬
sion, it is said, that his soul was grieved for the
misery of Israel; (Judg. x. 16.) for he always af¬
flicts with the greatest tenderness. It was God’s
compassion that mitigated Ephraim’s punishment;
My heart is turned within me; (Hos. xi. 8, 9.) and
now the same compassion accepted Ephraim’s re¬
pentance. Ephraim had pleaded, (x>. 18.) Thou
art the Lord my God, therefore to thee will I re¬
turn, therefore on thy mercy and grace I will de¬
pend; and God shows it was a valid plea, and pre-
vailing, for he makes it appear both that he is God,
and not man, and that he is his God. (3.) He re¬
solves to do him good; I will surely have mercy
upon him, saith the Lord. Note, God has mercy
in store, rich mercy, sure mercy, suitable mercy,
for all that in sincerity seek him, and submit to him;
and the more we are afflicted for sin, the better pre¬
pared we are for the comforts of that mercy.
3. Gracious excitements and encouragements
given to the people of God in Babylon, to prepare
for their return to their own land. ’ Let them not
tremble, and lose their spirits; let them not trifle,
and lose their time; but with a firm resolution and a
close application address themselves to their jour¬
ney, v. 21, 22. (1.) They must think of nothing
but of coming back to their own country, out of
which they had been driven; “ Turn again, O vir¬
gin of Israel, a virgin to be again espoused to thy
God, turn again to these thy cities; though they are
laid waste and in ruins, they are thy cities, which
thy God gave thee, and therefore turn again to
them. ” They must be content in Babylon no longer
than till they had liberty to return to Zion. (2. )
They must return the same way that they went,
that the remembrance of the sorrows which attend¬
ed them, or which their fathers had told them of,
in such and such places upon the road, the sight of
which would, by a local memory, put them in mind
of them, might make them the more thankful for
their deliverance. Those that have departed from
God into the bondage of sin, must return by the
way in which they went astray, to the duties they
neglected, must do their first works. (3.) They
must engage themselves and all that is within them
in this affair; Set thy heart toward the highway;
bring thy mind to it; consider thy duty, thine inter¬
est, and go about it with a good will. Note, The
way from Babylon to Zion, from the bondage of sin
to the glorious liberty of God’s children, is a high¬
way; it is right, it is plain, it is safe, it is well tracked;
(Isa. xxxv. 8.) yet none are likely to walk in it, un¬
less they set their hearts towards it. (4.) They
must furnish themselves with all needful accommo¬
dations for their journey; Set thee up way-marks,
and make thee high heaps or pillars; send before to
have such set up in all places where there is any
danger of missing the road. Let those that go first,
and are best acquainted with the way, set up such
directions for those that follow. (5.) They must
compose themselves for their journev. How long
wilt thou go about, 0 backsliding daughter? Let
not their minds fluctuate, or be uncertain about it,
but resolve upon it; let them not distract themselves
with care and fear; let them not seek about to crea¬
tures for assistance, nor hurry hither and thither in
courting them, which had often been an instance of
their backsliding from God; but let them cast them¬
selves upon God, and then let their minds be fixed.
(6.) They are encouraged to do this by an assurance
God gives them, that he would create a new thing,
strange and surprising in the earth, in that land a
woman shall compass a man. The church of God,
that is weak and feeble as a woman, altogether unapt
for military employments, and of a timorous spirit,
shall surround, besiege, and prev'ail against a
mighty man, Isa. liv. 6. The church is compared
to a woman. Rev. xii. 1. And whereas we find ar¬
mies compassing the camp of the saints, (Rev. xx.
9. ) now the camp of the saints shall compass them.
Many good inteipreters understand this new thing
created in that land to be the incarnation of Christ,
which God had an eye to in bringing them back to
476
JEREMIAH, XXXI.
that land, and which had sometimes been given
them for a sign, Isa. vii. 14. — ix. 6. A woman, the
Virgin Mary, enclosed in her womb the Mighty
One, for so Geber, the word here used, signifies;
and God is called Gibbor, the Mighty God, (c/i.
xxxii. 18.) and so is Christ there where his incarna¬
tion is spoken of, as it is supposed to be here, Isa. ix.
6. He is £1- Gibbor, the Mighty God. Let this
assure them that God would not cast off this people,
for that blessing was to be among them, Isa. lxv. 8.
4. A comfortable prospect given them of a happy
settlement in their own laqd again. ( 1. ) They shall
have an interest in the esteem and good-will of all
their neighbours, who will give them a good word,
and put up a good prayer for them ; (n. 23.) As yet,
or rather, yet again, (though Judah and Jerusalem
have long been an astonishment and an hissing,)
this speech shall be used, as it was formerly, con¬
cerning the land of Judah, and the cities thereof,
The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice, and
mountain of holiness. This intimates that they
shall return much reformed, and every way better;
and this reformation shall be so conspicuous, that
all about them shall take notice of it. The cities,
that used to be nests of pirates, shall be habitations
of justice; the mountain of Israel, (so the whole
land is called, Ps. lxxviii. 54.) and especially mount
Zion, shall be a mountain of holiness. Observe,
justice toward men, and holiness toward God, must
go together. Godliness and honesty* are what God
has joined, and let no man think to put them asun¬
der, or to make one to atone for the want of the
other. It is well with a people when they come out
of trouble thus refined, and it is a sure presage of
further happiness. And we may with great com¬
fort pray for the blessing of God upon those houses
that are habitations of justice, those cities and coun¬
tries that are mountains of holiness. There the
Lord will undoubtedly command the blessing. (2.)
There shall be great plenty of all good things among
them; (n. 24, 25.) There shall dwell in Judah itself,
even in it, though it has now long lain waste, both
husbandmen and shepherds, the two ancient and
honourable employments of Cain and Abel, Gen.
iv. 2. It is comfortable dwelling in a habitation of
justice, and a mountain of holiness. And the hus¬
bandmen and shepherds shall eat of the fruit of
their labours, for I have satiated the weary and sor¬
rowful souls; they that came weary from their
journey, and have been long sorrowful in their cap¬
tivity, shall now enjoy great plenty. This is appli¬
cable to the spiritual blessings God has in store for
all true penitents, for all that are just and holy;
they shall be abundantly satisfied with divine graces
and comforts. In the love and favour of God the
weary soul shall find rest, and the sorrowful soul joy.
Lastly, The prophet tells us what pleasure the
discovery of this brought to his mind, v. 26. The
foresight God had given him sometimes of the ca¬
lamities of Judah and Jerusalem, were exceedingly
painful to him, (as ch. iv. 19.) but these views were
pleasing ones, though at a distance. Upon this I
awaked, overcome with joy, which burst the fetters
of sleep; and I reflected upon my dream, and it was
such as had made my sleep sweet to me; I was re¬
freshed, as men are with quiet sleep. Those may
sleep sweetly, that lie down and rise up in the favour
of God, and in communion with him. Nor is any
prospect in this world more pleasing to good men,
and good ministers, than that of the flourishing state
of the church of God. .What can we see with more
satisfaction than the good of Jerusalem, all the dans
of our life, and peace upon Israel?
27. Behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel,
mid the house of Judah, with the seed of
man, and with the seed of beast. 28. And
it shall come to pass, that like as I have
watched over them, to pluck up, and to
break down, and to throw down, and to de
stray, and to afflict; so will 1 watch over
them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord
29. In those days they shall say no more,
The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and
the children’s teeth are set on edge. 30.
But every one shall die for his own iniquity;
every man that eateth the sour grape, his
teeth shall be set on edge. 31. Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel,
and with the house of Judah; 32. Not ac¬
cording to the covenant that I made with
their fathers, in the day that 1 took them by
the hand, to bring them out of the land of
Egypt; (which my •covenant they brake,
although I was a husband unto them ; saith
the Lord;) 33. But this shall be the cove¬
nant that I will make with the house of
Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I
will put my law in their inward parts, and
write it in their hearts; and will be their
God, and they shall be my people. 34.
And they shall teach no more every man
his neighbour, and every man his brother,
saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all
know me, from the least of them unto the
greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more.
The prophet, having found his sleep sweet, made
so by the revelations of divine grace, sets himself to
sleep again, in hopes of further discoveries, and is
not disappointed; for it is here further promised,
I. That the people of God shall become both
numerous and prosperous. Israel and Judah shall
be replenished both with men and cattle, as if they
were sown with the seed of both, v. 27. They shall
increase and multiply like a field sown with corn;
and this is the product of Gcd’s blessing, (u. 23.)
for whom God blessed, to them he said, Be fruitful.
This should be a type of the wonderful increase of
the gospel-church. God will build them, and plant
them, v. 28. He will watch over them, to do them
good; no opportunity' shall be lost, that may further
their prosperity. Every thing for a long time had
turned so much against them, and all occurrences
did so conspire to ruin them, that it seemed as if God
had watched over them, to pluck up, and to throw
down ; but now every thing that falls out, shall hap¬
pily fall in to strengthen and advance their interests.
God will be as ready to comfort those that repent of
their sins, and are humbled for them, as he is to
punish those that continue in love with their sins,
and arc hardened in them.
II. That they shall be reckoned with no further
for the sins of their fathers; (y. 29, 30.) They shall
say no more, they shall have no more occasion to
say, that God visits the iniquity, of the parents upon
the children, which God had done in the captivity;
for the sins of their ancestors came into the account
against them, particularly those of Manasseh: this
they had complained of as a hardship. Other
scriptures justify- God in this method of proceeding.
47;
JEREMIAH, XXXI.
ar.d our Saviour tells the wicked Jews in his days,
that they should smart for their fathers’ sins, because
they persisted in them, Matth. xxiii. 35, 36. But
it is here promised that this severe dispensation
with them should now be brought to an end ; that
God would proceed no further in his controversy
with them for their fathers’ sins, but remember for
them his covenant with their fathers, and do them
good according to that covenant; They shall no more
complain, as they have done, that the fathers have
eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on
edge; (which speaks something of an absurdity, and
is an invidious reflection upon God’s proceedings;)
but every one shall die for his own iniquity still;
though God will cease to punish them in their na¬
tional capacity, yet he will still reckon with parti¬
cular persons that provoke him. Note, Public sal¬
vations will give no impunity, ho security to pri¬
vate sinners: still every man that cats the sour
grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. Note, Those
that eat forbidden fruit, how temptingly soever it
looks, will find it a sour grape, and it will set their
teeth on edge, sooner or later they will feel from it,
and reflect upon it with bitterness. There is as di¬
rect a tendency in sin to make a man uneasy, as there
is in sour grapes to set the teeth on edge.
III. That God will renew his covenant with them,
so that all these blessings they shall have, not by
providence only, but by promise, and thereby they
shall be both sweetened and secured. But this cove¬
nant refers to gospel-times, the latter days that
shall come; for of gospel-grace the apostle under¬
stands it, ( Heb. viii. 8, 9, 8cc. ) where this whole pas¬
sage is quoted, as a summary of the covenant of grace
made with believers in Jesus Christ. Observe,
1. Who the persons are, with whom this cove¬
nant is made, with the house of Israel and Judah,
with the gospel-church, the Israel of God, on which
heace shall be, (Gal. vi. 16.) with the spiritual seed
of believing Abraham and praying Jacob. Judah
and Israel had been two separate kingdoms, but
were united, after their return, in the joint favours
God bestowed upon them: so Jews and Gentiles
were in the gospel-church and covenant.
2. What is the nature of this covenant in general;
it is a new covenant, and not according to the cove¬
nant made with them, when they came out of Egypt;
not as if that made with them at mount Sinai were a
covenant of nature and innocencv, such as was made
with Adam in the day he was created ; no; that was,
for substance, a covenant of grace, but it was a dark
dispensation of that covenant, in comparison with this
in gospel-times. Sinners were saved by that cove¬
nant, upon their repentance, and faith in a Messiah
to come, whose blood, confirming that covenant, was
typified by that of the legal sacrifices, Exod. xxiv.
", 8. Yet this may upon many accounts be called new,
in comparison with that; the ordinances and pro¬
mises are more spiritual and heavenly, and the dis¬
coveries much more clear. That covenant God
made with them when he took them by the hand, as
if they had been blind or lame, or weak, to lead
them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant they
brake. Observe, It was God that made this cove¬
nant, but it was the people that brake it; for our sal¬
vation is of God, but our sin and ruin are of our¬
selves. It was an aggravation of their breach of it,
that God was a Husband to them, that he had espous¬
ed them to himself, it was a marriage-covenant that
was between him and them, which they brake by
idolatry, that spiritual adultery. It is a great ag¬
gravation of our treacherous departures from God,
that he has been a Husband to us, a loving, tender,
careful Husband, faithful to us, and yet we false to
him.
.■>. What are the particular articles of this cove¬
nant; they all contain spiritual blessings; not, “I
will give them the land of Canaan and a numerous
issue,” but, “I will give them pardon, and peace ,
and grace, good heads and good hearts.” He
promises,
(1.) That he will incline them to their duty ; I will
put my law in their inward part, and write it in their
heart; not, I will give them a new law, (as Mr. Ga
taker well observes,) for Christ came not to destroy
the law, but to fulfil it; but the law shall be written
in their hearts by the finger of the Spirit, as former¬
ly it was written in the tables of stone. God writes
his law in the hearts of all believers, makes it ready
and familiar to them, at hand when they have oc¬
casion to use it, as that which is written in the heart,
Prov. iii. 3. He makes them in care to observe it,
for that which we are solicitous about, is said to lie
near our hearts. He works in them a disposition to
obedience, a conformity of thought and affection to
the rules of the divine law, as that of the copy to
the original. This is here promised, and ought to
be prayed for, that our duty may be done conscien¬
tiously and with delight.
(2.) That he will take them into relation to him¬
self; I will be their God, a God all-sufficient to them;
and they shall be my people, a loyal, obedient people
to me. God’s being to us a God is the summary
of all happiness, heaven itself is no more, Heb. xi.
16. Rev. xxi. 3. Our being to him a people may
be taken either as the condition on our part, (those
and those only shall have God to be to them a God,
that are truly willing to engage themselves to be to
him a people,) or as a further branch of the promise,
that God will by his grace make us his people, a
willing people, in the day of his power; and, who¬
ever are his people, it is his grace that makes
them so.
(3.) That there shall be an abundance of the
knowledge of God among all sorts of people, and
this will have an influence upon all good; for they
that rightly know God’s name, will seek him, and
serve him, and put their trust in him; (t>. 34.) All
shall know me; all shall be welcome to the know¬
ledge of God, and shall have the means of that
knowledge; his way shall be known upon earth;
whereas, for many ages, in Judah only was God
known. Many more shall know God than did in
the Old Testament times, which among the Gen¬
tiles were times of ignorance, the true God be¬
ing to them an unknown God. The things of God
shall in gospel-times be made more plain and intel¬
ligible, and level to the capacities of the meanest,
than they had been, while Moses had a veil upon his
face. There shall be such a general knowledge of
God, that there shall not be so much need as had
formerly been of teaching. Some take it as a hy¬
perbolical expression, (and the dulness of the Jews
needed such expressions tc awaken them,) design¬
ed only to show that the knowledge of God, in
gospel-times should vastly exceed that knowledge
of him, which they had under the law. Or, per¬
haps, it intimates that in gospel-times there shall
be such great plenty of public preaching, stat¬
edly and constantly, by men authorised and ap¬
pointed to preach the word in season and out of
season, much beyond what was under the law; that
there shall be less need than there was then of
fraternal teaching, by a neighbour and a brother.
The priests preached but now and then, and in the
temple, to a few in comparison; but now all shall or
may know God by frequenting the assemblies of
Christians, wherein, through all parts of the church,
the good knowledge of God shall be taught. Some
give this sense of it, (Mr. Gataker mentions it,) that
many shall have such clearness of understanding in
the things of God, that they may seem rather to
have been taught by some immediate irradiaticn
than by any means of instruction in short, the
JEREMIAH, XXXI.
■ira
things of God shall by the gospel of Christ be
brought to a clearer light than ever, (2 Tim. i.
10.) and the people of God shall by the grace of
Christ be brought to a clearer sight of those things
than ever, Eph i. 17, 18.
(4. ) That, in order to all these blessings, sin shall be
pardoned; this is made the reason of all the rest;
For I will forgive their iniquity, will not impute
that to them, nor deal with them according to the
desert of that, will forgive and forget; I will re¬
member their sin no more. It is sin that keeps good
things from us, that stops the current of God’s
favours; let sin be taken away by pardoning mercy,
and the obstruction is removed, and divine grace
runs down like a river, like a mighty stream.
35. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth
the sun for a light by day, and, the ordinan¬
ces of the moon and of the stars for a light
by night, which divideth the sea when the
waves thereof roar ; The Lord of hosts is
his name: 36. If those ordinances depart
from before me, saith the Lord, then the
seed of Israel also shall cease from being a
nation before me for ever. 37. Thus saith
the Lord, If heaven above can be mea¬
sured, and the foundations of the earth
searched out beneath, I will also cast off
all the seed of Israel, for all that they have
done, saith the Lord. 38. Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that the city
shall be built to the Lord, from the tower
of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.
39. And the measuring-line shall yet go forth
over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall
compass about to Goath. 40. And the
whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the
ashes, and all the fields, unto the brook of
Kidron, unto the corner of the horse-gate
towards the east, shall be holy unto the
Lord; it shall not be plucked up, nor
thrown down, any more for ever.
Glorious things have been spoken in the foregoing
verses concerning the gospel-church, which that
epocha of the Jewish church, that was to commence
at the return from captivity, would at length termin¬
ate in, and which all those promises were to have
their full accomplishments in. But may we depend
upon these promises? Yes, we have here a ratification
of them, and the utmost assurance imaginable given
of the perpetuity of the blessings contained in them.
The great thing here secured to us, is, that while the
world stands, God will have a church in it, which,
though sometimes it may be brought very low, shall
yet be raised again, and its interests re-established;
it is built ufton a rock, and the gates of hell shall
not firevail against it. Now here are two things
offered for the confirmation of our faith in this matter;
the building of the world, and the rebuilding of
Jerusalem.
I. The building of the world, and the firmness
and lastingness of that building, are evidences of
the power and faithfulness of that God who has un¬
dertaken the establishment of his church. He that
built all things at first is God, (Heb. iii. 4.) and the
s ime is he that makes all things now. The con¬
stancy of the glories of the kingdom of nature may
encourage us to depend upon the divine promise for
the continuance of the glories of the kingdom of
grace, for this is as the waters of Noah, Isa. liv. 9.
Let us observe here,
1. The glories of the kingdom of nature, and
infer thence how happy they are that have this
God, the God of nature, to be their God for ever
and ever. Take notice, (1.) Of the steady and re¬
gular motion of the heavenly bodies, which God is the
first Mover and supreme Director of ; He gives the
sun for a light by day; (v. 35.) not only made it at
first to be so, but still gives it to be so, for the light
and heat, and all the influences of the sun, conti¬
nually depend upon its great Creator. He gives the
ordinances of the moon and stars for a light by night;
their motions are called ordinances, both because
they are regular and by rule, and because they are
determined and under rule. See Job. xxxviii. 31. —
33. (2.) Take notice of the government of the sea,
and the check that is given to its proud billows; The
Lord of hosts divides the sea, or, as some read it, set¬
tles the sea, when the waves thereof roar; ( Divide, et
imfiera — Divide, and rule;) when it is most tossed,
God keeps it within compass, (Jer. v. 22.) and
soon quiets it and nwkes it calm again. The power
of God is to be magnified by us, not only in maintain¬
ing the regular motions of the heavens, but in con-
trollingthe irregular motions of the seas. (3.) Take
notice of the vastness of the heavens and the un¬
measurable extent of the firmament; he must needs
be a great God, who manages such a great world as
this is; the heavens above cannot he measured, (x>.
37. ) and yet God fills them. (4.) Take notice of
the mysteriousness even of that part of the creation
in which our lot is cast, apd which we are most con¬
versant with. The foundations of the earth cannot he
searched out beneath, for the Creator hangs the earth
upon nothing, (Job. xxvi. 7. ) and we know not how
the foundations thereof are fastened. Job. xxxviii. 6.
(5.) Take notice of the immovable steadfastness of
all these; {y. 36.) These ordinances cannot depart
from before God; he has all the hosts of heaven
and earth continually under his eye, and all the
motions of both; he has established them, and they
abide, abide according to his ordinance, for all are
his servants, Ps. cxix. 90,91. The heavens are
often clouded, and the sun and moon often eclipsed,
the earth may quake and the sea be tossed, but they
all keep their place, are moved, but not removed.
Herein we must acknowledge the power, goodness
and faithfulness of the Creator.
2. The securities of the kingdom of grace inferred
from hence; we may be confident of this very thing,
that the seed of Israel shall not cease from being a
nation, for the spiritual Israel, the gospel-church,
shall be a holy nation, a peculiar people, 1 Pet. ii. 9.
When Israel according to the flesh is no longer a
nation, the children of the promise are counted for
the seed, (Rom. ix. 8.) and God will not cast off all
the seed of Israel, no, not for all that they have clone,
though they have done very wickedly, v. 37. He just¬
ly might cast them off, but he will not. Though he
cast them out from their land, and cast them down
for a time, yet he will not cast them off. Some of
them he casts off, but not all ; to this the apostle seems
to refer, (Rom. xi. 1.) Hath God cast away his
people? God forbid that we should think so! For,
(v. 5.) at this time there is a remnant, enough to save
the credit of the promise, that God will not cast off
all the seed of Israel, though many among them
throw away themselves bv unbelief. Now we may
be assisted in the belief of this, by considering, (1.)
That the God that has undertaken the preservation
of the church, is a God of almighty power, win,
upholds all things by his almighty word. Our help
stands in his name, who made heaven and earth, and
therefore can do anything. (2.) That God would
not take all this care of the world, but that he designs
to have some glory to himself out of it; and how shall
JEREMIAH, XXXII. 47!)
he have it but by securing to himseif a church in it,
a people that shall he to him for a name and a
p raise? (3.) That if the order of the creation there¬
fore continues firm, because it was well fixed at first,
and is not altered because it needs no alteration, the
method of grace shall for the same reason continue
invariable, as it was at first well settled. (4.) That
he who has promised to preserve a church for him¬
self, has approved himself faithful to the word
which he has spoken, concerning the stability of the
world. He that is true to his covenant with Noah
and his sons, because he established it for an ever¬
lasting covenant, (Gen. ix. 9, 16.) will not, we may
be sure, be false to his covenant with Abraham and
his seed, his spiritual seed, for that also is an ever¬
lasting covenant. Even that which they have done
amiss, though they have done much, shall not pre¬
vail to defeat the gracious intentions of the cove¬
nant. See Ps. lxxxix. 30, See.
II. The rebuilding of Jerusalem which was now
in ruins, and the enlargement and establishment ot
that, shall be an earnest of these great things that
God will do for the gospel-church, the heavenly Je¬
rusalem, v. 38. — 40. The days -.fill come, though
they may be long in coming, 1. When Jerusalem
shall be entirely built again, as large as ever it was;
the dimensions are here exactly described, by the
places through which the circumference passed^
and, no doubt, the wall which Nehemiah built, anu
which, the more punctually to fulfil the prophecy,
began about the tower of tiananeel, here mention¬
ed, (Neh. iii. 1.) enclosed as much ground as is here
intended, though we cannot certainly determine the
places here called the gate of the corner, the hill
Gareb, See. 2. When, Deing built, it shall be con¬
secrated to God and to his service. It shall be built
to the Lord, (x>. 38.) and even the suburbs and fields
adjacent shall be holy unto the Lord. It shall not be
polluted with idols as formerly, but God shall be
praised and honoured there; the whole city shall be
as it were one temple, one holy place, as the new
Jerusalem is, which therefore has no temple, be¬
cause it is all temple. 3. Being thus built by virtue
of the promise of God, and then devoted to the
praise of God, it shall not be plucked up, or thrown
down, any more for ever, it shall continue very long;
the time of the new city from the return to its last
destruction being full as long as that of the old from
David to the captivity. But this promise was to
have its full accomplishment in the gospel-church,
which, as it is the spiritual Israel, and therefore God
will not cast it off, so it is the holy city, and there¬
fore all the powers of men shall not pluck it up, or
throw it down. It may lie waste for a time, as Je¬
rusalem did, but shall recover itself, shall weather
the storm, and gain its point, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.
CHAP. XXXII.
In this chapter, we have, I. Jeremiah imprisoned for fore¬
telling the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of
king Zedckiah, v. 1 . . 5. II. We have him buying land,
by divine appointment, as an assurance that in due time
a” happy end should be put to the present troubles, v.
6. . 15. III. We have his prayer, which he offered up
to God upon that occasion, v. 16. . 25. IV. We have a
message which God thereupon intrusted him to deliver
to the people. 1. He must foretell the utter destruction
of Judah and Jerusalem for their sins, v. 26. . 35. But,
2. At the same time he must assure them that, though
the destruction was total, it should not be final, but that
at length their posterity should recover the peaceable
possession of their own land, v. 36 . . 44. The predic¬
tions of this chapter, both threatenings and promises,
are much the same with what we have already met with
again and again, but here are some circumstances that
are very particular and remarkable.
J.rjNHE word that came to Jeremiah
_L from the Lord in the tenth year of
Zedekiah king of Judah, which teas the
i eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. 2.
For then the king of Babylon's army he
sieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the pro¬
phet was shut up in the court of the prison,
which teas in the king of Judah’s house. 3.
For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him
up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy,
and say, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, J
will give this city into the hand of the king
of Babylon, and he shall take it; 4. And
Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out
of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely
be delivered into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and shall speaft with him mouth to
mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;
5. And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon,
and there shall he be until I visit him, saith
the Lord : though ye fight with the Chal¬
deans, ye shall not prosper. 6. And Jere¬
miah said, The word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, 7. Behold, Hanameel, the
son of Shallum, thine uncle, shall come unto
thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in
Anathoth; for the right of redemption is
thine to buy it. 8. So Hanameel, mine
uncle’s son, came to me in the court of the
prison, according to the word of the Lord,
and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee,
that is in Anathoth, which is in the country
of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is
thine, and the redemption is thine ; buy it for
thyself. Then I knew that this was the
word of the Lord. 9. And I bought the
field of Hanameel, mine uncle’s son, that
was in Anathoth, and weighed him the mo¬
ney, even seventeen shekels of silver. 10.
And 1 subscribed the evidence, and sealed it,
and took witnesses, and weighed him the
money in the balances. 11. So I took the
evidence of the purchase, both that which
was sealed according to the law and cus¬
tom, and that which was open. 12. And I
gave the evidence of the purchase unto Ba¬
ruch the son ofNeriah,the son of Maaseiah,
in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle’s son,
and in the presence of the witnessesthat sub¬
scribed the book of the purchase, before all
the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.
13. And I charged Baruch before them, say¬
ing, 1 4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, Take these evidences, this
evidence of the purchase, (both which is
sealed,) and this evidence which is open,
and put them in an earthen vessel, that they
may continue many days: 15. For thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
Houses, and fields, and vineyards, shall he
possessed again in this land.
It appears by the date of this chapter, that we are
180 JEREMIAH, XXXII.
now coming very nigh to that fatal year which com¬
pleted the desolations of Judah and Jerusalem by
tire Chaldeans. God’s judgments came gradually
upon them, but they not meeting him by repentance
in the wav of his judgments, he proceeded in his
controversy till all was laid waste, which was in the
eleventh year of Zedekiah; now what is here re¬
corded happened in the tenth. The king of Baby¬
lon’s army had now invested Jerusalem, and was
carrying on the siege with vigour, not doubting but
in a "little time to make themselves masters of it,
while the besieged had taken up a desperate reso¬
lution not to surrender, but to hold it out to the last
extremity. Now,
I. Jeremiah prophesies that both the city and the
court shall fall into the hands of the king of Babylon.
He tells them expressly, that the besiegers shall
take the city as a prize, for God, whose city it was
in a peculiar manner, %ill give it into their hands,
and put it out of his protection; ( v . 3.) that though
Zedekiah attempt to make his escape, he shall be
overtaken, and shall be delivered a prisoner into the
hands of Nebuchadnezzar, shall be brought into his
presence, to his great confusion and terror, he hav¬
ing made himself so obnoxious by breaking his faith
with him ; he shall hear the king of Babylon pro¬
nounce his doom, and see with what fury and indig¬
nation he will look upon him; his eyes shall behold
his eyes, v. 4. That Zedekiah shall be carried to
Babylon, and continue a miserable captive there,
until God visit him, till God put an end to his life
by a natural death, as Nebuchadnezzar had long
before put an end to his days, by putting out his
eyes. Note, Those that live in misery may be
truly said to be visited in mercy, when God by
death takes them home to himself. And, lastly,
he foretells that all their attempts to force the be¬
siegers from their trenches should be ineffectual;
Though ye Jight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not
prosper; how should they, when God did not fight
for them? v. 5. See ch. xxxiv. 2, 3.
II. For prophesying thus, he is imprisoned, not
in the common gaol, but in the more creditable pri¬
son that was within the verge of the palace, in the
king of Judah’s house, and there not closely con¬
fined, but in custodia libera, in the court of the pri¬
son, where he might have good company, good air,
and good intelligence brought him, and would be
sheltered from the abuses of the mob; but, however,
it was a prison, and Zedekiah shut him up in it for
prophesying as he did, v. 2, 3. So far was he
from humbling himself before Jeremiah, as he ought
to have done, (2 Chron. xxxvi. 12. ) that he har¬
dened himself against him. Though he had for¬
merly so far owned him to be a prophet, as to de¬
sire him to inquire of the J-ord for them, {ch. xxi.
2.) yet now he chides him for prophesying, {v. 3.)
and shuts him up in prison, perhaps not with de¬
sign to punish him any further, but only to restrain
him from prophesying any further, which was crime
enough. Silencing God’s prophets, though it is not
so bad as mocking and killing them, is yet ^ great
affront to the God of heaven. See how wretchedly
the hearts of sinners are hardened by the deceitful¬
ness of -sin. Persecution was one of the sins for
which God was now contending with them, and yet
Zedekiah yfersists in it even now that he was in the
depth of distress. No providences, no afflictions,
will of themselves part between men and their sins,
unless the grace of God work with them. Nay,
some are made worse by those very judgments
that should make them better.
III. Being in prison, he purchases a piece of
ground from a near relation of his, that lay in Ana-
thoth. v. 6, 7, See. One would not have expected,
1. That a prophet should concern himself so far in
'he business of this world; but why not? Though
ministers must not entangle themselves, yet they
may concern themselves, in the affairs of "this life.
2. That one who had neither wife nor children
should buy land; we find, {ch. xvi. 2.) that he had
no family of his own, yet he may purchase for his
own use while he lives, and leave it to the children
of his relations when he dies. 3. One would little
have thought that a prisoner should be a purchaser;
how should he get money beforehand to buy land
with? It is probable that he lived frugally, and
saved something out of what belonged to him as a
priest, which is no blemish at all to his character;
but we have no reason to think that the people were
kind, or that his being beforehand was owing to
their generosity. Nay, 4. It was most strange of
all, that he should buy a piece of land, when he
himself knew that the whole land was now to be
laid waste, and fall into the hands of the Chaldeans;
and then what good would this do him? But it was
the will of God that he should buy it, and he sub¬
mitted, though the money seemed to be thrown
away. His kinsman came to offer it him; it was
not of his own seeking; he coveted not to lay house
to house and field to field, but Providence brought
it to him, and it was, probably, a good bargain; be¬
sides, the right of redemption belonged to him, (n.
8.) and if he refused, he did not do the kinsman’s
part. It is true, he might lawfully refuse; but, be¬
ing a prophet, in a thing of this nature, he must do
that which would be for the honour of his profession ;
it became him to fulfil all righteousness. It was a
land that lay within the suburbs of a priest’s city,
and if he should refuse it, there was danger lest, in
these times of disorder, it might be sold to one of
another tribe, which was contrary to the law, to
prevent which it was convenient for him to buy it.
It would likewise be a kindness to his kinsman,
who, probably, was at this time in great want of
money. Jeremiah had but a little, but what he had
he was willing to lay it out in such a manner as
might tend most to the honour of God and the good
of his friends and country, which he preferred be¬
fore his own private interests. Observe,
(1.) How fairly the bargain was made. When
Jeremiah knew by Hanameel’s coming to him, as
God had foretold he would, that it was the word
the I.ord, that it was his mind that he should make
this purchase, he made no more difficulty of it, but
bought the field. And, [1.] He was very honest
and exact in paying the money. He weighed him
the money, did not press him to take it upon his re¬
port, though he was his near kinsman, but weighed
it to him, current money. It was seventeen shekels
of silver, amounting to about forty shillings of our
money. It was, probably, but a little field, and of
small yearly value, when the purchase was so low:
besides, the right of inheritance was in Jeremiah, so
that he was only to buy out his kinsman’s life, the
reversion was his already. Some think this was
only the earnest of a greater sum; but we shall not
wonder at the smallness of the price, if we consider
what scarcity there was of money at this time, and
how little lands were counted upon. [2.] He was
very prudent and discreet in preservingthe writings.
They were subscibed before witnesses; one copy
was sealed up, the other was open. One was the
original, the other the counterpart; or perhaps that
which was sealed up was for his own private use,
the other that was open was to be laid up in the
public register of conveyances, for any person con¬
cerned to consult. Due care and caution, in things
of this nature, might prevent a great deal of injus¬
tice and contention, l'he deeds of purchase were
lodged in the hands of Baruch, before witnesses, and
he was ordered to lay them up in an earthen vessel,
(an emblem of the nature of all the securities this
world can pretend to give us, brittle things, ami
481
. EREMIAH, XXXII.
Boon broken,) that they might continue many days,
for the use of Jeremiah’s heirs, after the return out
of captivity; for they might then have the benefit
of this purchase. Purchasing reversions may be a
kindness to those that come after us, and a good
man thus lays up an inheritance for his children’s
children.
(2. ) What was the design of having this bargain
made? It was to signify that though Jerusalem was
now besieged, and the whole country was likely to
be laid waste, yet the time should come, when
houses and fields and vineyards should be again
possessed in this land, v. 15. As God appointed
Jeremiah to confirm his predictions of the approach¬
ing destruction of Jerusalem, by his own practice in
living unmarried, so he now appointed him to con¬
firm his predictions of the future restoration of Je¬
rusalem, by his own practice in purchasing this
field. Note, It concerns ministers to make it to ap¬
pear in their whole conversation, that they do them¬
selves believe that which they preach to others;
and that they may do so, and impress it the deeper
upon their hearers, they must many ti time deny
themselves, as Jeremiah did in both these instances.
God having promised that this land should again
come into the possession of his people, Jeremiah
will, in behalf ot his heirs, put in for a share. Note,
It is good to manage even our worldly affairs in
faith, and to do common business with an eye to
the providence and promise of God. Lucius Florus
relates it as a great instance of the bravery of the
Roman citizens, that in the time of the second Punic
war, when Hannibal besieged Rome, and was very
near making himself master of it, a field on which
part of his army lay, being offered to sale at that
time, was immediately purchased, in a firm belief
that the Roman valour would raise the siege, lib.
2. cap. 6. And have not we much more reason to
venture our all upon the word of God, and to em¬
bark in Zion’s interests, which will undoubtedly be
the prevailing interests at last? Non si male nuncet
olirn sic erit — Though now we suffer, we shall not
suffer always.
1C. Now when I had delivered the evi¬
dence of the purchase unto Baruch the son
of Neriah, I prayed unto the Lord, saying,
17. Ah, Lord God! behold, thou hast made
the heaven and the earth by thy great
power and stretched-out arm, and there is
nothing too hard for thee: 18. Thou shew-
est loving-kindness unto thousands, and re-
compensest the iniquity of the fathers into
the bosom of their children after them : The
Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts,
is his name. 19. Great in counsel, and
mighty in work: (for thine eyes are open
upon all the ways of the sons of men; to
give every one according to his ways, and
according to the fruit of his doings :) 20.
Which hast set signs and wonders in the
land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in
Israel, and among other men; and hast
made thee a name, as at this day; 21. And
hast brought forth thy people Israel out of
the land of Egypt, with signs, and with won¬
ders, and with a strong hand, and with a
stretched-out arm, and with great terror;
22. And hast given them this land, which
thou didst swear to their fathers to give them,
Vol. IV. - 3 P
a land flowing with milk and honey; 23.
And they came in, and possessed it; but
they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked
in thy law: they have done nothing of all
that thou commandedst them to do; there¬
fore thou hast caused all this evil to come
upon them. 24. Behold the mounts, they
are come unto the city to take it ; and the
city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans
that fight against it, because of the sword,
and of tiie famine, and of the pestilence:
and what thou hast spoken is come to pass;
and, behold, thou seest it. 25. And thou
hast said unto me, O Lord God, Buy thee
the field for money, and take witnesses;
for the city is given into the hand of the
Chaldeans.
We have here Jeremiah’s prayer to God, upon
occasion of the discoveries God had made to him
of his purposes concerning this nation, to pull it
down, and in process of time to build it up again,
which puzzled the prophet himself, who, though
1 he delivered his messages faithfully, yet, in reflect¬
ing upon them, was at a loss within himself how to
reconcile them; in that perplexity he poured out
his soul before God in prayer, and so gave himself
l ease. That which disturbed him was, not the bad
bargain he seemed to have made for himself in pur¬
chasing a field that he was likely to have no good
ot; but the case of his people, for whom he was still
a kind and faithful intercessor, and he was willing
to hope that if God had so much mercy in store for
them hereafter as he had promised, he would not
proceed with so much severity against them now as
he had threatened. Before Jeremiah went to prayer,
he delivered the deeds that concerned his new pur
chase to Baruch; which may intimate to us, that
when we are going to worship God, we should get
our minds as clear as may be from the cares and
encumbrances of this world. Jeremiah was in pri¬
son, in distress, in the dark about the meaning of
God’s providences, and then he prays. Note,
Prayer is a salve for every sore. Whatever is a
burthen to us, we may by prayer cast it upon the
Lord, and then be easy.
In this prayer, or meditation,
1. Jeremiah adores God and his infinite perfections,
and gives him the glory due to his name as the Cre¬
ator, Upholder, and Benefactor, of the» whole cre¬
ation ; thereby owning his irresistible power, that he
can do what he will, and his incontestable sovereign¬
ty, that he may do what he will, v. 17. — 19. Note,
When at any time we are perplexed about the par¬
ticular methods and dispensations of Providence, it
is good for us to have recourse to our first princi¬
ples, ami to satisfy ourselves with the general doc¬
trines of God’s wisdom, power, and goodness. Let
us consider, as Jeremiah does here, (1.) That God
is the Fountain of all being, power, life, motion, and
perfection; He made the heaven and the earth with
his outstretched arm; and therefore who can con¬
trol him? Who dares contend with him? (2.)
That with him nothing is impossible, no difficulty
insuperable; Nothing is too hard for thee. When
human skill and power is quite nonplussed, with
God are strength and wisdom sufficient to master
all the opposition. (3.) That he is a God of bound¬
less, bottomless mercy; that is his darling attribute;
it is his goodness that is his glory; “ Thou not only
art kind, but thou showest loving-kindness , not to
a few, to here and there one, but to thousands, thou¬
sands of persons, thousands of generations.” (4.)
482
JEREMIAH, XXXII.
That lie is a God of impartial and inflexible justice.
His reprieves are not pardons, but if in mercy he
spares the parents, that they may be led to repent¬
ance, yet such a hatred has he to sin, and such a
displeasure against sinners, that he recompenses
their iniquity into the bosom of their children, and
yet does them no wrong: so hateful is the unrighte¬
ousness of man, and so jealous of its own honour is
the righteousness of God. (5.) That he is a God
of universal dominion and command; He is the great
God, for he is the mighty God ; and might among
men makes them great. He is the Lord of hosts,
of all hosts, that is his name, and he answers to his
name, for all the hosts of heaven and earth, of men
and angels, are at his beck. (6.) That he contrives
every thing for the best, and effects every thing as
he contrived it; He is great in counsel; so vast are
the reaches, and so deep are the designs, of his wis¬
dom; and he is mighty in doing, according to the
counsel of his will. Now such a God as this is not
to be quarrelled with. His service is to be con¬
stantly adhered to, and all his disposals cheerfully
acquiesced in.
2. He acknowledges the universal cognizance God
takes of all the actions of the children of men, and
the unerring judgment he passes upon them; (x>.
19.) Thine eyes are open upon all the sons of men,
wherever they are, beholding the evil and the good,
and upon all their ways, both the course they take,
and every : tep they take, not as an unconcerned
Spectator, but as an observing Judge, to give every
one according to his ways, and according to his
deserts, which are the fruit of his doings, for men
shall find God as they are found of him.
3. He recounts the great things God had done for
his people Israel formerly. (1.) He brought them
out of Egypt, that house of bondage, with signs and
wonders which remain, if not in the marks of them,
yet in the memorials of them, even unto this day;
for it would never be forgotten, not only in Israel,
who were reminded of it every year by the ordi¬
nance of the passover, but among other men; all the
neighbouring nations spake of it, as that which re¬
dounded exceedingly to the glory of the God of
Israel, and made him a name as at this day. This
is repeated again, ( v . 21.) that God brought them
forth, not only with comforts and joys to them, but
with glory to himself, with signs and wonders,
(witness the ten plagues,) with a strong hand, too
strong for the Egyptians themselves, and with a
stretchcd-out arm, that reached Pharaoh, proud as
he was, and with great terror to them and all about
them. This seems to refer to Deut. iv. 34. (2.)
He brought them into Canaan, that good land, that
land flowing with milk and honey; he sware to their
fathers to give it them, and because he would per¬
form his oath, he did give it to the children, (v. 22. )
and they came in, and possessed it. Jeremiah men¬
tions this both as an aggravation of their sin and dis¬
obedience, and also as a plea with God to work
deliverance for them. Note, It is good for us often
to reflect upon the great things that God did for his
church formerly, especially in the first erecting of
it, that work of wonder.
4. He bewails the rebellions they had been guilty
of against God, and the judgments God had brought
upon them for these rebellions. It is a sad account
he here gives of the ungrateful conduct of that peo¬
ple toward God. He had done every thing that he
promised them to do, (they had acknowledged it,
1 Kings viii. 56.) but they had done nothing of all
that he commanded them to do; (i>. 23.) they made
no conscience of any of his laws, they walked not in
them, paid no respect to any of his calls by his pro¬
phets, for they obeyed not his voice. And therefore
he owns that God was righteous in causing all this evil
to come upon them. The city is besieged, is attacked
by the sword without, is weakened and ,v«siej oy
the fim-.ne and pestilence within, so that it is ready to
fall into the hands of the Chaldeans that fight against
it; (v. 24.) it is given into their hands, v. 25. Now,
(1.) He compares the present state of Jerusalem
with the di\ine predictions, and finds that what
God has spoken, is come to pass. God had given
them fair warning of it before; if they had regarded
this, the ruin had been prevented: but if they will
not do what God has commanded, they can expect
no other than that he should do what he has threat¬
ened. (2.) He commits the present state of Jerusa¬
lem to the divine consideration and compassion; ( v .
24.) Behold the moutits, or ramparts, or the e ngines,
which they make use of to batter the city, and beat
down the wall of it. And again, “Behold, thou
seest it, and takest cognizance of it. Is this the city
that thou hast chosen to put tliv name there? And
shall it be thus abandoned?” He neither complains
of God for what he had done, nor prescribes to God
what he should do, but desires he would behold
their case, and is pleased to think that he does be¬
hold it. Whatever trouble we are in, upon a per¬
sonal or public account, we may comfort ourselves
with this, that God sees it, and sees how to reme¬
dy it.
5. He seems desirous to be let further ipto the
meaning of the order that God had now given him,
to purchase his kinsman’s field: (v. 25.) “ Though
the city is given itito the hands of the Chaldeans, no
man is likely to enjoy what he has, yet thou hast
said unto me, Buy thee the field." As soon as he
understood that it was the mind of God, he did it,
and made no objections, was not disobedient to the
heavenly vision; but when he had done it, he desired
better to understand why God had ordered him to do
it, because the thing looked strange and unaccounta¬
ble. Note, Though we are bound to follow God
with an implicit obedience, yet we should endeavour
that it maybe more and more intelligent obedience.
We must never dispute God’s statutes and judg¬
ments, but we may and must inquire. What mean
these statutes and judgments? Deut. vi. 20.
26. Then came the word of the Lord
unto Jeremiah, saying, 27. Behold, I am
the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any
thing too hard for me? 28. Therefore thus
saith the Lord, Behold, I will give this city
into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into
the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Baby¬
lon, and he shall take it. 29. And the
Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall
come and set fire on this city, and burn it,
with the houses upon whose roofs they have
offered incense unto Baal, and poured out
drink-offerings unto other gods, to provoke
me to anger. 30. For the childien of Israel,
and the children of Judah have only done
evil before me from their youth: for the
children of Israel have only provoked me
to anger with the work of their hands, saith
the Lord. 31. For this city hath been to
me as a provocation of mine anger and of
my fury, from the day that ihey built it,
even unto this day, that I should remove it
from before my face ; 32. Because of all
the evil of the children of Israel, and of the
children of Judah, which they have done to
JEREMIAH, XXXII.
provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their
princes, their priests, and their prophets,
and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. 33. And they have turned
unto me the back, and not the face: though
I taught them, rising up early and teaching
them, yet they have not hearkened to receive
instruction. 34. But they set their abomi¬
nations in the house which is called by my
name, to defile it. 35. And they built the
high places of Baal, which are in the valley
of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons
and their daughters to pass through the fire
unto Molech, which 1 commanded them
not, neither came it into my mind, that they
should do this abomination, to cause Judah
to sin. 3G. And now therefore thus saith
the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning
this city, whereof ye say, It shall be deliver¬
ed into the hand of the king of Babylon by
the sword, and by the famine, and by the
pestilence; 37. Behold, I will gather them
out of all countries whither 1 have driven
them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in
great wrath ; and I will bring them again
unto this place, and I will cause them to
dwell safely: 38. And they shall be my
people, and I will be their God : 39. And
i will give them one. heart, and one way,
that they may fear me for ever, for the good
of them, and of their children after them :
40. And I will make an everlasting cove¬
nant with them, that I will not turn away
from them to do them good; but I will put
my fear in their hearts, that they shall not
depart from me. 41. Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good, and I will plant
them in this land assuredly with my whole
heart, and with my whole soul. 42. For
thus saith the Lord, Like as I have brought
all this great evil upon this people, so will I
bring upon them all the good that I have
promised them. 43. And fields shall be
bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is
desolate without man or beast; it is given
into the hand of the Chaldeans. 44. Men
shall buy fields for money, and subscribe
evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses
in the land of Benjamin, and in the places
about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah,
and in the cities of the mountains, and in
the cities of the valley, and in the cities of
the south : for I will cause their captivity to
return, saith the Lord.
We have here God’s return to Jeremiah’s prayer,
designed to quiet his mind, and make him easy; and
it is a full discovery of the purposes of God’s wrath
against the present generation, and the purposes of
his grace concerning the future generations. Jere¬
miah knew not how to sing both of mercy and judg¬
ment, hut God here teaches to sing unto him of both.
483
When we know net how to reconcile one word of
God with another, we may yet be sure that both
are true, both are pure, both shall be made good,
and not one iota or tittle of either shall fall to the
ground. \\ hen Jeremiah was ordered to buy the
field in Anathoth, he was willing to hope that God
was about to revoke the sentence of his wrath, and
to order the Chaldeans to raise the siege. “No,”
says God, “the execution of the sentence shall go
on, Jerusalem shall be laid in ruins.” Note, As¬
surances of future mercy must not be interpreted as
securities from present troubles. But, lest Jere¬
miah should think that his being ordered to buy this
field intimated that all the mercy God had in store
for his people, after their return, was only that they
should have the possession of their own land again;
he further acquaints him that that was but a type
and figure of those spiritual blessings which should
then be abundantly bestowed upon them, unspeaka¬
bly more valuable than fields and vineyards. So that
in this word of the Isjrd, which came here to Jere¬
miah, first as dreadful threatenings, and then as
precious promises as perhaps any we have in the
Old Testament; life and death, good and evil, are
here set before us; let us consider and choose
wisely.
I. The ruin of Judah and Jerusalem is here pro¬
nounced; the decree is gone forth, and shall not be
recalled.
1. God here asserts his own severeignty and pow¬
er; (y. 27.) Behold, I am Jehovah, a self-existent,
self-sufficient Being; lam that I am; lam the God
of all flesh, of all mankind; here called flesh, be¬
cause weak, and unable to contend with God, (Ps.
lvi. 4.) and because wicked and corrupt, and unapt
to comply with God. God is the Creator of all,
and makes what use he pleases of all. He that is
the God of Israel is the God of all flesh, and of the
sfiirits of all flesh; and, if Israel were cast off, could
raise up a people to his name out of some other
nation. If he be the God of all flesh, he may well
ask, Is any thing too hard for me? What can he
do, from whom all the powers of men are derived,
on whom they depend, and by whom all their ac¬
tions are directed and governed? Whatever he de¬
signs to do, whether in wrath or in mercy, nothing
can hinder him, or defeat his designs.
2. He abides by what he had often said of the
destruction of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon;
(x\ 28. ) I will give this city into his hand, now that
he is grasping at it, and he shall take it, and make a
prey of it, v. 29. The Chaldeans shall come and
set fire to it, shall bum it and all the houses in it,
God’s house not excepted, nor the king’s neither.
3. He assigns the reason for these severe pro¬
ceedings against the city that had been so much in
his favour. It is sin, it is that, and nothing else,
that ruins it. (1.) They were impudent and daring
in sin. They offered incense to Baal, not in corners,
as men ashamed or afraid of being discovered, but
upon the tofis of their houses, {y. 29.) in defiance of
God’s justice. (2.) They designed an affront to
God herein. They did it to firovoke me to anger,
v. 29. They have only firovoked me to anger with
the works of their hands, v. 30. They could not
promise themselves any pleasure, profit, or honour
out of it, but did it on purpose to offend God. And
again, (n. 32.) All the evil which they have done
was to firovoke me to anger. They knew he was a
jealous God in the matters of his worship, and
there they resolved to try his jealousy and dare him
to his face. Jerusalem has been to me a firovoca-
tion of my anger and fury, v. 31. Their conduct
in every thing was provoking. (3.) They began
betimes, and had continued all along provoking to
God. They have done evil before me from their
youth, ever since they were first formed into a pec.
184
JEREMIAH, XXXII.
pic; ( v . 30.) witness their murmurings and rebel¬
lions in the wilderness. And as for Jerusalem,
though it was the holy city, it has been a provoca¬
tion to the holy God from the day that they built
it, even to this day, v. 31. O what reason have we
to lament the little honour God has from this world,
and .the great dishonour that is done him, when
even in Judah, where he is known and his name is
great, and in Salem where his tabernacle is, there
was always that found, that was a provocation to
him! (4.) All orders and degrees of men contri¬
buted to the common guilt, and therefore were just¬
ly involved in the common ruin. Not only the
children of Israel, that had revolted from the tem¬
ple, but the children of Judah too, that still ad¬
hered to it. Not only the common people, the men
of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, but those
that should have reproved and restrained sin in
others, were themselves ringleaders in it, their
kings and princes, their priests and prophets. (5. )
Clod had again and again called them to repentance,
but they turned a deaf ear to his calls, and rudely
turned their back on him that called them, though
he was their Master, to whom they were bound in
duty, and their Benefactor, to whom they were
bound in gratitude and interest, v. 33. “ I' taught
them better manners, with as much care as ever
any tender parent taught a child, rising up early,
and teaching them, studying to adapt the teaching to
their capacities, taking’ them betimes, when they
might have been most pliable, but all in vain; they
turned not the face to me, would not so much as
look upon me, nay, they turned the back upon me;”
an expression of the highest contempt; as he called
them, like froward children, so they went from him,
Hos. xi. 2. They have not hearkened to receive
instruction, they regarded not a word that was said
to them, though it was designed for their own good.
(6.) There was in their idolatries an impious con¬
tempt of God, for, (v. 34.) They set their abomina¬
tions, their idols, which they knew to be in the
highest degree abominable to God, they set them
in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
They had {heir idols not only in their high places
and groves, but even in God’s temple. (7.) They
were guilty of the most unnatural cruelty to their own
children, for they sacrificed them to Molech, v. 35.
Thus because they liked not to retain God in their
knowledge, but changed his glory into shame, they
were justly given up to vile affections, and stript of
natural ones, and their glory was turned into
shame.
And lastly, What was the consequence of all
this? [1.] They caused Judah to sin, v. 35. The
whole country was infected with the contagious
idolatries and iniquities of Jerusalem. [2.] They
brought ruin upon themselves. It was as if they
had done it on purpose that God should remove
them from before his face; (v. 31.) they would
throw themselves out of his favour.
II. The restoration of Judah and Jerusalem is
here promised, v. 36, &c. God will in judgment
remember mercy, and there will a time come, a set
time, to favour Zion.
Observe, 1. The despair to which this people
were now at length brought. When the judgment
was threatened at a distance, they had no fear;
when it attacked them, they had no hope. They
said concerning the city, (v. 36.) It shall be de¬
livered into the hand of the king of Babylon, not
by any cowardice or 'ill conduct of ours, but by
the sword, famine, and pestilence. Concerning the
country, they said, with vexation, (x». 43.) It is
< Isolate without man or beast, there is no relief,
there is no remedy. It is given into the hand of
the Chaldeans. Note, Deep security commonly
cuds in deep despair; whereas those that keep up a
holy fear at all times, have a good hope to support
themselves in the worst of times.
2. The hope that God gives them of mercy
which he had in store for them hereafter. Though
their carcases must fall in captivity, yet their chil¬
dren after them should again see this good land,
and the goodness of God in it.
(1.) They shall be brought up from their cap¬
tivity, and shall come, and settle again in this land,
v. 37. They had been under God’s anger and
fury, and great wrath; but now they shall partake
of his grace, and love, and great favour. He had
dispersed them, and driven them, into all countries;
those that fled dispersed themselves; the se that fell
into the enemies’ hands were dispersed by them, in
policy, to prevent combinations among them. Grd’s
hand was in both: but now God will find them out,
and gather them cut of all the countries whither
they were driven, as he promised in the law, (Deut.
xxx. 3, 4.) and the saints had prayed, Ps. cvi. 47.
Neh. i. 9. He had banished them, but he will
bring them again to this place, which they could
not but have an affection for. For many years past,
while they were in their own land, they were con¬
tinually exposed, and terrified with the alarms of
war; but now I will cause them to dwell safely.
Being reformed, and returned to God, neither theii
own consciences within, nor their enemies without,
shall be a terror to them. He promises, (x1. 41.)
I will plant them in this land assuredly; not only I
will certainly do it, but they shall here enjoy a holy
security and repose, and they shall take root here,
shall be planted in stability, and net again be un¬
fixed and unshaken.
(2.) God will renew his covenant with them, a
covenant of grace, the .blessings of which are spi¬
ritual, and such as will work good things in them,
to qualify them for the great things God intended
to do for them. It is called an everlasting covenant,
(x>. 40.) not only because God will be for ever faith¬
ful to it, but because the consequences of it will be
for everlasting. For, doubtless, here the promises
look further than to Israel according to the flesh,
and are sure to all believers, to every Israelite in¬
deed. Good Christians may apply them to them¬
selves, and plead them with God, may claim the
benefit of them, and take the comfort of them.
[1.] God will own them for his, and make over
himself to them to be theirs; (x’. 38.) They shall
be my people. He will make them his, by working
in them all the characters and dispositions of his
people, and then he will protect and guide and
govern them as his people. And, to make them
truly, completely, and eternally happy, I will be
their God. They shall serve and worship God as
theirs, and cleave to him only, and he will ap¬
prove himself theirs. All he is, all he has, shall
re engaged and employed for their good.
[2.] God will give them a heart to fear him, v.
39. That which he requires of those whom he
takes into covenant with him as his people, is, that
they fear him, that they reverence his majesty,
dread his wrath, stand in awe of his authority,
pay homage to him, and give him the glory due
unto his name. Now what God requires of them
he here promises to work in them, pursuant to
his choice of them as his people. Note, As it is
God’s prerogative to fashion men’s hearts, so it
is his promise to his people to fashion theirs aright,
and a heart to fear God is indeed a good heart, and
well-fashioned. It is repeated again, (x). 40.) 1
will put my fear in their hearts, work in them gra
cious principles and dispositions, that shall influence
and govern their whole conversation. Teachers
may put good things into our heads, but it is God
only that can put them into our hearts, that can
work in us both to will and to do.
485
JEREMIAH, XXXIII.
[3. ] He will give them one heart and one way.
In order to their walking in one way, he will give
them one heart; as the heart is, so will the way be,
and both shall be one; that is, First, They shall be
each of them one with themselves; one heart is the
same with a new heart, Ezek. xi. 19. The heart
is then one, when it is fully determined for God,
and entirely devoted to God; when the eye is single,
and God’s glory alone aimed at; when our hearts
are fixed, trusting in God, and we are uniform and
universal in our obedience to him; then the heart is
one, and the way one; and unless the heart is thus
steady, the goings will not be steadfast. From this
promise we may take direction and encouragement
to pray, with David, (Ps. lxxxvi. 11.) Unite my
heart to fear thy name; for God says, I will give
them one heart, that they may fear me. Secondly,
They shall be all of them one with each other. All
good Christians shall be incorporated into one body,
Jews and Gentiles shall become one shee/i-fold; and
they shall all, as far as they are sanctified, 'have a
disposition to love one another; the gospel they pro¬
fess, having in it the strongest inducements to mu¬
tual love, and the Spirit that dwells in them, being
the Spirit of love. Though they may have differ¬
ent apprehensions about lesser things, they shall be
all one in t'.ie great things of God, being renewed
after the same image; though they may have many
paths, they have but one way , that of serious godliness.
[4.] He will effectually provide for their perse¬
verance in grace, and the perpetuating of the cove¬
nant between him and them. They would have
been happy when they were first planted in Canaan,
like Adam in paradise, if they had not departed
from God. And therefore now that they are re¬
stored to their happiness, they shall be confirmed
in it, by the preventing of their departures from
God, and this will complete their bliss. First, God
will never leave nor forsake them; I will not turn
away from them to do good. Earthly princes are
fickle, and their greatest favourites have fallen un¬
der their frowns; but God’s mercy endures for ever;
whom he loves, he loves to the end. God may seem
to turn from his people, (Isa. liv. 8.) but even then
he does not turn from doing and designing them
good. Secondly, They shall never leave nor for¬
sake him; that is the thing we are in danger of; we
have no reason to distrust God’s fidelity and con¬
stancy, but our own. And therefore it is here pro¬
mised, that God will give them a heart to fear him
for ever, all days, to be in his fear every day, and
all the day long, (Prov. xxiii. 17.) and to continue
so to the end of their days. He will put such a
principle into their hearts, that they shall not de-
fiart from him. Even those who have given up
their names to God, if they be left to themselves,
will defiart from him; but the fear of God, ruling
in the heart, will prevent their departure. That,
and nothing else, will do it. If we continue close
and faithful to God, it is owing purely to his al¬
mighty grace, and not to any strength or resolution
of our own.
[5.] He will entail a blessing upon their seed,
will give them grace to fear him, for the good of
them, and of their children after them. As their
departures from God had been to the prejudice of
their children, so their adherence to God should be
to the advantage of their children. We cannot better
consult the good of posterity, than by settingup, and
keeping up, the fear and worship of God in our fa¬
milies.
[6.] He will take a pleasure in their prosperity,
and will do everything to advance it; (re 41.) /
will rejoice over them to do them good. God will
therefore do them good, because he rejoices over
them: they are dear to him, he makes his boast of
them, and therefore will not only do them good, but
will delight in doing them good. When he punishes
them, it is with reluctance; How shall I give thet
ufi, Ephraim ? But when he restores them it is
with satisfaction, he rejoices in doing them good.
We ought therefore to serve him with pleasure,
and to rejoice in all opportunities. of serving him.
He is himself a cheerful Giver, and therefore loves
a cheerful servant. I wilt plant them (says God)
with my whole heart, and with my whole soul. He
will be intent upon it, and take delight in it; he will
make it the business of his providence to settle
them again in Canaan, and the various dispensation-
of providence shall concur to it. All things shall
appear at last so to have been working for the good
of the church, that it will be said, The Governor of
the world is entirely taken up with the care of his
church.
[7. ] These promises shall as surely be performed
as the foregoing threatenings were, and the accom¬
plishment of those, notwithstanding the security of
the people, might confirm their expectation of the
performance of these, notwithstanding tneir pre¬
sent despair; ( v . 42.) As I have brought all this
great ex’il ufion them, pursuant to the threatenings,
and for the glory of divine justice, so I will bring
upon them all this good, pursuant to the promise,
and for the glory of divine mercy. He that is faith¬
ful to his threatenings will much more be so to his
promises; and he will comfort his people according
to the time he has afflicted them. The churches
shall have rest after the days of adversity.
[8.] As an earnest of all this, houses and lands
shall again take a good price in Judah and Jerusa¬
lem, and though now they are a drug, there shall
again be a sufficient number of purchasers; (u. 43,
44.) Fields shall be bought in this land, and peo
pie will covet to have lands here rather than any
where else. Lands, wherever they lie, will go off,
not only in the places about Jerusalem, but in the
cities of Judah and of Israel too, whether they lit
on mountains, or in valleys, or in the south, in all
parts of the countrv, men shall buy fields, and sub¬
scribe evidences. T rade shall revive, for they shall
have money enough to buy land with; husbandry
shall revive, for those that have money shall covet
to lay it out upon lands; laws shall again have theii
due course, for they shall subscribe evidences, and
seal them. This is mentioned to reconcile Jeremiah
to his new purchase; though he had bought a piece
of ground and could not go to see it, yet he must
believe that this was the pledge of many a pur
chase, and those but faint resemblances of the pur
chased possessions in the heavenly Canaan, reserved
for all those who have God’s fear in their hearts,
and do not depart from him.
CHAP. XXX1TI.
The scope of this chapter is much the same with that ol
the foregoing chapter — to confirm the promise of the re
storation of the Jews, notwithstanding the present deso
lations of their country, and dispersions of their people
And these promises have, both in type and tendency, a
reference as far forward as to the gospel-church, to which
this second edition of the Jewish church was at length to
resign its dignities and privileges. It is here promised,
I. That the city shall be rebuilt and re-established in
statu quo — in its former state, v. I.. 6. II. That the
captives, having their sins pardoned, shall be restored,
v. 7, 8. III. That this shall redound very much to the
glory of God, v. 9. IV. That the country shall have
both joy and plenty, v. 10.. 14. V. That way shall be
made for the coming of the Messiah, v. 15, 16. VI.
That the house of David, the house of Levi, and the
house of Israel, shall flourish again, and be established,
and all three in the kingdom of Christ; a gospel-minis
try and the gospel-church shall continue while the world
stands, v. 17. .26.
1
~jV|rOREOVER, the word of the Lo mt
lvJL came unto Jeremiah the second
4f!C JEREMIAH, XXXIII.
time, w hile he was yet shut up in the court
of the prison, saying, 2. Thus saith the
Lord, the maker thereof, the Lord that
formed it, to establish it; the Lord is his
name; 3. Call unto me, and I will answer
thee, and shew thee great and mighty tilings,
which thou knowest not. 4. For thus saith
the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning
the houses of this city, and concerning the
houses of the kings of Judah, which are
thrown down by the mounts, and by the
sword; 5. They come to fight with the
Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the
dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in
mine ariger, and in my fury, and for all
whose wickedness I have hid my face from
this city. 6. Behold, I will bring it health
and cure, and I will cure them, and will
reveal unto them the abundance of peace
and truth. 7. And I will cause the cap¬
tivity of Judah, and the captivity of Israel,
to return, and will build them as at the first.
8. And I will cleanse them from all their
iniquity, whereby they have sinned against
me ; and I will pardon all their iniquities,
whereby they have sinned, and whereby
they have transgressed against me. 9. And
it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise
and an honour before all the nations of the
earth, which shall hear all the good that I
do unto them: and they shall fear and trem¬
ble for all the goodness, and for all the pros¬
perity, that I procure unto it.
Observe here,
I. The date ot this comfortable prophecy which
God intrusted Jeremiah with. It is not exact in the
time, only that it was after that in the foregoing
chapter, when things were still growing worse and
worse; it was the second time; God sfieaketh once,
yea, twice, for the encouragement of his people. We
are not only so disobedient, that we have need of
/irece/it ufion precept to bring us to our duty, but so
distrustful, that we have need of promise upon pro¬
mise to bring us to our comfort. This word, as the
former, came to Jeremiah when he was in prison.
Note, No confinement can deprive God’s people of
his presence; no locks or bars can shut out his
gracious visits; nay, oftentimes as their afflictions
abound, their consolations much more abound, and
they have the most reviving communications of his
favour then, when the world frowns upon them.
Paul’s sweetest epistles were those that b;*re date
out of a prison.
II. The prophecy itself. A great deal of comfort
is wrapt up in it for the relief of the captives, to
keep them from sinking into despair. Observe,
1. Who it is that secures this comfort to them, v.
2. It is the Lord, the Maker thereof, the Lord that
framed it. He is the Maker and Former of heaven
and earth, and therefore has all power in his hands;
so it refers to Jeremiah’s prayer, ch. xxxii. 17. He
is the Maker and Former of J rusalem, of Zion,
built them at first, and therefore can rebuild them,
built them for his own praise, and therefore will.
He formed it, to establish it, and therefore it shall
be established till those things be introduced, which
cannot be shaken, but shall remain for ever. He is
the Maker and Former of this promise; he has laid
the scheme for Jerusalem’s restoration, and he that
has formed it will establish it, he that has made the
promise will make it good; for Jehovah is his name ;
a God giving being to his promises by the perform¬
ance of them; when he does this, he is known by
that name, (Exod. vi. 3.) a perfecting God; when
the heavens and the earth were finished, then, and
not till then, the Creator is called Jehovah, Gen.
ii. 1.
2. How this comfort must be obtained and fetch¬
ed in; by prayer; ( v . 3.) Call upon me, and I will
answer thee. The prophet, having received some
intimations of this kind, must be humbly earnest
with God for further discoveries of his kind inten¬
tions. He had prayed, {ch. xxxii. 16.) but he must
pray again. Note, Those that expect to receive
comforts from God must continue instant in prayer;
we must call upon him, and then he will answer us;
Christ himself must ask, and it shall be given him,
Ps. ii. 8. I will show thee great and mighty things,
give thee a clear and full prospect of them; hidden
things, which, though in part discovered already,
yet thou knowest not, thou canst not understand, or
give credit to. Or, this may refer not only to the
prediction of these things, which Jeremiah, if he de¬
sire it, shall be favoured with, but to the perform¬
ance of the things themselves, which the pe<ple of
God, encouraged by this prediction, must pray for.
Note, Promises are given, not to supersede, but to
quicken and encourage, prayer. SeeEzek. xxxvi. 37.
3. How deplorable the condition of Jerusak m was,
which made it necessary that such comforts as
these should be provided for it; and notwithstanding
which, its restoration should be brought about in
due time; (v. 4, 5.) The houses of this city, not ex¬
cepting those of the kings of Judah, are thrown down
by the mounts, or engines of battery, and by the
sword, or axes, or hammers. It is the same word
that is used, Ezek. xxvi. 9. With his acces he shall
break down thy towers. The strongest, stateliest
houses, and those that were best furnished, were
levelled with the ground. The fifth verse comes in
a parenthesis, giving a further instance of the pre¬
sent calamitous state of Jerusalem. They that came
to fight with the Chaldeans, to beat them off from
the siege, did more hurt than good, provoked the
enemy to be more fierce and furious in their assaults,
so that the houses in Jerusalem were filled with the
dead bodies of men, who died of the wounds thev
received in sallying out upon the besiegers. God
says, that they were such as he had slain in his
anger, for the enemies’ sword was bis sword, and
their anger his anger. But it seems, the men
that were slain were generally such as had distin¬
guished themselves by their wickedness, for thev
were the very men for whose wickedness God did
now hide himself from this city; so that he was just
in all he brought upon them.
4. What the blessings are which God has in store
for Judah and Jerusalem, such as will redress all
their grievances.
(1.) Is their state diseased? Is it wounded? God
will provide effectually for the healing of it, though
the disease was thought mortal and incurable, ch.
viii. 22. “The whole head is sick, and the whole
heart faint; but, (v. 6.) / will bring it health and
cure, I will prevent the death, remove the sickness,
and set all to rights again,” ch. xxx. 17. Note, Be the
case ever so desperate, if God undertake the cure,
he will effect it. The sin of Jerusalem was the
| sickness of it; (Isa. i. 6.) its reformation therefore
will be its recov ery. And the following words tell
us how that is wrought; “ I will reveal unto them
the abundance of peace and truth; I will give it
them in due time, and give them an encouraging
prospect of it in the mean time.” Peace stands here
48?
JEREMIAH, XXXIII.
for all good; peace and truth are peace according
to the promise, and in pursuance ot that: or, peace
and truth are peace and the true religion; peace
and the true worship of God, in opposition to the
many falsehoods and deceits by which they had
been led away from God. We may apply it more
generally, and observe, [1.] That peace and truth
are the great subject-matter of divine revelation.
These promises here lead us to the gospel of Christ,
and in that God has revealed to us peace and truth,
the method of true peace; truth to direct us, peace
to make us easy. Grace and truth, and abundance
of both, come by Jesus Christ. Peace and truth are
the life of the soul, and Christ came, that we might
have that life, and might have it more abundantly.
Christ rules by the power of truth, (John xviii. 17.)
and by it he gives abundance of peace, Ps. lxxii. 7. —
lxxxv. 10. [2.] That the divine revelation of peace
and truth brings health and cure to all those that
bv faith receive it: it heals the soul of the diseases
it has contracted,. as it is a means of sanctification,
John xvii. 17. He sent his word, and healed them.
And it puts the soul into good order, and keeps it in
frame, and fit for the employments and enjoyments
of the spiritual and divine life.
(2.) Are they scattered and enslaved, and is their
nation laid in ruins? “ I will cause their captivity to
return, (v. 7.) both that of Israel and that of Ju¬
dah;” (for though those who returned under Zerub-
babel were chiefly of Judah, and Benjamin, and
Levi, yet afterward many of all the other tribes re¬
turned;) “and I will rebuild them, as I built them
at first.” When they by repentance do their first
works, God will by their restoration do his first
works.
(3. ) Is sin the procuring cause of all their trou¬
bles? That shall be pardoned and subdued, and so
the root of the judgments shall be killed, v. 8. [1.]
By sin they are become filthy, and odious to God’s
holiness, but God will cleanse them, and purify
them from their iniquity; as those that were cere¬
monially unclean, and were therefore shut out from
the tabernacle, when they were sprinkled with the
water of purification, had liberty of access to it
again, so had they to their own land and the privi¬
leges of it, when God had cleansed them from their
iniquities. In allusion to that sprinkling, David
rays, Purge me with hyssop. [2.] By sin they are
ecome guilty, and obnoxious to his justice; but he
will pardon all their iniquities, will remove the pu¬
nishment to which for sin they were bound over.
All who by sanctifying grace are cleansed from the
filth of sin, by pardoning mercy are freed from the
guilt of it.
(4.) Have both their sins and their sufferings
turned to the dishonour of God? Their reformation
and restoration shall redound as much to his praise,
t’. 9. Jerusalem, thus rebuilt, Judah, thus re-peo¬
pled, shall be to me a name of joy, as pleasing to
God as ever thev have been provoking, and a praise
and an honour before all the nations. They, being
thus restored, shall glorify God by their services,
and lie shall glorify himself by his favours. This
renewed nation shall be as much a reputation to re¬
ligion as formerly it has been a reproach to it. The na¬
tions shall hear all of the good that God has wrought
in them by his grace, and of all the good he has
wrought for them by his providence. The wonders
of their return out of Babylon shall make as great a
noise in the world as ever the wonders of their deli¬
verance out of Egypt did. And they shall fear and
tremble for all this goodness. [1.] The people of
God themselves shall fear and tremble; they shall
be much sui-prised at it, shall be afraid of offending
so good a God, and of forfeiting bis favour, Hos. iii.
a. They shall fear the Lord and his goodness. [2.]
The neighbouring nations shall fear because of the |
prosperity of Jerusalem; shall look upon the grow
ing greatness of the Jewish nation as really formida¬
ble, and shall be afraid of making them their ene¬
mies. When the church is fair as the moon, and
clear as the sun, she is terrible as an army with
banners.
1 0. Thus saith the Lord, Again there shall
be heard in this place (which ye say shall,
be desolate without man and without beast,
even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets
of Jerusalem, that are desolate without man,
and without inhabitant, and without beast,)
1 1. The voice of joy, and the voice of glad¬
ness; the voice of the bridegroom, and the
voice of the bride; the voice of them that
shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the
Lord is good ; for his mercy endureth foi
ever: and of them that shall bring the sacri
fice of praise into the house of the Lord.
For I will cause to return the captivity ol
the land, as at the first, saith the Lord. 12.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Again in this
place, which is desolate without man and
without beast, and in all the cities thereof,
shall be a habitation of shepherds causing
their flocks to lie down. 13. In the cities of
the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in
the cities of the south, and in the land of Ben¬
jamin, and in the places about Jerusalem,
and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks
pass again under the hands of him that tell-
eth them, saith the Lord. 14. Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will per¬
form that good thing which I have promised
unto the house of Israel, and to the house
of Judah. 15. In those days, and at that
time, will I cause the Branch of righteous¬
ness to grow up unto David ; and he shall
execute judgment and righteousness in the
land. 16. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely:
and this is the name wherewith she shall be
called, The Lord our righteousness.
Here is a further prediction of the happy state ol
Judah and Jerusalem after their glorious return ou
of captivity, issuing gloriously at length in the king¬
dom i f the Messiah.
1. It is promised, that the people who were long
in sorrow, shall again be filled with joy. Every oni
concluded now, that the country would lie for evei
desolate, that no beast should be found in the land of
Judah, no inhabitants in the streets of Jerusalem,
and, consequently, there would be nothing but uni¬
versal and perpetual melancholy; (v. 10.) yet,
though weeping may endure for a time, joy will" re¬
turn. It was threatened, (c/i. vii. 34. and xvi. 9.)
that thevoice of joy and gladness should cease there;
but here it is promised that they shall revive again,
that the voice of joy and gladness should be heard
there, because the captivity shall be returned; for
then was their mouth filled with laughter, Ps. exxvi.
1, 2. (1.) There shall be common joy there, the
voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride;
marriages shall again be celebrated, as formerly,
with songs, which in Babylon they had laid aside,
JEREMiAH, XXXIIi
■180
for their harps were hung on the willow trees. (2.)
There shall be religious joy there; temple-songs
shall be revived, the Lord’s songs, which they could
not sing in a strange land. There shall be heard,
in their private houses, and in the cities of Judah, as
well as in the temple, the voice of them that shall
say. Praise the Lord of hosts. Note, Nothing is
more the praise and honour of a people, than to
have God praised and honoured among them. This
shall complete the mercy of their return and re¬
storation, that with it they shall have hearts to be
thankful for it, and give God the glory of it, the
glory both of the power and of the goodness by
which it is effected; they shall praise him both as
the Lord of hosts, and as the God who is good, and
whose mercy endures for ever. This, though a
song of old, yet, being sung upon this fresh occasion,
will be a new song. We find this literally fulfilled
at their returnout of Babylon, Ezra iii. 11. They
sang together in praising the Lord, because he is
good, for his mercy endures for ever. The public
worship of God shall be diligently and constantly at¬
tended upon; They shall bring the sacrifice of praise
to the house of the Lord. All the sacrifices were
intended for the praise of God, but this seems to be
meant of the spiritual sacrifice of humble adorations
and joyful thanksgivings, the calves of our lifts,
(Hos. xiv. 2.) which shall please the Lord better
than an ox ora bullock. The Jews say, that in the
days of the Messiah all sacrifices shall cease, but
the sacrifices of praise, and to those days this pro¬
mise has a further reference.
2. It is promised, that the country, which had lain
long depopulated, should be replenished and stocked
again. It was now desolate, without man, and without
beast; but, after their return, the pastures shall again
be clothed with flocks, Ps. lxv. 13. In all the cities of
Judah and Benjamin there shall be a habitation of
shepherds, v. 12, 13. This speaks, (1.) The wealth
of the country, after their return. It shall not be a
habitation of beggars, who have nothing, but of
shepherds and husbandmen, men of substance, with
good stocks upon the ground they are returned to.
(2.) The peace of the country. It shall not be a
habitation of soldiers, nor shall there be tents and
barracks set up to lodge them, but there shall be
shepherd’s tents; for they shall hear no more the
alarms of war, nor shall there be any to make even
the shepherds afraid. See Ps. cxliv. 13, 14. (3.)
The industry of the country, and their return to
their original plainness and simplicity, from which,
in the corrupt ages, they had sadly degenerated.
The seed of Jacob, in their beginning, gloried in this,
that they were shepherds, (Gen. xlvii. 3.) and so they
shall now be again, giving themselves wholly to that
innocent employment, causing their flocks to lie
down, ( v . 12.) and to pass under the hands of him
that telleth them; (n. 13.) for though their flocks
are numerous, they are not numberless, nor shall
they omit to number them, that they mav know if
any be missing, and may seek after it. Note, It is
the prudence of those who have ever so much of
the world, to keep an account of what they have.
Some think that they pass under the hand of him
that "telleth them, that they may be tithed. Lev.
xxvii. 32. Then we may take the comfort of what
we have, when God has had his dues out of it. Now
because it seemed incredible that a people, reduced
as now they were, should ever recover such a degree
of peace and plenty as this, here is subjoined a gene¬
ral ratification of these promises; (y. 14.) / will
perform that good thing which I have promised.
I hough the promise may sometimes work slowly
towards an accomplishment, it works surely. The
days will come, though they are long in coming.
3. To crown all these blessings which God has
■n store for them, here is a promise of the Messiah,
and of that everlastn.g nghteousness which he
should bring in, (y. 15, 16.) and, probably, this is
that good thing, that great good thing, which, in
the latter days, days that were yet to come, God
would perform, as he had promised to Judah and
Israel, and which their return out of capti\ ity, and
their settlement again in their own land, respected
and promoted. Prom the captivity to Christ is one
of the famous periods, Matth. i. 17. This promise
of the Messiah we had before; (ch. xxiii. 5, 6.) and
there it came in as a confirmation of tne promise ol
the shepherds which God would set over them,
which would make one think that the promise here
concerning the shepherds and their flocks, which
introduces it, is to be understood figuratively. Christ
is here prophesied of, (1.) As a rightful King: he
is a Branch of righteousness, not a Usurper, for he
grows up unto David, descends from his loins,
with whom the covenant of royalty was made, and
is that Seed with whom that covenant should be es¬
tablished, so that his title is unexceptionable. (2.)
As a righteous King, righteous in enacting laws,
waging wars, and giving judgment; righteous in
vindicating those that suffer wrong, and punishing
those that do wrong; He shall execute judgment
and righteousness in the land. This may point at
Zerubbabel in the type, who governed with equity,
not as Jehoiakim had done; (cA. xxii. 17.) but it has
a further reference to him to whom all judgment is
committed, and who shall judge the world in righ-
teotisness. (3.) As a King that shall protect his
subjects from all injury. By him Judah shall be
saved from wrath and the curse, and being so saved,
Jerusalem shall dwell safely, quiet from the fear
of evil, and enjoying a holy security and serenity c f
mind, in a dependence upon the conduct of this
Prince of peace, this Prince of their peace. (4.)
As a King that shall be praised by his subjects;
“ This is the name whereby they shall call him;” (so
the Chaldee reads it, the Syriac, and vulgar Latin;)
“this name of his they shall celebrate and triumph
in, and by this name they shall call upon him.” It
may be read, more agreeably to the original, This
is he who shall call her. The Lord our Righteous¬
ness, as Moses’s altar is called Jehovah-nissi, (Excd.
xvii. 15.) and Jerusalem, Jehovah-shammah, (Ezek.
xlviii. 35.) intimating that they glory in Jehovah as
present with them, and their Banner; so here the city
is called, The Lord our Righteousness, because they
glory in Jehovah as their Righteousness. That which
was before said to be the name of Christ, (savs Mr.
Gatake’%) is here made the name of Jerusalem, the
city of the Messiah, the church of Christ. He it is
that imparts righteousness to her, for he is made of
God to us righteousness, and she, by bearing that
name, professes to have her whole righteousness, not
from herself, but from him, In the Lord have 1
righteousness and strength! (Isa.xlv.24.) and we are
made the righteousness of God in him. The inha¬
bitants of Jerusalem shall have this name of the
Messiah so much in their mouths, that they shall
themselves be called by it.
17. For thus saith the- Lon d, David
shall never want a man to sit upon the
throne of the house of Israel; 18. Neither
shall the priests the Levites want a man
before me, to offer burnt-offerings, and to
kindle meat-offerings, and to do sacrifice
continually. 19. And the word of the Lorq
came unto Jeremiah, saying, 29. Thus
saith the Lord, If you can break my cove¬
nant of the day, and my covenant of the
night, and that there should not be day and
489
JEREMIAH, XXXIII.
night in their season; 21. Then may also
my covenant be broken with David my ser¬
vant, that he should not have a son to reign
upon his throne; and with the Levites the
priests, my ministers, 22. As the host of
heaven cannot be numbered, neither the
sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply
the seed of David my servant, and t he Le¬
vites that minister unto me. 23. Moreover,
the word of the Loro came to Jeremiah,
saying, 24. Considerest thou not what
this people have spoken, saying, The two
families which the Lord hath chosen, he
hath even cast them off? Thus they have
despised my people, that they should be no
more a nation before them. 25. Thus saith
the Lord, If my covenant he not with day
and night, and if I have not appointed the
ordinances of heaven and earth; 26. Then
will 1 cast away the seed of Jacob, and Da¬
vid my servant, so that I will not take any
of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abra¬
ham, Isaac, and Jacob : for I wdl cause their
captivity to return, and have me rcy on them.
Three of God’s covenants, that of royalty with
David and Iris seed, that of the priesthood with
Aaron and his seed, and that of peculiarity with
Abraham and his seed, seemed to have been all
broken and lost while the captivity lasted; but it is
here promised, that, notwithstanding' that interrup¬
tion and discontinuance for a time, they shall all
three take place again, and the true intents and
meaning of them all shall be abundantly answered in
the New’ Testament blessings typified by those con¬
ferred on the Jews after their return out of captivity.
1. The covenant of royalty shall be secured, and
the promises of it shall have their full accomplish¬
ment, in the kingdom of Christ, the Son of David,
v. 17. The throne of Israel was overturned in the
captivity, the crown was fallen from their head,
there was not a man to sit on the throne of Israel,
Jeconiah was written childless. After their return,
the house of David made a figure again; but it is in
the Messiah that this promise is performed, that
David shall never want a man to sit on the throne
of Israel; and that David shall have always a Son
to reign ufion his throne. For as long as the Man
Christ Jesus sits on the right hand of the throne of
God, rules the world, and rules it for the good of
the church, to which he is a quickening Head, and
glorified Head over all things, as long as he is King
ufion the holy hill of Zion, David does not want a
successor, nor is the covenant with him broken.
When the First-begotten was brought into the
world, it was declared concerning him, that the
Lord God shall give him the throne of his father
David, and he shall reign over the house oj Jacob
for ever, Luke i. 33.
For the confirmation of this, it is promised, (1.)
That the covenant with David shall be as firm as
the ordinances of heaven; to the stability of which
that of God’s promise is compared, ch. xxxi. 35,
36. There is a covenant of nature, by which the
common course of providence is settled, and on
which it is founded, here called, a covenant of the
day and the night, (t. 20, 25.) because that is one
of the articles of it, That there shall be day and
night in their season, according to the distinction
put between them in the creation, when God di¬
vided between the light and the darkness, and esta- I
Vol. iv.— 3 Q
blished their mutual succession, and a government
to each, that the sun should rule by day, and the
moon and stars by night, (Gen. i. 4, 5, 16.) which
establishment was renewed after the, flood, (Gen.
viii. 22.) and has continued ever since, Ps.,xix. 2.
The morning and the evening have both of them
their regular outgoings; (Ps. lxv. 8.) the day-spring
knows its place, knows its time, and keeps both, so
do the shadows of the evening; and while the world
stands, this course shall not be altered, this covenant
shall not be broken. The ordinances of heaven and
earth, (of this communication between heaven and
earth, the dominion of these ordinances of heaven
iipon the earth,) which God has appointed, (v. 25.
compare Job xxxviii. 33. ) shall never be disappoint¬
ed. Thus firm shall the covenant of redemption
be with the Redeemer — God’s Servant, but David
our King, v. 21. This intimates that Christ shall
have a church on earth to the world’s end, he shall
see a seed in which he shall prolong his days till
time and days shall be no more. Christ’s kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom, and when the end cometh,
and not till then, it shall be delivered up to God,
even the Father. But it intimates that the condition
of it in this world shall be intermixed and counter-
changed, prosperity and adversity succeeding each
other, as light and darkness, day and night. But
this is plainly taught us, that, as sure as we mav
be, that though the sun will set to-night, it will rise
again to-morrow morning, whether we live to see
it or no, so sure we may be, that though the king¬
dom of the Redeemer in the world may for a time
be clouded and eclipsed by corruptions and perse¬
cutions, yet it will shine forth again, and recover its
lustre, in the time appointed. (2.) That the seed
of David shall be as numerous as the host of heaven,
the spiritual seed of the Messiah, that shall be born
to him by the efficacy of his gospel, and his Spirit
working with it; from the womb of the morning he
shall have the dew of their youth, to be his willing
people, Ps. cx. 3. Christ’s seed are not, as David’s
were, his successors, but his subjects; yet the day is
coming when they also shall reign with him; (i\
22.) fs the host of heaven cannot be numbered, so
will I multiply the seed of David, so that there
shall be no danger of the kingdom’s being extinct,
or extirpated for want of heirs. The children are
numerous; and if children, then heirs.
2. The covenant of priesthood shall be secured,
and the promises of that also shall have their full
accomplishment. This seemed likewise to be for¬
gotten during the captivity, when there was no
altar, no temple-service, for the priests to attend
upon; but this also shall revive. It did so; imme¬
diately upon their coming back to Jerusalem, there
were priests and Levites ready to offer burnt-offer¬
ings, and to do sacrifice continually, (Ezra iii. 2, 3.)
as he here promised, v. 18, But that priesthood
soon grew corrupt, the covenant of Levi was pro¬
faned, (as appears Mai. ii. 8.) and in the destruc¬
tion of Jerusalem by the Romans it came to a final
period. We must therefore look elsewhere for the
performance of this word, that the covenant with
the Levites, the priests, God’s ministers, shall be
as firm, and last as long, as tire covenant with the
day and the night. And we find it abundantly per¬
formed, (1.) In the priesthood of Christ, which su¬
persedes that of Aaron, and is the substance of that
shadow. While that great High Priest of our pro¬
fession is always appearing in' the presence of God
for us, presenting the virtue of his blood by" which
he made atonement in the incense of his interces¬
sion, it may truly be said, that the Levites do not
want a man before God to offer continually, Heb.
viii. 3. He is a Priest for ever. The covenant of
the priesthood is called a covenant of peace, (Numb,
xxv. 12.) of life and peace, Mai. ii. 5. Now we
490 JEREMIAH, XXXIV
are sure that this covenant is not broken, or in the
least weakened, while Jesus Christ is himself our
Life and our Peace. This covenant of priesthood
is here again and again joined with that of royalty,
for Christ is a Priest u/ion his throne , as Melchize-
dek. (2.) In a settled gospel-ministry. While
there are faithful ministers to preside in religious
assemblies, and to offer up the spiritual sacrifices
of prayer and praise, the / iriests , the Levites do not
want successors, and such as have obtained a more
excellent ministry. The apostle makes those that
fireach the gospel, to come in the room of those that
served at the altar, 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14. (3.) In all
true believers, who are a holy priesthood, a royal
priesthood, (1 Pet. ii. 5, 9.) who are made to our
God kings and /iriests, (Rev. i. 6.) they offer up
s/tiritual sacrijices, acceptable to God, and them¬
selves, in the first place, living sacrifices. Of these
Levites, this promise here must be understood, ( v .
22.) that they shall be as numerous as the sand of
the sea, the same that is promised concerning Is¬
rael in general; (Gen. xxii. 17.) for all God’s spi¬
ritual Israel are spiritual priests, Rev. v. 9, 10. —
vii. 9, 13.
3. The covenant of peculiarity likewise shall be
secured, and the promises of that covenant shall
have their full accomplishment in the gospel-Israel.
Observe, (1.) How this covenant was looked upon
as broken during the captivity, v. 24. God asks
the prophet, “ Hast thou not heard, and dost thou
not consider, what this people have spoken?” Either
the enemies of Israel, who triumphed in the extir¬
pation of a people that had made such a noise in the
world, or the unbelieving Israelites themselves, this
people, among whom thou dwellest, they have
broken covenant with God, and then quarrel with
him, as if he had not dealt faithfully with them.
The two families which the Lord hath chosen, Is¬
rael and Judah, whereas they were but one when he
chose them, he hath even cast them off. “ Thus
have they despised my people, despised the privilege
of being my people, as if it were a privilege of no
value at all. The neighbouring nations despised
them, as now no more a nation, but the ruins of a
nation, and looked upon all their honour as laid in
the dust; but, (2.) See how firm the covenant stands
notwithstanding, as firm as that with day and night;
sooner will God suffer day and night to cease, than
he will cast away the seed of Jacob. This cannot
refer to the seed of Jacob according to the flesh, for
they are cast away, but to the Christian church, in
which all these promises were to be lodged, as ap¬
pears by the apostle’s discourse, Rom. xi. 1, &c.
Christ is that Seed of David, that is to be perpetual
Dictator to the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
and as this people shall never want such a King, so
this King shall never want such a people. Chris¬
tianity shall continue in the dominion of Christ, and
the subjection of Christians to him, till day and night
come to an end. And as a pledge of this, that pro¬
mise is again repeated, / will cause their captivity
to return; and, having brought them back, I will
have mercy on them. Whom this promise refers
to, appears, Gal. vi. 16. where all that walk accord¬
ing to the gospel-rule, are made to be the Israel of
God, on whom peace and mercy shall be.
CHAP. XXXIV.
In this chapter, we have two messages which God sent by
Jeremiah. 1. One, to foretell the fate of Zedekiah king
of Judah, that he should fall into the hands of the king
of Babylon, that he should live a captive, but should at
last die in peace in his captivity, v. 1 . .7. II. Another,
to read the doom both of prince and people for their
treacherous dealings with God, in bringing back their
servants into bondage, whom they had released accord¬
ing to the law, and so playing fast and loose with God.
They had walked at all adventures with God, (r. 8 . . 11.)
and therefore God would walk at all adventures with
them, in bringing the Chaldean army upon them again,
then when they began to hope that they were got clear
of them, v. 12. . 22.
1 . npHE word which came unto Jeremiah
X from the Lord, (when Nebuchad¬
nezzar king of Babylon, and all his army,
and all the kingdoms of the earth of his do¬
minion, and all the people, fought against
Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof,)
saying, 2. Thus saith the Lord, the God
of [srael, Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of
Judah, and tell him; Thus saith the Lord.
Behold, I will give this city into the hand
of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn
it with fire. 3. And thou shalt not escape
out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken,
and delivered into his hand; and thine eves
shall behold the eyes of the king of Baby¬
lon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to
mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. 4.
Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zede¬
kiah king of Judah ; Thus saith the Lord
of thee, Thov sbalt not die by the sword;
5. But thou shalt die in peace: and with the
burnings of thy fathers, the former kings
which were before thee, so shall they burn
odours for thee; and they will lament thee,
saying , Ah, lord! for I have pronounced the
word, saith the Lord. 6. Then Jeremiah
the prophet spake all these words unto Ze¬
dekiah kingof Judah in Jerusalem, 7. When
the king of Babylon’s army fought against
Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Ju¬
dah that were left, against Lachish, and
against Azekah : for these defericed cities
remained of the cities of Judah.
This prophecy concerning Zedekiah was deliver¬
ed to Jeremiah, and by him to the parties concerned,
before he was shut up in the prison, for v e find this
prediction here made the ground of his commit¬
ment, as appears by the recital of some passages out
of it, ch. xxxii. 4.
Observe, 1. The time when this message was
sent to Zedekiah; it was when the king of Babylon,
with all his forces, some out of all the kingdoms of
the earth that were within his jurisdiction, fought
against Jerusalem, and the cities thereof, (v. 1.) de¬
signing to destroy them, having often plundered
them. The cities that now remained, and yet held
out, are named, (r. 7.) Lachish and Azekah. This
intimates that things were now brought to the last
extremity, and yet Zedekiah obstinately stood it
out, his heart being hardened to his destruction.
2. The message itself that was sent him.
(1.) Here is a threatening of wrath. He is told
that again, which he had been often told before, that
the city shall be taken by the Chaldeans, and burnt
with fire, (v. 2.) that he shall himself fall into the
enemy’s hands, shall be made a prisoner, shall be
brought before that furious prince Nebuchadnezzar,
and be. carried away captive into Babylon; (v. 3.)
yet Ezekiel prophesied that he should not see Ba¬
bylon; nor did he, for his eyes were put out, Ezek.
xii. 13. This Zedekiah brought upon himself from
God by his other sins, and from Nebuchadnezzar
by his breaking of his faith with him.
JEREMIAH, XXXIV.
-*91
(2. ) Here is a mixture of mercy. He shall die a
captive, but he shall not die by the sword, he shall
die a natural death; (ic 4.) he shall end his days
with some comfort, shall die in peace, v. 5. He
never had been one of the worst of the kings, but
we are willing to hope that what evil he had done
in the sight of the Lord, he repented of it in his
captivity, as Manasseh had done, and it was forgiven
to him; and, God being reconciled to him, he might
truly be said to die in / teace . Note, A man may die
in a prison, and yet die in peace. Nay, he shall end
his days with some reputation, more than one would
expect, all things considered. He shall be buried
with the burnings of his fathers, with the respect
usually shown to their kings, especially those that had
done good in Israel. It seems, in his captivity he had
conducted himself so well toward his own people,
that they were willing to do him this honour, and
toward Nebuchadnezzar, that he suffered it to be
done. If Zedekiah had continued in his prosperity,
perhaps he would have grown worse, and would
have departed at last without being desired; but
his afflictions wrought such a change in him, that
his death was looked upon as a great loss. It is
better to live and die penitent in aprison, than live
and die impenitent in a palace. They will lament
thee, saying, Ah, Lord! an honour which his bro¬
ther Jeiioiakim had not, ch. xxii. 18. The Jews
say that they lamented thus over him, Alas ! Zede¬
kiah is dead, who drank the dregs of all the ages
that went before him, who suffered for the sins of
his ancestors, the measure of iniquity being filled
up m his days. They shall thus lament him, saith
the Lord, for I have pronounced the word; and what
God hath spoken shall without fail be made good.
3. Jeremiah’s faithfulness in delivering this mes¬
sage; though he knew it would be ungrateful to the
king, and might prove, as indeed it did, dangerous
to himself, (for he was clapped up for it,) yet he
spake all these words to Zedekiah, v. 6. It is a
mercy to great men to have those about them that
will deal faithfully with them, and tell them the
evil consequences of their evil courses, that they
may reform, and live.
8. This is the word that came unto Jere¬
miah from the Lord, after that the king
Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the
people which were at Jerusalem, to pro¬
claim liberty unto them ; 9. That every
man should let his man-servant, and every
man his maid-servant, being a Hebrew or
a Hebrewess, go free; that none should
serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his
brother. 10. Now, when all the princes,
and all the people which had entered into
the covenant, heard that every one should
let his man-servant, and every one his maid¬
servant, go free, that none should serve
themselves of them any more ; then they
obeyed, and let them go. 11. But after¬
wards they turned, and caused the servants,
and the handmaids, whom they had let go
free, to return, and brought them into sub¬
jection for servants and for handmaids. 1 2.
Therefore the word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 13.
Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, I
made a covenant with your fathers in the
day that I brought them forth out of the i
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen,
saying, 14. At the end of seven years, let
ye go every man his brother a Hebrew,
which hath been sold unto thee ; and, when
he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let
him go free from thee: but your lathers
hearkened not unto me, neither inclined
their ear. 15. And ye were now turned,
and had done right in my sight, in proclaim¬
ing liberty every man to his neighbour: and
ye had made a covenant before me in the
house which is called by my name: 16.
But ye turned, and polluted my name, and
caused every man his servant, and every
man his handmaid, whom ye had set at
liberty at their pleasure, to return, and
brought them into subjection, to be unto
you for servants and for handmaids. 17.
Therefore thus saith the Lord, Ye have
1 not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming
liberty every one to his brother, and every
man to his neighbour : behold, I proclaim a
liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the
sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine ;
and I will make you to be removed into all
the kingdoms of the earth. 18. And I will
give the men that have transgressed my
covenant, which have not performed the
words of the covenant which they had
made before me, when they cut the calf in
twain, and passed between the parts thereof,
19. The princes of Judah, and the princes
of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests,
and all the people of the land, which pass¬
ed between the parts of the calf; 20. I
will even give them into the hand of their
enemies, and into the hand of them that
seek their life ; and their dead bodies shall
be for meat unto the fowls of the hea¬
ven, and to the beasts of the earth. 21.
And Zedekiah king of Judah, and his
princes, will I give into the hand of their
enemies, and into the hand of them that
seek their life, and into the hand of the king
of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from
you. 22. Behold, I will command, saith
the Lord, and cause them to return to this
city; and they shall fight against it, and
take it, and burn it with fire : and I will
make the cities of Judah a desolation with¬
out an inhabitant.
We have here another prophecy upon a parti¬
cular occasion, the history of which we must take
notice of, as necessary to give light to the prophecy.
I. When Jerusalem was -closely besieged by the
Chaldean army, the princes and people agreed upon
a reformation In one instance, and that was concern¬
ing their servants.
1. The law of God was very express, that those
of their own nation should not be held in servitude
above seven years, but after they had served one
492
JEREMIAH, XXXIV.
apprenticeship, they should be discharged, and have
their liberty; yea, though they had sold themselves
into servitude for the payment of their debts, or
though they were sold by the judges for the punish¬
ment of their crimes. This difference was put be¬
tween their brethren and strangers, that those of
other nations, taken in war, or bought with money,
might be held in perpetual slavery, they and theirs;
but their brethren must serve but for seven years at
the longest. This God calls the covenant that he
had made with them, when he brought them out of
the land of Egypt, v. 13, 14. This was the first of
the judicial laws which God gave them, (Exod.
xxi. 2.) and there was good reason for that law.
(1.) God had put honour upon that nation, and he
would have them thus to preserve the honour of it
themselves, and to put a difference between it and
other nations. (2. ) God had brought them out of
slaver)' in Egypt, and he would have them thus to
express their grateful sense of that favour, by
letting those go, to whom their houses were houses
of bondage, as Egypt had been to their forefathers.
That deliverance is therefore mentioned here, (n.
13.) as the ground of that law. Note, God’s com¬
passions towards us should engage our compassions
towards our brethren; we must release as we are
released, forgive as we are forgiven, and relieve
as we are relieved. And this is called a covenant:
for our performance of the duty required is the
condition of the continuance of the favours God has
bestowed.
2. This law they and their fathers had broken;
their worldly profit swayed more with them than
God’s command or covenant. When their servants
had lived seven years with them, they understood
their business, and how to apply themselves to it,
better than they did when they first came to them,
and therefore they would then by no means part
with them, though God himself by his law had
made them free; Your fathers hearkened not to me
in this matter, ( y . 14. ) so that from the days of their
fathers they had been in this trespass; and they
thought they might do it, because their fathers did
it, and their servants had by disuse lost the benefit
of the provision God made for them ; whereas against
an express law, especially against an express law
of God, no custom, usage, or prescription, is to be
admitted in plea. For this sin of theirs, and their
fathers, God now brought them into servitude, and
justly.
3. When they were besieged, and closely shut in,
by the army of the Chaldeans, they, being told of
their fault in this matter, immediately reformed,
and let go all their servants that were entitled to
their freedom by the law of God; as Pharaoh, who,
when the plague was upon him, consented to let the
people go, and boupd themselves in a covenant to
do so. (1.) The prophets faithfully admonished
them concerning their sin. From them they heard
that they should let their Hebrew servants go free,
v. 10. They might have read it themselves in the }
book of the law, but did not, or did not heed it, there¬
fore the prophets told them what the law was. See
what need there is of the preaching of the word ;
people must hear the word preached, because they
will not make the use they ought to make of the
word written. (2.) All orders and degrees of men
concurred in this reformation. The king, and the
princes, and all the people, agreed to let go their
servants, whatever loss or damage they might sus¬
tain by so doing. When the king and princes led
in this good work, the people could not for shame
but follow. The example and influence of great
men would go very far towards extirpating the most
inveterate corruptions. (3.) They bound them¬
selves by a solemn oath and covenant, that they
would do this, whereby they engaged themselves to
God and one another. Note, What God has bound
us to by his precept, it is good for us to bind our¬
selves to by our promise. This covenant was very
solemn: it was made in a sacred place, made before
me, in the house which is called by my name, (t;.
15. ) in the special presence of God, the tokens of
which, in the temple, ought to strike an awe upon
them, and make them very sincere in their appeals
to him. It was ratified by a significant sign; they
cut a calf in two, and passed between the parts
thereof, (v. 18, 19.) with tins dreadful imprecation,
“Let us be in like manner cut in sunder, if we do
not perform what we now promise.” This calf
was, probably, offered up in sacrifice to God, who
was thereby made a Party to the covenant. When
God covenanted with Abram, for the ratification of
it, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed
between the pieces of the sacrifice, in allusion to this
federal rite, Gen. xv. 17. Note, That we may
effectually oblige ourselves to our duty, it is good to
alarm ourselves with the apprehensions of the
terror of the wrath and curse to which we expose
ourselves, if we live in the contempt of it, that
wrath which will cut sinners asunder; (Matth.
xxiv. 51.) and sensible signs may be of use to make
the impressions of it deep and durable, as here.
(4.) They conformed themselves herein to the com¬
mand of God, and their covenant with him ; they
did let their servants go, though at this time, when
the city was besieged, they could very ill spare
them. Thus they did right in God’s sight, v. 15.
Though it was their trouble that drove them to it,
yet he was well pleased with it; and if they had
persevered in this act of mercy to the poor, to their
poor servants, it might have been a lengthening of
their tranquillity, Dan. iv. 27.
II. When there was some hope that the siege
was raised, and the danger over, they repented of
their repentance, undid the good they had done,
and forced the servants they had released, into their
respective services again. 1. The king of Baby¬
lon's army was now gone up from tliem, v. 21.
Pharaoh was bringing an army of Egyptians to
oppose the progress of the king of Babylon’s victo¬
ries, upon the tidings of which the Chaldeans raised
the siege for a time, as we find, ch. xxxvii. 5.
They departed from Jerusalem. See how ready
God was to put a stop to his judgments, upon the
first instance of reformation, so slow is he to anger,
and so swift to show mercy. As soon as ever they
let their servants go free, God let them go free. 2.
When they began to think themselves safe from the
besiegers, the)' made their servants come back into
subjection to them, (k. 11.) and again, v. 16. This
was a great abuse to their servants, to whom servi¬
tude would be more irksome, after they had had
some taste of the pleasures of liberty. It was a
great shame to themselves, that they could not keep
in a good mind when they were in it. But it was
especially an affront to God; in doing this, they pol¬
luted his name, v. 16. It was a contempt of the
command he had given them, as if that were of no
force at all, but they might either keep it, or break
it, as they thought fit. It was a contempt of
the covenant they had made with him, and of that
wrath which they had imprecated on themselves,
in case they should break that covenant. It was jest¬
ing with God Almighty, as if lie could be imposed
upon by fallacious promises, which, when they had
gained their point, they would look upon themselves
no longer obliged by. It was lying to God with
their mouths, and faltering him with their tongues.
It was likewise a contempt of the judgments of
God, and setting them at defiance; as if, when once
the course of them was stopped a little and inter¬
rupted, they would never proceed again, and the
judgment would never be revived. Whereas re
493
JEREMIAH, XXXV.
E neves are so fur from being pardons, that if they
e abused thus, and sinners take encouragement
from them to return to sin, they are but prepara¬
tives for heavier strokes of divine vengeance. ,
III. For this treacherous dealing with God, they
are here severely threatened; Be not deceived , God
is not mocked. Those that think to put a cheat
upon God by a dissembled repentance, a fallacious
covenant, and a partial temporary reformation, will
prove in the end to have put the greatest cheat upon
their own souls; for the Lord, whose name is Jealous,
is a jealous God. It is here threatened with an ob¬
servable air of displeasure against them, l.That since
they had not given liberty to their servants to go w here
they pleased, God would give all his judgments liberty
to take their course against them without control;
(v. 17.) You have not proclaimed liberty to your
servants. Though they had done it, (v. 10. ) yet
they might truly be said hot to have done it, because
they did not stand to it, but undid it again; and
Factum non dicitur quod non perseverant — Thai is
not said to be done, which does not last. The
righteousness that is forsaken and turned aw«y
from, shall be forgotten, and not mentioned, any
more than if it had never been; (Ezek. xviii. 24.)
“ Therefore I will proclaim a liberty for you ; 1
will discharge you from my service, and put you < ut
of my protection, which those forfeit that withdraw
from their allegiance. You shall have liberty to
choose which of these judgments you will be cut
off by, sword, famine, or pestilence;” such a liberty
as was offered to David, which put him into a great
strait, 2 Sam. xxiv. 14. Note, Those that will not be
in subjection to the law of God put themselves into
subjection to the wrath and curse of God. But this
shows what liberty to sin really is — it is but a liberty
to the sorest judgments. 2. That, since they had
brought their servants back into confinement in their
houses, God would make them to be removed into all
the kingdoms of the earth , where they shall live in
servitude, and, being strangers, could not expect
the privileges of free-born subjects. 3. That,
since they had broken the covenant which they ra¬
tified by a solemn imprecation, God would bring on
them the evil which they imprecated upon them¬
selves, in case they should break it. Out of their
own mouth will he judge them, and so shall their
doom be; the penalty of their bond shall be reco¬
vered, because they have not performed the condi¬
tion; for so some read v. 18. “ I will make the men
•which have transgressed my covenant, as the calf
which they cut in twain; I will divide them in sunder
as they divided it in sunder.” 4. That, since they
would not let go their servants out of their hands,
God would deliver them into the hands of those
that hated them. Even the princes and nobles,
both of Judah and Jerusalem, of the country and
of the city; the eunuchs, chambeAiins, or great
officers of the court, the priests, ana all the people,
they had all dealt treacherously with God, and
therefore shall all be involved in the common ruin,
without exception; (y. 19.) they shall all be given
into the hand of their enemies, that seek, not their
wealth only, or their service, but their life. And
they shall have what they seek; but neither shall
that content them; when they have their lives, they
shall leave their dead bodies unburied, a loathsome
spectacle to all mankind, and an easy prey to the
fowls and beasts, a lasting mark of ignominy being
here fastened on them. 5. That, since they had
emboldened themselves in returning to their sin,
contrary to their covenant, by the retreat of the
Chaldean army from them, God would therefore
bring it upon them again; “ They are now gone up
from you, and your fright is over for the present,
but I will command them to face about as they were;
they shall return to this city, and take it and burn
it.” Note, (1.) As confidence in God is a hopefu,
presage of approaching deliverance, so security in
sin is a sad omen of approaching destruction. (2.)
When judgments are removed from a people be¬
fore tln^y have done their work, leave them, but
leave them unhumbled and unreformed, (it is cum
animo revertendi — with a design to return,) they
do but retreat to come on again with so much the
greater force; fi r when God judges, he will over-
cc me. (3.) It is just with God to disappoint those
expectatn ns of mercy which his providence had
given cause for, when we disappoint those expecta¬
tions of duty which our professions, pretensions, and
fair promises, had given cause for. If we repent
of the good we had purposed, God will repent of
the good he had purposed. With the f reward thou
wilt show thyself froward.
CHAP. XXXV.
A variety of methods is tried, and every stone turned, to
awaken the Jews to a sense of their sin, and to bring
them to repentance and reformation. The scope and ten¬
dency of many of the prophet’s sermons was to frighten
them out of their disobedience, by setting before them
what would be the end thereof, if they persisted in it.
The scope of this sermon, in this chapter, is to shame
them out of their disobedience, if they had any sense ot
honour left in them for a discourse of this nature to fas¬
ten upon. I. He sets before them the obedience of the
family of the Rechabites to the commands which were
left them by Jonadab their ancestor, and how they per¬
severed in that obedience, and would not be tempted
from it, v. 1. .11. 11. With this he aggravates the diso¬
bedience of the Jews to God, and their contempt of his
precepts, v. 12. .15. III. He foretells the judgments of
God upon the Jews for their impious disobedience to
God, v. 16, 17. IV. He assures the Rechabites of the
blessing of God upon them for their pious obedience to
their father, v. 18, 19.
1.^1 THE word which came onto Jeremiah
A from the Lord, in the days of Je-
hoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah,
saying, 2. Go unto the house of the Re¬
chabites, and speak unto them, and bring
them into the house of the Lord, into one
of the chambers, and give them w ine to
drink. 3. Then I took Jaazaniah the son
of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and
his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole
house of the Rechabites; 4. And I brought
them into the house of the Lord, into the
chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of
Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the
chamber of the princes, which teas above
the chamber of Maaseiah, the son of Slial-
lum, the keeper of the door : 5. And I set
before the sons of the house of the Rechab¬
ites pots full of wine, and cups ; and I said
unto them, Drink ye wine. 6. But they
said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab
the son of Reehab, our father, commanded
us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither
ye nor your sons for ever : 7. Neither shall
ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vine¬
yard, nor have any : but all your days ye
shall dwell in tents ; that ye may live many
days in the land where ye be strangers. 8.
Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab
the son of Reehab, our father, in all that he
hath charged us, to drink no wine all our
494
JEREMIAH, XXXV.
days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daugh¬
ters ; 9. Nor to build houses for us to dwell
in ; neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor
seed : 10. But we have dwelt in tents, and
have obeyed, and done according to all that
Jonadab our father commanded us. 1 1. But
it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon came up into the land, that we
said. Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for
fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for
fear of the army of the Syrians : so we dwell
at Jerusalem.
This chapter is of an earlier date than many of
those before; for what is contained in it, was said
and done in the days of Jehoiakim; ( v . 1.) but then
it must be in the latter part of his reign, for it was
after the king of Babylon with his army came u/i
into the land, (v. 11.) which seems to refer to the
invasion mentioned 2 Kings xxiv. 2. which was upon
occasion of Jehoiakim’s rebelling against Nebuchad¬
nezzar. After the judgments of God had broken in
upon this rebellious people, he continued to deal with
them by his prophets, to turn them from sin, that
his wrath might turn away from them. He endea¬
vours it by the example of the Rechabites, a family
that kept distinct by themselves, and were no more
numbered with the families of Israel than they with
the nations. They were originally Kenites, as ap¬
pears 1 Chron. ii. 55. These are the Kenites that
came out of Hemath, the father of the house of Re-
chab. The Kenites, at least those of them that
gained a settlement in the land of Israel, were of
the posterity of Hobab, Moses’s father-in-law, Judg.
i. 16. We find them separated from the Amalekites,
1 Sam. xv. 6. See Judg. iv. 17. One family of these
Kenites had their denomination from Rechab ; his
son, or a lineal descendant from him, was Jonadab,
a man famous in his time for wisdom and piety. He
flourished in the days of Jehu, king of Israel, near
300 years before this; for there we find him courted
by that rising prince, when he affected to appear
zealous for God, (2 Kings x. 15, 16.) which he
thought nothing more likely to confirm people in the
opinion of, than to have so good a man as Jonadab
ride in the chariot with him. Now we are told,
I. What the rules of living were, which Jonadab,
probably by his last will and testament, in writing,
and duly executed, charged his children, and his
posterity after him, throughout all generations, re¬
ligiously to observe; and we have reason to think
that they were such as he himself had all his days
observed. 1. He forbade them to drink wine, ac¬
cording to the law of the Nazarites. Wine is indeed
given to make glad the heart of man, and we are al¬
lowed the sober and moderate use of it; but we are
so apt to abuse it, and get hurt by it, and a good man,
who has his heart made continually glad with the
light of God's countenance, has so little need of it
for that purpose, (Ps. iv. 6, 7.) that it is a commend¬
able piece of self-denial, either not to use it at all, or
very sparingly and medicinally, as Timothy used it,
1 Tim. v. 23. 2. He appointed them to dwell in
tents, and not to build houses, or purchase lands, Or
rent, or occupy either, v. 7. This was an instance
of strictness and mortification beyond what the Na¬
zarites were obliged to. Tents were mean dwellings,
so that this would teach them to be humble; they
were cold dwellings, so that this would teach them
to be hardy, and not to indulge the body; they were
moveable dwellings, so that this would teach them
not to think of settling or taking root any where in
this world. They must dwell in tents all their days,
not for a few days, as Israel at the feast of taberna¬
cles, not only in summer days, as soldiers and shep
herds, but all their days. They must from the be¬
ginning thus accustom themselves to endure hard¬
ness, and then it would be no difficulty to them, no,
not under the decays of old age.
Now why did Jonadab prescribe these rules of liv¬
ing to his posterity? It was not merely to show his
authority, and to exercise a dominion over them, by
imposing upon them what he thought fit; but it was
to show his wisdom, and the real concern he had fi r
their welfare, by recommending to them what he
knew would be beneficial to them; yet, not tying
them by any oath or vow, or under any penalty, to
observe these rules, but only advising them to con¬
form to this discipline, as far as they found it for edi¬
fication, yet to be dispensed with in any case of ne¬
cessity, as here, v. 11. He prescribed these rules
to them, (1.) That they might preserve the ancient
character of their family; which, however looked
upon by some with contempt, he thought its real
reputation. His ancestors had addicted themselves
to a pastoral life, (Exod. ii. 16.) and he would have
his posterity kept to it, and not degenerated from
it, as Israel had done, who originally were shep¬
herds, and dwelt in tents, Gen. xlvi. 34. Notp, We
ought not to be ashamed of the honest employments
of our ancestors, though they were but mean. (2.)
That they might comport with their lot, and bring
their mind to their condition, Moses had put them
in hopes that the)' should be naturalized; (Numb. x.
32.) but, it seems, they were not, they were still
strangers in the land, (x/. 7.) had no inheritance in
it, and therefore must live by their employments,
which was a good reason why they should accustom
themselves to hard fare and hard lodging: for stran¬
gers, such as they were, must not expect to live as
the landed men, so plentifully and delicately. Note,
It is our wisdom and duty to accommodate ourselves
to our place and rank, and not aim to live above it.
What has been the lot of our fathers, why may we
not be content that it should be our lot, and live ac¬
cording to it? Mind not high things. (3.) That
they might not be envied and disturbed by their
neighbours among whom they lived. If they that
were strangers should live great, raise estates, and
fare sumptuously, the natives would grudge them
their abundance, and have a jealous eye upon them,
as the Philistines had upon Isaac, (Gen. xxvi. 14.)
and would seek occasions to quarrel with them and
do them a mischief; therefore he thought it would
be their prudence to keep low, for that would be the
wav to continue long; to live meanly, that they might
live many days in the land where they were stran¬
gers. Note, Humility and contentment in obscurity
are often the best policy, and men’s surest protec¬
tion. (4.) That they might be armed against tempt¬
ations to luxury and sensuality, the prevailing sin of
the age and pice they lived in. Jonadab saw a ge ¬
neral corruptron of manners ; the drunkards of
Ephraim abounded, and he was afraid lest his chil¬
dren should be debauched and ruined by them; and
therefore he obliged them to live by themselves, re¬
tired in tlxe country; and, that they might not run
into any unlawful pleasures, to deny themselves the
use even of lawful delights. They must be very
sober, and temperate, and abstemious, which would
contribute to the health both of mind and body, ar.d
to their living manv days and easy ones, and such as
they might reflect upon with comfort in the land
where they were strangers. Note, The considera¬
tion of this, that we are strangers and pilgrims,
should oblige us to abstain from all fleshly lusts, to
live above the things of sense, and look upon them
with a generous and gracious contempt. (5.) That
they might be prepared for times of trouble and ca¬
lamity, Jonadab might, without a spirit of prophecy,
foresee the destruction of a people so wretchedly do
196
JEREMIAH, XXXV.
generated, and he would have his famdy provided,
that, if they could not in the ficace thereof, yet even
in the midst of the troubles thereof, they might have
peace. Let them therefore have little to lose, and
then losing times would be the less dreadful to them:
let them sit loose to what they had, and then they
might with less pain be stript of it. Note, Those
are in the best frame to meet sufferings, who are
mortified to the world, and live a life of seff denial.
(6.) That in general they might learn to live by
rule, and under discipline. It is good for us all to do so,
and to teach our children to do so. Those that have
lived long, as Jonadab, probably, had done, when
he left this charge to his posterity, can speak by ex¬
perience of the vanity of the world, and the dan¬
gerous snares that are in the abundance of its wealth
and pleasures, and therefore ought to be regarded,
when they warn those that come after them to stand
upon their guard.
II. We are here told how strictly his posterity
observed these rules, v. 8. — 10. They had in their
respective generations all of them obeyed the voice
of Jonadab their father, had done according to all
that he commanded them. They drank no wine,
though they dwelt in a country where there was
plenty of it; their wives and children drank no wine,
for they that are temperate themselves should take
care that all under their charge should be so too.
They built no houses, tilled no ground, but lived
upon the products of their cattle. This they did,
partly in obedience to their ancestor, and out of a
veneration they had for his name and authority, and
partly from the experience they themselves had of
the benefit of living such a mortified life. See the
force of tradition, and the influence that antiquity, j
example, and great names have upon men, and how
that which seems very difficult, will by long usage i
and custom become easy, and in a manner natural. '
Now, (1.) As to one of the particulars he had
given them in charge, we are here told how in a
case of necessity they dispensed with the violation
of it; (v. 11.) When the king of Babylon came into
the land, with his army, though they had hitherto
dwelt in tents, they now quitted their tents, and
came and dwelt in Jerusalem, and in such houses as
they could furnish themselves with there. Note,
The rules of a strict discipline must not be made
too strict, but so as to admit of a dispensation when
the necessity of the case calls for it; which, there¬
fore, in making vows of that nature, it is wisdom to
provide expressly for, that the way may be made
the more clear, and we may not afterward be forced
to say, It was an error, Eccles. v. 6. Commands
of that nature are to be understood with such limit¬
ations. These Rechabites had tempted God, and
not trusted him, if they had not used proper means
for their own Safety in a time of common calamity,
notwithstanding the law and custom of,. their family.
(2.) As to the other particular, we Sre here told
how, notwithstanding the greatest urgency, they re¬
ligiously adhered to it. Jeremiah took them into the
temple, (k. 2.) into a prophet’s chamber there, ra¬
ther than into the chamber of the princes, that joined
to it, because he had a message from God, which
would look more like itself, when it was delivered in
the chambers of a man of God. There he not only
asked the Rechabites, Whether they drink any wine,
but he set pots full of wine before them, and cups to
drink out of, made the temptation as strong as pos¬
sible, and said, “Drink ye wine, ye shall have it on
free cost; ye have broken one of the rules of your
order, in coming to live at Jerusalem; why may ye
not break this too; and when ye are in the city, do
as they there do?” But they peremptorily refused,
they all agreed in the refusal; “No, we will drink
no wine; for with us it is against the law.” The
prophet knew very well they would deny it, and |
when they did, urged it no further, for he saw they
were stedfastly resolved. Note, Those temptations
are of no force with men of confirmed sobriety,
which yet daily overcome such as, notwithstanding
their convictions, are of no resolution in the paths of
virtue.
12. Then came the word of the Lord
unto Jeremiah, saying, 13. Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Go and
tell the men of Judah, and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruc¬
tion to hearken to my words? saith the
Lord. 14. The words of Jonadab the son
of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not
to drink wine, are performed; for unto this
day they drink none, but obey their father’s
commandment : notwithstanding I have
spoken unto you, rising early and speaking;
but ye hearkened not untome. 15. I have
sent also unto you all my servants the pro¬
phets, rising up early and sending them, say¬
ing, Return ye now every man from his evil
way, and amend your doings, and go not
after other gods to serve them, and ye shall
dwell in the land which I have given to you
and to your fathers; but ye have not inclin¬
ed your ear, nor hearkened unto me. 16.
Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Re¬
chab have performed the commandment of
their father, which he commanded them;
but this people hath not hearkened untome:
17. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of
hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring
upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, all the evil that I have pro¬
nounced against them : because I have spo¬
ken unto them, but they have not heard;
and I have called unto them, but they have
not answered. 1 8. And Jeremiah said unto
the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Because
ye have obeyed the commandment of Jona¬
dab j our father, and kept all his precepts,
and done, according unto all that he hath
commanded you ; 1 9. Therefore thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Jona¬
dab the son of Rechab shall not want a
man to stand before me for ever.
The trial of the Rechabites’ constancy was intend¬
ed but for a sign; now here we have the application
of it.
1. The Rechabites’ observance of their father’s
charge to them is made use of as an aggravation of
the disobedience of the Jews to God. Let them see
it, and be ashamed. The prophet asks them, in
God’s name, “ Will ye not at length receive in¬
struction? v. 13. Will nothing affect you? Will
nothing fasten upon you? Will nothing' prevail to
discover sin and duty to you? You see how obedient
the Rechabites are to their father’s commandment;
(v. 14.) but you have not inclined your ear to me,”
(v. 15. ) though one might much more reasonably
expect that the people of God should have obeyed
him, than that the sons of Jonadab should have
496
JEREMIAH, XXXVI.
obeyed him; and the aggravation is very' high, for,
(1.) The Rechabites were obedient to one who was
but a man like themselves, who had but the wisdom
and power of a man, and was only the father of
their flesh; but the Jews were disobedient to an in¬
finite and eternal God, who had an absolute au¬
thority' over them, as the Father of their spirits.
(2.) Jonadab was long since dead, and was igno¬
rant of them, and could neither take cognizance of
their disobedience to his orders, nor give correction
for it: but God lives for ever, to see how his laws
are observed, and is in a readiness to revenge all
disobedience. (3.) The Rechabites were never
put in mind of their obligations to their father; but
God often sent his prophets to his people, to put
them in mind of their duty to him, and yet they
would not do it. This is insisted on here as a great
aggravation of their disobedience; “I have myself
spoken to you, rising early, and s/ieaking, by the
written word and the dictates and admonitions of
conscience; (r. 14.) nay, I have sent unto you all
my servants the prophets, men like yourselves,
whose terrors shall not make you afraid, rising up
early and sending them, (y. 15. ) and yet all in vain. ”
(4.) Jonadab never did that for his seed, that God
had done foi his people; he left them a charge, but
left them no estate to bear the charge; but God had
given his people a good land, and promised them,
that, if they would be obedient, they should still
dwell in it; so that they were bound both in grati¬
tude and interest to be obedient, and yet they would
not hear, they would not hearken. (5. ) God did
not tie up his people to so much hardship, and to
such instances of mortification, as Jonadab obliged
his seed to; and yet Jonadab’s orders were obeyed,
and God’s were not.
2. Judgments are threatened, as often before,
against Judah and Jerusalem, for their disobedience
thus aggravated. The Rechabites shall rise up in
judgment against them, and shall condemn them;
for they very punctually jierformed the command¬
ment of their father, and continued and persevered
in their obedience to it; (v. 16.) but this fieo/ile,
this rebellious and gainsaying people, have not
hearkened unto me; and therefore, (v. 17.) because
they have not obeyed the precepts of the word,
God will perform the threatenings of it; “I will
briyg upon them, by the Chaldean army, all the
evil pronounced against them, both in the law and
in the prophets, for I have spoken to them, I have
called to them; spoken in a still small voice to them
that were near, and called aloud to them that were
at a distance; tried all ways and means to convince
and reduce them: spoken by my word, called by
my providence, both for the same purpose, and yet
all to no purpose; they have not heard, nor an¬
swered.
3. Mercy is here promised to the family of the
Rechabites, for their steady and unanimous adher¬
ence to the laws of their house; though it was only
for the shaming of Israel that their constancy was
tried; yet, being unshaken, it was found unto praise,
and honour, and glory. And God takes occasion
from it to tell them that he had favours in reserve
for them, (to 18, 19.) and that they should have the
comfort of them. It is promised, (1.) That the
family should continue as long as any of the families
of Israel, among whom they were strangers and
sojourners. It shall never want a man to inherit
what they had, though they had no inheritance to
leave them. Note, Sometimes those that have the
smallest estates have the most numerous progeny:
but he that sends mouths, will be sure to send meat.
(2.) That religion shall continue in the family;
"He shall not want a man to stand before me, to serve
me.” Though they are neither priests nor Levites,
Dor appear to have had any post in the temple-ser¬
vice, yet, in a constant course of regular devotion,
they stand before God, to minister to him. Note,
[ 1. ) The greatest blessing that can be entailed upon
a family, is, to have the worship of God kept up in
it from generation to generation. [2.] Tempe¬
rance, self-denial, and mortification to the world, do
very much befriend the exercises of piety, and help
to transmit the observance of them to posterity.
The more dead we are to the delights of sense, the
better we are disposed for the service of God; but
nothing is more fatal to the entail of religion in a
family than pride and luxury.
CHAP. XXXVI.
Here is another expedient tried to work upon this heedless
and untoward people, hut it is tried in vain. A roll of
a book is provided, containing an abstract or abridg¬
ment of all the sermons that Jeremiah had preached to
them, that they mjghl be put in mind of what they had
heard, and might the better understand it, when they
had it all before them at one view. Now here we have,
1. The writing of this roll by Baruch, as Jeremiah dic¬
tated it, v. 1..4. II. The reading of the roll by Baruch
to all the people publicly on a fast-day, (v. 5 . . 10.) after¬
ward by Baruch to the princes privately, (v. 11 . . 19.) and
lastly by Jehudi to the king, v. 20, 21. III. The burn¬
ing of the roll by the king, with orders to prosecute Je¬
remiah and Baruch, v. 22 . . 26. IV. The writing of
another roll, with large additions, particularly of Jehoia-
kim’s doom for burning the former, v. 27 . . 32.
1. 4 ND it came to pass, in the fourth
±\- year of Jehoiakint the son of Josiah
king of Judah, that this word came unto Je¬
remiah from the Lord, saying, 2. Take
thee a roll of a book, and write therein all
the words that I have spoken unto thee
against Israel, and against Judah, and
against all the nations, from the day 1 spake
unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even un¬
to this day. 3. It may be that the house
of Judah will hear all the evil which I pur¬
pose to do unto them; that they may return
every man from his evil w ay, that I may
forgive their iniquity and their sin. 4. Then
Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah :
and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jere¬
miah. all the words of the LoRn, w hich he
had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a hook.
5. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, say¬
ing, I am shut up; I cannot go into the
house of the Lord-: 6. Therefore go thou,
and read in the roll, which thou hast w ritten
from my mouth, the words of the Lord, in
the ears of the people, in the Lord’s house
upon the fasting-day: and also thou sbalt
read them in the ears of all Judah that come
out of their cities. 7. It may be they will
present their supplication before the Lord,
and will return every one from his evil w ay:
for great is the anger and the fury that the
Lord hath pronounced against this people.
8. And Baruch the son of Neriah did ac¬
cording to all that Jeremiah the prophet
commanded him, reading in the book the
words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.
In the beginning of Ezekiel’s prophecy \ve meet
with a roll written in vision, for the discovery of
the things therein contained to the preph? t himself,
who was to receive and digest them, F.zek. ii. 10. —
497
JEREMIAH, XXXVL
u, 1. Here in the latter end of Jeremiah’s pro¬
phet}, we meet with a roll, written in fact, for the
discu'v cry of the things contained therein to the peo¬
ple, who were to hear and give heed to them; for
the written word and other good books are of great
use both to ministers and people. We have here,
1. The command which God gave to Jeremiah
to write a summary of his sermons, of all the re¬
proofs and all the warnings he had giv en in God’s
nanw to his people, ever since he first began to be
a preacner, in the 13th year of Josiah, to this day,
which was in the 4th year of Jehoiakim, v. 2, 3.
What had been spoken only, must now be written,
that it might be reviewed, and that it might spread
the further, and last the longer. What had been
spoken at large, with frequent repetitions of the
same things, perhaps in the same words, (which
has its advantage one way,) must now be contracted,
and put into less compass, that the several parts of
it might be better compared together, which has its
advantage another way. What they had heard once,
must be recapitulated, and rehearsed to them again,
that what was forgotten, might be called to mind
again, and what made no impression upon them at
the first hearing, might take hold of them when
the) heard it the second time. And what was per¬
haps already written, and published in single ser¬
mons, must be collected into one volume, that none
might be lost. Note, The writing of the scripture
is by divine appointment. And observe the reason
here given for the writing of this roll; (x>. 3.) It
may be, the house of Judah •will hear. Not that
the divine prescience was at any uncertainty concern¬
ing the event, with that there is no peradventure;
God knew certainly that they would deal very
treacherously, Isa. xlviii. 8. But the divine wisdom
directed to this as a proper means for attaining the
desired end; if it failed, they would be the more in¬
excusable And though God foresaw that they
would not hear, he did not tell the prophet so, but
rescribed this method to him as a probable one, to
e used, in the hopes that they would hear, that is,
heed and regard what they heard, take notice of it,
and mix faith with it: for otherwise our hearing of
the word, though an angel from heaven were to
read or preach it to us, would stand us in no stead.
Now observe here, (1.) What, it is hoped, they
will thus hear; Ml that evil which I purpose to do
unto them. Note, The serious consideration of the
certain fatal consequence of sin, will be of great
use to us to bring us to God. (2A What, it is
hoped, will be produced thereby; They will hear,
that they may return every man from his evil way.
Note, The conversion ol sinners from their evil
courses, is that which ministers should aim at in
preaching; and people hear the word in vain, if
that point be not gained with them. To what pur¬
pose do we hear of the evil God will bring upon
us for sin, if we continue, notwithstanding, to do
evil against him? (3.) Of what vast advantage their
consideration and conversion will be to them; that
I may forgive their iniquity. This plainly implies
the honour of God’s justice, with which it is not
consistent that he should forgive the sin, unless the
sinner repent of it, and turn from it; but it plainly
expresses the honour of his mercy, that he is very
ready to forgive sin, and only waits till the sinner
be qualified to receive forgiveness, and therefore
uses various means to bring us to repentance, that
he may forgive.
2. The instructions which Jeremiah gave to Ba¬
ruch his scribe, pursuant to the command he had
received from God, and the writing of the roll ac¬
cordingly, u. 4. God bid Jeremiah write, but, it
should seem, he had not the pen of a ready writer,
he could not write fast, or fair, so as Baruch could,
and therefore he made use of him as his amanuen-
Vol. iv. — 3 R
, sis. St. Paul wrote but few of his epistles with lus
own hand. Gal. vi. 11. Rom. xvi. 22. God dis¬
penses his gifts variously; some have a good faculty
of speaking, others at writing, and neither can say
to the other, We have no need of you, 1 Cor. xii.
21. The Spirit of God dictated to Jeremiah, and
he to Baruch, who had been employed by Jeremiah
as trustee for him in his purchase of the field, (c/;.
xxxii. 12.) and now was advanced to be his scribe
and substitute in his prophetical office; and if we
may credit the Apocryphal book that bears his
name, he was afterward himself a prophet to the
captives in Babylon. Those that begin low are
likely to rise high, and it is good for those that are
designed for prophets to have their education under
prophets, and to be serviceable to them. Bai-uch
wrote what Jeremiah dictated in a roll of a book, on
pieces of parchment, or vellum, which were joined
together, the top of one to the bottom of the other,
so making one long scroll, which was rolled per¬
haps upon a staff.
3. The orders which Jeremiah gave to Bai-uch,
to read what he had written to the people. Jere¬
miah, it seems, was shut up, and could not go to
the house of the Lord himself; (xc 5.) though he
was not a close prisoner, for then there had been
no occasion to send officers to seize him, (xi. 26.) yet
he was forbidden by the king to appear in the tem¬
ple, was shut out thence, where he might be serv¬
ing God, and doing good, which was as bad to him
as if he had been shut up in a dungeon. Jehoiakim
was ripening apace for ruin, when he thus silenced
God’s faithful messengers. But when Jeremiah
could not go to the temple himself, he sent one that
was deputed by him, to read to the people what he
would himself have said. Thus St. Paul wrote
epistles to the churches which he could not visit in
person. Nay, it was what he himself had often
said to them. Note, The writing and repeating of
the sermons that have been preached, may contribute
very much toward the answering of the great ends
of preaching. What we have heard and known,
it is good for us to hear again, that we may know it
better. To preach and write the same thing is safe
and profitable, and many times very necessary,
(Phil. iii. 1.) and we must be glad to hear a goed
word from God, though we have it, as here, at
second-hand. Both ministers and people must do
what they can, when they cannot do what they
would. Observe, When God ordered the read-ng
of the roll, he said. It may be, they will hear, nd
return from their evil ways, v. 3. When Jeremiah
orders it, he says, It may be, they will pray, (they
will present their supplications before the Lord,)
and will return from their evil way. Note, Prayer
to God for grace to turn us, is necessary in order to
our turning; and those that are convinced by the
word of God of the necessity of returning to him,
will present their supplications to him for that grace.
And the consideration of this, that great is the an¬
ger which God has pronounced against us for sin,
should quicken both our prayers and our endeavours.
Now according to these orders, Baruch did read out
of the book the words of the Lord, whenever there
was a holy convocation, v. 8.
9. And it came to pass, in the fifth year of
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah,
in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a
fast before the Lord to all the people in
Jerusalem, and to all the people that came
from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.
10. Then read Baruch in the book the
words of Jeremiah in the houseof the Lord.
in the chamber of Gemariah the son of
198
JEREMIAH, XXXVI.
Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at
tiie entry of the new gate of the Lord’s
house, in the ears of all the people. 11.
When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the
son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book
all the words of the Lord, 12. Then he
went down into, the king’s house, into the
scribe’s chamber, and, lo, all the princes sat
there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah
the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son
of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Sha¬
phan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah,
and all the princes. 13. Then Michaiah
declared unto them all the words that he
had heard, when Baruch read the book in
the ears of the people. 14. Therefore all the
princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah,
the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto
Baruch, saying, Take in thy hand the roll
wherein thou hast read in the ears of the
people, and come. So Baruch the son of
Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came
unto them. 15. And they said unto him,
Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So
Baruch read it in their ears. 16. Now it
came to pass, when they had heard all the
words, they were afraid both one and other,
and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell
the king of all these words. 1 7. And they
asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How
didst thou write all these words at his
mouth? 18. Then Baruch answered them,
He pronounced all these words unto me
with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink
in the book. 1 9. Then said the princes unto
Baruch, Go hide thee, thou and Jeremiah,
and let no man know where ye be.
It should seem that Baruch had been frequently
reading out of the book, to all companies that would
give him the hearing, before the most solemn read¬
ing of it altogether, which is here spoken of; for the
directions were given about it in the 4 th year of Je-
hoiakim, whereas this was done in the 5th year, v. 9.
But some think that the writing of the book fair
over, took up so much time, that it was another
year ere it was perfected; and yet perhaps it might
not be past a month or two, he might begin in the
latter end of the 4th year, and finish it in the begin¬
ning of the 5th, for the 9th month refers to the com¬
putation of the year in general, not to the year of
that reign. Now observe here,
1. The government appointed a public fast to be
religiously observed, (i>. 9. ) on account either of the
distress they were brought into by the army of the
Chaldeans, or of the want of rain; (ch. xiv. I.) They
proclaimed a fast to the people; whether the king
and princes, or the priests, ordered this fast, is not
certain; but it was plain that God by his providence
called them aloud to it. Note, Great shows of piety
and devotion may be found even among those, who,
though they keep up these forms of godliness, are
strangers and enemies to the power of it. But what
will such hypocritical services avail? Fasting, with¬
out reforming, and turning away from sin, will never
turn away the judgments of God, Jonah iii. 10. Not¬
withstanding this fast, God proceeded in his contre-
versy with this people.
2. Baruch repeated Jeremiah’s sermons publicly
in the house of the Lord, on the fast-day. He stood
in a chamber that belonged to Gemariah, and out
of a window, or balcony, read to the people that
were in the court, v. 10. Note, When we are
speaking to God, we must be willing to hear from
him; and therefore on days of fasting and prayer,
it is requisite that the word be read and preached.
Hearken unto me, that God may hearken unto you,
Judg. ix. 7. For our help in suing out mercy and
grace, it is proper that we should be told of sin and
duty.
3. An account was brought of this to the princes
that attended the court, and were now together in
the secretary’s office, here called the scribe’s cham¬
ber, v. 12. It should seem, though the princes had
called the people to meet in the house of God, to
fast, and pray, and hear the word, they did not
think fit to attend there themselves, which was a
sign that it was not from a principle of true devo¬
tion, but merely for fashion-sake, that they pro¬
claimed this fast. We are willing to hope that it
was not with a bad design, to bring Jeremiah into
trouble for his preaching, but with a good design,
to bring the princes into trouble for their sins, that
Michaiah informed the princes of what Baruch had
read; for his father Gemariah so far countenanced
Baruch, as to lend him his chamber to read out of.
Michaiah finds the princes sitting in the scribe’s
chamber, and tells them, they had better have been
where he had been, hearing a good sermon in the
temple, which he gives them the heads of. Note,
When we have heard some good word that has
affected and edified us, we should be ready to com¬
municate it to others, that did not hear it, for their
edification. Out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaks.
4. Baruch is sent for, and is ordered to sit down
among them, and read it all over again to them,
(y. 14, 15.) which he readily did', not complaining
that he was weary with his public work, and there¬
fore desiring to be excused, nor upbraiding the
princes with their being absent from the temple,
where they might have heard it when he read it
there. Note, God’s ministers must become all things
to all men, if by any means they may gain some;
must comply with them in circumstances, that they
may secure the substance. St. Paul preached pri¬
vately to them of reputation, Gal. ii. 2.
5. The princes were for the present much affected
with the word that was read to them, v. 16. Ob¬
serve, They heard all the words, they did not inter¬
rupt him, but very patiently attended to the reading
of the whole book; for otherwise how could they
make a competent judgment of it? And when they
had heard all, they were afraid, were all afraid, one
as well as another; like Felix, who trembled at
Paul’s reasonings. The reproofs were just, the
threatenings terrible, and the predictions now in a
fair way to be fulfilled; so that, laying all together,
they were in a great consternation. We are not
told what impressions this reading of the roll made
upon the people, ( v . 10.) but the princes were put
into a fright by it, and (as some read it) looked one
upon another, not knowing what to say. They
were all convinced that it was worthy to be regard¬
ed, but none of them had courage to second it, only
they agreed to tell the king of all these words; anil
if he think fit to give credit to them, they will,
otherwise not, no, though it were to prevent the
ruin of the nation. And yet at the same time they
knew the king’s mind so far, that they advised
Baruch and Jeremiah to hide themselves, (?>. 1°.)
and to shift as they could for their own safety, ex¬
pecting no other than that the king, instead of being
499
JEREMIAH, XXXVI.
convinced, would be exasperated. Note, It is com- j
mon for sinners, under convictions, to endeavour to
shake them off, by shifting off the prosecution of
them to other persons, as these princes here, or to
another more convenient season, as Felix.
6. They asked Baruch a trifling question. How
he wrote all those words ? v. 1". as if they sus¬
pected there was something extraordinary in it; but
Baruch gives them a plain answer, that there was
nothing but what was common in the manner of the
writing — Jeremiah dictated, and he wrote, v. 18.
But thus it is common for those who would avoid
the convictions of the word of God, to start needless
questions about the way and manner of the inspira¬
tion of it.
20. And they went in to the king into the
court, but they laid up the roll in the cham¬
ber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the
words in the ears of the king. 21. So the
king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll; and he
took it out of Elishama the scribe’s cham¬
ber: and Jehudi read it in the ears of the
king, and in the ears of all the princes which
stood beside the king. 22. Now the king
sat in the winter-house, in the ninth month:
and there ivas a fire on the hearth burning
before him. 23. And it came to pass, that
when Jehudi had read three or four leaves,
he cut it with the pen-knife, and cast it into
the lire that was on the hearth, until all the
roll was consumed in the fire that was on
the hearth. 24. Yet they were not afraid,
nor rent their garments, neither the king,
nor any of his servants that heard all these
words. 25. Nevertheless, Elnathan, and
Delaiah, $nd Gemariah, had made inter¬
cession to the king that he would not burn
the roll; but he would not hear them. 26.
But the king commanded Jerahmeel the
son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son
of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel,
to take Baruch the scribe, and Jeremiah
the prophet: but the Lord hid them. 27.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jere¬
miah, (after that the king had burnt the
roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at
the mouth of Jeremiah,) saying, 28. Take
thee again another roll, and write in it all
the former words that were in the first roll,
which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath
burnt. 29. And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim
king of Judah, Thus saith the Lord, Thou
hast burnt this roll, saying, Why hast thou
written therein, saying, The king of Baby¬
lon shall certainly come and destroy this
land, and shall cause to cease from thence
man and beast? 30. Therefore thus saith
the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah, He
shall have none to sit upon the throne of
David; and his dead body shall be cast out
in the day to the heat, and in the night to
the frost. 31. And I will punish him, and
his seed, and his servants, for their iniquity;
and 1 will bring upon them, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men
of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced
against them: but they hearkened not. 32.
Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave
it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah;
who wrote therein, from the mouth of Jere¬
miah, all the words of the book which Je¬
hoiakim king of Judah had burnt in the fire:
and there were added besides unto them
many like words.
We have traced the roll to the people, and to the
princes, and here we are to follow it to the king;
and we find,
1. That, upon notice given him concerning it, he
sent for it, and ordered it to be read to him, v. 20,
21. He did not desire that Baruch would come and
read it himself, who could read it more intelligently,
and with more authority and affection, than any one
else; nor did he order one of his princes to do it;
(though it had been no disparagement to the great¬
est of them;) much less would he vouchsafe to read
it himself; but Jehudi, one of his pages now in wait¬
ing, who was sent to fetch it, is bid to read it, who,
perhaps, scarcely knew how to make sense of it.
But those who thus despise the word of God, will
soon make it to appear, as this king here did, that
they hate it too, and have not only low but ill
thoughts of it.
2. That he had not patience to hear it read
through as the princes had, but that, when he had
heard three or four leaves read, in a rage, he cut it
with his fienknife, and threw it piece by piece into
the fire , tiiat lie might be sure to see it all consumed,
v. 22, 23. This was a piece of as daring impiety
as a man could lightly be guilty of, and a most im¬
pudent affront to the God of heaven, whose message
this was. (1.) Thus he showed his impatience of
reproof; being resolved to persist in sin, he would
by no means bear to be told of his faults. (2. ) Thus
he showed his indignation at Baruch and Jeremiah;
he would have cut them inpieces, and burned them,
if he had had them in his reach, when he was in
this passion. (3.) Thus he expressed an obstinate
resolution, never to comply with the designs and
intentions of the warnings given him; he will do
what he will, whatever God bv his prophets says to
the contrary. (4.) Thus he foolishly hoped to de¬
feat the threatenings denounced against him; as if
God knew not how to execute the sentence when
the roll was gone in which it was written. (5.)
Thus he thought he had effectually provided that
the things contained in this roll should spread no
further, which was the care of the chief-priest con¬
cerning the gospel, Acts iv. 17. They had told him
how this roll had been read to the people and to the
princes; “But,” (says he) “ I will take a course that
shall prevent its being read any more.” See what
an enmity there is against God in the carnal mind,
and wonder at the patience of God, that he bears
with such indignities done to him !
3. That neither the king himself, nor any of his
princes, were at all affected with the word; They
were not afraid, (y. 24.) no, not those princes that
trembled at the word, when they heard it the first
time, v. 16. So soon, so easily, do good impressions
wear off! They showed some concern till they saw
how light the king made of it, and then they shook
off all that concern. They rent not their garments,
as Josiah did; this Jehoiakim’s own father did, when
he had the book of the law read to him, though it
was not so particular the contents of this roll
500
JEREMIAH, XXXVII.
were, nor so immediately adapted to the present
posture of affairs.
4. That there wei'e three of the princes who had
so much sense and grace left as to interpose for the
preventing of the burning of the roll, but in vain,
v. 25. If they had from the first showed them¬
selves, as they ought to have done, affected with
the word, perhaps they might have brought the
king to a better mind, and have persuaded him to
bear it patiently; but frequently they that will not
do the good they should, put it out of their own
power to do the good they would.
5. That Jehoiakim, when he had thus in effect
burnt God’s warrant by which he was arrested, as
it were in a way of revenge, now that he thought he
had got the better, signed a warrant for the appre¬
hending of Jeremiah and Baruch, God’s ministers;
( v . 26.) But the Lord hid them. The princes bid
them abscond, (n. 19.) but it was neither the prin¬
ces’ care for them, nor theirs for themselves, that
secured them, it was under the divine protection
that they were safe. Note, God will find out a
shelter for his people, though their persecutors be
ever so industrious to get them into their power,
till their hour be come; nay, and then he will him¬
self be their Hiding-place.
6. That Jeremiah had orders and instructions to
write in another roll the same words that were writ¬
ten in the roll which Jehoiakim had burnt, v. 27,
28. Note, Though the attempts of hell against the
word of God are very daring, yet not one iota or tit¬
tle of it shall fall to the ground, nor shall the unbelief
of man make the word of God of no effect. Ene¬
mies may prevail to burn many a Bible, but they
cannot abolish the word of God, can neither extir¬
pate it, nordefeatthe accomplishment of it. Though
the tables of the law were broken, they were re¬
newed again; and so out of the ashes of the roll that
was burnt, arose another Phoenix. The word of
the Lord endures for ever.
7. That the king of Judah, though a king, was
severely reckoned with by the King of kings for this
indignity done to the written word. God noticed
what it was in the roll that Jehoiakim took so much
offence at. Jehoiakim was angry, because it was
written therein, sayfng, Surely the king of Babylon
shall come and destroy this land, v. 29. And did
not the king of Babylon come two years before this,
and go far toward the destroying of this land ? He
did so, (2 Chron. xxxvi. 6, 7.) in his third year,
Dan. i. 1. So that God and his prophets were
therefore become his enemies, because they told him
the truth, told him of the desolation that was com¬
ing, but at the same time putting him into a fair way
to prevent it. But if this be the thing he takes so
much amiss, let him know, (1.) That the wrath of
God shall come upon him and his family, in the
first place, bv the hand of Nebuchadnezzar; he
shall be cut off, and in a few weeks his son shall be
dethroned, and exchange his royal robes for prison-
garments, so that he shall have none to sit upon the
throne of David; the glory of that illustrious house
shall be eclipsed, and die, in him; his dead body
shall lie unburied, or, which comes all to one, he
shall be buried with the burial of an ass, that is,
thrown into the next ditch; it shall lie exposed to
all weathers, heat and frost, which will occasion its
putrifying, and becoming loathsome, the sooner.
“Not that his body” (says Mr. Gataker) “could
be sensible of such usage, or himself, being de¬
ceased, of aught that should befall his body; but
that the king’s body in such a condition should be a
hideous spectacle, and a horrid monument of God’s
heavy wrath and indignation against him, unto all
that should behold it.” Even his seed and his ser¬
vants shall fare the worse for their relation to him,
{v. 31.) for they shall be punished, not for his ini¬
quity, but so much the sooner for their own. (2.)
That all the evil pronounced against Judah and Je¬
rusalem in that roll, shall be brought upon them.
Though the copy be burnt, the original remains in
the divine counsel, which shall again be copied out
after another manner in bloody characters. Note,
There is no escaping of God’s judgments by strug¬
gling with them; who ever hardened his heart
against God, and prospered?
Lastly, That, when the roll was written anew,
there were added to the former many like words,
( v . 32.) many more threatenings of wrath and ven¬
geance; for since they will yet walk contrary to God,
he will heat the furnace seven times hotter. Note,
as God is in one mind, and none can turn him, so he
has still more arrows in his quiver; and those who
contend with God’s woes, do but prepare for them¬
selves heavier of the same kind.
CHAP. XXXVII.
This chapter brings us very near the destruction of Jerusa¬
lem by the Chaldeans, for the story of it lies in the latter
end of Zedekiah’s reign; we have in it, I. A general idea
of the bad character of that rei^n, v. 1,2. II. The mes¬
sage which Zedekiah, notwithstanding, sent to Jeremi¬
ah to desire his prayers, v. 3. III. The flattering hopes
which the people had conceived, that the Chaldeans
would quit the siege of Jerusalem, v. 5. IV. The as¬
surance God gave them by Jeremiah, (who was now at
liberty, v. 4. ) that the Chaldean army should renew the
siege, and take the city, v. 6.. 10. V. The imprison¬
ment of Jeremiah, under pretence that he was a deserter,
v. 11.. 15. VI. The kindness which Zedekiah showed
him when he was a prisoner, v. 16 . . 21.
1 . A ND king Zedekiah, the son of Josiah,
J\. reigned instead of Coniah the son of
Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
2. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the
people of the land, did hearken unto the
words of the Lord, which he spake by the
prophet Jeremiah. 3. And Zedekiah the
king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and
Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest,
to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now
unto the Lord our God for us. 4. Now
Jeremiah came in and went out among the
people ; for they had not put him into prison.
5. Then Pharaoh’s army was come forth
out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that
besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them,
they departed from Jerusalem. 6. Then
came the word of the Lord unto the pro¬
phet Jeremiah, saying, 7. Thus saith the
Lord, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say
to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me
to inquire of me ; Behold, Pharaoh’s army,
which is come forth to help you; shall re¬
turn to Egypt into their own land. 8. And
the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight
against this city, and take it, and burn it
with fire. 9. Thus saith the Lord, Deceive
not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall
surely depart from us : for they shall not de¬
part. 10. For though ye had smitten the
whole army of the Chaldeans that fight
against you, and there remained hit wound¬
ed men among them, yd should they rise
JEREMIAH, XXXVII.
up every man in his tent, and burn this city
with fire.
Here is,
1. Jeremiah’s preaching slighted, v. 1, 2. Zede-
kiah succeeded Coniah, or Jechoniah, and though
he saw in his predecessor the fatal consequences of
contemning the word of God, yet he did not take
warning, nor give any more regard to it than others
had done before him; Neither he, nor his courtiers,
nor the people of the land, hearkened unto the words
of the Lord, though they already began to be ful¬
filled. Note, Those have hearts wretchedly hard
indeed, that see God’s judgments on others, and feel
them on themselves, and yet will not be humbled,
and brought to heed what he says. These had
proof sufficient that it was the Lord who spake by
Jeremiah the prophet, and yet they would not
hearken to him.
2. Jeremiah’s prayers desired. Zedekiah sent
messengers to him, saying, Pray now unto the Lord
our God for us. He did so before; (cA. xxi. 1, 2.)
and one of the messengers, Zephaniah, is the same
there and here. Zedekiah is to be commended for
this, and it shows that he had some good in him,
some sense of his need of God’s favour, and of his
own unworthiness to ask it for himself, and some
value for good people, and good ministers, who had
an interest in Heaven. Note, When we are in dis¬
tress, we ought to desire the prayers of our minis¬
ters and Christian friends, for thereby we put an
honour upon prayer, and an esteem upon our breth¬
ren. Kings themselves should look upon their pray¬
ing people as the strength of the nation, Zech. xii.
5,' 10. And yet this does but help to condemn Zede¬
kiah out of his own mouth. If indeed he looked
upon Jeremiah as a prophet, whose prayers might
avail much both for him and his people, why did he
not then believe him, and hearken to the words of
the Lord, which he spake by him? He desired his
good prayers, but would not take his good counsel,
nor be ruled by him, though he spake in God’s
name, and it appears by this that Zedekiah knew
he did. Note, It is common for those to desire to
be prayed for, who yet will not be advised; but
herein they put a cheat upon themselves; for how
can we expect that God should hear others speaking
to him for us, if we will not hear them speaking to
us from him, and for him? Many who despise
prayer when they are in prosperity, will be glad of
it when they are in adversity; Now give us of your
oil. When Zedekiah sent to the prophet to pray
for him, he had better have sent for the prophet to
pray with him; but he thought that below him: and
how can they expect the comforts of religion, who
will not stoop to the services of it ?
3. Jerusalem flattered by the retreat of the Chal¬
dean army from it. Jeremiah was now at liberty;
(v. 4.) he went in and out among the fieofile, might
freely speak to them, and be spoken to by them.
Jerusalem also, for the present, was at liberty, v.
5. Zedekiah, though a tributary to the king of Baby¬
lon, had entered into a private league with Pharaoh
king of Egypt, (Ezek. xvii. 15.) pursuant to which,
when the king of Babylon came to chastise him for
his treachery, the king of Egypt, though he came
no more in person, after that great defeat which
Nebuchadnezzar gave him in the reign of Jehoia-
kim,(2 Kings xxiv.7.) yet sent some forces to relieve
Jerusalem when it was besieged; upon notice of the
approach of which, the Chaldeans raised the siege,
probably not for fear of them, but in policy, to fight
them at a distance, before any of the Jewish forces
could join them. From this they encouraged them¬
selves to hope that Jerusalem was delivered for
good and all out of the hands of its enemies, and
that the storm was quite blown over. Note, Sinners
501
are commonly hardened in their security by the in
termissions of judgments, and the slow proceedings
of them; and those who will not be awakened by the
word of God, may justly be lulled asleep by the pro¬
vidence of God.
4. Jerusalem threatened with the return of the
Chaldean army, and with ruin by it. Zedekiah
sent to Jeremiah to desire him to pray for them,
that the Chaldean army might not return; but Jere¬
miah sends them word back that the decree was
gone forth, and that it was but a folly for them to
expect peace, for God had begun a controversy
with them, which he would make an end of; Thus
saith the Lord, deceive not yourselves, v. 9. Note,
Satan himself, though he is the great deceiver,
could not deceive us, if we did not deceive ourselves;
and thus sinners are their own destroyers by being
their own deceivers; of which this is an aggrava¬
tion, that they are so frequently warned of it, and
cautioned not to deceive themselves; and they have
the word of God, the great design of which is to un¬
deceive them. Jeremiah uses no dark metaphors,
but tells them plainly,
(1.) That the Egyptians shall retreat, and eithn
give back, or be forced back, into their own land,
(Ezek. xvii. 17.) which was said of old, (Isa. xxx
7.) and is here said again, v. 7. That the Egyptian*
shall help in vain; they shall not dare to face th<
Chaldean army, but shall retire with precipitation
Note, If God help us not, no creature can. As nc
power can prevail against God, so none can avai
without God, nor countervail his departures from us
(2.) That the Chaldeans shall return, and shaij
renew the siege, and prosecute it with more vigoui
than ever. They shall not depart for good and all
v. 9. They shall come again; (v. 8.) they shall
fight against the city. Note, God has the sovereign
command of all the hosts of men, even of those that
know him not, that own him not, and they are all
made to serve his purposes. He directs their
marches, their counter-marches, their retreats,
their returns, as it pleases him; and furious armies,
like stormy winds, in all their motions ace fulfilling
his word.
(3.) That Jerusalem shall certainly be delivered
into the hand of the Chaldeans! They shall take it,
and burn it with fire, v. 8. The sentence passed
upon it shall be executed, and they shall be the exe¬
cutioners. “O but” (say they) “the Chaldeans
are withdrawn, they have quitted the enterprize as
impracticable;” “And though they have,” says the
prophet, “ nay, though you had smitten their'armv,
so that many were slain, and all the rest wounded,
yet those wounded men should rise up, and bum
this city,” v. 10. This is designed to denote that
the doom passed upon Jerusalem is irrevocable, and
its destruction inevitable; it must be laid in ruins,
and these Chaldeans are the men that must do it,
and it is now in vain to think of evading the stroke,
or contending with it. Note, Whatever instruments
God has determined to make use of in any service
for him, whether of mercy or judgment, they shall
accomplish that for which they are designed, what¬
ever incapacity or disability they may lie under, or
be reduced to. Those by whom God has resolved
to save or to destroy, sav iours they shall be, and
destroyers they shall be, yea, though they were all
wounded; for as when God has work to do, he will
not want instruments to do it with, though they
may seem far to seek; so when he has chosen his
instruments, they shall do the work, though they
may seem very unlikely to accomplish it
11. And it came to pass, that when the
army of the Chaldeans was broken up from
Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, 1 2
502
JEREMIAH, XXXVII.
Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem
to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate
himself thence in the midst of the people.
13. And when he was in the gate of Benja¬
min, a captain of the ward ivas there, whose
name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the
son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah
(he prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to
the Chaldeans. 14. Then said Jeremiah,
It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans.
But he hearkened not to him : so Irijah took
Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
1 5. Wherefore the princes were wroth with
Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in
prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe;
for they had made that the prison. 16.
When Jeremiah was entered into the dun¬
geon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had
remained there many days; 1 7. Then Zede-
kiah the king sent, and took him out; and
the king asked him secretly in his house,
and said, Is there any word from the Lord?
And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he,
thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the
king of Babylon. 1 8. Moreover, Jeremiah
said unto king Zedekiah, What have I of¬
fended against thee, or against thy servants,
or against this people, that ye have put me
in prison? 19. Where arc now your pro¬
phets which prophesied unto you, saying,
The king of Babylon shall not come against
you, nor against this land ? 20. Therefore
hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king:
let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted
before thee; that thou cause me not to re¬
turn to the house of Jonathan the scribe,
lest I die there. 21. Then Zedekiah the
king commanded that they should commit
Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and
that they should give him daily a piece of
bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the
Dread in the city were spent. Thus Jere¬
miah remained in the court of the prison.
We have here a further account concerning Jere¬
miah, who relates more passages concerning himself
than any other of the prophets; for the histories of
the lives and sufferings of God’s ministers have been
very serviceable to the church, as well as their
preaching and writing.
I. We are here told that Jeremiah, when he had
an opportunity for it, attempted to retire out of Je¬
rusalem into the country; (?>. 11, 12.) When the
Chaldeans had broken up from Jerusalem, because
of Pharaoh's army, upon the notice of their ad¬
vancing towards them, Jeremiah determined to go
into the country, and (as the margin reads it) to
sli/i away from Jerusalem in the midst of the peo¬
ple, who, in that interval of the siege, went out into
the country to look after their affairs there; he en¬
deavoured to steal away in the crowd, for, though
he was a man of great eminence, he could well re¬
concile himself to obscurity; though he was one of
a thousand, he was content to be lost in the multi¬
tude, and buried alive in a corner, in a cottage.
I Whether he designed for Anathoth or no, does not
| appear; his concerns might call him thither, but his
neighbours there were such as, unless they were
mended since, ( ch . xi. 21.) might discourage him
from coming among them; or he might intend to
hide himself somewhere where he was not known,
and fulfil his own wish, {eh. xi. 2.) Oh that I had
in the wilderness a lodging place! Jeremiah found he
could do no good in Jerusalem, he laboured in vain
among them, and therefore determined to leave
them. Note, There are times when it is the wisdom
of good men to retire into privacy, to enter into the
chamber, and shut the doors about them, Jsa. xxvi. 20.
II. That in this attempt he was seized as a de¬
serter, and committed to prison; ( v . 13. — 15.) He
was in the gate of Benjamin, so far he had gained
his point, when a captain of the ward, who, proba¬
bly, had the charge of that gate, discovered him,
and took him into custody. He was the grandson of
Hananiah, who, the Jews say, was Hananiah the
false prophet, who contested with Jeremiah, (ch.
xxviii. 16.) and that this young emttain had a spite
to Jeremiah upon that account. He could not ar¬
rest him without some pretence, and that which he
charges upon him is, Thou fallest away to the Chal¬
deans; an unlikely story, for the Chaldeans were
now gone off, Jeremiah could not reach them: or if
he could, who Would go over to a baffled army?
Jeremiah, therefore, with good reason, and with
both the confidence and the mildness of an innocent
man, denies the charge, “ It is false, I fall not away
to the Chaldeans, I am going upon my own lawful
occasions. ” Note, It is no new thing for the church’s
best friends to be represented as in the interest of
her worst enemies; thus have the blackest charac¬
ters been put upon the fairest, purest minds, and,
in such a malicious world as this is, innocency, nay,
excellency itself, is no fence against the basest ca¬
lumny. When at any time we are thus falsely ac¬
cused, we may do as Jeremiah did, boldly deny the
charge, and then commit our cause to him that
judges righteously. Jeremiah’s protestation of his
integrity, though he be a prophet, a man of God, a
man of honour and sincerity, though he is a priest,
and is ready to say it in verbo sacerdotis — on the
word of a priest, is not regarded; but he is brought
before the privy-council, who, without examining
him and the proofs against him, but upon the base,
malicious insinuation of the captain, fell into a pas¬
sion with him, thev were wroth; and what justice
could be expected from men, who, being in anger,
would hear no reason? They beat him, without any
regard had to his coat and character, and then put
him in prison, in the worst prison they had, that in
the house of Jonathan the scribe; either it had been
his house, and he had quitted it for the incon-
veniencies of it, but it was thought good enough for
a prison; or it was now his house, and perhaps he
was a rigid severe man, that made it a house of cruel
bondage to bis prisoners. Into this prison Jeremiah
was thrust, into the dungeon, which was dark and
cold, damp and dirty, the most uncomfortable, un¬
healthful place in it; in the cells or cabins, there he
must lodge, among which there is no choice, for
they are all alike miserable lodging places; there
•Jeremiah remained many days, and, for aught up-
ears, nobody came near him, or inquired after him.
ee what a world this is! The wicked princes, who
are in rebellion against God, lie at ease, lie in state,
in their palaces, while godly Jeremiah, who is in the
service of God, lies in pain, in a loathsome dungeon.
It is well that there is a world to come!
III. That Zedekiah at length sent for him, and
showed him some favour; but, probably, not till the
Chaldean army was returned, and had laid fresh
siege to the city; when their vain hopes, with which
they fed themselves, (and in confidence < f which
503
JEREMIAH, XXXVIII.
hey had re-enslaved their servants, ch. xxxiv. 11.)
were ull vanished, then they were in a greater con¬
fusion and consternation than ever; “O then” (says
Zedehiah) “send in all haste for the prophet; let
me have some talk with him. ” When the Chal¬
deans were withdrawn, he only sent to the prophet
to pray for him; but now that they had again in¬
vested the city, he sent for him to consult him. Thus
gracious will men be when pangs come upon them!
1. The king sent for him to give him private au¬
dience as an ambassador from God. He asked him
secretly in his house, being ashamed to be seen in his
company, “ Is there any word from the Lord ? v.
17. Any word of comfort? Canst thou give us any
hopes that the Chaldeans shall again retire?” Note,
Those that will not hearken to God’s admonitions
when they are in prosperity, would be glad of his
consolations when they are in adversity, and expect
that his ministers should then speak words of peace
to them; but how can they expect it? What have
they to do with peace? Jeremiah’s life and comfort
are in Zedekiah’s hand, and he has now a petition
to present to him for his favour, and yet, having this
opportunity, he tells him plainly, that there is a
word from the Lord, but no word of comfort for
him or his people; Thou shall he delivered into the
hand of the king of Babylon. If Jeremiah had con¬
sulted with flesh and blood, he would have given
him a plausible answer, and though he would not
have told him a lie, yet he might have chosen whe¬
ther he would tell him the worst at this time; what
occasion was there for it, when he had so often told
it him before? But Jeremiah was one that had ob-
tair.ed mercy of the Lord to be faithful, and would
not, to obtain mercy of man, be unfaithful either to
God or to his prince; he therefore tells him the
truth, the whole truth. And, since there was no
remedy, it would be a kindness to the king to know
his doom, that being no surprise to him, it might be
the less a terror, and he might provide to make the
best of bad. Jeremiah takes this occasion to up¬
braid him and his people with the credit they gave
to the false prophets, who told them that the king
of Babylon should not come at all, or when he was
withdrawn, should not come again against them, v.
19. “ Where dre now your / irofihets , who told you
that you should have peace?” Note, Those who de¬
ceive themselves witli groundless hopes of mercy,
will justly be upbraided with it when the event has
undeceived them.
2. He improved this opportunity for the present¬
ing of a private petition, as a poor prisoner, v. 18,
20. It was not in Jeremiah’s power to reverse the
sentence God had passed upon Zedekiah, but it was
in Zedekiah’s power to reverse the sentence which
the princes had given against him ; and therefore,
since he thought him fit to be used as a prophet, he
would not think him fit to be abused as the worst of
malefactors. He humbly expostulates with the king;
What have I offended against thee, or thy ser¬
vants, or this fieofile, what law have I broken, what
injury have I done to the common welfare, that ye
have fiut me in firison?" And many a one that has
been very hardly dealt with, has been able to make
the same appeal, and to make it good. He likewise
earnestly begs, and very pathetically, (n. 20.) Cause
me not to return to yonder noisome gaol, to the house
of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. This was
the language of innocent nature, sensible of its own
grievances, and solicitous for its own preservation.
Though he was not at all unwilling to die God’s
martyr, yet, having so fair an opportunity to get re¬
lief, he would not let it slip, lest he should die his
own murderei When Jeremiah delivered God’s
message, he spake, as one having authority, with
the greatest boldness; but when he presented his
own request, he spake as one under authority, with
the greatest submissiveness; Hear me, I fray thee,
0 my lord the king, let my sufflications, f fray
thee, be accefted before thee. Here is not a word of
complaint of the princes that unjustly committed
him, no offer to bring an action of false imprison¬
ment against them, but all in a way of modest sup¬
plication to the king, to teach us that even when we
act with the courage that becomes the faithful ser¬
vants of God, yet we must conduct ourselves with
the humility and modesty that become dutiful sub¬
jects to the government God hath set over us. A
lion in God’s cause, must be a lamb in his own. And
we find that God gave Jeremiah favour in the eyes
of the king. (1.) He gave him his request, took
care that he should not die in the dungeon, but or¬
dered that he should have the liberty of the court
of the firison, where he might have a pleasant walk,
and breathe a free air. (2.) He gave him more
than his request, took care that he should not die for
want, as many did that had their liberty, by reason
of the straitness of the siege; he ordered him his
daily bread out of the public stock (for the prison
was within the verge of the court) till all the bread
wassfent. Zedekiah ought to have released him,
nay, to have preferred him, to have made him a
privy-counsellor, as Joseph was taken from prison
to be the second man in the kingdom; but he had
not courage to do that, — it was well he did as he did,
and it is an instance of the care God takes of his
suffering servants that are faithful to him. He can
make even their confinement turn to their advan¬
tage, and the court of their prison to become as
green pastures to them, and raise up such friends to
provide for them, that in the days of famine they
shall be satisfied, jit destruction and famine thou
shall laugh.
CHAP. XXXVIII.
In this chapter, just as in the former, we have Jeremiah
greatly debased under the frowns of the princes, and yet
greatly honoured by the favour of the king; they used
him as a criminal, he used him as a privy-counsellor.
Here, I. Jeremiah for his faithfulness is put into the dun¬
geon by the princes, v. 1..6. II. At the intercession of
Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, by special order from the
king, he is taken up out of the dungeon, and confined
only to the court of the prison, v. 7.. 13. III. He has a
private conference with the king upon the present con¬
juncture of affairs, v. 14.. 23. IV. Care is taken to keep
that conference private, v. 24.. 28.
1 . npHEN Shephatiah the son of Mattan,
JL and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and
Jucal the son of Shelenhah, and Pashur the
son of Malchiah, heard the words that Je¬
remiah had spoken unto all the people, say¬
ing, 2. Thus saith the Lord, He that re-
maineth in this city shall die by the sword,
by the famine, and by the pestilence : but
he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall
live ; for he shall have his life for a prey,
and shall live. 3. Thus saith the Lord,
This city shall surely be given into the hand
of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall
take it. 4. Therefore the princes said unto
the king, We beseech thee, let this man be
put to death; for thus he weakeneth the
hands of the men of war that remain in
this city, and the hands of all the people, in
speaking such words unto them : for this
man seeketh not the welfare of this people,
but the hurt. 5. Then Zedekiah the king
said, Behold, he is in your hand : for the
JEREMIAH, XXXV11I.
504
king is not he that can do any thing against I
you. 6. Then took they Jeremiah, and cast
him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son
of Hammelech, that was in the court of the
prison: and they let down Jeremiah with
cords. And in the dungeon there was no
water, but mire : so Jeremiah sunk in the
mire. 7. Now when Ebed-melech the Ethi¬
opian, one of the eunuchs, which was in the
king’s house, heard that they had put Jere¬
miah in the dungeon, (the king then sitting
in the gate of Benjamin,) 8. Ebed-melech
went forth out of the king's house, and spake
to the king, saying, 9. My lord the king,
these men have done evil in all that they
have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom
they have cast into the dungeon ; and he is
like to die for hunger in the place where he
s ; for there is no more bread in the city.
1 0. Then the king commanded Ebed-melech
the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence
thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah
the prophet out of the dungeon, before he
die. 11. So Ebed-melech took the men with
lim, and went into the house of the king
under the treasury, and took thence old cast
clouts and old rotten rags, and let them
down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
2. And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said
unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts
and rotten rags under thine arm-holes, un¬
der the cords. And Jeremiah did so. 13.
So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and
took him up out of the dungeon : and Jere¬
miah remained in the court of the prison.
Here, X. Jeremiah persists in his plain preach¬
ing; what he had many a time said, he still says, ( v .
3.) This city shall be given into the hand of the king
of Babylon; though it hold out long, it will be taken
at last; nor would he have so often repeated this un¬
welcome message, but that he could put them in a
certain way, though not to save the city, yet to save
themselves; so that every man might have his own
life given him for a prey, if he would be advised.
v. 2. Let him not stay in the city, in hopes to de¬
fend that, for it will be to no purpose, but let him
go forth to the Chaldeans, and throw himself upon
their mercy, before things come to extremity, and
then he shall live; they will not put him to the sword,
out give him quarter, Satis est firostrasse leoni. — It
suffices the lion to lay his antagonist prostrate, and
he shall escape the famine and pestilence, which will
be the death of multitudes within the city. Note,
Those do better for themselves, who patiently sub¬
mit to the rebukes of Providence, than those who
contend with them. And if we cannot have our
liberty, we must reckon it a mercy to have our lives,
and not foolishly throw them away upon a point of
honour; they may be reserved for better times.
2. The princes persist in their malice against Je¬
remiah. He was faithful to his country, and his
trust as a prophet, though he had suffered many a
time for his faithfulness; and though at this time he
ate t lie king’s bread, yet that did not stop his mouth.
But his persecutors were still bitter against him,
and complained that he abused the liberty he had
of walking in the court of the prison, for though he
could not go to the temple to preach, yet he vented
the same things in private conversation to those that
came to visit him; and therefore (u. 4.) they repre¬
sented him to the king as a dangerous man, disaf¬
fected to his country, and to the government he lived
under; He seeks not the welfare of this people, but
the hurt: an unjust insinuation, for no man had laid
out himself more for the good of Jerusalem than he
had done. They represent his preaching as having
a bad tendency; the design of it was plainly to bring
men to repent, and turn to God, which would have
been as much as any thing a strengthening to the
hands both of the soldiery and of the burghers, and
yet they represented it as weakening their hands, and
discouraging them; if he did this, it was their own
fault. Note, It is common for wicked people to look
upon God’s faithful ministers as their enemies, only
because they show them what enemies they are to
themselves while they continue impenitent.
3. Jeremiah, hereupon, by the king’s permission,
is put into a dungeon, with a view to his destruction
there. Zedekiah, though he felt a conviction that
Jeremiah was a prophet, sent of God, had not cou¬
rage to own it, but yielded to the violence of his per¬
secutors, v. 5. He is in your hand; and a worse
sentence he could not have passed upon him. We
found in Jehoiakim’s reign, that the princes were
better affected to the prophet than the king was,
(ch. xxx vi. 25.) but now they were more violent
against him, a sign that they were ripening apace
for ruin. Had it been in a cause that concerned his
own honour or profit, he would have let them know
that the king is he who can do what he pleases,
whether they will or no; but in the cause of Goil
and his prophet, which he was very cool in, lie
basely sneaks, and truckles to them, The king is
not he that can do any thing against you. Note,
Those will have a great deal to answer for, who,
though they have a secret kindness for good people,
dare not own it in a time of need, nor will do what
they might do, to prevent mischief designed them.
The princes having this general warrant from
the king, immediately put poor Jeremiah into the
dungeon of Malchiah, that was in the court of the
prison, (u. 6.) a deep dungeon, for they le' him
down into it with cords: and a dirty one, for there
was no water in it, but mire; and he sunk in the
mire, up to the neck, says Josephus. They that put
him here, doubtless designed that he should die
here, die for hunger, die for cold, and so die miser¬
ably, die obscurely, fearing, if they should put him
to death openly, the people might be affected with
what he would say, and be incensed against them.
Many of God’s faithful witnesses have thus been
privately made away, and starved to death in pri¬
sons, whose blood will be brought to account in the
day of discovery. We are not here told what Jere¬
miah did in this distress, but he tells us himself,
(Lam. iii. 35, 57.) I called upon thy name, 0 Lord,
out of the low dungeon, and thou drewest near, say¬
ing, Tear not.
4. Application is made to the king by an honest
courtier, Tbed-melech, one of the gentlemen of the
bed-chamber, in behalf of the poor sufferer. Though
the princes carried on the matter as privately as
they could, yet it came to the ear of this good man,
who, probably, sought opportunities to do good. It
may be, he came to the knowledge of it by hearing
Jeremiah’s moans out of the dungeon, for it was in
the king’s house, v. 7. Ebed-melech was an Ethio¬
pian, a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, and
yet had in him more humanity, and more divinity
too, than native Israelites had. Christ found more
faith among Gentiles than among Jews. Ebed-me¬
lech lived in a wicked court, and a vert corrupt,
degenerate age, and yet had a great sense both of
JEREMIAH XXXVIII.
505
equity and piety. God lias his remnant in all
places, among all sorts. There were saints even in
Cesar’s household. The king was now sitting in
the gates of Benjamin, to try causes, and receive
appeals and petitions, or perhaps holding a council
ot war there: thither Ebed-melech went immedi¬
ately to him, for the case would not admit delay;
the prophet might have perished, if he had trifled,
or put it off till he had an opportunity of speaking
to the king in private. No time must be lost when
life is in danger, especially so valuable a life. He
boldly asserts that Jeremiah had a great deal of wrong
done him, and is not afraid to tell the king so, though
they were princes that did it, though they were now
present in court, and though they had the king’s war¬
rant for what they did. Whither should oppressed
innocency flee for protection but to the throne, espe¬
cially when great men are its oppressors? Ebed-me¬
lech appears truly brave in this matter; he does not
mince the matter; though he had a place at court,
which he would be in danger of losing for his plain
dealing, yet he tells the king faithfully, let him take
it as he will: These men have done ill in all that they
have done to Jeremiah. They dealt unjustly with
him, for he had not deserved any punishment at all;
and they had dealt barbarously with him, so as they
used not to deal with the vilest malefactors. And
they needed not to have put him t« this miserable
death, for if they had let him alone where he was,
he was likely to die for hunger in the place where
he was, in the court of the prison to which he was
confined, for there was no more bread in the city;
the stores out of which he was to have his allow¬
ance, (c/i. xxxvii. 21.) were in a manner spent.
See how God can raise up friends for his people in
distress, where they little thought of them; and
spirit men for his sen ice even beyond expectation !
5. Orders are immediately given for his release,
and Ebed-melech takes care to see them executed.
The king who, but now, durst do nothing against
the princes, had his heart wonderfully changed on
a sudden, and will now have Jeremiah released, in
defiance of the princes, for therefore he orders no
less than 30 men, and those of the life-guard, to be
employed in fetching him out of the dungeon, lest
the princes should raise a party to oppose it, v. 10.
Let this encourage us to appear boldly for God — we
may succeed better than we could have thought,
for the hearts of kings are in the hand of God.
Ebed-melech gained his point, and soon brought
Jeremiah the good news; and it is observable how
particularly the manner of his drawing him out of
the dungeon is related: (for God is not unrighteous
to forget any work or labour of love which is
showed to his people or ministers, no, nor any cir¬
cumstance of it, Heb. vi. 10. ) special notice is taken
of his great tenderness in providing old soft rags for
Jeremiah to put under his arm-holes, to keep the
cords from hurting him, wherewith he was to be
drawn up, his arm-holes being, probably, galled by
the cords wherewith he was let down. Nor did he
throw the rags down to him, lest they should be lost
in the mire, but carefully let them down, v. 11, 12.
Note, Those that are in distress should not only be
relieved, but reliev ed with compassion and marks
of respect; all which shall be placed to account,
and abound to a good account in the day of recom¬
pense. See what a good use even old rotten rags
may be put to, which therefore should not be made
waste of, any more than broken meat: even in the
king’s house, and under the treasury too, these were
carefully preserved for the use of the poor or sick.
Jeremiah is brought up out of the dungeon, and is
now where he was, in the ctuirt of the prison, v. 13.
Perhaps Ebed-melech could have made interest
with the king to have got him his discharge from
thence also, now that he had the king’s ear, but he
V0L. IV.— 3 S
thought him safer, and better provided for there,
than he would be any where else. God can, when
he pleases, make a prison to become a refuge and
hiding-place to his people in distress and danger.
14. Then Zcdekiah the king sent, and
took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into
the third entry that is in the house of the
Lokl>: and the king said unto Jeremiah, J
will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from,
me. 15. Then Jeremiah said unto Zede-
kiah, It 1 declare it unto thee, wilt thou not
surely put me to death? and if l give thee
counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me
16. So the king sware secretly unto Jere¬
miah, saying, As the Lord liveth, that
made us this soul, 1 will not put thee to
death, neither will 1 give thee into the hand
of these men that seek thy life. 17. Then
said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith
the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Is¬
rael, If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto
the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul
shall live, and this city shall not be burnt
with fire ; and thou shalt live, anc thy house:
13. But if thou wilt not go forth to 'the king
of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be
given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and
they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt
not escape out of their hand. 19. And
Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am
afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the
Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their
hand, and they mock me. 20. But Jeremiah
said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I
beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which
I speak unto thee : so it shall be well unto
thee, and thy soul shall live. 21. But it
thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that
the Lord hath showed me: 22. And, be¬
hold, all the women that’are left in the king
of Judah’s house shall be brought forth to
the king of Babylon’s princes: and those
women shall say, Thy friends have set thee
on, and have prevailed against thee: thy
feet are sunk in the mire, and they are
turned away back. 23. So they shall'bring
out all thy wives and thy children to the
Chaldeans; and thou shalt not escape out
of their hand, but shalt be taken by the
hand of the king of Babylon : and thou shalt
cause this city to be burnt with fire. 24.
Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no
man know of these words, and thou shalt
not die. 25. But if the princes hear that I
have talked with thee, and they come unto
thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us
now what thou hast said unto the king, hide
it not from us, and we will not put thee to
death; also what the king said unto thee;
26. Then thou shalt say unto them, I pre-
506
JEREMIAH, XXXVIII.
sented my supplication before the king, that
he would not cause me to return to Jona¬
than’s house, to die there. 27. Then came
all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked
him: and he told them according to all these
words that the king had commanded. So
they left off speaking with him: for the mat¬
ter was not perceived. 28. So Jeremiah
abode in the court of the prison until the
day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was
there when Jerusalem was taken.
In the foregoing chapter, we had the king in close
conference with Jeremiah, and here again, though
(i'. 5.) he had given him up into the hands of his
enemies; such a struggle there was, in the breast
of this unhappy prince, between his convictions and
his corruptions. Observe,
1. The honour that Zedekiah did to the prophet
When he was newly fetched out of the dungeon, he
sent for him to advise with him privately. He met
him in the third entry, or, as the margin reads it,
the /irinci/iat entry, that is in, or leads towards, or
adjoins to, the house of the Lord, v. 14. In appoint¬
ing this place of interview with the prophet, per¬
haps he intended to show a respect and reverence
for the house of God, which was proper enough
now that he was desiring to hear the word of God.
Zedekiah would ask Jeremiah a thing; it should
rather be rendered, a word; “I am here asking
thee for a word of prediction, of counsel, of comfort,
a word from the Lord, ch. xxxvii. 17. Whatever
word thou hast for me, hide it not from me, let me
know the worst.” He had been fold plainly what
things would come to, in the foregoing chapter, but,
like Balaam, he asks again, in hopes to get a more
pleasing answer, as if God, who is in one mind,
were altogether such a one as himself, who was in
many minds.
2. The bargain that Jeremiah made with him,
before he would give him his advice, v. 15. He
would indent, (1.) For his own safety; Zedekiah
would have him deal faithfully with him; “ And if
I do,” says Jeremiah, “wilt thou not put me to
death? I am afraid thou wilt;” (so some take it;)
“ what else can I expect when thou art led blind¬
fold by the princes?’^ Or, “ Wilt thou promise that
thou wilt not.” Not 'that Jeremiah was backward
to seal the doctrine he preached, with his blood,
when he was called to it; but, in doing our duty, we
ought to use all lawful meansfor ourown preservation ;
even the apostles of Christ did so. (2. ) He would
indent for the success of his advice, being no less
concerned for Zedelciah’s welfare than for his own.
He is willing to give him wholesome advice, and
does not upbraid him with his unkindness in suffer¬
ing him to be put into the dungeon, nor bid him go
and consult with his princes, whose judgments he
had such a value for. Ministers must with meek¬
ness instruct even those that oppose themselves,
and render good for evil. He is desirous that he
should hear counsel, and receive instruction. “ Wilt
thou not hearken unto me? Surely thou wilt, I am
in hopes to find thee pliable at last, and now in this
thy day willing to know the things that belong to
thy peace. ” Note, Then, and then only, there is
hope of sinners, when they are willing to hearken
to good counsel. Some read it as spoken despair¬
ingly; “If I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken
unto me; 1 have reason to fear thou wilt not, and
then I might as well keep my counsel to myself.”
Note, Ministers have little heart to speak to those
who have long and often turned a deaf ear to them.
Now, as to this latter concern of Jeremiah’s, Zede¬
kiah makes him no answer, will not promise to
hearken to his advice: though he desires to know
what is the mind of God, yet he will reserve him¬
self at liberty, when he does know it, to do as he
thinks fit; as if it were the prerogative of a prince
not to have his ruin prevented by good counsel.
But, as to the prophet’s safety, he promises him,
upon the word of a king, and confirms his promise
with an oath, that, whatever he should say to him,
no advantage should be taken against him for it; I
will neither put thee to death, nor deliver thee into
the hands of those that will, v. 16. This, he thought,
was a mighty favour, and yet Nebuchadnezzar and
Belshazzar, when Daniel read their doom, not only
protected him, but preferred and rewarded him,
Dan. ii. 29, 48. Zedekiah’s oath on this occasion
is solemn, and very observable; “As the Lord liveth,
who made us this soul, who gave me my life, and
thee thine, I dare not take away thy life unjustly,
knowing that then I should forfeit my own to him
that is the Lord of life.” Note, God is the Father
of spirits; souls are his workmanship, and they are
more fearfully and wonderfully made than bodies
are. The soul both of the greatest prince and of the
poorest prisoner is of God’s making; He fashioned
their hearts alike easily. In all our appeals to God,
and in all our dealings both with ourselves and
others, we ought to consider this, that the living
God made us these souls.
3. The good advice that Jeremiah gave him, with
good reasons why he should take it, not from any
prudence or politics of his own, but in the name of
the Lord, the God of hosts and God of Israel; not
as a statesman, but as a prophet, he advises him by
all means to surrender himself and the city to the
king of Babylon's princes; “Go forth to them, and
make the best terms thou canst with them,” r. 17.
This was the advice he had given to the people,
(n. 2.) and before, (c/i. xxi. 9.) to submit to divine
judgments, and not think of contending with them.
Note, In dealing with God, that which is good
counsel to the meanest, is so to the greatest, for there
is no respect of persons with him. To persuade him
to take this counsel, he sets before him good and
evil, life and death. (1.) If he will tamely yield,
he shall save his children from the sword, and
Jerusalem from the flames. The white flag is yet
hung out; if he will but acknowledge God’s justice,
he shall experience his mercy; The city shall not be
burnt, and thou shalt live, and thy house. But,
(2.) If he "will obstinately stand it out, it will be the
ruin both of his house and Jerusalem; (v. 18.) for
when God judges he will overcome. This is the
case of sinners with God; let them humbly submit
to his grace and government, and they shall live;
let them take hold on his strength, that they may
make peace, and they shall make peace; but if they
harden their hearts against his proposals, it will
certainly be to their destruction; they must either
bend or break.
4. The objection which Zedekiah made against
the prophet’s advice, v. 19. Jeremiah spake to
him by prophecy, in the name of God, and there¬
fore it he had had a due regard to the divine au¬
thority, wisdom, and goodness, as soon as he under
stood what the mind cf God was, he should imme¬
diately have acquiesced in it, and resolved to observe
it without disputing; but, as if it had been the dictate
only of Jeremiah’s prudence, he advances against it
some prudential considerations of his own; but hu¬
man wisdom is folly when it contradicts the divine
counsels. All he suggests, is, “I am afraid, not
of the Chaldeans, their princes are men of honour,
but of the Jews, that are already gone over to the
Qialdeans; when they see me follow them, who had
so much opposed their going, they will laugh at
me, and say, Art thou also become weak as water?"
JEREMIAH, XXXIX.
507
Isa. xiv. 10. Now, (1.) It was not at all likely that
he should be thus exposed and ridiculed, that the
Chaldeans should so far gratify the Jews, or trample
upon him, as to deliver him into their hands; nor
that the Jews, who were themselves captives,
should be in such a gay humour, as to make a jest
of the misery of their prince. Note, We often
frighten ourselves from our duty by foolish, cause¬
less, groundless fears, that are merely the creatures
of our own fancy and imagination. (2.) If he should
be taunted at a little by the Jews, could he not
despise it, and make light of it? What harm would
it do him ? Note, Those have very weak and fretful
spirits indeed, that cannot bear to be laughed at for
that which is both their duty and their interest.
(3. ) Though it had been really the greatest personal
mischief that he could have imagined it to be, yet
he ought to have ventured it, in obedience to God,
and for the preservation of his family and city. Re¬
thought it would be looked upon as a piece of cow¬
ardice to surrender, whereas it would be really an
instance of true courage cheerfully to bear a lesser
evil, the mocking of the Jews, for the avoiding of a
greater, the ruin of his family and kingdom.
5. The pressing importunity with which Jere¬
miah followed the advice he had given the king.
He assures him that if he would comply with the
will of God herein, the thing he feared should not
come upon him; (v. 20.) They shall not deliver thee
ufi, but treat thee as becomes thy character. He
begs of him, after all the foolish games he had play¬
ed, to manage wisely the last stake, and now at
length to do well for himself; Obey, I beseech thee,
the voice of the Lord, because it is his voice, so it
shall be well unto thee. But he tells him what would
be the consequence if he would not obey. (1.) He
himself would fall into the hands of the Chaldeans,
as implacable enemies, whom he might now make
his friends, by throwing himself into their hands.
If he must fall, he should contrive how to fall easily ;
“ Thou shall not esca/ie, as thou hopest to do,” v.
23. (2. ) He would himself be chargeable with the
destruction of Jerusalem, which he pretended a con¬
cern for the preservation of; “ Thou shall cause
this city to be burned with fire, for by a little sub¬
mission and self-denial thou mightest have prevent¬
ed it.” Thus subjects often suffer for the pride and
wilfulness of their rulers, who should be their pro¬
tectors, but prove their destroyers. (3. ) Whereas
he causelessly feared an unjust reproach for surren¬
dering, he should certainly fall under a just reproach
for standing it out, and that from women too, v. 22.
The court-ladies who were left when Jehoiakim and
Jeconiah were carried away, will now at length fall
into the hands of the enemy, and they shall say,
“The men of thy peace, whom thou didst consult
with, and confide in, and who promised thee peace
if thou wouldest be ruled by them; they have set
thee on, have encouraged thee to be bold and brave,
and hold out to the last extremity; and see what
comes of it? They, by prevailing upon thee, have
prevailed against thee, and thou findest those thy
real enemies, that would be thought thine only
friends. Now thy feet are sunk in the mire, thou
art embarrassed, and hast no way to help thyself;
thy feet cannot get forward, but are turned away
back.” Thus will Zedekiah be bantered by the
women, when all his wives and children shall be
made a prey to the conquerors, v. 23. Note, What
we seek to avoid by sin, will be justly brought upon
us by the righteousness of God. And those that de¬
cline the way of duty, for fear of reproach, will cer¬
tainly meet with much greater reproach in the way
of disobedience. The fear of the wicked, it shall
come upon him, Prov. x. 24.
6. The care which Zedekiah took to keep this
conference private; {y. 24.) Let no man know of
these words. He does not at all incline to take
God’s counsel, nor so much as promise to consider
of it; for so obstinate has he been to the calls of God,
and so wilful in the ways of sin, that though he has
good counsel given him, he seems to be given up to
walk in his own counsels. He has nothing to object
against Jeremiah’s advice, and yet he will not follow
it. Many hear God’s words, but will not do them.
(1.) Jeremiah is charged to let no man know of
what had past between the king and him. Zedekiah
is concerned to keep it private, not so much for
Jeremiah’s safety, (for he knew the princes could do
him no hurt without his permission,) but for his own
reputation. Note, Many have really a better affec¬
tion to good men and good things than they are will¬
ing to own. God’s prophets are manifest in their
consciences, (2 Cor. v. 11.) but they care not for
manifesting that to the world; they would rather do
them a kindness than have it known that tliev do;
such, it is to be feared, love the praise of men 'more
than the praise of God.
(2.) He is instructed what to say to the princes,
if they should examine him about it. He must tell
them that he was petitioning the king not to remand
him back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, (x>.
25, 26.) and he did tell them so, (v. 27.) and, no
doubt, it was tree; he would not let slip so fair an
opportunity of engaging the king’s favour; so that
this was no lie or equivocation, but a part of the
truth, which it was lawful for him to put them off
with when he was under no obligation at all to tell
them the whole truth. Note, Though we must be
harmless as doves, so as never to tell a wilful lie,
yet we must be wise as serpents, so as not needlessly
to expose ourselves to danger by telling all we know
CHAP. XXXIX.
As the prophet Isaiah, after he had largely foretold the de¬
liverance of Jerusalem out of the hands of the king of
Assyria, gave a particular narrative of the story, that it
might appear how exactly the event answered to the pre¬
diction, so the prophet Jeremiah, after he had largely
foretold the delivering of Jerusalem into the hands of the
king of Babylon, gives a particular account of that sad
event for the same reason. That melancholy story we
have in this chapter, which serves to disprove the false,
flattering prophets, and to confirm the word of God’s
messengers. We are here told, I. That Jerusalem, after
eighteen months’ siege, was taken by the Chaldean
army, v. 1 . . 3. II. That king Zedekiah, attempting to
make his escape, was seized, and made a miserable cap¬
tive to the kingof Babylon, v. 4 . . 7. III. That Jerusalem
was burnt to the ground, and the people carried captive,
except the poor, v. 8 . . 10. IV. That the Chaldeans were
very kind to Jeremiah, and took particular care of him,
v. 11.. 14. V. That Ebed-melech too, for his kindness,
had a protection from God himself in this day of desola¬
tion, v. 15. . 18.
1. TN the ninth year of Zedekiah king of
JL Judah, in the tenth month, came Ne->
buchadrezzar king of Babylon, and all his
army against Jerusalem, and they besieged
it. 2. And in the eleventh year of Zede¬
kiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of
the month, the city was broken up. 3. And
all the princes of the king of Babylon
came in, and sat in the middle gate, even
Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim,
Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with
all the residue of the princes of the king
of Babylon. 4. And it came to pass
that when Zedekiah the king of Judah
saw them, and all the men of war, then
they fled, and went forth out of the city by
night, by the way of the king’s garden, by
608
JEREMIAH, XXXIX
the gate betwixt the two walls; and lie
went out the way of the plain. 5. But the
Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, anc
overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho:
and when they had taken him, they brought
him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
to Riblah, in the land of Hamath, where he
gave judgment upon him. 6. Then the king
of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in
Riblah before his eyes: also the king of
Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. 7.
Moreover, he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and
bound him with chains, to carry him to
Babylon. 8. And the Chaldeans burned
the king’s house, and the houses of the peo¬
ple, with fire, and brake down the walls of
Jerusalem. 9. Then Nebuzar-adan, the
captain of the guard, carried away captive
into Babylon the remnant of the people that
remained in the city, and those that fell
away, that fell to him, with the rest of the
people that remained. 10. But Nebuzar-
adan, the captain of the guard, left of the
poor of the people, which had nothing, in
the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards
and fields at the same time.
We were told, in the close of the foregoing chapter,
that Jeremiah abode patiently in the court of the
/irison , until the day that Jerusalem was taken. He
gave the princes no further disturbance by his pro¬
phesying, nor they him by their persecutions, for he
had no more to say than what he had said, and, the
siege being carried on briskly, God found them
other work to do. See here what it came to.
1. Tlte city is at length taken by storm; for how
could it hold out when God himself fought against
it? Nebuchadnezzar’s army sat down before it in
the ninth year of Zedekiah, in the tenth month , ( v .
1.) in the depth of winter. Nebuchadnezzar him¬
self soon after retired to take his pleasure, and left
his generals to carry on the siege: they intermitted it
awhile, but soon renewed it with redoubled force and
vigour. At length, in the eleventh year, in the fourth
month, about midsummer, they entered the city,
the soldiers being so weakened bv famine, and all
their provisions being now spent, that they were not
able to make any resistance, v. 2. Jerusalem was
so strong a place, that nobody would have believed
the enemy could ever have entered its gates, Lam.
iv. 12. But sin had provoked God to withdraw his
protection, and then, like Samson when his hair is
cut, it is weak as other cities.
2. The princes of the king of Babylon take pos¬
session of the middle gate, v. 3. Some think that it
was the same with that which is called the second
gate, (Zeph. i. 10.) which is supposed to be in the
middle wall that divided between one part of the
city and the other; here they cautiously made a
halt, and durst not go forward into so large a city,
among men that perhaps would sell their lives as
dear as they could, until they had given directions
for the searching of all places, that they might not
be surprised by any ambush. They sat in the mid¬
dle gate, from thence to take a view of the city, and
give orders. The princes are here named, rough
and uncouth names they are, to intimate what a sad
change sin had made; there where Eliakim and
Hilkiah, who bare the name of the God of Israel,
used to sit, now sit JVergal-sharezer, and Samgar-
nebo, &c. who bare the names of the heathen gods.
Rab-saris and Rab-mag are supposed to be not the
names of distinct persons, but the titles of those
whose names go before. Sarsechim was Rab-saris,
that is, captain of the guard, and JVergal-sharezer,
to distinguish him from the other of the same name
that is put first, is called Rab-mag, that is, camfi-
master, either muster-master, or quarter-master:
these and the other great generals sat in the gate.
And now was fulfilled what Jeremiah prophesied
long since, (c/;. i. 15.) that the families of the king¬
doms of the north should set every one his throne at
the entering of the gates of Jerusalem; justly do the
princes of the heathen set up themselves there,
where the gods of the heathen had been so often
set up.
3. Zedekiah having, in disguise perhaps, seen the
princes of the king of Babylon take possession of one
of the gates of the city, thought it high time to shift
for his own safety, and, loaded with guilt and fear,
he went out of the city, under no other protection
but that of the night, (y. 4.) which soon failed him,
for he was discovered, pursued, and overtaken;
though he made the best of his way, he could make
nothing of it, could not get forward, but in the plains
of Jericho fell into the hands of the pursuers; (v.
5.) thence he was brought prisoner to Riblah, where
the king of Babylon passed sentence upon him as a
rebel, not sentence of death, but, one may almost
say, a worse thing. For, (1.) He slew his sons be¬
fore his eyes, and they must all be little, some of
them infants, for Zedekiah himself was now but
thirty-two years of age. The deaths of these sweet
babes must needs be so many deaths to himself,
especially when he considered that his own obsti¬
nacy was the cause of it, for he was particularly
told of this thing; ( ch . xxxviii. 23.) They shall bring
forth thy wives and children to the Chaldeans. (2.)
He slew all the nobles of Judah, (t;. 6. ) probably
not those princes of Jerusalem who had advised him
to this desperate course, (it would be a satisfaction
to him to see them cut off,) but the great men of the
country, who were innocent of the matter. (3.) He
ordered Zedekiah to have his eyes put out, (v. 7.)
so condemning him to darkness, for life, who had
shut his eyes against the clear light of God’s word,
and was of those princes who will not understand,
but walk on in darkness, Ps. lxxxii. 5. (4. ) He bound
him with two brazen chains of fetters, (so the mar¬
gin reads it,) to carry him away to Babylon, there
to spend the rest of his days in misery. All tliis sad
story we had before, 2 Kings xxv. 4, &c.
4. Some time after, the city was burnt, temple
and palace and all, and the wall of it broken down,
v. 8. “ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! this comes of
killing the prophets, and stoning them that were
sent to thee. 0 Zedekiah, Zedekiah! this thou
mightest have prevented, if thou wouldest but have
taken God’s counsel, and yielded in time.”
5. The people that were left were all carried away
captives to Babylon, v. 9. Now they must bid a final
farewell to the land of their nativity, that pleasan:
land, and to all their possessions and enjoyments ir
it; must be driven some hundreds of miles, like
beasts, before their conquerors, that were nowtheii
cruel masters; must lie at their mercy in a strange
land, and be servants to them who would be sure t<
mile them with rigour. The word Tyrant is origi
nallv a Chaldee word, and is often used for Lords by
the Chaldee paraphrast, as if the Chaldeans, when
they were lords, tyrannized more than any other:
we have reason to think that the poor Jews had rea¬
son to say so. Some few were left behind, but they
were the poor of the people, that had nothing to lose,
and therefore never made any resistance. And they
not only had their liberty, and were left to tarry at
509
JEREMIAH, XXXIX.
home, but the cafitain of the guard gave them vine¬
yards and fields at the same time, such as they were
never masters of before, v. 10. Observe here, (1.)
The wonderful changes of Providence; some are
abased, others advanced, (1 Sam. ii. 5.) the hungry
are Jilted with good things, and the rich sent empty
away. The ruin of some proves the rise of others.
Let us therefore rejoice as though we rejoiced not,
in our abundance, and weep as though we wept not,
in our distresses. (2.) The just retributions of Pro¬
vidence; the rich had been proud oppressors, and
now they were justly punished for their injustice;
the poor had been patient sufferers, and now they
are graciously rewarded for their patience, and
amends made them for all their losses; for, verity
there is a God that judges in the earth, even in this
world, much more in the other.
11. Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Baby¬
lon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to
Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard,
saying, 12. Take him, and look well to
him, and do him no harm; but db unto him
even as he shall say unto thee. 1 3. So Ne-
buzar-adan, the captain of the guard, sent,
and Nebushasban, Rab-saris, and Nergal-
sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the king of Ba¬
bylon’s princes, 14. Even they sent, and
took Jeremiah out of the court of the pri¬
son, and committed him unto Gedaliah the
son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he
should carry him home: so he dwelt among
the people. 15. Now the word of the Lord
came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up
in the court of the prison, saying, 16. Go
and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian,
saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, Behold, I will bring my words
upon this city for evil, and not for good; and
they shall be accomplished in that day be¬
fore thee. 17. For I will deliver thee in
that day, saith the Lord; and thou shalt
not be given into the hand of the men of
whom thou art afraid. 18. For I will surely
deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the
sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto
thee; because thou hast put thy trust in me,
saith the Lord.
Here we must sing of mercy, as in the former
part of the chapter we sang of judgment, and must
sing unto God of both. We may observe here,
I. A gracious providence concerning Jeremiah.
When Jerusalem was laid in ruins, and all men's
hearts failed them for fear, then might he lift up
his head with comfort, blowing that his redemption
drew nigh, as Christ’s followers, when the second
destruction of Jerusalem was hastening on, Luke xxi.
28. Nebuchadnezzar had given particular orders
that care should be taken of him, and that he should
be in all respects well used, v. 11, 12. Nebuzar-
adan and the rest of the king of Babylon’s princes ob¬
served these orders, and discharged him out of pri¬
son, and did every thing to make him easy, v. 13, 14.
Now we may look upon this,
1. As a very generous act of Nebuchadnezzar,
who, though he was a haughty potentate, yet took
cognizance of this poor prophet; doubtless he had
i "reived information concerning him from the de- !
| setters, that he had foretold the king of Babylon’s
| successes against Judah and other countries, that he
had pressed his prince and people to submit to him,
and that he had suffered very hard tilings for so
doing; and in consideration ok all this, (though per¬
haps he might have heard also that he had foretold
the destruction of Babylon at length,) he gave him
| these extraordinary marks of his favour. Note, It
is the character of a great soul to take notice of the
services and sufferings of the ijieanest. It was ho¬
nourably done of the king, to give this charge, even
before the city was taken, and of the captains to
observe it, even in the heat of action, and it is re¬
corded for imitation.
2. As a reproach to Zedekiah and the princes of
Israel; they put him in a'prison, and the kipg of
Babylon and his princes took him out. God’s peo¬
ple and ministers have often found fairer and kinder
usage among strangers and infidels than among those
that call themselves of the holy city. St. Paul found
more favour and justice with king Agrippa- than
with Ananias the high-priest.
3. As the performance of God’s promise to Jere¬
miah, in recompense for his services; ( ch . xv. 11.)
I will cause the enemy to treat thee well in the day
J of avil. Jeremiah had been faithful to his trust as
i a prophet, and now God approves himself faithful
to him, and the promise he had made him. Now
he is comforted, according to the time wherein he
had been afflicted, and sees thousands fall on each
hand, and himself safe. The false prophets fell by
those judgments which they said should never come,
(ch. xiv. 15.) which made their misery the more
terrible to them. The true prophet escaped those
judgments which he said would come, and that
made his escape the more comfortable to him. The
same that were the instruments of punishing the
persecutors, were the instruments of relieving the
persecuted; and Jeremiah thought never the worse
of his deliverance for its coming by the hand of the
king of Babylon, but saw the more of the hand of
God in it. A fuller account of this matter we shall
meet with in the next chapter.’
II. A gracious message to Ebed-melech, to assure
him of a recompense for his kindness to Jeremiah.
This message was sent him by Jeremiah himself,
who, when he returned him thanks for his kind¬
ness to him, thus turned him over to God to be his
Paymaster. He relieved a prophet in the name of
a prophet, and thus he had a prophet’s reward.
This message was delivered to him immediately
after he had done that kindness to Jeremiah, but it
is mentioned here after the taking of the citv, to
show that as God was kind to Jeremiah at that time,
so he was to Ebed-melech for his sake; and it was
a token of special favour to both, and they ought so
to account it, that they were not involved in any of
the common calamities. Jeremiah is bid to tell him,
1. That God would certainly bring upon Jerusalem
the ruin that had been long and often threatened;
and, for his further satisfaction, in having been kind
to Jeremiah, he should see him abundantly proved
a true prophet, v. 16. 2. That God took notice of
the fear he had of the judgments coming. Though
he was bravely bold in the service of God, yet he
was afraid of the rod of God. The enemies were
men of whom he was afraid. Note, God knows
how to adapt and accommodate his comforts to the
fears and griefs of his people, for he knows their
souls in adversity. 3. That he shall be delivered
from having a share in the common calamity; Twill
deliver thee, I will surely deliver thee. He had
been instrumental to deliver God’s prophet out of
the dungeon, and now God promises to deliver him;
for he will be behind-hand with none for any ser¬
vice they do, directly or indirectly, for his name;
“Thou hast saved Jeremiah’s life, that was pre-
510
JEREMIAH, XL.
cious to thee, and therefore thy life shall be given j
thee for a firey. ” 4. The reason given for this dis¬
tinguishing favour which God had in store for him,
is, because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the
Lord. God, in recompensing men’s services, has
an eye to the principle they go upon in those ser¬
vices, and rewards according to those principles:
and there is no principle of obedience that will be
more acceptable to God, nor have a greater influ¬
ence upon us, than a believing confidence in God.
Ebed-melech trusted in God that he would own him,
and stand by him, and then he was not afraid of the
face of man. And those who trust God, as this
good man did, in the way of duty, will find that
their hope shall not make them ashamed in times
of the greatest danger.
CHAP. XL.
We have attended Jerusalem’s funeral pile, and have taken
our leave of the captives that were carried to Babylon,
not expecting to hear any more of them in this book,
perhaps we may in Ezekiel, and must in this and the
four following chapters observe the story of those few
Jews that were left to remain in the land, after their bre¬
thren were carried away, and it is a very melancholy
story; for, though at first there were some hopeful pros¬
pects of their well-doing, they soon appeared as obstihate
in sin as ever, unhumbled and unreformed, till all the
rest of the judgments, threatened in Deut. xxviii. being
brought upon them, that which in the last verse of that
dreadful chapter completes the threatenings, was accom¬
plished, The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again. In
this chapter we have, I. A more particular account of
Jeremiah’s discharge, and his settlement with Gedaliah,
v. 1 . . 6. II. The great resort of the Jews that remained
scattered in the neighbouring countries to Gedaliah,
who was made their governor under the king of Babylon;
and the good posture they were in for awhile under him,
v. 7 . . 12. III. A treacherous design formed against
Gedaliah, by Ishmael, which we shall find executed in
the next chapter, v. 13 . . 16.
1. rjriHE word which came to Jeremiah
JL from the Lokd, after that Nebuzar-
adan the captain 'of the guard had let him
go from Ramah, when lie had laken him,
being bound in chains among all that were
carried away captive of Jerusalem and Ju¬
dah, which were carried awaycaplive unto
Babylon. 2. And the captain of the guard
took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The
Lord thy God bath pronounced this evil
upon this place. 3. Now the Lord hath
brought it, and done according as he hath
said: because ye have sinned against the
Lord, and have not obeyed his voice,
therefore this thing is come upon you. 4.
And now, behold, I loose thee this day
from the chains which were upon thy hand.
If it seem good unto thee to come with me
into Babylon, come, and I will look well
unto thee; but if it seem ill unto thee to
come with me into Babylon, forbear: be¬
hold, all the land is before thee: whither it
seemeth good and convenient for thee to go,
thither go. 5. Now, while he was not yet
gone back, he said , Go back also to Geda-
liab the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,
whom the king of Babylon hath made go¬
vernor over all the cities of Judah, and
dwell with him among the people; or go
wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee
to go. So the captain of the guard gave
him victuals and a reward, and let him go
6. Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the
son of Ahikam, to Mizpah, and dwelt with
him among the people that were left in the
land.
The title of this part of the book, which begins
the chapter, seems misapplied, ( The word which
came to Jeremiah ,) for here is nothing of pro¬
phecy in this chapter, but it is to be referred to, ch
xlii. 7. where we have a message that God sent by
Jeremiah to the captains and the people that re¬
mained, and the story betwixt, and that is only to
introduce that prophecy, and show the occasion of
it, that it may be the better understood; and Jere¬
miah, being himself concerned in the story, was
the better able to give an account of it.
In these verses, we have Jeremiah’s adhering, by
the advice of Nebuzar-adan, to Gedaliah. It should
seem that Jeremiah was very honourably fetched
out of the court of the prison by the king of Baby¬
lon’s princes, {ch. xxxix. 14.) but afterward, being
found among the people in the city, when orders
were giv en to the inferior officers to bind all they
found that were of any fashion, in order to their be¬
ing carried captives to Babylon, he, through igno¬
rance and mistake, was bound among the rest, and
hurried away. Poor man! he seems to have been
born to hardship and abuse; a man of sorrows in¬
deed! But when the captives were brought mana¬
cled to Ramah, not far off, where a council c.f war,
or court martial, was held, for giving orders con¬
cerning them, Jeremiah was soon distinguished from
the rest, and, by special order of the court, was
discharged.
1. The captain of the guard solemnly owns him
to be a true prophet; (u. 2, 3.) “ The Lord thy
God, whose messenger thou hast been, and in whose
name thou hast spoken, has by thee pronounced
this evil upon this place; they had fair warning
given them of it, but they u'ould not take the warn¬
ing, and now the Lord hath brought it, and as by
thy mouth he said it, so by my hand he hath done
what he said.” He seems thus to justify what he
had done, and to glory in it, that he had been God’s
instrument to fulfil that which Jeremiah had been
his messenger to foretell; and upon that account it
was indeed the most glorious action he had ever
done. He tells all the people that were now in
chains before him, It is because ye have sinned
against the Lord, that this thing is come u/ion you.
The princes of Israel would never be brought to
acknowledge this, though it was as evident as if it
had been written with a sun-beam; but this heathen
prince plainly sees it, that a people that had been
so favoured as they had been by the divine good¬
ness, would never have been abandoned thus, had
they not been very provoking. The people of Is¬
rael had been often told this from the pulpit by
their prophets, and they would not regard it; now
they are told it from the bench of their conqueror,
whom they dare not contradict, and who will make
them regard it. Note, Sooner or later, men shall
be made sensible that their sin is the cause of all
their miseries.
2. He gives him free leave to dispose of himself
as he thought fit. He loosed him from his chains a
second time, {v. 4.) invited him to come along with
him to Babylon, not as a captive, but as a friend, as
a companion; and I will set my eye upon thee, so
the word is; “ Not only I will look well to thee, but
I will show thee respect, will countenance thee, and
will see that thou be safe and well provided for. ”
JEREMIAH, XL.
If lie was not disposed to go to Babylon, he might
dwell where he pleased in his own country, for it
was all now at the disposal of the conquerors. He
may go to Anathoth if lie please, and enjoy the field
lie had purchased there. A great change with this
good man! He that hut lately was tossed from one
prison to another, may now walk at liberty from one
possession to another.
3. He advises him to go to Gedaliali, and settle
with him. This Gedaliali was made governor of
the land under the king of Babylon, an honest Jew,
who (it is probable) betimes went over with his
friends to the Chaldeans, and approved himself so
well, that he liad this great trust put into his hands,'
v. 5. While Jeremiah was not yet gone back, but
stood considering what he should do, Nebuzar-adan,
perceiving him neither inclined to go to Babylon,
nor determined whither to go, turned the scale for
him, and bid him by all means go to Gedaliali. Sud¬
den thoughts sometimes prove wise ones. But when
he gave this counsel, he did not design to oblige
him by it, nor will he take it ill if he do not follow
it; Go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee.
It is friendly in such cases to give advice, but un¬
friendly to prescribe, and to be angry if our advice
be not taken. Let Jeremiah steer what course he
pleases, Nebuzar-adan will agree to it, and believe
lie does for. the best. Nor does he only give him
his liberty, and an approbation ot the measures he
shall take, but provides for his support; he gave
him victuals, and a present, either in clothes or
money, and so let him go. See how considerate
the ca/itain o f the guard was in his kindness to Jere¬
miah. He set him at liberty, but it was in a coun¬
try that was laid waste, and in which, as the posture
of it now was, he might have perished, though it
was his own country, if he had not thus kindly fur¬
nished him with necessaries. ■ Jeremiah not only
accepted his kindness, but took his advice, and
went to Gedaliali, to Mizpah, and dwelt with him,
v. 6. Whether we may herein commend his pru¬
dence, 1 know not; the event does not commend it,
for it did not prove at all to his comfort. How¬
ever, we may commend his pious affection to the
land of Israel, that, unless he were forced out of it,
as Ezekiel and Daniel and other good men wei e, he
would not forsake it, but chose rather to dwell with
the poor in the holy land, than with princes in an
unholy one.
7. Now when all the captains of the
forces which were in the fields, even they and
their men, heard that the king of Babylon
had made Gedaliali the son of Ahikam go¬
vernor in the land, and had committed unto
him men, and women, and children, and of
the poor of the land, of them that were not
carried away captive to Babylon; 8. Then
they came to Gedaliali (o Mizpah, even
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan
and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Se-
raiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons
of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the
son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
9. And Gedaliali the son of Ahikam, the
son of Shaphan, sware unto them, and to
their men, saying, Fear not to serve the
Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the
king of Babylon, and it shall be well with
you. 10. As for me, behold, I will dwell
at Mizpah, to serve the Chaldeans which I
511
will come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine,
and summer-fruits, and oil, and put them in
your vessels, and dwell in your cities that
ye have taken. 1 1. Likewise, when all the
Jews that were in Moab, and among the
Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in
all the countries, heard that the king of Ba
bylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that
he had set over them Gedaliali the son of
Ahikam, the son of Shaphan: 12. Even
all the Jews returned out of all places
whither they were driven, and came to the
land of Judah, to Gedaliali, unto Mizpah,
and gathered wine and summer-fruits very
much. 13. Moreover, Johanan the son of
Kareah, and all the captains of the forces
that were in the fields, came to Gedaliali to
Mizpah, 14. And said unto him, Dost thou
certainly know that Baalis the king of the
Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of
Nethaniah to slay thee? But Gedaliali the
son of Ahikam believed them not. 15. Then
Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Geda-
liali in Mizpah secretly, saying, L.et me go,
I pray thee, and 1 will slay Ishmael the son
of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it:
wherefore should he slay thee, that all the
Jews which are gathered unto thee should
be scattered, and the remnant in Judah pe¬
rish? 16. But Gedaliali the son of Ahikam
said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou
slialt not do this thing; for thou speakest
falsely of Ishmael.
We have, in these verses,.
I. A bright sky opening upon the remnant of the
Jews that were left in their own land, and a com¬
fortable prospect given them of some peace and
quietness, after the many years of trouble and terror
with which they had been afflicted. Jeremiah in¬
deed had never in his prophecies spoken of any such
good days reserved for the Jews immediately after
the captivity; but Providence seemed to raise and
encourage such an expectation, and it would be to
that miserable people as life from the dead. Ob¬
serve the particulars.
1. Gedaliali, one of themselves, is made governor
in the land, by the king of Babylon, v. 7. To show
that he designed to make and keep them easy, he
did not give this commission to one of the princes of
Babylon, but to one of their brethren, who, they
might be sure, would seek their peace. He was the
son of Ahikam, the son of Sha/ihan, one of the
princes. We read of his father, (r/i. xxvi. 24. ) that
he took Jeremiah’s part against the people. He
seems to be a man of great wisdom and a mild tem¬
per, and under whose government the few that were
left might be very happy. The king of Babylon
had a good opinion of him, and reposed a confidence
in him, for to him he committed all that were left
behind.
2. There is great resort to him from all parts, and
all those that were now the Jews of the dispersion,
came and put themselves under his government and
protection. (1.) The great men that had escaped
the Chaldeans by force, came and quietly submitted
to Gedaliali for their own safety and common pre¬
servation. Divers are here named; (t>. 8. ) they came
M2 JEREMTAH, XLI.
with their men, their servants, their soldiers, and so
strengthened one another; and the king of Babylon
had such a good opinion of Gedaliah his delegate,
that he was not at all jealous of the increase of their
numbers, but rather pleased with it. (2.) The poor
men that had escaped by flight into the neighbour¬
ing countries of Moab, Ammon, and Edom, were
induced bv the love they bare to their own land, to
return to it again, as soon as they heard that Geda¬
liah was in authority there, v. 11, 12. Canaan itself
would be an unsafe, unpleasant country,, if there
were no government or governors there, and those
that loved it dearly would not come back to it till
they heard there were. It would be a great reviving
to them that were dispersed, to come together again ;
that were dispersed into foreign countries, to come
together in their own country; that were under
strange kings, to be under a governor of their own
nation. See here, in wrath God remembered mercy,
and yet admitted some of them upon a further trial
of their obedience.
3. The model of this new government is drawn
up and settled by an original contract, which Geda¬
liah confirmed with an oath, a solemn oath; ( v . 9.)
He sware to them, and to their men, it is probable,
according to the warrant and instructions he had
received from the king of Babylon, who empowered
him to give them these assurances. (1. ) They must
own the property of their lands to be in the Chal¬
deans; “ Come,” jf says Gedaliah,) “fear not to serve
the Chaldeans. Fear not the sin of it.” Though
the divine law' had forbidden them to make leagues
with the heathen, yet the divine sentence had obliged
them to yield to the king of Babylon. “Fear not
the refiroach of it, and the disparagement it will be
to your nation; it is what God has brought you to,
has bound you to, and 'it is no disgrace to any to
comply with him. Fear not the consequences of it,
as if it would certainly make you and yours misera¬
ble; no, you will find the king of Babylon not so hard
a landlord as vou apprehend him to be; if you will
but live peaceably, peaceably you shall live; disturb
not the government, and it will not disturb you.
Serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with
you.” If they should make any difficulty of doing
personal homage, or should be apprehensive of dan¬
ger, when the Chaldeans should come among them,
Gedaliah, probably by instruction from the king of
Babylon, undertakes upon all occasions to act for
them, and make their applications acceptable to the
king; (v. 20.) “As for me, behold, I will dwell at
Mizjiah, to serve the Chaldeans, to do homage to
them in the name of the whole body, if there be oc¬
casion, to receive orders, and to pay them their
tribute when they come to us." All that passes
between them and the Chaldeans shall pass through
his hand; and if the Chaldeans put such a confidence
in him, surely his own countrymen may venture to
do it. Gedaliah is willing thus to give them the
assurance of an oath, that he will do his part in pro¬
tecting them, but being apt to err (as many good
m ?n are) on the charitable side, it did not require
an oath from them, that they would be faithful to
him, else the following mischief might have been
prevented. However, protection draws allegiance,
though it be not sworn ; and, by joining in with Geda¬
liah, they did, in effect, consent to the terms of
government, that they should serve the king of
Babylon. But, (2.) Though they own the property
of their lands to be in the Chaldeans, yet, upon that
condition, they shall have the free "enjoyment, of
them, and all the profits of them; (u. 10.) “ Gather
ye wine and summer-fruits, and take them for your
own use; /nit them in your vessels, to be laid up for
winter-store, as those do that live in a land of peace,
and hope to eat the labour of your hand; nay, the
labour of other people’s hands, for you reap what
i| they sowed.” Or perhaps they were the spontane
I ous products of that fertile soil, for which none had
laboured. And accordingly we find, (v. 12.) that
1 they gathered wine and summer-fruits very much,
such as were at present upon the ground, for their
corn-harvest was over some time before Jerusalem
was taken. While Gedaliah was in care fer the
public safety, he left them to enjoy the advantages
of the public plenty, and, for aught appears, de¬
manded no tribute from them; for he sought not his
own profit, but the profit of many.
II. Here is a dark cloud gathering over this infant
, state, and threatening a dreadful storm. How soon
is this hopeful prospect blasted! For when God
begins in judgment he will m.tke an end. It is here
intimated to us,
1. That Baalis the king of the Ammonites had a
particular spite at Gedaliah, and was contriving to
take him off, either out of malice to the nation of the
Jews, whose welfare he hated the thought of, or a
gersonal pique against Gedaliah, v. 14. Some make
aalis to signify the queen-mother of the king of the
Ammonites, or queen-dowager, as if she were the
first mover of this bloody and treacherous design.
One would have thought this little remnant might
have been safe, when the great king of Babylon pro¬
tected it; and yet it is ruined by the artifices of this
petty prince or princess. Happy they that have the
King of kings on their side, who can take the wise
in their own craftiness; for the greatest earthly king
cannot with all his power secure us against fraud
and treachery'.
2. That he employed Ishmael, the son of JVetha-
niah, as the instrument of his malice, instigated him
to murder Gedaliah; and that he might have a fair
opportunity to do it, directed him to go and enrol
himself among his subjects, and promise him fealty.
Nothing could be more barbarous than the design
itself, nor more base than the method of compassing
it. How wretchedly is human nature corrupted and
degenerated, (even in those that pretend to the best
blood,) when it is capable of admitting the thought
of such abominable wickedness! Ishmael was of the
seed royal, and would therefore be easily tempted
to envy and bate one that set up fi r a governor in
Judah, who was not, as he was, of David’s line,
though he had ever so much of David’s spirit.
3. That Johanan, a brisk and active man, having
got scent of this plot, informed Gedaliah of it, yet
taking it for granted he could not but know of it be¬
fore, the proofs of the matter being so very plain;
Dost thou certainly know? surely thou dost, v. 14.
He gave him private intelligence of it, (v. 15.)
hoping be would then take the more notice of it.
He proffered his service to prevent it, by taking off
Ishmael, whose very name was ominous to all the
seed of Isaac; I will slay him. Wherefore should
he slay thee? Herein he showed more courage and
zeal than sense of justice; for'if it be lawful to kill
for prevention, who then can be safe, since malice
always suspects the worst?
4. That Gedaliah, being a man of sincerity him¬
self, would by no means give credit to the informa¬
tion given him of Ishmael’s treachery. He said,
Thou sfieakest falsely of Ishmael. Herein he dis-
. covered more good humour than discretion, more of
i the innocency of the dove than the wisdom of the
] serpent. Princes become uneasy to themselves, and
all about them, when they are jealous. Queen
Elizabeth said, that she would believe no more evil
of her people, than a mother would believe of her
own children; yet many have been ruined by being
over-confident of the fidelity of those about them.
CHAP. XLI.
It is a very tragical story that is related in this chapter, and
shows that evil pursues sinners. The black cloud thal
was gathering in the foregoing chapter, here bursts in a
513
JEREMIAH, XLI.
dreadful storm. Those few Jews that escaped their cap¬
tivity were proud to think that they were still in their
own land, when their brethren were gone they knew not
whither ; were fond of the wine and summer-fruits they
had gathered , and were very secure under Gedaliah’s
protectorship, when, on a sudden, even these remains
prove ruins too. 1. Gedaliah is barbarously slain by
Ishmael, v. 1,2. II. All the Jews that were with him
were slain likewise, (v. 3.) and a pit filled with their dead
bodies, v. 9. III. Some devout men, to the number of
fourscore, that were going toward Jerusalem, were drawn
in by Ishmael, and murdered likewise, v. 4 . . 7. Only
ten of them escaped, v. 8. IV. Those that escaped the
sword were taken prisoners by Ishmael, and carried ofi'
toward the country of the Ammonites, v. 10. V. By the
conduct and courage of Johanan, though the death of the
slain is not revenged, yet the prisoners are recovered,
and he now becomes their commander in chief, v. 1 1 . . 16.
VI. His project is to carry them into the land of Egypt,
(v, 17, 18.) which we shall hear more of in the next
chapter.
J. 1WTOW it came to pass in the seventh
month, that Ishmael the son of
Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, Of the seed
royal, and the princes of the king, even ten
men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son
of Ahikam, to Mizpah; and there they did
eat bread together in Mizpah. 2. Then
arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the
ten men that were with him, and smote
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of
Shaphan, with the sword, and slew him,
whom the king of Babylon had made gover¬
nor over the land. 3. Ishmael also slew all
the Jews that were with him, even with
Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans
that were found there, and the men of war.
4. And it came to pass, the second day after
he had slain Gedaliah, and no man knew it,
6. That there came certain from Shechem,
from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even four¬
score men, having their beards shaven, and
their clothes rent, and having cut themselves,
with offerings and incense in their hand, to
bring them to the house of the Lord. 6. And
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth
from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all
along as he went: and it came to pass, as
he met them, he said unto them, Come to
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. 7. And it
was so, when they came into the midst of
the citv, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah
slew them, and cast them into the midst of
the pit, he, and the men that were with him.
8. But ten men were found among them
that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not; for we
have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of
barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he for-
bare, and slew them not among their bre¬
thren. 9. Now the pit wherein Ishmael
had cast all the dead bodies of the men,
whom he had slain because of Gedaliah,
was it which Asa the king had made for fear
of Baasha king of Israel ; and Ishmael the
son of Nethaniah filled it with them that
ivere slain. 10. Then Ishmael carried away
Vol. iv. — 3 T
captive all the residue of the people that
were in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters,
and all the people that remained in Mizpah,
whom Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard
had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahi¬
kam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah
earned them away captive, and departed to
go over to the Ammonites.
It is hard to say which is more astonishing, God’s
permitting, or men’s perpetrating, such villanies as
here we find committed. Such base, barbarous,
bloody work is here done by men, who by their birth
should have been men of honour, by their religion
just men, and this done upon those of their own na¬
ture, their own nation, their own religion, and now
their brethren in affliction, when they were all
brought under the power of the victorious Chal¬
deans, and smarting under the judgments of God,
upon no provocation, nor with any prospect of ad¬
vantage; all done, not only in cold blood, but with
art and management. We have scarcely such an
instance of perfidious cruelty in all the scripture; so
that with John, when he saw the woman drunk with
the blood of the saints, we may well wonder with
great admiration. But God permitted it for the
completing of the ruin of an unhumbled people, and
the filling up of the measure of their judgments, who
had filled up the measure of their iniquities. Let it
possess us with an indignation at the wickedness of
men, and an awe of God’s righteousness.
1. Ishmael and his party treacherously killed
Gedaliah himself in the first place. Though the
king of Babylon had made him a great man, had
given him a commission to be governor of the land
which he had conquered; though God had made
him a good man, and a great blessing to his country,
and his agency for its welfare was as life from the
dead; yet neither could secure him. Ishmael was
of the seed royal, (y. 1.) and therefore jealous of
Gedaliah’s growing greatness, and enraged that he
should merit and accept a commission under the
king of Babylon. He had ten men with him, that
were princes of the king too, guided by the same
peevish resentments that he was; these had been
with Gedaliah before, to put themselves under his
protection, ( ch . xl. 8.) and now came again to make
him a visit; and they did eat bread together in
Mizpah. He entertained them generously, and
entertained no jealousy of them, notwithstanding
the information given him by Johanan. They pre¬
tended friendship to him, and gave him no warning
to stand on his guard; he was in sincerity friendly to
them, and did all he could to oblige them, but they
that did eat bread with him lifted up the heel against
him. They did not pick a quarrel with him, but
watched an opportunity, when they had him alone,
and assassinated him, v. 2.
2. They likewise put all to the sword that they
found in arms there, both Jews and Chaldeans, all
that were employed under Gedaliah, or were in any
capacity to revenge his death, v. 3. As if enough
of the blood of Israelites had not been shed by the
Chaldeans, their own princes here mingled it with
the blood of the Chaldeans. The vine-dressers and
the husbandmen were busy in the fields, and knew
nothing of this bloody massacre; so artfully was it
carried on and concealed!
3. Some good, honest men, that were going all ira
tears to lament the desolations of Jerusalem, were-
drawn in by Ishmael, and murdered with the rest..
Observe, (1.) From whence they came; (v. 5.)'
from Shechem, Samaria, and Shiloh, places that
had been famous, but were now reduced; they be¬
longed to the ten tribes, but there were strove >n
514
JEREMIAH, XI A.
those countries that retained an affection for the
worship of the God of Israel. (2.) Whither they
were going; to the house of the Lord, the temple at
Jerusalem, which, no doubt, they had heard of the
destruction of, and were going to pay their respects
to its ashes, to see its ruins, that their eye might af¬
fect their heart with sorrow for them. They/a-
vour the dust thereof, Ps. cii. 14. They took of¬
ferings and incense in their hand, that if they
should find any altar there, though it were but an
altar of earth, and any priest ready to officiate, they
might not be without something to offer; if not, yet
they showed their good-will, as Abraham, when he
came to the place of the altar, though the altar was
gone. The people of God used to go rejoicing to
the house of the Lord, but these went in the habit
of mourners, with their clothes rent, and their heads
shaven; for the providence of God loudly called to
weeping and mourning, because it was not with the
faithful worshippers of God as in months past. (3. )
How they were decoyed into a fatal snare by Ish-
mael’s malice. Hearing of their approach, he resolv¬
ed to be the death of them too; so bloodthirsty was
he ! He seemed as if he hated every one that had
the name of an Israelite, or the face of an honest
man; these pilgrims toward Jerusalem he had a
spite to, for the sake of their errand. Ishmael went
out to meet them with crocodile’s tears, pretending
to bewail the desolations of Jerusalem as much as
they, and, to try how they stood affected to Geda-
liah and his government, he courted them into the
town, and found them to have a respect for him,
which confirmed him in his resolution to murder
them. He said, Come to Gedaliah, pretending he
would have them come, and live with him, when
really he intended that they should come, and die
with him, v. 6. They had heard such a character
of Gedaliah, that they were willing enough to be
acquainted with him; but Ishmael, when he had
them in the midst of the town, fell upon them, and
stem them, (y. 7.) and, no doubt, took the offerings
they had, and converted them to his own use; for
he that would not stick at such a murder, would not
stick at sacrilege. Notice is taken of his disposing
of the dead bodies of these, and the rest that he had
slain; he tumbled them all into a great pit, {v. 7.)
the same pit that Asa king of Judah had digged
long before, either in the city, or adjoining to it,
when he built or fortified Mizpah, (1 Kings xv. 22.)
to be a frontier garrison against Baasha king of Is¬
rael, and for fear o/him, v. 9. Note, Those that
dig pits with a good intention know not what bad
use they may be put to, one time or other. He
slew so many, that he could not afford them each a
grave, or would not do them so much honour, but
threw them all promiscuously into one pit.
Among these last that were doomed to the slaugh¬
ter, there were ten that obtained a pardon, by
working, not on the compassion, but the covetous¬
ness, of those that had them at their mercy, v. 8.
They said to Ishmael, when he was about to suck
their blood, like an insatiable horse-leech, after that
of their companions, Slay us not, for we have trea¬
sures in the field, country-treasures, large stocks
upon the ground, abundance of such commodities as
the country affords, wheat and barley, and oil and
honey; intimating that they would discover it to
him, and put him in possession of it all, if he would
spare them. Skin for skin, and all that a man has,
will he give for his life. This bait prevailed. Ish¬
mael saved them, not for the love of mercy, but for
the love of money. Here were riches kept for the
owners thereof, not to their hurt, (Eccl. v. 13.) and
to cause them to lose their lives, (Job xxxi. 39.)
but to their good, and the preserving of their lives.
Solomon observes, that sometimes the ransom of a
man’s life is his riches. But those who think 'Mu
to bribe death, when it comes with commission, and
plead with it, saying, Slay us not, for we have trea¬
sures in the field, will find death inexorable, and
themselves wretchedly deceived.
4. He carried off the people prisoners; the king’s
daughters, whom the Chaldeans cared not for
troubling themselves with, when they had the
king’s sons; and the poor of the land, the vine¬
dressers and husbandmen, that were committed to
Gedaliah’s charge, were all led away prisoners to¬
ward the country of the Ammonites; ( v . 10.) Ish¬
mael probably intending to make a present of them,
as the trophies of his barbarous victory, to the king
of that country that set him on. This melancholy
story is a warning to us, never to be secure in this
world. Worse may be yet to come then, when we
think the worst is over; and that end of one trouble,
which we fancy to be the end of all trouble, may
prove to be the beginning of another, of a greater.
These here thought, Surely the bitterness of death
and of captivity is past; and yet some died by the
sword, and others went into captivity. When we
think ourselves safe, and begin to be easy, destruc¬
tion may come that way that we little expected it.
There is many a ship wrecked in the harbour. We
can never be sure of peace on this side heaven.
1 1 . But when Johanan the son of Kareah,
and all the captains of the forces that were
with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael
the son of Nethaniah had done, 12. Then
they took all the men, and went to fight
with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and
found him by the great waters that are in
Gibeon. 13. Now it came to pass, /hat
when all the people which were with Ish¬
mael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and
all the captains of the forces that were with
him, then they were glad. 14. So all the
people that Ishmael had carried away cap¬
tive from Mizpah cast about, and returned,
and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah.
15. But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah es¬
caped from Johanan with eight men, and
went to the Ammonites. 16. Then took
Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the cap¬
tains of the forces that were with him, all
the remnant of the people whom he had re¬
covered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah,
from Mizpah, (after that he had slain Geda¬
liah the son of Ahikam,) even mighty men
of war, and the women, and the children,
and the eunuchs, whom he had brought
again from Gibeon: 17. And they departed,
and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham,
which is by Beth-lehem, to go to enter into
Egypt, 18. Because of the Chaldeans: for
they were afraid of them, because Ishmael
the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the
son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon
made governor in the land.
It hart been well if Johanan, when he gave infor¬
mation to Gedaliah of Ishmael ’s treasonable design,
though he could not obtain leave to kill Ishmael,
and to prevent it that way, yet had stayed with Ge¬
daliah; for he, and his captains, and their forces,
•night have been a life-guard to Gedaliah, and t
515
JEREMIAH, XL11.
terror to Ishmael, and so have prevented the mis¬
chief, without the effusion of blood: but it seems,
they were out upon some expedition, perhaps no
good one, and so were out of the way when they
should have been upon the best service. Those
that affect to ramble are many times out of their
place when they are most needed. However, at
length they hear of all the evil that Ishmael had
done, (v. 11.) and are resolved to try an after-game,
which we have an account of in these verses.
1. We heartily wish Johanan could have taken
revenge upon the murderers, but he prevailed only
to rescue the captives. They that had shed so
much blood, it was pity but their blood should have
been shed; and it is strange that vengeance suffered
them to live; yet it did. Johanan gathered what
forces he could, and went to fight with Ishmael; ( y .
12.) upon notice of the murders he had committed,
(for though he concealed it for a time, (v, 4.) yet
murder will out,) and which way he was gone, he
pursued him, and overtook him by the great pool
of Gibeon, which we read of, 2 Sam. ii. 13. And
upon his appealing with such a force, Ishmael’s
heart failed him, his guilty conscience flew in his
face, and he durst not stand his ground against an
enemy that was something like a match for him.
The most cruel are often the most cowardlv. The
poor captives were glad when they s'aw Johanan,
and the captains that were with him, looking upon
them as their deliverers, (x\ 13.) and they imme¬
diately found a way to wheel about, and come over
to them, (v. 14.) Ishmael not offering to detain them
when he saw Johanan. Note, Those that would be
helped must help themselves. These captives
stayed not till their conquerors were beaten, but
took the first opportunity to make their escape, as
soon as they saw their friends appear, and their
enemies thereby disheartened. Ishmael quitted his
prey, to save his life, and escaped with eight men,
v. 15. It seems, two of his ten men, that were his
banditti or assassins, spoken of, v. 1. either deserted
him, or were killed in the engagement; but he
made the best of his way to the Ammonites, as a
perfect renegado, that had quite abandoned all rela¬
tion to the commonwealth of Israel, though he was
of the seed royal, and we hear no more of him.
2. We heartily wish that Johanan, when he had
rescued the captives, would have sitten down quiet-
Iv with them, and governed them peaceably, as
Gedaliah did; but, instead of that, he is for leading
them into the land of Egypt, as Ishmael would have
.ed them into the land of the Ammonites; so that
though he got the command over them in a better
way than Ishmael did, and honestly enough, yet he
did not use it much better. Gedaliah, who was of
a meek and quiet spirit, was a great blessing to
them; but Johanan, who was of a fierce and restless
spirit, was set over them for their hurt, and to com¬
plete their ruin, even after they were, as they
thought, redeemed. Thus did God still walk con¬
trary to them. (1.) The resolution of Johanan and
the captains was very rash; nothing would serve
them but they wotdd go to enter into Egypt, (n. 17. )
and, in order to that, they encamped for a time in
the habitation of Chimham, by Bethlehem, David’s
city. Probably it was some land .which David gave
to Chimham, the son of Barzillai, which, though it
returned to David’s family, at the year of Jubilee,
yet still bore the name of Chimham. Here Johanan
made his head-quarters, steering his course to¬
wards Egypt, either from a personal affection to
that country, or an ancient national confidence in
the Egyptians for help in distress. Some of the
mighty men of war, it seems, had escaped; those
he took with him, and the women ana children,
whom he had recovered from Ishmael, who were
thus emptied from vessel to vessel, because they
were yet unchanged. (2.) The reason for this re¬
solution was very frivolous. They pretended that
they were afraid of the Chaldeans, that they would
come and do I know not what with them, because
Ishmael had killed Gedaliah, v. 18. I cannot think
they really had any apprehensions of danger upon
this account; for though it is true that the Chal¬
deans had cause enough to resent the murder of
their viceroy, yet they were not so unreasonable, or
unjust, as to revenge it upon those who appeared so
vigorously against the murderers. But they only
made use of this as a sham to cover that corrupt in¬
clination of their unbelieving ancestors, which was
so strong in them, to return into Egypt. Those
will justly lose’ their comfort in real tears, that ex¬
cuse themselves in sin with pretended fears.
CHAP. XLII.
Johanan and the captains being strongly bent upon going
into Egypt, either their affections or politics advising
them to take that course, they had a great desire that
God should direct them to do so too; like Balaam, who,
when he was determined to go curse Israel, asked God
leave. Here is, I. The fair bargain that was made be¬
tween Jeremiah and them about consulting God in this
matter, v. 1 . . 6. II. The message at large which God
sent them, in answer to their inquiry; in which, 1. Thev
are commanded and encouraged to continue in the land
of Judah, and assured that if they did so, it should be
well with them, v. 7.. 12. 2. They are forbidden to go
to Egypt, and are plainly told that if they did, it would
be their ruin, v. 13. .18. 3. They are charged with dis¬
simulation in their asking what God’s will was in this
matter, and disobedience when they were told what it
was; and sentence is passed upon them for it, v. 19. .22.
1 . r R 'M IEN all the captains of the forces,
JL and Johanan the son of Ivareah,
and Jezamah the son of Hoshaiah, and all
the people, from the least even to the great¬
est, came near, 2. And said unto Jere¬
miah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our
supplication be accepted before thee, and
pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even
for all this remnant; (for we are left but a
few of many, as thine eyes do behold us;)
3. That the Lord thy God may shew us
the way wherein we may walk, and the
thing that we may do. 4. Then Jeremiah
the prophet said unto them, I have heard
you ; behold, I will pray unto the Lord
your God according to your words, and it
shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing
the Lord shall answer you, I will declare
it unto you ; I will keep nothing back from
you. 5. Then they said to Jeremiah, The
Lord be a true and faithful witness between
us, if we do not even according to all things
for the which the Lord thy God shall send
thee to us. 6. Whether it be good, or
whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of
the Lord our God, to whom we send thee;
that it may be well with us, when we obey
the voice of the Lord our God.
We have reason to wonder how Jeremiah the pro ¬
phet escaped the sword of Ishmael; it seems lie did
escape, and it was not the first time that the Lord
hid him. It is strange also that in these violent
turns he was not consulted before now, and his ad¬
vice asked and taken. But it should seem as if they
knew not that a prophet was among them; though
516 JEREMIAH, XLII.
this people were as brands plucked out of the fire,
yet have they not returned to the Lord. This peo¬
ple has a revolting and a rebellious heart; and con¬
tempt of God and his providence, God and his pro¬
phets, is still the sin that most easily besets them.
But now at length, to serve a turn, Jeremiah is
sought out, and all the captains, Johanan himself
not excepted, with all the people from the least to
the greatest, make him a visit; they came near, (y.
1.) which intimates that hitherto they had kept at
a distance from the prophet, and had been shy of
him. Now here,
1. They desire him by prayer to ask direction
from God what they should do in the present criti¬
cal juncture, v. 2, 3. They express themselves
wonderfully well. (1.) With great respect to the
prophet. Though he was poor and low, and under
their command, yet they apply themselves to him
with humility and submissiveness, as petitioners for
his assistance, which yet they intimate their own
unworthiness of; Let, we beseech thee, our supplica¬
tion be accepted before thee. They compliment him
thus, in hopes to persuade him to say as they would
have him say. (2.) With a great opinion of his in¬
terest in heaven; “ Pray for us, who know not how
to pray for ourselves. Pray to the Lord thy God,
for we are unworthy to call him ours, nor have we
reason to expect any favour from him.” (3.) With
a great sense of the need of divine direction. They
speak of themselves as objects of compassion; “ Ire
are but a remnant, but a few of many; how easily
will such a remnant be swallowed up, and yet it is
pity that it should. Thine eyes see what distress we
are in, what a plunge we are at; if thou canst do
any thing, help us.” (4.) With desire of divine
direction; “Let the Lord thy God take this ruin
into his thoughts, and under his hand, and show us
the way wherein we may walk, and may expect to
have his presence with us, and the thing that we
may do, the course we may take for our own safety. ”
Note, In every difficult, doubtful case, our eye must
be up to God for direction. They then might ex¬
pect to be directed by a spirit of prophecy , which is
now ceased; but we may still in faith pray to be
guided by a spirit of wisdom in our hearts, and the
hints of Providence.
2. Jeremiah faithfully promises them to pray for
direction for them, and, whatever message God
should send to them by him, he would deliver it to
them just as he received it, without adding, alter¬
ing, or diminishing, v. 4. Ministers may hence
learn, (1.) Conscientiously to pray for those who
desire their prayers; I will pray for you, according
to your words. Though they had slighted him, yet,
like Samuel, when he was slighted, he will not sin
against the Lord in ceasing to pray for them, 1
Sam. xii. 23. (2.) Conscientiously to advise those
who desire their advice, as near as they can to the
mind of God, not keeping back any thing that is
profitable for them, whether it be pleasing or no,
but to declare to them the whole counsel of God, that
they may approve themselves true to their trust.
3. They fairly promise that they will be govern¬
ed by the will of God, as soon as they know what
it is, ( [v . 5, 6.) and they had the impudence to ap¬
peal to God concerning their sincerity herein,
though at the same time they dissemble; “ The
Lora be a true and faithful Witness between us;
do thou in the fear of God tell us truly what his
mind is, and then we will in the fear of God comply
with it; and for this, the Lord the Judge be judge
between us.” Note, Those that expect to have
the benefit of good ministers’ prayers, must con¬
scientiously hearken to their preaching, and be go¬
verned by it, as far as it agrees with the mind of
God. Nothing could be better said than this here,
Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will
obey the voice of the Lord our God, that it may be
well with us. (1.) They now call God their God,
for Jeremiah had encouraged them to call him so;
(y. 4.) I will pray to the Lord your God. He is
ours, and therefore we will obey his voice. Our
relation to God strongly obliges us to obedience. (2 . ,
They promise to obey his voice, because they sent
the prophet to him to consult him. Note, We do
not truly desire to know the mind of God if we do
not fully resolve to comply with it when we do
know it. (3.) It is an implicit, universal obedience
that they here promise. They will do what God
appoints them to do, whether it be good, or whether
it be evil; “Though it may seem evil to us, yet we
will believe that if God commands it, it is certainly
good, and we must not dispute it, but do it. What¬
ever God commands, whether it be easy or difficult,
agreeable to our inclinations or contrary to them,
whether it be cheap or costly, fashionable or un¬
fashionable, whether we get or lose by it in our
wordly interests, if it be our duty, we will do it.”
(4.) It is upon a very good consideration that they
promise this, a reasonable and powerful one, that
it may be well with us; which intimates a convic¬
tion that they could not expect it should be well
with them upon any other terms.
7. And it came to pass, after ten days,
that the word of the Lord came unto Jere¬
miah. 8. Then called he Johanan the son
of Kareah, and all the captains of the
forces which icere with him, and all the
people, from the least even to the greatest,
9. And said unto them, Thus saith the
Lord, the God of Israel, unto whom ye
sent me to present your supplication before
him; 10. If ye will still abide in this land,
then will I build you, and not pull you
down ; and I will plant you, and not pluck
you up: for I repent me of the evil that ]
have done unto you. 1 1. Be not afraid of
the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid,
be not afraid of him, saith the Lord: for 1
am with you to save you, and to deliver you
from his hand. 12. And I will shew mer¬
cies unto you, that he may have mercy
upon you, and cause you to return to your
own land. 13. But if ye say, We will not
dwell in this land, neither obey the voice ol
the Lord your God, 14. Saying, No; but
we will go into the land of Egypt, where
we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of
a trumpet, nor have hunger of bread ; and
there will we dwell : 1 5. And now, there¬
fore, hear the word of the Lord, ye rem¬
nant of Judah; Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel, If ye wholly set
your faces to 'enter into Egypt-, and go to
sojourn there; 16. Then it shall come to
pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall
overtake you there in the land of Egypt,
and the famine, whereof ye were afraid,
shall follow close after you in Egypt ; and
there ye shall die. 17. So shall it be with
all the men that set their faces to go into
Egypt, to sojourn there; they shall die by
JEREMIAH, XLII. 517
the sword, by the famine, and by the pesti¬
lence: and none of them shall remain or
escape from the evil that I will bring upon
them. 18. For thus saith the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel, As mine anger and
mj' fury hath been poured forth upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury
be poured forth upon you, when ye shall
enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an exe¬
cration, and an astonishment, and a curse,
and a reproach; and ye shall see this place
no more. 19. The Lord hath said con¬
cerning you, O ye remnant of Judah, Go
ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I
have admonished you this day. 20. For
ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent
me unto the Lord your God, saying, Pray
for us unto the Lord our God ; and accord¬
ing unto all that the Lord our God shall
say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.
21. And now I have this day declared it to
you ; but ye have not obeyed the voice of
the Lord your God, nor any thing for the
which he hath sent me unto you. 22. Now,
therefore, know certainly that ye shall die
by the sword, by the famine, and by the
pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to
go, and to sojourn.
We have here the answer which Jeremiah was
sent to deliver to those who employed him to ask
counsel of God.
I. It did not come immediately, not till ten days
after, v. 7. They were thus long held in suspense,
perhaps to punish them for their hypocrisy, or to
show that Jeremiah did not speak of himself, nor
what he would; for he could not speak when he
would, but must wait for instructions. However, it
teaches us to continue waiting upon God for direc¬
tion in our way. The vision is for an appointed
time, and at the end it shall speak.
II. When it did come, he delivered it publicly,
both to the captains, and to all the people, from the
meanest to those in the highest station; he deliver¬
ed it fully and faithfully as he received it, as he had
promised that he would keep nothing back from
them. If Jeremiah had been to direct them by his
own prudence, perhaps he could not have told what
to advise them to, the case was so difficult; but
what he has to advise, is what the Lord the God of
Israel saithl to whom they had sent him, and there¬
fore thev were bound in honour and duty to observe
it And this he tells them,
1. That it is the will of God that they would stay
where they were; and his promise, that if they do
so, it shall undoubtedly be well with them; he would
have them still to abide in this land, v. 10. Their
brethren were forced out of it into captivity, and it
was their affliction; let them therefore count it a
mercy that they may stay in it, and a duty to stay
in it. Let those whose lot is m Canaan, never quit
it while they can keep it. It had been enough to
oblige them, if God had only said, “I charge you
upon your allegiance, to abide still in the land;”
but he rather persuades them to it as a Friend than
commands it as a Prince.
( 1. ) He expresses a very tender concern for them
in their present calamitous condition; It repenteth
me of the evil that I have done unto you. Though
they had shown small sign of their repenting of
their sins, yet God, as one grieved for the misery oj
Israel, (Judg. x. 16.) begins to repent of the judg¬
ments he had brought upon them for their sins.
Not that he changed his mind, but he was very
ready to change his way, and to return in mercy to
them. God’s time to repent himself concerning his
servants is when he sees that, as here, their strength
is gone, and there is none shut up or left, Deut.
xxxii. 36.
(2.) He answers the argument they had against
abiding in this land; they feared the king of Baby¬
lon, ( ch . xli. 18.) lest he should come, and avenge
the death of Gedaliah upon them, though they
were no wav accessary to it, nay, had witnessed
against it The surmise was foreign and unreason¬
able; but if there had been any ground for it,
enough is here said to remove it; ( v . 11.) “ Be not
afraid of the king of Babylon, though he is a man
of great might and little mercy, and a very arbi¬
trary prince, whose will is a law, and therefore you
are afraid he will, upon this pretence, though with¬
out colour of reason, take advantage against you; be
not afraid of him, for that fear will bring a snare:
fear not him, for / am with you; and if God be for
you to save you, who can be against you to hurt
you?” Thus has God provided to obviate and si¬
lence even the causeless fears of his people, which
discourage them in the way of their duty; there is
enough in the promises to do it.
(3. ) He assured them that if they will still abide
in this land, they shall not only be safe from the
king of Babylon, but be made happy by the King
of kings; “I will build you and plant you; you
shall take root again, and be the new foundation of
another state; a phcenix-kingdom, rising out of the
ashes of the last.” It is added, {v. 12.) I will
show mercies unto you. Note, In all our comforts
we may read God’s mercies. God will show them
mercy in this, that not only the king of Babylon
shall not destroy them, but he shall have mercy
upon them, and help to settle them. Note, What¬
ever kindness men do us, we must attribute it to
God’s kindness. He makes those whom he pities
to be pitied even by those that' carried them cap¬
tives, Ps. cvi. 46. “The king of Babylon, having
now the disposal of the country, shall cause you to
return to your own land, shall settle you again in
your own habitations, and put you in possession of
the lands that formerly belonged to you.” Note,
God has made that our duty, which is really our
privilege, and our obedience will be its own recom¬
pense. “Abide in this land, and it shall be your
own land again, and you shall continue in it. Do
not quit it, now that you stand so fair for the enjoy¬
ment of it again. Be not so unwise as to forsake
your own mercies for lying vanities.”
2. That as they tender the favour of God and
their own happiness, they must by no means think
of going into Egypt; not thither, of all places, that
land out of which God had delivered their fathers,
and which he had so often warned them not to make
alliance with, nor to put confidence in. Observe here,
(1.) The sin they are supposed to be guilty of;
(and to him that knew their hearts it was more
than a supposition;) “You begin to say. We will
not dwell in this land, (y. 13.) we will never think
that we can be safe in it, no, not though God him¬
self undertake our protection; we will not continue
in it, no, not in obedience to the voice of the Lord
our God; he may say what he pleases, but we will
do what we please; we will go into the land of
Egypt, and there will we dwell, whether God give
us leave, and go along with us, or no,” v. 14. It is
supposed that their hearts were upon it; “ If ye
wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, are ob¬
stinately resolved that ye will go, and sojourn the^e,
518 JEREMIAH, XLIII.
though God oppose you in it, both by his word and
by his providence, then take what follows.” Now
the reason they go upon in this resolution, is, that
in Egypt we shall see no war, nor have hunger of
bread, as we have had for a long time in this land,
v. 14. Note, It is folly to quit our place, especially
to quit the holy land, because we meet with trouble
in it; but greater folly to think by changing our place
to escape the judgments of God, and that evil which
pursues sinners in every way of disobedience, and
which there is no escaping but by returning to our
allegiance.
(2. ) The sentence passed upon them for this sin,
if they will persist in it. It is pronounced in God’s
name; (v. 15.) “ Hear the word of the Lord, ye
remnant of Judah, who think that because you are
a remnant, you must be spared of course, (t/. 2.) and
indulged in your own humour. [1.] Did the sword
and famine frighten them? Those very judgments
shall pursue them into Egypt, shall overtake them,
and overcome them, there; ( v . 16, IT. ) “You
think, because war and famine have long been rag¬
ing in this land, that they are entailed upon it;
whereas, if you trust in God, he can make even
this land a land of peace to you; you think they
are confined to it, and if you can get clear of this
land, you shall get out of the reach of them, but
God will send them after you wherever you go.”
Note, The evils we think to escape by Sin, we cer¬
tainly and inevitably run ourselves upon. The men
that go to Egypt, in contradiction to God’s will, to
escape the sword and famine, shall die in Egypt by
snvord and famine. We may apply it to the com¬
mon calamities of human life; those that are impa¬
tient of them, and think to avoid them by changing
their place, will find that they are deceived, and
that they do not at all mend themselves; the griev¬
ances common to men will meet them wherever
they go; all our removes in this world are but from
one wilderness to another; still we are where we
were. [2.] Did the desolations of Jerusalem fright¬
en them? Were they willing to get as far as they
could from them? They shall meet with the second
part of them too in Egypt: (y. 18.) As my anger
and fury have been poured out here upon Jerusa¬
lem, so they shall be poured out upon you in
Egypt. Note, Those that have by sin made God
their Enemy, will find him a consuming Fire,
wherever they go. And then ye shall be an exe¬
cration and an astonishment. The Hebrews were
of old an abomination to the Egyptians; (Gen xliii.
32. ) and now they shall be made more so than ever.
When God’s professing people mingle themselves
with infidels, and make their court to them, they
lose their dignity, and make themselves a reproach.
3. That God knew their hypocrisy in their in¬
quiries of him, and that when they asked what he
would have them to do, they were resolved to take
their own way; and therefore the sentence which
was before pronounced conditionally is made abso¬
lute. Having set before them good and evil, the
blessing and the curse, in the close he makes appli¬
cation of what he had said. And here, (1.) He
solemnly protests that he had faithfully delivered
his message, v. 19. The conclusion of the whole
matter is, “ Go not down into Egypt, you disobey
the command of God if you do, and what I have
said to you will be a witness against you; for know
certainly, that whether you will hear, or whether
you will forbear, I have plainly admonished you,
you cannot now plead ignorance of the mind of
God.” (2.) He charges them with base dissimula¬
tion in the application they made to him for divine
direction; {v. 20.) “ You dissembled in your hearts,
you professed one thing and intended another, you
promised what you never meant to perform.” You
have used deceit against your souls; so the margin
reads it: for those that think to put a cheat upon
God, will prove in the end to have put a damning
cheat upon themselves. (3.) He is already aware
that they are determined to go contrary to the com¬
mand of God; probably, they discovered it in their
countenance and secret mutterings already, before
he had finished his discourse. However, he spake
from him who knew their hearts; “ Ye have not
obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, ye have
not a disposition to obey it. ” Thus Moses, in the
close of his farewell sermon, had told them, (Deut.
xxxi. 27, 29.) I know thy rebellion and thy stiff
neck — and that ye will corrupt yourselves. Admire
the patience of God, that he is pleased to speak to
those who, he knows, will not regard him, and deal
with those who, he knows, will deal treacherously ,
Isa. xlviii. 8. (4.) He therefore reads them their
doom, ratifying what he had said before, Know
certainly that ye shall die by the sword, v. 22. Gcd’s
threatenings maybe vilified, but cannot be nullified,
by the unbelief of man. Famine and pestilence
shall pursue these sinners; for there is no place
privileged from divine arrests, nor can any male¬
factors go out of God’s jurisdiction. Ye shall die in
the place whither ye desire to go. Note, We know
not what is good for ourselves; and that often proves
afflictive, and sometimes fatal, which we are most
fond of, and have our hearts most set upon.
CHAP. XLIII.
Jeremiah had faithfully delivered his message from God,
in the foregoing chapter, and the case was made so very
plain by it, that one would have thought there needed
no more words about it ; but we find it quite otherwise.
Here is, I. The people’s contempt of this message; they
denied it to be the word of God, (v. 1 . . 3.) and then
made no difficulty of going directly contrary to it. Into
Egypt they went, and took Jeremiah himself along with
them, v. 4 . . 7. II. God’s pursuit of them with another
message, foretelling the king of Babylon’s pursuit of
them into Egypt, v. 8 . . 13.
1. 4 ND it came to pass, that when Jerc
miah had made an end of speaking
unto all the people all the words of the
Lord their God, for which the Lord their
God had sent him to them, even all these
words, 2. Then spake Azariah the son of
Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah,
and all the proud men,saying unto Jeremiah,
Thou speakest falsely: the Lord our God
hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt
to sojourn there : 3. But Baruch the son
of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to
deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans,
that they might put us to death, and carry
us away captives into Babylon. 4. So Jo¬
hanan the son of Kareali, and all the cap¬
tains of the forces, and ail the people, obey¬
ed not the voice of the Lord, to dwell in
the land of Judah; 5. But Johanan the
son of Kareah, and all the captains of the
forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that
were returned from all nations whither they
had been driven, to dwell in the land of
Judah ; 6. Even men, and women, and
children, and the king’s daughters, and every
person that Nebuzar-adan the captain of
the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah
519
JEREMIAH, XLIII.
tile prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.
7. So they came into the land of Egypt :
for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord.
Tlius came they even to Tahpanhes.
VVliat God said to the builders of Babel, may
truly said of this people that Jeremiah is now
iealing with; JVow nothing will be restrained from
them which they have imagined to do, Gen. xi. 6.
They have a fancy for Egypt, and to Egypt they
will go, whatever God himself saith to the contrary.
Jeremiah made them hear all he had to say, though
he saw them uneasy at it; it was what the Lord
their God had sent him to speak to them, and they
shall have it all. And now let us see what they
have to say to it.
1. They deny it to be a message from God; Joha-
<ian, and all the proud men, said to Jeremiah, Thou
”j leakest falsely, v. 2. See here, (1.) What was
the cause of their disobedience, it was pride; only
by that comes contention both with God and man:
they were proud men that gave the lie to the pro¬
phet. They could not bear the contradiction of
their sentiments, and the control of their designs,
no, not by the divine wisdom, by the divine will
itself. Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should
obey him? Exod. v. 2. The proud, unhumbled
heart of man is one of the most daring enemies God
has on this side hell. (2.) What was the colour for
their diobedience. They would not acknowledge it
to be the word of God; The Lord hath not sent thee
on this errand to us. Either they were not con¬
vinced that what was said came from God, or,
(which I rather think,) though they were convinced
of it, they would not own it. The light shone
sti ong in their face, but they either shut their eyes
against it, or would not confess that they saw it.
Note, The reason why men deny the scriptures to
be the word of God, is, because they are resolved
not to conform themselves to scripture-rules, and
so an obstinate infidelity is made the sorry subter¬
fuge of a wilful disobedience. If God had spoken
to them by an angel, or as he did from mount Sinai,
they would have said that it was a delusion. Had
they not consulted Jeremiah as a prophet? Had not
he waited to receive instructions from God what to
say to them? Had not what he said all the usual
marks of prophecy upon it? Was not the prophet
himself embarked in the same bottom with them?
What interests could he have separate from theirs?
Had he not always approved himself an Israelite
indeed; And had not God proved him a prophet in¬
deed? Had any of his words ever fallen to the
ground? Why truly they had some good thoughts
of Jeremiah, but they suggest, ( [v . 3.) Baruch sets
thee on against us. A likely thing, that Baruch
should be in a plot to deliver them into the hands of
the Chaldeans; and what would he get by that? If
Jeremiah and he had been so well affected to the
Chaldeans as they would represent them, they
would have gone away at first with Nebuzar-adan,
when he courted them, to Babylon, and not have
staid to take their lot with this despised, ungrateful
remnant. But the best services are no fence
against malice and slander. Or, if Baruch had
been so ill disposed, could they think Jeremiah
would be so influenced by him as to make God’s
name an authority to patronize so villanous a pur¬
pose? Note, Those that are resolved to contradict
the great ends of the ministry, are industrious to
bring a bad name upon it. When men will persist
in sin, they represent those that would turn them
from it as designing men for themselves, nav, as ill-
designing men against their neighbours. It is well
for persons who are thus misrepresented, that their
witness is in heaven, and their record on high.
2. They determine to go to Egypt however. They
resolve not to dwell in the land of Judah, as God
had ordered them, ( v . 4. ) but to go themselves witn
one consent, and to take all that they had undet
thei' power along with them to Egypt. Those that
catr.e from all the nations whither they had been
driven, to dwell in the land of Judah, out of a sin¬
cere affection to that land, they would not leave to
their liberty, but forced them to "o with them into
Egypt, (y. 5.) men, women, and children, (v. 6.) along
journey into a strange country, an idolatrous country,
a country that had never been kind or faithful to Israel ;
yet thither they would go, though they deserted their
own land and threw themselves out of God’s protec¬
tion. It is the folly of men, that they know not when
they are well off, and often ruin themselves by endea¬
vouring to mend themselves; and it is the pride of
great men to force those they have under their
power to follow them, though ever so much against
their duty and interest. These proud men com¬
pelled even Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch his
scribe to go along with them to Egypt; they carried
them away as prisoners, partly to punish them,
(and a greater punishment they could not indict
upon them than to force them against their con¬
sciences; theirs is the worst of tyranny who say to
men’s souls, even to good men’s souls, Bow down,
that we may go over,) partly to put some reputation
upon themselves and their own way; though the
prophets were under a force, they would make the
world believe that they were voluntary in going
along with them. Who could have blamed them
for acting contrary to the word of the Lord, if the
prophets themselves had acted so? They came to
Tahpanhes, a famous city of Egypt, (so called from
a queen of that name, 1 Kings xi. 19.) the same
with Hanes; (Isa. xxx. 4.) it was now the metro¬
polis, for Pharaoh’s house was there, (u. 9.) no
place could serve these proud men to settle in but
the royal city, and near the court; so little mindful
were they of Joseph’s wisdom, who would have his
brethren settle in Goshen, if they had had the
spirit of Israelites, they would have chosen rather
to dwell in the wilderness of Judah than in the
most pompous, populous cities of Egypt.
8. Then came the word of the Lord unto
Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, 9. Take
great stones in thy hand, and hide them in
the clay in the brick-kiln, which is at the
entry oi' Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in
the sight of the men of Judah; 10. And
say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will send
and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Ba¬
bylon my servant, and will set his throne
upon these stones that I have hid ; and he
shall spread his royal pavilion over them.
11. And when he cometh, he shall smite
the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are
for death, to death; and such as are for
captivity, to captivity ; and such as are for
the sword, to the sword. 12. And I will
kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of
Egypt ; and he shall burn them, and carry
them away Aptives; and he shall array
himself with the land of Egypt, as a shep¬
herd putteth on his garment ; and he shall
go forth from thence in peace. 13. He
shall break also the images of Beth-she-
520
1EREMIAH, XLIV.
mesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the
houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall
he burn with fire
We have here, as also in the next chapter, Jere¬
miah prophesying in Egypt. Jeremiah was now in
Tahpanhes, for there his lords and masters were;
he was there among idolatrous Egyptians and
treacherous Israelites; but there, 1. He received the
nuord of the Lord; it came to him. God can find
his people, with the visits of his grace, wherever
they are; and when his ministers are bound, yet the
word of the Lord is not bound. The spirit of pro¬
phecy was not confined to the land of Israel. W lien
Jeremiah went into Egypt, not out of choice, but
by constraint, God withdrew not his wonted favour
from him. 2. What he received of the Lord he de¬
livered to the people. Wherever we are, we must en¬
deavour todo good, for that is our business in this world.
Now we find two messages which Jeremiah was
appointed and intrusted to deliver, when he was in
Egypt. We may suppose that he rendered what
services he could to his countrymen in Egypt, at
least as far as they would be acceptable, in perform¬
ing the ordinary' duties of a prophet, praying for
them, and instructing and comforting them; but
only two messages of his, which he had received
immediately from God, are recorded; one in this
chapter, relating to Egypt itself, and foretelling its
destruction; the other in the next chapter, relating
to the Jews in Egypt.
God had told them before, that if they went into
Egypt, the sword they feared should follow them;
here he tells them further, that the sword of Nebu¬
chadrezzar, which they .were in a particular man¬
ner afraid of, should follow them.
I This is foretold by a sign. Jeremiah must take
great stones , such as are used for foundations, and
lay them in the clay of the furnace, or brick-kiln,
which is in the often way, or beside the way that
leads to Pharaoh’s house', (v. 9.) some remarkable
place in view of the royal palace. Egypt was fa¬
mous for brick-kilns, witness the slavery of the Is¬
raelites there, whom they forced to make bricks,
(Exod. v. 7.) which perhaps was now remembered
•against them. The foundation of Egypt’s desola¬
tion was laid in those brick-kilns, in that clay.
This he must do, not in the sight of the Egyptians,
(they knew not Jeremiah’s character,) but in the
sight of the men of Judah to whom he was sent,
that since he could not prevent their going into
Egypt, he might bring them to repent of their
going.
II. It is foretold in express words, as express as
can be,
1. That the king, the present king of Babylon,
Nebuchadrezzar, the very same that had been em¬
ployed in the destruction of Jerusalem, should come
in person against the land of Egypt, should make
himself master even of this royal city, that he
should set his throne in that very place where these
stones were laid, v. 10. This niinute circumstance
is particularly foretold, that, when it was accom¬
plished, they might be put in mind of the prophecy,
and confirmed in their belief of the extent and cer¬
tainty of the divine prescience, to which the smallest
and most contingent events are evident. God calls
Nebuchadrezzar his servant, because herein he
executed God’s will, accomplished ‘his purposes,
and was instrumental to carry on his designs. Note,
The world’s princes are God’s servants, and he
makes what use he pleases of them, and even those
that know him not, nor aim at his honour, are the
tools which his providence makes use of.
2. That he should destroy many of the Egyp¬
tians, and have them all at his mercy; (y. 11.) He
shall smite the land of Egypt; and t'r ugh it has been
always a warlike nation, yet none shall be able to
make head against him, but whom he will he shall
slay, and by what sort of death he will, whether pes¬
tilence, (for that is here meant by death, as ch. xv,
2.) by shutting them up in places infected, or by
the sword of war or justice, in cold blood or hot.
And whom he will, he shall save alive, and carry
into captivity. The Jews, by going into Egypt,
brought the Chaldeans thither, and so did but ill
repay those that entertained them. They who
promised to protect Israel from the king of Babylon
exposed themselves to him.
3. That he shall destroy the idols of Egypt, both
the temples, and the images, of their gods; ( v . 12.)
He shall burn the houses of the gods of Egypt, but
it shall be with a fire of God’s kindling; the fire of
God’s wrath fastens upon them, and then he burns
some of them, and carries others captive, Isa.
xlvi. 1. Beth-shemesh, or the house of the sun,
was so called from a temple there built to the sun,
where at certain times there was a general meeting
of the worshippers of the sun. The statues or
standing images there he shall break in pieces, ( v .
13. ) and carry away the rich materials of them. It
intimates that he should lay all waste, when even
the temple and the images should not escape the
fury of the victorious army. The king of Babylon
was himself a great idolater, and a patron of idola
try, he had his temples and images in honour of th(
sun, as well as the Egyptians, and yet he is em¬
ployed to destroy the idols of Egypt. Thus God
sometimes makes one wicked man, or wicked na
tion, a scourge and plague to another.
4. That he shall make himself master of the land
of Egypt, and none shall be able to plead its cause,
or avenge its quarrel ; ( v . 12. ) He shall array himself
with the rich spoils of the land of Egypt, hoth beautify
and fortify himself with them ; he shall array him¬
self with them as ornaments and as armour, and
this, though it shall be a rich and heavy booty;
being expert in war, and expeditious, he shall slip
on with as much ease, and in as little time, in com
parison, as a shepherd slips on his garment, when
he goes to turn out his sheep in a morning. And,
being loaded with the wealth of many other nations,
the fruits of his conquests, he shall make no more of
the spoils of the land of Egypt than of a shepherd’s
coat. And when he has taken what he pleases, (as
Benhadad threatened to do, 1 Kings xx. 6. ) he shall go
forth in peace, without any molestation given him, or
any precipitation for fear of it, so effectually reduced
shall the land of Egypt be. This destruction of
Egypt by the king of Babylon is foretold, Ezek.
xxix. 19," and xxx. 10. Babylon lay at a great dis¬
tance from Egypt, and yet from thence the destruc¬
tion of Egypt comes; for God can make those judg
ments strike home which are far-fetched.
CHAP. XLIV.
In this chapter we have, I. An awakening sermon which
Jeremiah preached to the Jews in Egypt, to reprove them
for their idolatry, notwithstanding the warnings given
them both by the word and the rod of God, and to threat¬
en the judgments of God against them for it, v. 1 . . 14.
II. The impudent and impious contempt which the peo¬
ple put upon this admonition, and their declared resolu¬
tion to persist in their idolatries notwithstanding, in de¬
spite of God and Jeremiah, v. 15. . 19. III. The sen¬
tence passed upon them for their obstinacy, that they
should all be cut off and perish in Egypt, except a very
small number: and, as a sign or earnest of it, the king
of Egypt should shortly fall into the hands of the king of
Babylon, and be unable any longer to protect them, v.
20. . 30.
1 . FTNHE word that came to Jeremiah con-
M cerning all the Jews which dwell in
the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol,and
JEREMIAH, XLIV.
dt Tahpanhes, and at Nopli, and in the
country of Pathros, saying, 2. Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Ye have
seen all the evil that I have brought upon
Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah;
and, behold, this day they are a desolation,
and no man dvvelleth therein; 3. Because
of their wickedness which they have commit¬
ted, to provoke me to anger, in that they
went to burn incense, and to serve other
gods, whom they knew not, neither they,
you, nor your fathers. 4. Howbeit I sent
unto you all my servants the prophets, rising
early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not
this abominable thing that I hate. 5. But
they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to
turn from their wickedness, to burn no in¬
cense unto other gods. 6. Wherefore my fury
and mine anger was poured forth, and was
kindled in the cities of Judah and in the
streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted
and desolate, as at this day. 7. Therefore
now thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts,
the God of Israel, Wherefore commit ye this
great evil against your souls, to cut off from
you man and woman, child and suckling,
out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;
8. In that ye provoke me unto wrath with
the works of your hands, burning incense
unto other gods in the land of Egypt,
whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might
cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a
curse and a reproach among all the nations
of the earth? 9. Have ye forgotten the
wickedness of your fathers, and the wicked¬
ness of the kings of Judah, and the wick¬
edness of their wives, and your own wicked¬
ness, and the wickedness of your wives,
which they have committed in the land of
Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem ? 1 0.
They are not humbled even unto this day,
neither have they feared, nor walked in my
law, nor in my statutes, that I set before
you, and before your fathers. 1 1 . Therefore
thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel, Behold, I will set my face against
you for evil, and to cut off all Judah. 12.
And I will take the remnant of Judah, that
have set their faces to go into the land of
Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be
consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt;
they shall even be consumed by the sword
and by the famine : they shall die, from the
least even unto the greatest, by the sword and
by the famine ; and they shall be an execra¬
tion, and an astonishment, and a curse, and
a reproach. 1 3. For I will punish them that
dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have pu¬
nished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the fa¬
mine, and by the pestilence : 1 4. So that none
Vol. iv. — 3 tj
521
of the remnant of Judah, which are gone
into the land of Egypt to sojourn there,
shall escape or remain, that they should re¬
turn into the land of Judah, to the which they
have a desire to return to dwell there ; for
none shall return but such as shall escape.
The Jews in Egypt are now dispersed into divers
parts of the country, into Migdol and JVoji/i, and
other places, and Jeremiah is sent on an errand from
God to them, which he delivered either when he
had the most of them together, in Pathros , ( v . 15. )
or going about from place to place preaching to this
purport. He delivered this message in the name of
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, and in it,
1. God puts them in mind of the desolations of
Judah and Jerusalem, which, though the captives by
the rivers of Babylon were daily mindful of them,
(Ps. cxxxvii. 1.) the fugitives in the cities of Egypt
seem to have forgotten, and needed to be put in
mind of, though these desolations, one would have
thought, had not been so long out of sight as to be¬
come out of mind; (y. 2.) Ye have seen what a de¬
plorable condition Judah and Jerusalem are brought
into; now will you consider whence those desola¬
tions came? From the wrath of God; it was his fury
and his anger that kindled the fire which made Jeru¬
salem and the cities of Judah waste and desolate;
(v. 6.) whoever were the instruments of the de¬
struction, they were but instruments: it was a de¬
struction from the Almighty.
2. He puts them in mind of the sins that brought
those desolations upon Judah and Jerusalem ; it was
for their wickedness, that was it that /irovoked God
to anger, and especially their idolatry, their serving
other gods, {y. 3.) and giving that honour to counter¬
feit deities, the creatures of their own fancy, and the
work of their own hands, which should have been
given to the true God only; they forsook the God
who was known among them, and whose name was
great, for gods that they knew not, upstart deities,
whose original was obscure, and not worth taking
notice of; “JVeither they, nor you, nor your fathers,
could give any rational account why the God of Is¬
rael was exchanged for such impostors.” They
knew not that they were gods, nay, they could not
but know that they were no gods.
3. He puts them in mind of the frequent fair
warning he had given them by his word not to serve
other gods, the contempt of which warnings was a
great aggravation of their idolatry, v. 4. The pro¬
phets were sent with a great deal of care to call to
them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that
I hate. It becomes us to speak of sin with the ut
most dread and detestation as an abominable thing;
it is certainly so, for it is that which God hates, and
we are sure that his judgment is according to truth.
Call it grievous, call it odious, that we may by all
means possible put ourselves and others out of love
with It. It becomes us to give warning of the dan¬
ger of sin, and the fatal consequences of it, with all
seriousness and earnestness; ’‘Oh, do not doit! If
you love God, do not, for it is provoking to him; if
you love your own souls, do not, for it is destructive
to them.” Let conscience do this for us in an hour
of temptation, when we are ready to yield. O take
heed; do not this abominable thing which the Lord
hates; for if God hates it, thou shouldest hate it. But
did they regard what God said to them? No! They
hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, (v. 5.) they
still persisted in their idolatries; and you see what
came of it, therefore God’s anger was poured out
upon them, as at this day. Now this was intended
for warning to you, who have not only heard the
judgments of God’s mouth, as they did, but have
likewise seen the judgments of his hand, by which
622
JEREMIAH, XLIV.
you should be startled and awakened, for they were
inflicted in terrorem — that others might hear and
fear, and do no jnore as they did, lest they should
fare as they fared. ”
4. He reproves them for, and upbraids them with,
their continued idolatries, now that they were come
into Egypt; (v. 8.) You burn incense to other gods
in the land of Egypt; therefore God forbade them
to go into Egypt, because he knew it would be a
snare to them. Those whom God sent into the land of
the Chaldeans, though that was an idolatrous coun¬
try, were there, by the power of God’s grace, wean¬
ed from idolatry; but those who went against God’s
mind into the land of the Eyptians, were there by
the power of their own corruption, more wedded
than ever to their idolatries; for when we thrust our¬
selves without cause or call into places of tempta¬
tion, it is just with God to leave us to ourselves. In
doing this, (1.) They did a great deal of injury to
themselves and their families; “You commit this
great evil against your souls, ( v . 7.) you wrong them,
you deceive them with that which is false, you de¬
stroy them, for it will be fatal to them.” Note, In
sinning against God, we sin against our own souls.
“It is the ready way to cut yourselves off from all
comfort and hope, ( v . 8.) to cut off your name and
honour; so that you will, both by your sin and by
your misery, become a curse and a reproach among
all nations. It will become a proverb, As wretch¬
ed as a Jew. It is the ready way to cut off from
you all your relations, all that you should have joy
of, and have your families built up in, man and wo¬
man, child and suckling, so that Judah shall be a
land lost for want of heirs.” (2.) They filled up the
measure of the iniquity of their fathers, and, as if
that had been too little for them, added to it; (u. 9. )
“ Have ye forgotten the wickedness of those who
are gone before you, that you are not humbled for it
as you ought to be, and afraid of the consequences
of it?” Have you forgotten the punishments of your
fathers? So some read it. “ Do you not know how
dear their idolatry cost them? And yet dare you
continue in that vain conversation received by tra¬
dition from your fathers, though you received the
curse with it?” He reminds them of the sins and
punishments of the kings of Judah, who, great as
they were, escaped not the judgments of God for their
idolatry; yea, and they should have taken warning
by the wickedness of their wives, who had seduced
them to idolatry. In the original it is, And of his
wives, which, Dr. Lightfoot thinks, tacitly reflects
upon Solomon’s wives, particularly his Egyptian
wives, to whom the idolatry of the kings of Judah
owed its original. “ Have you forgotten this, and
what came of it, that you dare venture upon the
same wicked courses?” (See Nell. xiii. 18, 26.)
“Nay, to come to your own times, Have you for¬
gotten your own wickedness and the wickedness of
your wives, when you lived in prosperity in Jeru¬
salem, and what ruin it brought upon you? But,
alas! to what purpose do I speak to them?” (says
God to the prophet, v. 10.) “ They are not hum¬
bled, unto this day, by all the humbling provi¬
dences that they have been under. They have not
feared nor walked in my law.” Note, Those that
walk not in the law of God, thereby show that they
are destitute of the fear of God.
5. He threatens their utter ruin for their persisting
in their idolatry, now that they were in Egypt.
Judgment is given against them, as before, (c/i. xlii.
22.) that they shall perish in Egypt; the decree is
gone forth, and shall not be called back; they set
their faces to go into the land of Egypt, ( v . 12.)
were resolute in their purpose against God, and now
God is resolute in his purpose against them; I will
set my face to cut off all Judah, v. 11. They that
think not only to q/front but to confront God Al¬
mighty, will find themselves outfaced; for the face
of the Iwrd is against them that do evil, Ps. xxxiv.
16. It is here threatened, concerning these idola¬
trous Jews in Egypt, (1.) That they shall all be con¬
sumed, without exception, no degree or order among
them shall escape; They shall fall, from the least to
the greatest, (y. 12.) high and low, rich and poor.
(2.) That they shall be consumed by the very same
judgments which God made use of for the punish¬
ment of Jerusalem, the sword, famine, and pes¬
tilence, v. 12, 13. They shall not be wasted by
natural deaths, as Israel in the wilderness, but by
these sore judgments, which, by flying into Egypt,
they thought to get out of the reach of. (3.) That
none (except a very few that will narrowly escape)
shall ever return to the land of Judah again, v. 14.
They thought, being nearer, that they stood fairer
for a return to their own land than those that were
carried to Babylon; yet those shall return, and these
shall not; for the way in which God has promised
us any comfort is much surer than that in which we
have projected it for ourselves. Observe, Those
that are fretful and discontented will be uneasy, and
fond of change, wherever they are. The Israel¬
ites, when they were in the land of Judah, desired
to go into Egypt; ( ch . xlii. 22.) but when they were
in Egypt, they desired to return to the land of Judah
again; they lifted up their soul to it, (so it is in the
margin,) which denotes an earnest desire. But be¬
cause they would not dwell there when God com¬
manded it, they shall not dwell there when they de¬
sire it. If we walk contrary to God, he will walk
contrary to us. How can those expect to be well
ofl', who would not know when they were so, though
God himself told them?
15. Then all the men which knew that
their wives had burnt incense unto other
gods, and all the women that stood by, a
great multitude, even all the people that
dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, an¬
swered Jeremiah, saying, 16. As for the
word which thou hast spoken unto us in the
name of the Lord, we will not hearken
unto thee. 17. But we will certainly do
whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own
mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of
heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto
her, as we have done, we, and our fathers,
our kings, and our princes, in the cities of
Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for
then had we plenty of victuals, and were
well, and saw no evil. 18. But since we
left off to burn incense to the queen of hea¬
ven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her,
we have wanted all things, and have been
consumed by the sword and by the famine
19. And when we burnt incense to the
queen of heaven, and poured out drink-
offerings unto her, did we make her cakes
to worship her, and pour out drink-offerings
unto her without our men ?
We have here the people’s obstinate refusal to
submit to the power of the word of God in the
mouth of Jeremiah. We have scarcely such an
instance of downright, daring contradiction to God
himself as this, or such an avowed rebellion of the
carnal mind. Observe,
I. The persons who thus set God and his judg¬
ment at defiance; it was not some one that was thus
523
JEREMIAH, XLIv .
obstinate, but the generality of the Jews; and they
were such as knew either themselves or their wives
lobe guilty of the idolatry Jeremiah had reproved,
v. 15. We find, 1. That the women had been
more guilty of idolatry and superstition than the
men, not because the men stuck closer to the true
God and the true religion than the women, but, I
fear, because they were generally atheists, and were
for no God and no religion at all, and therefore
could easily allow their wives to be of a false reli¬
gion, and to worship false gods. 2. That conscious-
gods, and that they had countenanced them in it,
and the women that stood by knew that they had
joined with them in their idolatrous usages; so that
what Jeremiah said touched them in a sore place,
which made them kick against the pricks, as chil¬
dren of Belial, that will not bear the yoke.
II. The reply which these persons made to Jere¬
miah, and in him to God himself; it is in effect the
same with theirs who had the impudence to say to
the Almighty, Depart from us, we desire not the
knowledge of thy ways.
1. They declare their resolution not to do as God
commanded them, but what they themselves had a
mind to do; that is, they would go on to worship the
moon, here called the queen of heaven; yet some un¬
derstand it of the sun, which was much worshipped
in Egypt, (c/i. xliii. 13.) and had been so at Jerusa¬
lem; (2 Kings xxiii. 11.) and they say, that the He¬
brew word for the sun being feminine, it may not
unfitly be called the queen of heaven. And others
understand it of all the hosts of heaven, or the frame
of heaven, the whole machine, ch. vii. 18. These
daring sinners do not now go about to make excuses
for their refusal to obey, nor suggest that Jeremiah
spake from himself, and not from God, (as "before,
ch. xliii. 2. ) but they own that he spake to them in
the name of the Lord, and yet tell him flatly, in so
many words, “We will not hearken unto thee; we
will do that which is forbidden, and run the venture
of that which is threatened.” Note, Those that
live in disobedience to God commonly grow worse
and worse, and the heart is more and more harden¬
ed by the deceitfulness of sin. Here is the genuine
language of the rebellious heart; We will certainly
do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own
mouth, let God and his prophets say what they
please to the contrary. What they said, many
think, who yet have not arrived at such a degree of
impudence as to speak it out. It is that which the
young man would be at in the days of his youth; he
would walk in the way of his heart, and the sight
of his eyes, and would have and do every thing he
lias a mind to, Eccl. xi. 9.
2. They give some sort of reasons for their reso¬
lution; for the most absurdly and unreasonably
wicked men will have something to say for them¬
selves, till the day comes when every mouth shall
be stopped.
( 1. ) They plead many of those things which the
advocates for Rome make the marks of a true
church, and not only justify but magnifythemselves
with; and these here have as much right to them as
they have. [1.] They plead antiquity; We are re¬
solved to burn incense to the queen of heaven, for
our fathers did so; it is a practice that pleads pre¬
scription; and why should we pretend to be wiser
than our fathers? [2.] They plead authority; they
that had power practised it themselves, and pre¬
scribed it to others; Our kings and our princes did
it, whom God set over us, and who were of the seed
of David. [3.] They plead unity; it was not here
and there one that did it, but we, we all with one
consent, we that are a great multitude, (v. 15.) we
did it. [4.] They plead universality; it was not
done here and there, but in the cities of Judah.
[5.] They plead visibility; it was not done in a cor¬
ner, in dark and shady groves only, but in the
streets, cpenly and publicly. [6.] They plead that
it was the practice of the mother-church, the holy
see; it was not now learned first in Egypt, but it
had been done in Jerusalem. [7.] They plead
prosperity; then had we plenty of bread, arid of all
good things, we were well, and saw no evil. All
the former pleas, I fear, were too true in fact;
God’s, witnesses against their idolatry were few and
hid; Elijah thought that he was? left alone: and this
last might perhaps be true as to some particular
persons, but as to their nation, they were still under
rebukes for their rebellions, and there was no peace
to them that went out or came in, 2 Chron. xv. 5.
But supposing all to be true, yet this does not at all
excuse them from idolatry; it is the law of God that
we must be ruled and judged by, not the practice
of men.
(2.) They suggest that the judgments they had
of late been under, were brought upon them for
leaving off to burn incense to the queen of heaven,
v. 18. So perversely did they misconstrue Provi¬
dence, though God, by his prophets, had so often
explained it to them, and the thing itself spake the
direct contrary! Since we forsook cur idolatries,
we have wanted all things, and have been consumed
by the sword; the true reason cf which was, because
they still retained their idols in their heart, and an
affection to their old sins; but they would have it
thought that it was because they had forsaken the
acts of sin. Thus the afflictions which should have
been for their welfare, to part between them and
their sins, being misinterpreted, did but confirm
them in their sins. Thus, in the first ages of Chris¬
tianity, when God chastised the nations by any pub¬
lic calamities for opposing the Christians, and per¬
secuting them, they put a contrary sense upon the
calamities, as if they were sent to punish them for
conniving at the Christians, and tolerating them,
and cried, Christian os ad leones — Throw the Chris¬
tians to the lions. Yet, if it had been true, as they
said here, that since they returned to the service of
the true God, the God of Israel, they had been in
want and trouble, was that a reason why they should
revolt from him again? That was as much as to
say that they served not him, but their own bellies.
Those who know God, and put their trust in him,
will serve him, though he starve them, though he
slay them, though they never see a good day with
him in this world, being well assured that they shall
not lose by him in the end.
(3.) They plead that though the women were
most forward and active in their idolatries, yet they
did it with the consent and approbation of their hus¬
bands; the women were busy to make cakes for meat-
offerings to the queen of heaven, and to prepare and
pour out the drink-offerings, v. 19. W e found,
before, that it was their work, ch. vii. 18. “ But
did we do it without our husbands, privately and
unknown to them, so as to give them occasion to be
jealous of us? No; the fathers kindled the fire, while
the women kneaded the dough; the men that were
our heads, whom we were bound to learn of, and to
be obedient to, taught us to do it by their example.”
Note, It is sad when those who are in the nearest
relation to each other, who should quicken each
other to that which is good, and so help one another
to heaven, harden each other in sin, and so ripen
one another for hell. Some understand this as
spoken by the husbands, (v. 15.) who plead that
they did not do it without their men , without their
elders and rulers, their great men, and men in au¬
thority; but because the making of the cakes, and
the pouring out of the drink-offerings, are expressly
spoken of as the women’s work, (c/i. vii. 18.) V
524
JEREMIAH, XLIV.
seems rather to be understood as their plea: but it
was a frivolous plea. What would it avail them to
be able to say that it was according to their hus¬
bands’ mind, when they knew that it was contrary
to their God’s mind?
20. Then Jeremiah said unto all the peo¬
ple, to the men, and to the women, and to
all the people which had given him that an¬
swer, saying, 21 . The incense that ye burnt
in the cities of Jtidah, and in the streets of
Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings,
and your princes, and the people of the land,
did not the Lord remember them, and
came it hot into his mind ? 22. So that the
Lord could no longer bear, because of the
evil of your doings, and because of the abomi¬
nations which ye have committed ; therefore
is your land a desolation, and an astonish¬
ment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as
at this day. 23. Because you have burnt in¬
cense, and because ye have sinned against
the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice
of the Lord, nor walked in his law, nor in
his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore
this evil is happened unto you, as at this
day. 24. Moreover, Jeremiah said unto all
the people, and to all the women, Hear the
word of the Lord, all Judah that are in
the land of Egypt; 25. Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and
your wives have both spoken with your
mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying,
YVe will surely perform our vows that we
have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of
heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto
her: ye will surely accomplish your vows,
and surely perform your vows. 26. There¬
fore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah
that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I
have sworn by my great name, saith the
Lord, that my name shall no more be named
in the mouth of any man of Judah, in all the
land ofEgypt, saying, The Lord God liveth.
27. Behold, I will watch over them for evil,
and not for good; and all the men of Judah
that are in the land ofEgypt shall be consum¬
ed by the sword and by the famine, until there
be an end of them. 28. Yet a small num¬
ber that escape the sword shall return out
of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah;
and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone
into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall
know whose words shall stand, mine, or
theirs. 29. And this shall he a sign unto
you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you
in this place, that ye may know that my
words shall surely stand against you for evil :
30. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will
give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the
hand ol his enemies, and into the hand of
them that seek his life, as I gave ZedekiaJi
king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchad¬
rezzar king of Babylon his enemy, and that
sought his life.
Daring sinners may speak many a bold word, and
many a big word, but, after all, God will have the
last word; for he will be justified when he speaks;
and all flesh, even the proudest, shall be silent be¬
fore him. Prophets may be run down, but God
cannot; nay, here the prophet would not.
I. Jeremiah has something to say to them from
himself, which he could say without a spirit of pro¬
phecy, and that was to rectify their mistake, (a
wilful mistake it was,) concerning the calamities
they had been under, and the true intent and mean
ing of them. They said that these miseries came
upon them because they had now left off buring in¬
cense to the queen of heaven; “No,” says he, “it
was because you had formerly done it, not because
you had now left it off. ” When they gave him that
answer, he immediately replied, (y. 20.) that f/ie
incense which they and their fathers had burnt to
other gods did indeed go unpunished a great while,
for God was long-suffering toward them, and during
the day of his patience it was, perhaps, as they
said, well with them, and they saw no evil: but at
length they grew so provoking, that the Lord could
no longer bear, (x>. 22.) but began a controversy
with them, whereupon some of them did a little re¬
form, their sins left them, for so it might be said,
rather than that they left their sins. But their old
guilt being still upon the score, and their corrupt
inclinations still the same, God remembered against
them the idolatries of their fathers, their kings, and
their princes, in the streets of Jerusalem, which
the}’, instead of being ashamed of, gloried in, as a
justification of them in their idolatries; they all
came into his mind, (v. 21.) all the abominations
which they had committed, (y. 22.) and all their diso¬
bedience to the voice of the Lord, (z1. 23.) all
were brought to account; and therefore, to punish
them for these is their land a desolation and a curse,
as at this day; (v. 22.) therefore, not for their late
reformation, but for their old transgressions, is all
this evil happened to them, as at this day, v. 23.
Note, The right understanding of the cause of our
troubles, one would think, should go far toward the
cure of our sins. Whatever evil comes u/ion us, it
is because we have sinned against the Lord, and
should therefore stand in awe, and sin not.
II. Jeremiah has something to say to them, to the
women particularlv, from the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel; they have given their answer, now
let them hear God’s reply, v. 24. Judah, that
dwells in the land of Egypt, has God speaking to
them, even there, that is their privilege; let them
observe what he says, that is their duty, v. 26.
Now God, in his reply, tells them plainly,
1. That since they were fully determined to per¬
sist in their idolatry, God was fully determined to
proceed in his controversy with them; if they would
go on to provoke him, he would go on to punish
them, and see which would get the better at last.
God repeats what they had said; ( v . 25.) "You and
your wives are agreed in this obstinacy, you have
sfioken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your
hands, you have said it, and you stand to it, have
said it, and go on to do accordingly, We will surely
fierform our vows that we have vowed, to burn in¬
cense to the queen of heaven,” as if, though it were
a sin, yet their having vowed to do it, were suffi¬
cient to justify them in the doing of it; whereas no
man can by his vow make that lawful to himself,
much less duty, which God has already made sin.
“Well,” (says God,) “ you will accomplish, you
JEREMIAH XLV
52*
will perform, your wicked vows: now hear what is
my vow, what I have sworn by my great name,”
and if the Lord hath sworn, he will not repent,
since they have sworn and will not repent; with the
froward he will show himself froward, Ps. xviii.
25. He hath sworn, (1.) That what little remains
of religion there were among them, should be lost,
v. 26. Though they joined with the Egyptians in
their idolatries, yet they continued upon many occa¬
sions to make mention of the name of Jehovah, par¬
ticularly in their solemn oaths; they said, Jehovah
liveth, he is the living God, so they owned him to
be, though they worshipped dead idols; they swear,
The Lord liveth; {ch. v. 2.) but I fear they retained
this form of swearing more in honour of their nation
than of their God; but God declares that his name
shall no more be thus named by any man of Judah
in all the land of Egypt, that there shall be no Jews
remaining to use this dialect of their country, or, if
there be, they shall have forgotten it, and shall
learn to swear, as the Egyptians do, by the life of
Pharaoh, not of Jehovah. Note, Those are very
miserable whom God has so far left to themselves,
that they have quite forgotten their religion, and
lost all the remains of their good education. Or,
this may intimate that God would take it as an af¬
front to him, and would resent it accordingly, if they
did make mention of his name, and profess any re¬
lation to him. (2.) He hath sworn, that what little
remnant of people there was there, shall all be con¬
sumed; (v. 27. ) I will watch over them for evil; no
opportunity shall be let slip to bring some judgment
upon them, until there be an 'end of them, and they
be quite rooted out. Note, To those whom God
finds impenitent sinners he will be found an impla¬
cable Judge. And when it comes to this, they shall
know (y. 28.) whose word shall stand, mine, or
theirs. They said that they should recover them¬
selves, when they returned to worship the queen of
heaven; God says that they should ruin themselves;
and now the event will show which was in the right.
The contest between God and sinners is, whose
word shall stand, whose will shall be done, who
shall get the better. Sinners say that they shall
have peace, though they go on; God says they shall
have no peace. But when God judges, he will
overcome; God’s word shall stand, and not the
sinner’s.
2. He tells them that a very few of them should
escape the sword, and in process of time return into
the land of Judah, a small number, (v. 28.) next to
none, in comparison with the great numbers that
should return out of the land of the Chaldeans.
This seems designed to upbraid those who boasted
of their numbers that concurred in sin; there were
none to speak of, that did not join in idolatry;
“Well,” says God, “ and there shall be as few that
shall escape the sword and famine.”
3. He gives them a sign that all these threaten-
ings shall be accomplished in their season, that they
shall be consumed here in Egypt, and shall quite
perish: Pharaoh-hophra, the present king of Egypt,
shall be delivered into the hand of his enemies that
seek his life; of his own rebellious subjects, (so some,)
under Amasis, who usurped his throne; of Nebu¬
chadnezzar, king of Babylon, (so others,) who in¬
vaded his kingdom; the former is related Dy Hero¬
dotus, the latter by Josephus. It is likely that this
Pharaoh had tempted the Jews to idolatry by pro¬
mises of his favour; however they depended upon
him for his protection, and it would be more than a
presage of their ruin, it would be a step towards it,
if he were gone. They expected more from him
than from Zedekiah king of Judah, he was a more
potent and politic prince; “ But,” says God, “ I will
give him into the hand of his enemies, as I gave
Zedekiah.” Note, Those creature-comforts and
confidences that we promise ourselves most from,
may fail us as soon as those that we promise our
selves least from, for they are all what God makes
them, not what we fancy them.
The sacred history records not the accomplish¬
ment of this prophecy, but its silence is sufficient;
we hear no more of these Jews in Egypt, and there
fore conclude them, according to this prediction, lost
there; for no word of God shall fall to the ground.
CHAP. XLV.
The prophecy we have in this chapter concerns Baruch
only, yet is intended for the support and encouragement
of all the Lord’s people that serve him faithfully, and
keep close to him in difficult, trying times. It is placed
here after the story of the destruction of Jerusalem, and
the dispersion of the Jews, but was delivered long be¬
fore, in the 4th year of Jehoiakim, as was the prophecy
in the next chapter, and, probably, those that follow.
We here find, I. How Baruch was terrified when he was
brought into trouble for writing and reading Jeremiah’s
roll, v. 1 . .3. II. How his fears were checked with a
reproof for his greatexpectations, andsilenced with a pro¬
mise of special preservation, v. 4, 5. Though Baruch
was only Jeremiah’s scribe, yet this notice is taken of
his frights, and this provision made for his comfort; for
God despises not any of his servants, but graciously con¬
cerns himself for the meanest and weakest, for Baruch
the scribe as well as for Jeremiah the prophet.
1. r | ''HE word that Jeremiah the prophet
A spake unto Baruch the son of Ne-
riah, when he had written these words in a
book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth
year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of
Judah, saying, 2. Thus saith the Lord, the
God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch ; 3.
Thou didst say, Wo is me now ! for the
Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; I
fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest. 4.
Thus shalt thou say unto him, The Lord
saith thus ; Behold, that which I have built
will I break down, and that which I have
planted I will pluck up, even this whole
land. 5. And seekest thou great things for
thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will
bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord;
but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey
in all places whither thou goest.
How Baruch was employed in writing Jeremiah’s
prophecies, and reading them, we had an account,
ch. xxxvi. and how he was threatened for it by the
king, warrants being out for him, and he forced to
abscond, and how narrowly he escaped under a di¬
vine protection, to which story this chapter should
have been subjoined, but that, having reference to
a private person, it is here thrown into the latter
end of the book, as St. Paul’s epistle to Philemon is
put after his other epistles. Observe,
1. The consternation that poor Baruch was in
when he was sought for by the king’s messengers,
and obliged to hide his head, and the notice which
God took of it. He cried out, fid is me now', v.
3. He was a young man setting out in the world,
he was well-affected to the things of God, and was
willing to serve God and his prophet; but when it
came to suffering, he was desirous to be excused,
being an ingenious man, and a scholar, he stood fair
for preferment, and now to be driven into a corner,
and in danger of a prison, or worse, was a great dis¬
appointment to him. When he read the roll pub¬
licly, he hoped to gain reputation by it, that it would
have made him to be taken notice of and employed,
but when he found that, instead of that, it exposed
526
JEREMIAH, XLVI.
him to contempt, and brought him into disgrace, he
cried out, “ I am undone, I shall fall into the pur¬
suers’ hands, and be imprisoned, and put to death,
or banished; the Lord has added grief to my sor¬
row, has loaded me with one trouble after another;
after the grief of writing and reading the prophe¬
cies of my country’s ruin, I have the sorrow of being
treated as a criminal for so doing; and though an¬
other might make nothing of this, yet, for my part,
I cannot bear it, it is a burthen too heavy for me; I
fainted in my sighing, or, lam faint with my sigh¬
ing, it just kills me, and I find no rest, no satisfac¬
tion in my own mind, I cannot compose myself as I
should aiid would to bear it, nor have I any prospect
of relief or comfort.” Baruch was a good man, but,
we must say, this was his infirmity. Note, (1.)
Young beginners in religion, like fresh-water sail¬
ors, are apt to be discouraged with the little diffi¬
culties which they commonly meet with at first in
the service of God. They do but run with the foot¬
men, and it wearies them; they faint upon the very
dawning of the day of adversity, and it is an evi¬
dence that their strength is small, (Prov. xxiv. 10.)
that their faith is weak, and that they are yet but
babes, who cry for every hurt and every fright.
(2.) Some of the best and dearest of God’s saints
and servants, when they have seen storms rising,
have been in frights, and apt to make the worst of
things, and to disquiet themselves with melancholy
apprehensions, more than there was cause for. (3.)
God takes notice of the frets and discontents of his
people, and is displeased with them. Baruch should
have rejoiced that he was counted worthy to suffer
in such a good cause, and with such good company,
but, instead of that, he is vexed at it, and blames
his lot, nay, and reflects upon his God, as if he had
dealt hardly with him; what he said was spoken in
a heat and passion, but God was offended, as he was
with Moses, who paid dear for it, when, his spirit
being provoked, he spake ttnadvisedly with his li/is.
Thou didst say so and so, and it was not well said;
God keeps account of what we say, even when we
speak in haste.
2. The reproof that God gave him for talking at
this rate. Jeremiah was troubled to see him in such
an agitation, and knew not well what to say to him;
he was loath to chide him, and yet thought he de¬
served it; was willing to comfort him, and yet knew
not which way to go about it; but God tells him
what he shall say to him, v. 4. Jeremiah could not
be certain what was at the bottom of these com¬
plaints and fears, but God sees it; they came from
his corruptions; that the hurt therefore might not
be healed slightly, he searches the wound, and shows
him that he had raised his expectations too high in
this world, and had promised himself too much from
it, and that made the distress and trouble he was in
so very grievous to him, and so hard to be borne.
Note, The frowns of the world would not disquiet
us as they do, if we did not foolishly flatter ourselves
with the hopes of its smiles, and court and covet
them too much. It is our over-fondness for the good
things of this present time, that makes us impatient
under its evil things. Now God shows him that it
was his fault and folly, at this time of day especially,
either to desire, or to look for, an abundance of the
wealth and honour of this world. For, (1.) The
ship was sinking; ruin was coming upon the Jewish
nation, an utter and universal ruin; “ That which I
have built, to be a house for myself, I am breaking
down, and that which I have planted, to be a vine¬
yard for myself, I am plucking up, even this whole
land, the Jewish church and state; and dost thou
now seek great things for thyself? Dost thou expect
to be rich and honourable, and to make a figure
now? No.” (2.) “It is absurd for thee to be now
painting thine own cabin. Canst thou expect to be
high, when all are brought low, to be full when all
about thee are empty?” To seek ourselves more
than the public welfare, especially to seek great
things to ourselves, when the public is in danger, is
very unbecoming Israelites. We may apply it to
this world, and our state in it; God, in his provi¬
dence, is breaking down and pulling up, every thing
is uncertain and perishing, we cannot expect any
continuing city here. What folly is it then to seek
great things for ourselves here, where every thing
is little, and nothing certain !
3. The encouragement that God gave him to hope
that though he should not be great, yet he should be
safe; “I will bring evil upon all fiesh, all nations
of men, all orders and degrees of men, but thy life
•will I give to thee for a prey,” ( thy soul, so the word
is,) “ in all places whither thou goest. Thou must
expect to be hurried from place to place, and, wher¬
ever thou goest, to be in danger, but thou slialt es¬
cape, though often very narrowly, slialt have thy
life, but it shall be as a prey, which is got with much
difficulty and danger; thou shalt be saved as by fire. ”
Note, The preservation and continuance of life are
very great mercies, and we are bound to account
them such, as they are the prolonging of our oppor¬
tunity to glorify God in this world, and to get ready
for a better; and at some times, especially when the
arrows of death fly thick about us, they are a sig¬
nal favour, and what we ought to be thankful for,
and, while we have them, must not complain, though
we be disappointed of the great things we expected.
Is not the life more than meat ?
CHAP. XL VI.
How judgment began at the house of God we have found
in the foregoing prophecy and history; but now we shall
find that it did not end there; in this and the following
chapters we have predictions of the desolations of the
neighbouring nations, and those brought upon them too
mostly by the king of Babylon, till at length Babylon
itself comes to be reckoned with. The prophecy against
Egypt is here put first, and takes up this whole chapter;
in which we have, I. A prophecy of the defeat of Pha-
raoh-necho’s army by the Chaldean forces at Carchemish,
which was accomplished soon after, in the 4th year of
Jehoiakim, v. 1..12. II. A prophecy of the descent
which Nebuchadrezzar should make upon the land of
Egypt, and his success in it, which was accomplished
some years after the destruction of Jerusalem, v. 13. .26.
III. A word of comfort to the Israel of God in the midst
of these calamities, v. 27, 28.
1. HT^HE word of the Lord which came
JL to Jeremiah the prophet against the
Gentiles ; 2. Against Egypt, against the
army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt,
which was by the river Euphrates in Car¬
chemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoia¬
kim the son of Josiah king of Judah. 3
Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw
near to battle. 4. Harness the horses ; and
get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with
your helmets; furbish the spears, and, put
on the brigandincs. 5. Wherefore have I
seen them dismayed and turned away back ?
and their mighty ones are beaten down, and
are fled apace, and look not back : for fear
teas round about, saith the Lord. 6. Let
not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man
escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward
the north by the river Euphrates. 7. Who
is this that cometh up as a flood, whose wa-
JEREMIAH, XL VI. 527
ters are moved as the rivers ? 8. Egypt riseth
up like a flood, and his waters are moved
like the rivers; and lie saith, I will go up,
and will cover the earth; I will destroy the
city, and the inhabitants thereof. 9. Come
up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and
let the mighty men come forth ; the Ethio¬
pians and the Libyans, that handle the
shield ; and the Lydians*, that handle and
bend the bow. 10. For this is the day of
the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance,
that he may avenge him of his adversaries :
and the sword shall devour, and it shall be
satiate and made drunk with their blood ;
for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice
in the north country by the river Euphrates.
11. Go up into Gilead and take balm, O
virgin, the daughter of Egypt : in vain shalt
thou use many medicines; for thou shalt
not be cured. 12. The nations have heard
of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the
land: for the mighty man hath stumbled
against the mighty, and they are fallen both
together.
The first verse is the title of that part of this book
which relates to the neighbouring nations, and fol¬
lows here. It is the word of the Lord which came
to Jeremiah against the Gentiles; for God is King
and Judge of nations, knows them, and will call
them to an account, who know him not, nor take any
notice of him. Both Isaiah and Ezekiel prophesied
against these nations that Jeremiah here has a se¬
veral saying to, and with reference to the same
events. In the Old Testament we have the word
of the Lord against the Gentiles, in the New Tes¬
tament we have the word of the Lord for the Gen¬
tiles, that they who were afar off are made nigh.
He begins with Egypt, because they were of old
Israel’s oppressors,.and of late their deceivers, when
they put confidence in them. In these verses he
foretells the overthrow of the artny of Pharaoh-
necho, by Nebuchadnezzar, in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim, which was so complete a victory to the
king of Babylon, that thereby he recovered from
the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that
/ lertained to the king of Egypt, and so weakened
him that he came not again any more out of his land,
(as we find, 2 Kings, xxiv. 7.) and so made him pay
dear for his expedition against the king of Assyria
four years before, in which he slew Josiah, 2 Kings
xxiii. 29. This is the event that is here foretold in
lofty expressions of triumph over Egypt thus foiled;
which Jeremiah would speak of with a particular
pleasure, because the death of Josiah, which he had
lamented, was now avenged on Pharaoh-necho. Now
here,
1. The Egyptians are upbraided with the mighty
preparations they made for this expedition, in which
the prophet calls to them to do their utmost, for so
they would; “ Come then, order the buckler, let
the weapons of war be got ready,” v. 3. Egypt
was famous for horses, let them be harnessed, and
the cavalry well mounted; Get up, ye horsemen,
and stand forth, &c. v. 4. See what preparations
the children of men make, with abundance of care
and trouble, and at a vast expense, to kill one an¬
other, as if they did not die fast enough of them¬
selves! He compares their marching out upon this
expedition to the rising of their river Nile; (v. 7, 8. )
Egypt now rises up like a flood, scorning to keep
within its own banks, and threatening to overflow
all the neighbouring lands; it is a very formidable
army that the Egyptians bring into the field upon
this occasion; the prophet summons them, (v. 9.)
Come up, ye horses; rage, ye chariots; he cha^engcs
them to bring all their confederate troops toge ther,
the Ethiopians, that descended from the same stork
with the Egyptians, (Gen. x. 6.) and were their
neighbours and allies; the Libyans and Lydians,
both seated in Africa, to the west of Egypt, and
from them the Egyptians fetched their auxiliary
forces: let them strengthen themselves with all the
art and interest they have, yet it shall be all in vain,
they shall be shamefully defeated notwithstanding,
for God will fight against them, and against him
there is no wisdom, nor counsel, Prov. xxi. 30, 31.
It concerns them that go forth to war, net only to
order the buckler and harness the horses, but to re¬
pent of their sins, and pray to God for his presence
with them, and that they may have it to keep them¬
selves from every wicked thing.
2. They are upbraided with the great expecta¬
tions they had from this expedition, which were
quite contrary to what God intended in bringing
them together. They knew their own thoughts,
and God knew them, and sat in heaven, and laughed
at them ; but they knew not the thoughts of the Lord,
for he gathers them as sheaves into the floor, Mic.
lv. 11, 12. Egypt saith, (y. 8.) I will go up, I will
cover the earth, and none shall hinder me; I will
destroy the city, whatever city it is that stands in my
way; like Pharaoh of old, I will pursue, I will over¬
take. The Egyptians say that they shall have a day
of it, but God saith, that it shall be his day; This is
the day of the Lord God of hosts, (i>. 10.) the day
in which he will be exalted in the overthrow of the
Egyptians. They meant one thing, but God meant
another; they designed it for the advancement of
their dignity, and the enlargement of their dominion,
but God designed it for the great abasement and
weakening of their kingdom. It is a day of ven
geance for Josiah’s death; it is a day of sacrifice to
divine justice, to which multitudes of the sinners ot
Egypt shall fall as victims. Note, When men think
to magnify themselves by pushing on unrighteous
enterprises, let them expect that God will glorify
himself by blasting them, and cutting them off.
3. They are upbraided with their cowardice and
inglorious flight when they come to an engagement;
(u. 5, 6.) “ Wherefore have I seen them, notwith¬
standing all these mighty and vast preparations, and
all these expressions of bravery and resolution, when
the Chaldean army faces them, dismayed, turned
back, quite disheartened, and no spirit left in them.”
(1.) '1 hey make a shameful retreat, even their
mighty ones, who, one would think, should have
stood their ground, flee a flight, flee by consent,
make the best of their way, flee in confusion, and
with the utmost precipitation; they have neither
time nor heart to look back, but fear is round about
them, for they apprehend it so. And yet, (2.) They
cannot make their escape: they have the shame of
flying, and yet not the satisfaction of saving them¬
selves by flight; they might as well have stood their
ground, and died upon the spot; for even the swift
shall not flee away. The lightness of their heels
shall fail them when it comes to the trial, as well as
the stoutness of their hearts; the mighty shall not
escape, nay, they are beaten down, and broken to
pieces. They shall stumble in their flight, and fall
toward the north, toward their enemy’s country; for
such confusion were they in when they took to their
feet, that, instead cf making homeward, as men
usually do in that case, they made forward. Note,
The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong. Valiant men are not alwavs victorious.
JEREMIAH, XL VI.
528
4. They are upbraided with their utter inability
ever to recover this blow, which should be fatal to
their nation, v. 11, 12. The damsel, the daughter
of JEgyfit, that lived in great pomp and state, is
sorely wounded by this defeat. Let her now seek
for balm in Gilead, and physicians there; let her use
all the medicines her wise men can prescribe for the
healing of this hurt, and the repairing of the loss
sustained by this defeat; but all in vain, no cure shall
be to them; they shall never be able to bring such a
powerful army as this into the field again. “ The
nations that rang of thy glory and strength, have
now heard of thy shame, how shamefully thou wast
routed, and how thou art weakened by it.” It needs
not be spread by the triumphs of the conquerors,
the shrieks and outcries of the conquered will pro¬
claim it; thy cry hath filled the country about. For
when they fied several ways, one mighty man stum¬
bled upon another, and dashed against another, such
confusion were they in, so that both together became
a prey to the pursuers, an easy prey. A thousand
such dreadful accidents there should be, which
should fill the country with the cry of them that
were overcome. Let not the mighty man therefore
glory in his might, for the time may come when it
will stand him in no stead.
13. The word that the Lord spake to
Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrez¬
zar king of Babylon should come and smite
the land of Egypt. 1 4. Declare ye in Egypt,
and publish in Migdol,and publish in Noph,
and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and
prepare thee; for the sword shall devour
round about thee. 15. Why are thy valiant
men swept away? they stood not, because
the Lord did drive them. 1 6. He made
many to fall, yea, one fell upon another ;
and they said, Arise, and let us go again to
our own people, and to the land of our na¬
tivity, from the oppressing sword. 17. They
did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but
a noise ; he hath passed the time appointed.
18. As I live, saith the King, whose name
is The Lord of hosts, Surely as Tabor is
among the mountains, and as Carmel by the
sea, so shall he come. 19. O thou daughter
dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into
captivity: for Noph shall be waste and de¬
solate without an inhabitant. 20. Egypt
is like a very fair heifer, but destruction
cometh; it cometh out of the north. 21.
Also her hired men are in the midst of
her like fatted bullocks; for they also are
turned back, and are fled away together :
they did not stand, because the day of
their calamity was come upon them, and
the time of their visitation. 22. The voice
thereof shall go like a serpent; for they
shall march with an army, and come
against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
23. They shall cut down her forest, saith
the Lord, though it cannot be searched;
because they are more than the grasshop¬
pers, and are innumerable. 24. The daugh¬
ter of Egypt shall be confounded ; she shall
be delivered into the hand of the people of
the north. 25. The Lord of hosts, the God
of Israel, saith, Behold, I will punish the
multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt,
with their gods, and their kings; even Pha¬
raoh, and all them that trust in him : 26.
And I will deliver them into the hand oP
those that seek their lives, and into the hand
of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and
into the hand of his servants: and after¬
wards it shall be inhabited, as in the days
of old, saith the Lord. 27. But fear not
thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dis¬
mayed^ Israel: for, behold, I will save
thee from afar off, and thy seed from the
land of their captivity; and Jacob shall re¬
turn, and be in rest and at ease, and none
shall make him afraid. 28. Fear thou not,
O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord; for I
am with thee: for I will make a full end of
all the nations whither I have driven thee;
but I will not make a full end of thee, but
correct thee in measure: yet will I not leave
thee wholly unpunished.
In these verses, we have,
I. Confusion and terror spoken to Egypt. The
accomplishment of the prediction in the former part
of the chapter disabled the Egyptians to make any
attempts upon other nations; for what could they do
when their army was routed? But still they remained
strong at home, and none of their neighbours durst
make any attempts upon them. Though the kings
of Egypt came no more out of their land, (2 Kings
xxiv. 7.) yet they kept safe and easy in their land;
and what would thev desire more, than peaceably
to enjoy their own? One would think all men should
be content to do this, and not covet to invade their
neighbours. But the measure of Egypt’s iniquity is
full, and now they shall not long enjoy their own ;
they that encroached on others shall now be them¬
selves encroached on. The scope of the prophecy
here is to show how the king of Babylon should
shortly come, and smite the land of Lgyfit, and bring
the war into their own bosoms, which they had
formerly carried into his borders, v. 13. This was
fulfilled by the same hand with the former, even
Nebuchadrezzar’s, but many years after, twenty at
least, and, probably, the prediction of it was long
after the form er prediction, and perhaps much about
the same time with that other prediction of the same
event which we had, ch. xliii. 10.
1. Here is the alarm of war sounded in Egypt, to
their great amazement, (v. 14.) notice given to the
country that the enemy is approaching, the sword is
devouring round about in the neighbouring coun¬
tries, and therefore it is time for the Egyptians to
put themselves in a posture of defence, to prepare
for war, that they may give the enemy a warm re¬
ception. This must be proclaimed in all parts of
Egypt, particularly in Migdol, Noph, and Tahpan¬
hes, because in these places especially the Jewish
refugees, or fugitives rather, had planted them¬
selves, in contempt of God’s command; ( ch . xliv.
1.) and let them hear what a sorry shelter Egypt is
likely to be to them.
2. The retreat, hereupon, of the forces of other
nations which the Egyptians had in their pay, is
here foretold. Some considerable number of those
troops, it is probable, were posted upon the frontiers
529
JEREMIAH, XLV1.
.0 gii .nl them, where they were beaten off by the I
invaders, and put to flight. Then were the valiant
men swept away, (i>. 15.) as with a sweeping rain ;
(it is tilt- word that is used, Prov. xxviii. 3.) they
cm none of them stand their ground, because the
Lard drives them from their respective posts; he
drives them by his terrors, he drives them by
enabling the Chaldeans to drive them. It is not
possible that those should fix whom the wrath of
God chases. He it was, (i>. 16.) that made many
to fall, yea, when their day is come to fall, the
en ;my needs not throw them down, they shall fall
u /ion one another, every man shall be a stumbling-
block to his fellow, to his follower; nay, if God
pleases, they shall be made to fall upon one another,
every man’s sword shall be against his fellow. Her
hired men, the troops Egypt has in her service, are
indeed in the midst of her like fatted bullocks, lusty
men, able-bodied, and high-spirited, who were
likvlv for action, and to have made their part good
against the enemy; but they are turned back, their
hearts f died them, and, instead of fighting, they are
fed away together. How could they withstand
their fate, when the day of their calamity was come,
the dav in which God will visit them in wrath?
Some think they are compared to fatted bullocks
for their luxury; they had wantoned in pleasures,
so th it they were very unfit for hardships, and
therefore turned back, and could not stand. In this
consternation, (1.) They all made homeward to-
w ird their own country; (x>. 16.) They said, “ Arise,
and let us go again to our own people, where we
m iv be safe from the oppressing sword ofithe Chal¬
deans, that bears down all before it.” In times of
exigence little confidence is to be put in mercenary
troops, that fight purely for pay, and have no interest
in theirs whom they fight for. (2.) They exclaimed
vehemently against Pharaoh, to whose cowardice or
ill conduct, it is probable, their defeat was owing.
W hen he posted them there upon the borders of his
country, it is probable that he told them, he would
within such a time come himself with a gallant
army of his own subjects to support them; but he
f ailed them, and when the enemy advanced, they
found they had none to back them, so that they
were perfectly abandoned to the fury of the invaders;
no marvel then that they quitted their post, and
deserted the sendee, crying out, Pharaoh king of
Egypt is but a noise, (y. If.) he can hector, and
talk big of the mighty things he would do, but that
is all; hr brings nothing to pass, all his promises to
those in alliance with him, or that are employed for
him, vanish into smoke; he brings not the succours
he engaged to bring, or not till it is too late; He has
passed the time appointed, he did not keep his word,
nor keep his day, and therefore they bid him fare¬
well, they will never serve under him any more.
N' ite, Those that make most noise in any business,
ore frequently but a noise. Great talkers are little
d'v rs.
3 The formidable power of the Chaldean army
is here described as bearing down all before it The
Ping of kings, whose tiame is the Lord of hosts, and
before whom the mightiest kings on earth, though
g?.ds to us, are but as grasshoppers, he hath said it,
he hath sworn it, As I live, saith this King, as
Tabor overtops the mountains, and Carmel over¬
looks the sea, so shall the king of Babylon overpower
all the force of Egypt; such a command shall he
have, such a sway shall he bear! v. 18. He and his
army shall come against Egypt with axes, as hewers
of wood, (v. 22.) and the Egyptians shall be no
more able to resist them than the tree is to resist the
man that comes with an axe to cut it down: so that
Egypt shall be felled as a forest is by the hewers of
wood, which (if they be many of them, and those
well provided with instruments for the purpose)
VOL. IV. — 3 X
will be done in a little time. Egypt is very populous,
full of towns and cities, like a forest, the trees of
which cannot be searched or numbered, and very
rich, full of hid treasures, many of which will escape
the searching eye of the Chaldean soldiers; but they
shall make a great spoil in the country, for they are
more than the locusts, that come in vast swarms, and
overrun a country, devouring every green thing;
(Joel i. 6, 7.) so shall the Chaldeans do, for they are
innumerable. Note, The Lord of hosts hath num¬
berless hosts at his command.
4. The desolation of Egypt hereby is foretold, and
the waste that should be made of that 7'ich country.
Egypt is now like a very fair heifer, or calf, (x>. 20. )
fat and shining, and not accustomed to the yoke of
subjection; wanton as a heifer that is well fed, and
very sportful. Some think here is an allusion to
Apis, the bull or calf which the Egyptians worship¬
ped, from whom the children of Israel learned to
worship the golden calf. Egypt is as fair as a god¬
dess, and adores herself, but destruction comes; cut¬
ting up comes, so some read it; it comes out of the
north; thence the Chaldean soldiers shall come, as
so many butchers or sacrificers, to kill and cut up
this fair heifer. (1.) The Egyptians shall be brought
down, shall be tamed, and their tune changed. The
daughters of Egypt shall be confounded, [y. 24.)
shall be filled with astonishment; their voice shall
go like a serpent, it shall be very low and submis¬
sive, they shall not low like a fair heifer, that makes
a great noise, but hiss out of their holes like serpents.
They shall not dare to make loud complaints of the
cruelty of the conquerors, but vent their griefs in
silent murmhrs. They shall not now, as they used
to do, answer roughly, but, with the poor, use in¬
treaties, and beg for their lives. (2.) They shall
be carried away prisoners into their enemy’s land;
(n. 19.) "0 thou daughter, dwelling securely and
delicately in Egypt, that fruitful, pleasant country,
do not think this will last always, but furnish thy¬
self to go into captivity; instead of rich clothes,
which will but tempt the enemy to strip thee, get
plain and warm clothes; instead of fine shoes, pro¬
vide strong ones; and inure thyself to hardship, that
thou mayest bear it the better. ” Note, It concerns
us, among all our preparations, to prepare for trou¬
ble; we provide for the entertainment of our friends,
let us not neglect to provide for the entertainment
of our enemies, nor among all our furniture omit
furniture for captivity. The Egyptians must pre¬
pare to flee, for their cities shall be evacuated;
Noph particularly shall be desolate without an inha¬
bitant, so general shall the slaughter and the cap¬
tivity be. There are some penalties which, we
say, the king and the multitude are exempted from,
but here even these are obnoxious; The multitude
of No shall be punished; it is called populous No,
Nah. iii. 8. Though hand join in hand, yet they
shall not escape; nor can any think to go off in the
crowd. Be they ever so many, they shall find God
will be too many for them. Their kings and all
their petty princes shall fall; and their gods too,
!ch. xliii. 12, 13.) their idols and their great men.
Those which they call their tutelar deities, shall be
no protection to them. Pharaoh shall be brought
down, and all those that trust in him; (y. 25.) par¬
ticularly the Jews that came to sojourn in his coun¬
try, trusting in him rather than in God. All these
shall be delivered into the hands o f the northern na
tions, (v. 24.) into the hand not only of Nebuchad¬
nezzar, that mighty potentate, but into the hands
of his servants, according to the curse on Ham’s
posterity, of which the Egyptians were, that they
should be the servants of servants; these seek their
lives, and into their hands they shall be delivered.
5. An intimation is given that in process of time
Egypt shall recover itself again; (y. 26.) After-
530
JEREMIAH, XLVI1.
ward it shall be inhabited , shall be peopled again,
whereas by this destruction it was almost dispeo¬
pled. Ezekiel foretells that this should be at the
end of 40 years, Ezek. xxix. 13. See what changes
the nations of the earth are subject to, how they are
emptied and increased again ; and let not nations that
prosper be secure, nor those that for the present are
In thraldom despair.
II. Comfort and peace are here spoken to the Is¬
rael of God, v. 27, 28. Some understand it of those
whom the king of Egypt had carried into captivity
with Jehoahaz, but we read not of any that were
carried away captives with him; it may therefore
rather refer to the captives of Babylon, whom God
had mercy in store for, or, more generally to all the
people of God, designed for their encouragement
In the most difficult times, when the judgments of
God are abroad among the nations. We had these
words of comfort before, ch. xxx. 10, 11. 1. Get
the wicked of the earth tremble, they have cause
for it; but fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and
be not not dismayed, O Israel; and again, Fear thou
not, 0 Jacob. God would not hav^ his people to
be a timorous people. 2. The wicked of the earth
shall be put away like dross, not to be looked after
any more; but God’s people, in order to their being
saved, shall be found out and gathered, though they
be afar off, shall be redeemed, though they be held
fist in captivity, and shall return. 3. The wicked
is like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, they flee
when none pursues; but Jacob, being at home in
God, shall be at rest, and at ease, and none shall
make him afraid; for what time he is.afraid, he has
a God to trust to. 4. The wicked, God beholds
afar off; but, wherever thou art, 0 Jacob, I am
with thee, a very present Help. 5. A full end shall
be made of the nations that oppressed God’s Israel,
as Egvpt and Babylon; but mercv shall be kept in
store for the Israel of God: they shall be corrected,
hut not cast off, the correction shall be in measure,
in respect of degree and continuance. Nations have
their periods, the Jewish nation itself is come to an
end, as a nation; but the gospel-church, God’s spi¬
ritual Israel, still continues, and will to the end of
time; in that this promise is to have its full accom¬
plishment, that though God correct it, he will never
make a full end of it.
CHAP. XLVII.
This chapter reads the Philistines their doom, as the former
read the Egyptians theirs; and by the same hand, that
of Nebuchadrezzar. It is short, but terrible; and Tyre
and Zidon, though they lay at some distance from them,
come in sharers with them, in the destruction here
threatened. I. It is foretold that the forces of the north¬
ern crowns should come upon them, to their great terror,
v. 1 . . 5. II. That the war should continue long, and
their endeavours to put an end to it should be in vain,
v. 6, 7.
1 . HpHE word of the Lord that came to
H Jeremiah the prophet against the
Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, waters rise
up out of the north, and shall be an over¬
flowing flood, and shall overflow the land,
and all that is therein; the city, and them
that dwell therein; then the men shall cry,
and all the inhabitants of the land shall
howl. 3. At the noise of the stamping of
the hoofs of his strong horses , at the rushing
of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his
wheels, the fathers shall not look back to
their children for feebleness of hands', 4.
; Because of the day that eometh to spoil all
the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus
and Zidon every helper that remaineth; for
the Lord will spoil the Philistines, the rem¬
nant of the country of Caphtor. 5. Bald¬
ness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut
off with the remnant of their valley: how
long wilt thou cut thyself ! 6. O thou sword
of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be
quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest,
and be still. 7. How can it be quiet, seeing
the Lord hath given it a charge against
Ashkelon, and against the sea-shore ? there
hath he appointed it.
As the Egyptians bad often proved false friends,
so the Philistines had always been sworn enemies,
to the Israel of God, and the more dangerous and
\ vexatious for their being such near neighbours to
them. They were considerably humbled in David’s
: time, but, it seems, they had got head again, and
were a considerable people till Nebuchadnezzar cut
them off with their neighbours, which is the event
here foretold. The date of this prophecy is ob¬
servable; it was before Pharaoh smote Gaza: when
this blow was given to Gaza by the king of Egypt
is not certain, whether in his expedition against
Carchemish, or in his return thence, after he had
slain Jojiah, or when he afterward came with de¬
sign to relieve Jerusalem; but this is mentioned
here, to show that this word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah against the Philistines, when they were
in their full strength and lustre, themselves and
their cities in good condition, in no peril from any
adversary or evil occurrent, when no disturbance
of their repose was foreseen by any human proba¬
bilities; then Jeremiah foretold their ruin, which
Pharaoh's smiting Gaza soon after would be but an
earnest of, and, as it were, the beginnings cf sorrow
to that country. It is here foretold,
1. That a foreign enemy and a very formidable
one shall be brought upon them: TPaters rise up out
of the north, v. 2. Waters sometimes signify mul¬
titudes of people and nations, (Rev. xvii. 15.) some¬
times great and threatening calamities, (Ps. lxix.
1.) these here signify both. They rise out of the
north, whence fair weather, and the wind that
drives away rain, are said to come; but now a ter¬
rible storm comes out of that cold climate. The
Chaldean army shall overflow the land like a de¬
luge. Probably, this happened before the destruc¬
tion of Jerusalem, for it should seem that in Geda-
liah’s time, which was just after, the army of the
Chaldeans was quite withdrawn out of those parts.
The country of the Philistines was but of small ex¬
tent, so that it would soon be overwhelmed by so
vast an army.
2. That they shall all be in a consternation upon
it: the men shall have no heart to fight, but shall
sit down and cry like children; all the inhabitants
of the land shall howl, so that nothing but lamenta¬
tion shall be heard in all places. The occasion of
the fright is elegantly described, v. 3. Before it
comes to killing and slaying, the very stamping of
the horses and' rattling of the chariots, when the
enemv makes his approach, shall strike a terror
upon ’the people, to that degree, that parents in
their fright shall seem void of natural affection, for
they shall not look back to their children, to provide
for their safety, or so much as to see what becomes
of them. Tlieir hands shall be so feeble, that they
shall despair of carrying them off with them, and
therefore they shall not care for seeing them, but
leave them to take their lot; or they shall be in such
JEREMIAH, XLVIII.
.->31
a consternation, that they shall quite forget even
those pieces of thcmsch es. Let none be over-fond
of their children, nor dote upon them, since such
distress may come, that they may either wish they
had none, or forget that they have, and have no
heart to look upon them.
3. That the country of the Philistines shall be
spoiled and laid waste, and the other countries ad¬
joining to them and in alliance with them. It is
a day to spoil the Philistines, for the Lord will s/ioil
them, v. 4. Note, Those whom God will spoil must
needs oe spoiled; for, if God be against them, who
can be for them? Tyre and Zidon were str< ng and
wealthy cities, and they used to help the Philistines
in a strait, but now they shall themselves be in¬
volved in the common ruin, and God will cut off
from them every liel/ier that remains. Note, Those
that trust to help from creatures, will find it cutoff
when they most need it, and will thereby be put
into the utmost confusion. Who the remnant of
the country of Caphtor were, is uncertain, but we
find that the Caphtorim were near akin to the Phi¬
listine, (Gen. x. 14.) and, probably, when their own
country was destroyed, such as remained came and
settled with their kinsmen the Philistines, and were
now spoiled with them. Some particular places
are here named, Gaza and .'tshkelon; (t>. 5.) bald¬
ness is come u/ion them, the invaders have stripped
them of all their ornaments, or, they have made
themselves bald in token of extreme grief, and they
are cut off, with the other cities that were in the
pi tin or valley about them. The products of their
Fruitful valleys shall be sfioiled, and made a prey of,
oy the conquerors.
4. That these calamities should continue long.
The prophet, in the foresight of this', with his usual
tenderness, asks them, first, (r. 5.) How long will
ye cut yourselves, as men in extreme sorrow and
anguish do? Oh how tedious will the calamity be!
not only cutting, but long cutting: but he turns from
tlv effect to the cause; They cut themselves, for the
sword of the Lord cuts them. And therefore, (1.)
H - hespe :ks that to be still; (v. 6.) O thou sword j
of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet?
H ■ begs it would put up itself into the scabbard,
w add devour no more flesh, drink no more blood.
This expresses the prophet’s earnest desire to see
an end of the war, looking with compassion, as be¬
came a m in, even upon the Philistines themselves,
when their country was made desolate bv the sword.
Note, War is the sword of the Lord, with it he
punishes the crimes of his enemies, and pleads the
cause of his own people. When war is once begun,
it often lasts long; the sword, once drawn, does not
quickly find the way into the scabbard again; nay,
some, when they draw the sword, will throw away
the scabbard, for they delight in war. So deplora¬
ble are the desolations of war, that the blessings of
peace cannot but be very desirable. O that swords
might be beaten into ploughshares! (2.) Yet he
gives a satisfactory account of the continuance of
the war, and stops the mouth of his own complaint;
(t>. 7. ) How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath
given it a charge against such and such places, par¬
ticularly specified in its commission? There hath he
appointed it. Note, [1.] The sword of war has
its charge from the Lord of hosts; every bullet has
its charge; you call them blind bullets, but they are
directed by an all-seeing God: the war itself has its
charge; he saith to it. Go, and it goes; Come, audit
comes; Do this, and it does it; for he is Commander
in chief. [2.] When the sword is drawn, we can¬
not expect it should be sheathed till it has fulfilled
its charge. As the word of God, so his rod and his
sword shall accomplish that for which he sends
them.
CHAP. XLVIII.
Moab is next set to the bar before Jeremiah the piophet
whom God had constituted judge over nations and king¬
doms, from his mouth to receive its doom. Isaiah’s
predictions concerning Moab had had their accomplish¬
ment, (we had the predictions, Isa. xv, xvi. and the like,
•Amos ii. 1.) and they were fulfilled when the Assyrians,
under Salmanassar, invaded and distressed Moab. But
this is a prophecy of the desolations of Moab by the
Chaldeans, which were accomplished under Nebuzar-
adun, about live years after he had destroyed Jerusalem.
Here is, I. The destruction foretold, that it should be
great and general, should extend itself to all parts of
the country, (v. 1 . . 6, 8.) and again, v. ‘21 . . 25, 34.
That spoilers should come upon them, and force some
to flee, (v. 9.) should carrv many into captivity; (v. 12,
46.) that the enemy should come shortly, (v. 16.) come
swiftly, and surprise them; (v. 40, 41.) that he should
make thorough work, (v. 10.) and lay the country quite
waste, though it was very strong; (v. 14, 15.) that there
should be no escaping, (v. 42, 45.) that this should force
them to quit their idols, (v. 13, 35.) and put an end to
all their joy; (v. 33, 34.) that their neighbours shall
lament them, (v. 17. . 19.) and the prophet himself does,
v. 31,36, &c. 11. The causes of this destruction assigned;
it was sin that brought this ruin upon them, their pride,’
and security, and carnal confidence, (v. 7, 11, 14, 29.)
and their contempt of. and enmity to, God and his peo¬
ple, v. ‘26, 27, 30. III. A promise of the restoration of
Moab, v. 47.
1. A GAINST Moab thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, Wo unto
Nebo ! for it is spoiled; Kiriathaim is con¬
founded and taken ; Misgab is confounded
and dismayed. 2. There shall be no more
praise of Moab : in Heshbon they have de¬
vised evil against it ; cope, and let us cut it
off from being a nation : also thou shalt be
cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pur¬
sue thee. 3. A voice of crying shall be from
Horonaim, spoiling and great destruction.
4. Moab is destroyed; her little ones have
caused a cry to be heard. 5. For in the
going up of Luhith continual weeping shall
go up; for in the going down of Horonaim
the enemies have heard a cry of destruc¬
tion. 6. Flee, save your lives, and be like
the heath in the wilderness. 7. For because
thou hast trusted in thy works, and in thy
treasures, thou shalt also be taken; and
Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, with
his priests and his princes together. 8. And
the spoiler shall come upon every city, and
no city shall escape; the valley also shall
perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as
the Lord hath spoken- 9. Give wings unto
Moab, that it may tlee and get away: for
the cities thereof shall be desolate, without
any to dwell therein. 10. Cursed be he
that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully,
and cursed be. he that keepeth back his
sword from blood. 11. Moab hath been at
ease from his youth, and he hath settled on
his lees, and hath not been emptied from
vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into
captivity: therefore his taste remained in
him, and his scent is not changed. 12.
Therefore, behold, the days c.ome, saith the
332
JEREMIAH, XL VIII.
Lord, that I will send unto him wanderers,
that shall cause him to wander, and shall
empty his vessels, and break their bottles.
13. And Moab shall be ashamed of Che-
mosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed
of Beth-el their confidence.
We may observe, in these verses,
1. The Author of Moab’s destruction; it is the
Lord of hosts, that lias armies, all armies, at his
command, and the God of Israel, (u. 1.) who will
herein plead the cause of his Israel against a peo¬
ple that have always been vexatious to them, and
will punish them now' for the injuries done to Israel
of old, though Israel was forbidden to meddle with
them; (Deut. ii. 9.) therefore the destruction of
Moab is called the work of the Lord, (y. 10.) for it
is he that pleads for Israel; and his work will ex¬
actly agree with his word, v. 8.
2. The instruments of it; S/ioilers shall come, (y.
8.) shall come with a sword, a sword that shall
/lursue them, v. 2. I mill send unto him wanderers,
such as come from afar, as if they were vagrants,
or had missed their way, but they shall cause him
to wander; they seem as wanderers themselves, but
they shall make the Moabites to be really wander¬
ers, some to flee, and others to be carried into cap¬
tivity. These destroyers stir up themselves to do
execution; they have devised evil against Heshbon,
one of the principal cities of Moab, and they aim at
no less than the ruin of the kingdom, Come, and
let us cut it off from being a nation; ( v . 2.) nothing
less will serve the turn of the invaders, they come
not to plunder it, but to ruin it. The prophet, in
God’s name, engages them to make thorough work
of it; (y. 10.) Cursed be he that doeth the work of
the Lord deceitfully, this bloody work, this destroy¬
ing work; though it goes against the grain with men
of compassion, yet it is the work of the Lord, and
must not be done by the halves. The Chaldeans
have it in charge, by a secret instinct, (says Mr.
Gataker,) to destroy the Moabites, and therefore
they must not spare, must not, out of foolish pity,
keep back their sword from blood, they would
thereby bring a sword, and a curse with it, upon
’hemselves, as Saul did by sparing the Amalekites;
ind Ahab by letting Benhadad go; Thy life shall go
for his life. To this work is applied that general
rule given to all that are employed in any service
f it- God. Cursed be he that doeth the work of the
Lord deceitfully or negligently, that pretends to do
it, but does it not to purpose, makes a show of serv¬
ing God’s glory, but is really serving his own ends,
and carries on the work of the Lord no further
than will suit his own purposes; or that is slothful
in business for God, and takes neither care nor
pains to do it as it should be done, Mai. i. 14. Let
not such deceive themselves, for God will not thus
be mocked.
3. The woful instances and effects of this de¬
struction. The cities shall be laid in ruins, they
shall be sfioiled, (v. 1.) and cut down, (y. 2.) they
shall be desolate, (y. 9. ) without any to dwell there¬
in ; there shall be no houses to dwell in, or no people
to dwell in them, or no safety and ease to those that
would dwell in them. Every city shall be sfioiled,
and no city shall cscafie. The strongest city shall
not be able to secure itself against the enemies’
power, nor shall the finest city be able to recom¬
mend itself to the enemies’ pity and favour. The
country also shall be wasted, the valley shall
fierish, and the filain be destroyed, v. 8. The corn
and the flocks, which used to cover the plains, and
make the valley rejoice, shall all be destroyed, eaten
up, trodden down, or carried off". The most sacred
persons shall not escape, the priests and princes
shall go together into captivity. Nay, Chemosh,
the god they worship, who, they hope, will protect
them, shall share with them in the ruin, his tem¬
ples shall be laid in ashes, and his image carried
away with the rest of the spoil. Now the conse¬
quence of all this will be, (1.) Great shame and
confusion; Kirjathaim is confounded, and Misgah
is so. They shall be ashamed of the mighty boasts
they have sometimes made of their cities. There
shall be no more vaunting in Moab concerning
Heshbon; (so it might be read, v. 2.) they shall no
more boast of the strength of that city, when the
evil which is designed against it is brought upon it.
Nor shall they any more boast of their gods; (v. 13.)
they shall be ashamed of Chemosh, ashamed of all
the prayers they made to, and all the confidence
they put in, that dunghill deity: as Israel was
ashamed of Beth-el, of the golden calf they had at
Beth-el, which they confided in as their protector,
but were deceived in, for it was not able to save
them from the Assyrians; nor shall Chemosh be
able to save the Moabites from the Chaldeans.
Note, Those that will not be convinced and made
ashamed of the folly of their idolatry by the word
of God, shall be convinced and made ashamed of it
by the judgments of God, when they shall find by
woful experience the utter inability of the gods they
have served to do them any service. (2.) There
will be great sorrow; there is a voice of crying
heard, ( v . 3.) and the cry is nothing but spoiling
and great destruction; Alas! alas! Moab is destroy¬
ed, v. 4. The great ones having quitted the cities
to shift for their own safety, even the little ones
have caused a cry to be heard, the meaner sort of
people, or the little children, the innocent, harmless
ones, whose cries at such a time are the most pite¬
ous. Go up to the hills, go down to the valley, and
you meet with continual weeping, weepingj with
weeping all are in tears, you meet none with dry
eyes. Even the enemies have heard the cry, from
whom it had been policy to conceal it, for tKey will
be animated and encouraged by it; but it is so great,
that it cannot be hid. (3.) There will be great
hurry; they will cry to one another, “ Away, away,
flee, save your lives, (ti. 6.) shift for your own
safety with all imaginable speed, though you escape
as bare and naked as the heath, or grig, or dry
shrub, in the wilderness; think not of carrying away
any thing you have, for it may cost you your life to
attempt if, Matth. xxiv. 16. — 18. Take shelter,
though it be in a barren wilderness, that you may
have your lives for a prey. The danger will come
suddenly and swiftly; and therefore give wings unto
Moab, (y. 9.) that would be the greatest kindness
you could do them, that is it that they will call for,
O that we had wings like a dove'! for unless thev
have wings, and can fly, there will be no escaping.”
4. The sins for which God will now reckon with
Moab, and which justify God in these severe pro¬
ceedings against them.
(1. ) It is because they have been secure, and have
trusted in their wealth and strength, in their works,
and in their treasures, v. 7. They had taken a
great deal of pains to fortify their cities, and make
large works about them, and to fill their exchequer
and private coffers; so that they thought themselves
in as good a posture for war as any people could be,
and that none durst invade them, and therefore set
danger at defiance: they trusted in the abundance
of their riches, and strengthened themselves in their
wickedness, Ps. lii. 7. Now, for this reason, that
they may have a sensible conviction of the vanity
and folly of their carnal confidences, God will send
an enemy that shall master their works, and rifle
538
JEREMIAH, XLVIII.
their treasures. Note, We forfeit the comfort of
that creature, which we repose that confidence in
that should be reposed in God only. The reed will
break that is leaned upon.
(2.) It is because they have not made a right im¬
provement of the days of their peace and prospe¬
rity, v. 11. [1. jHThey had been long undisturbed;
71 loub hath been flPease from his youth. It was an
ancient kingdom before Israel was, and had enjoyed
great tranquillity, though a small country, and sur-
r unded with potent neighbours. God’s Israel were
afflicted from their youth, (Ps. cxxix. 1, 2.) but
M-jab hath been at ease from his youth. He has not
been em/itied from vessel to vessel, has not known
any troublesome, weakening changes, but is as wine
kept on the lees, and not racked or drawn off, by
which it retains its strength and body. He has not
been unsettled, nor any wav made uneasy; he has
not gone into ca/ilivity, as Israel have often done,
and vet Moab is a wicked, idolatrous nation, and
one of the confederates against God’s hidden ones,
Ps. lxxxiii. 6. Note, There are many that persist
in unr pented iniquity, and yet enjoy uninterrupted
pr sperity. [2.] They had been as long corrupt
and unreformed; He has settled on his lees, he has
been secure and sensual in his prosperity, has rested
in it, and fetched all the strength and life of the soul
from it, as the wine from the lees; his taste remain¬
ed in him, and his scent is not changed; he is still
the same, as bad as ever he was. Note, While bad
people are as happy as they used to be in the world,
it is no marvel if they are as bad as they used to be.
They have no changes of their peace and prosperity,
therefore they fear not God, their hearts and lives
are unchanged, Ps. lv. 19.
14. How say ye, We are mighty and
strong men for the war? 15. Moab is spoil¬
ed, and gone up out of her cities, and his
chosen young men are gone down to the
slaughter, saith the King, whose name is
The Lord of hosts. 16. The calamity of
Moab is near to come, and. his affliction
hasteth fast. 1 7. All ye that are about him,
bemoan him; and all ye that know his
name, say, How is the strong staff broken,
and the beautiful rod! 18. Thou daughter
that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from
thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler
of Moab shall come upon thee, and he
shall destroy thy strong holds. 19. O in¬
habitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and
espy; ask him that fieeth, and her that
escapeth, and say, What is done? 20. 1
Moab is confounded; for it is broken
down: houd and ciy; tell ye it in Arnon,
that Moab is spoiled, 21. And judgment
is come upon the plain country ; upon Ho-
lon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Me-
phaath, 22. And upon Dibon, and upon
Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim, 23. And
upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul,
and upon Beth-meon. 24. And upon Ke-
rioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the
cities of the land of Moab, far or near. 25.
The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is
broken, saith the Lord. 26. Make ye him
drunken ; for he magnified himself against
the Lord: Moab also shall wallow in his
vomit, and he also shall be in derision. 27.
For was not Israel a derision unto thee?
was he found among thieves? for since thou
spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy. 28
O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities,
and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove
that maketh her nest in the sides of the
hole’s mouth. 29. We have heard the
pride of Moab, (lie is exceeding proud,) his
loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride,
and the haughtiness of his heart. 30. I
know his wrath, saith the Lord: but it
shall not be so ; his lies shall not so effect
it. 31. Therefore will I howl forMoah, and
I will cry out for all Moab; my heart shall
mourn for the men of Kir-heres. 32. O vine
of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the
weeping of Jazer ; thy plants are gone over
the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer
the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer-fruits,
and upon thy vintage. 33. And joy and
gladness is taken from the plentiful field,
and from the land of Moab; and I have
caused wine to fail from the wine-presses:
none shall tread with shouting ; their shout¬
ing shall be no shouting. 34. F rom the cry
of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even
unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice,
from Zoar even unto floronaim, as a heifer
of three years old; for the waters also of
Nimrim shall be desolate. 35. Moreover,
I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the
Lord, him that offereth in the high places,
and him that burnetii incense to his gods.
36. Therefore my heart shall sound for
Moab like pipes, and my heart shall
sound like pipes for the men of Kir-heres:
because the riches that he hath gotten is
perished. 37. For every head shall be bald,
and every beard dipt: upon all the hands
shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sack¬
cloth. 38. There shall be lamentation gene¬
rally upon all the house-tops of Moab, and
in the streets thereof: for I have broken
Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure,
saith the Lord. 39. They shall howl, say¬
ing, How is it broken down! how hath
Moab turned the back with shame! so shall
Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all
them about him. 40. For thus saith the
Lord, Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and
shall spread his wings over Moab. 41. Ke-
rioth is taken, and the strong holds are sur¬
prised, and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab
at that day shall be as the heart of a wo¬
man in her pangs. 42. And Moab shall be
destroyed from being a people, because he
hath magnified himself against the Lord.
43. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall
534
JEREMIAH, XLVIII.
he upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith
the Lord. 44. He that fleeth from the
fear shall fall into the pit; and he that get-
teth up out of the pit shall be taken in the
snare: for 1 will bring upon it, even upon
Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the
Lord. 45. They that fled stood under the
shadow of Heshbon, because of the force:
but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon,
and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and
shall devour the corner of Moab, and the
crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
46. Wo be unto thee, O Moab! the people
of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are
taken captives, and thy daughters captives.
47. Yet will I bring again the captivity of
Moab in the latter days, saith the Lord.
Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
The destruction is here further prophesied of very
largely, and with a great copiousness and variety of
expression, and very pathetically, and in moving
language, designed not only to awaken them by a
national repentance and reformation to prevent the
trouble, or by a personal repentance and reforma¬
tion to prepare tor it, but to affect us with the ca¬
lamitous state of human life, which is liable to such
lamentable occurrences; and with the power of
God’s anger and the terror of his judgments, when
lie comes forth to contend with a provoking people.
In reading this long roll of threatenings, and medi¬
tating the terror of them, it will be of more use to
us to keep this in our eye, and to get our hearts
thereby possessed with a’ holy awe of God and of
his wrath, than to inquire critically into all the lively
figures and metaphors here used.
I. It is a surprising destruction, and very sudden,
that is here threatened. They were very secure,
thought themselves strong for mar, and able to deal
with the most powerful enemy; (n. 14.) and yet the
calamity is near, and he is not able to keep it off,
nor so much as to keep the enemy long in parley,
for the affliction hastens fast, (t>. 16.) and will soon
come to a crisis. The enemy shall jly as an eagle,
so swiftly, so strongly shall he come, (v. 40.) as an
eagle flies upon his prey, and he shall s/iread his
•wings, the wings of his army, over Moab; he shall
surround it, that none may escape. The strong holds
of Moab are taken by sur/irise, (y. 41.) so that all
their strength stood them in no stead; and this made
the hearts even of their mighty men to fail, for they
had not time to recollect the considerations that
might have animated them. It requires a more than
ordinary degree of courage not to be afraid of sud¬
den fear.
II. It is an utter destruction, and such as lays Moab
all in ruins. Moab is spoiled, (v. 15. ) quite spoiled,
is confounded and broken damn; (v. 20.) their cities
are laid in ashes, or seized by the enemy, so that
they are forced to quit them, v. }S. Divers cities
are here named, upon which judgment is come, and
the list concludes with an et cetera. What occasion
was there for him to mention more particulars, when
it comes ufion all the cities of Moab in general, far
and near? v. 21.— 24. Note, When iniquity is uni¬
versal, wc have reason to expect that calamity
should be so too. The kingdom is deprived of its
dignity anl authority; The horn of Moab is cut off,
the horn of its strength and power, both offensive
and defensive; his arm is broken, that he can nei¬
ther give a blow, nor save a blow, v. 25. Is the
youth of the kingdom the strength and beauty of it?
His chosen young men are gone down to the slaugh
ter, v. 15. They went down to the battle, pro¬
mising themselves that they should return victoii-
ous; but God told them that they went down to the
slaughter; so sure are they to fall against whem
God fights! In a word, Moab shall be destroyed
from being a fieo/ile, v. 42. TJA^e that are ene¬
mies to God’s people will soon blmi ade no people.
III. It is a lamentable destruction, it will be just
matter of mourning, and will turn joy into heavi¬
ness.
1. The prophet that foretells it does himself la¬
ment it, and mourns at the very foresight of it, from
a principle of compassion to his fellow-creatures,
and concern for human nature. The prophet will
himself howl for Moab, his very heart shall mourn
for them; (v. 31.) he will weep, for the vine of Si b-
mah, (n. 32.) his heart shall sound like pi/ies for
Moab, v. 36. Though the destruction of Moab
would prove him a true prophet, yet he could not
think of it without trouble. The ruin of sinners is
no pleasure to God, and therefore should be a pair
to us; even those that give warning of it should lay
it to heart. These passages, and many others in
this chapter, are much the same with what Isaiah
had used in his prophecies against Moab; (Isa. xv.
16.) for though there was a long distance of time be¬
tween that prophecy and this, yet they were both
dictated by one and the same Spirit; and it becomes
God’s prophets to speak the language of those that
went before them. It is no plagiarism sometimes
to make use of old expressions, provided it be with
new affections and applications.
2. The Moabites themselves shall lament; it will
be the greatest mortification and grief imaginable to
them. Those that sat in glory, in the midst < f
wealth and mirth, and all manner of pleasure, shall
sit in thirst, in a dry and thirsty land, where no
water, no comfort, is, v. 18. It is time for them to
sit in thirst, and inure themselves to hardship, when
the spoiler is come, who will strip them of all, and
empty them. The Moabites in the remote corners
of the country, that are furthest from the danger,
will be inquisitive how the matter goes, what news
from the armv, will ask every one that escapes,
What is done? v. 19. And when they are told that
all is gone, that the invader is the conqueror, they
will howl and cry, in bitterness and anguish of spirit,
(y. 20.) they will abandon themselves to solitude, to
lament the desolations of their country, they will
leave the cities that used to be full of mirth, and
dwell in the rock, where they may have their ti 11 < f
melancholy: they shall no more be singing birds,
but mourning birds, like the dove, (y. 28. ) the doves
of the valleys, Ezek. vii. 16. Let those that give
themselves up to mirth know that God can sorn
change their note. Their sorrow shall be so very
extreme, that they shall make themselves bald, and
cut themselves, hi. 37.) which were expressions of
a desperate grief, such as tempted men to be even
their own destroyers. Job, indeed, rent his mantle,
and shaved his head, but he did not cut himself.
When the flood of passion rises ever so high, wisdom
and grace must set bounds to it, set banks to it, to
restrain it from such barbarities. The sorrow
shall be universal; (v. 38.) There shall be a gene¬
ral lamentation upon all the house-tops of Moab,
where thev worshipped their idols, to whom they
shall in vain bemoan themselves, and in all the
streets, where they conversed with one another, fi r
they shall be free in communicating their griefs and
fears, and in propagating them; for they see all lost;
“I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no
pleasure, which shall not be regarded, and cantv t be
pieced again. That which Moab used to rejoice
in, was, their pleasant fruits, and the abundance of
their rich wines. The delights of sense were all
535
JEREMIAH, XLVIU.
the matter of their joy. Take away these, destroy j
their gardens and vineyards, and you make all their
mirth to cease, Hos. ii. 11, 12. There is great weep¬
ing when their plants are transplanted, are gone
ever the sea, (y. 32.) are carried into other coun¬
tries, to be planted there. The spoiler is fallen
u/ion thy summer-fruits, and upon thy vintage,
and that is it that makes theory of Heshbon to reach
even to Elealeh, v. 34. Take joy and gladness from
the plentiful field, and you take it from the land of
Moab, v. 33. If the wine fail from the wine-presses,
th at used to be trodden with acclamations of joy, all
their gladness is cut off. Take away that shouting,
and there shall be no shouting. Note, They who
make the delights of sense their chief joy, their ex¬
ceeding joy, since these are things they may be
easily deprived of in a little time, subject themselves
to the tyranny of the greatest grief; whereas they
who rejoice in God may do that even when the fig-
tree doth not blossom, and there is no fruit in the
vine. These Moabites lost not only their wine, but
their water ton, even the waters of Nimrim shall be
desolate, ( v . 34.) and therefore their grief grew ex¬
travagantly loud and noisy, and their lamentations
were heard in all places like the lowing of a heifer
of three years old. The expressions here are bor¬
rowed from Isa. xv. 5, 6.
3. All their neighbours are called to mourn with
them, and to condole with them on their ruin; ( v .
IT.) All ye that are about him, bemoan him. Let
him have that allay to his grief, let him see himself
pitied by the adjoining countries. Nay, let those at
a distance, who do but know his name, and have
heard of his reputation, take notice of his fall, and
say, How is the strong stajf broken, whose strength
was the terror of its enemies, and the beautiful rod,
whose beauty was the pride of its friends! Let the
nations take notice of this, and receive instruction.
Let none be puffed up with, or put confidence in,
their strength or beauty, for neither will be a secu¬
rity' against the judgments of God.
IV. It is a shameful destruction, and such as shall
expose them to contempt; Moab is made drunk,
{v. 26.) and he that is made drunk, is made vile,
he shall wallow in his vomit, and become an odious
spectacle, and shall justly be in derision. Let the
Moabites be intoxicated with the cup of God’s
wrath, till they stagger and fall, and be brought to
their suits’ end, and make themselves ridiculous by
the wildness not only of their passions but of their
counsels. And again, (x>. 39.) Moab shall be a de¬
rision and a dismaying to all about him; they shall
laugh at the fall of the pomp and power he was so
proud of. Note, They that are haughty are pre¬
paring reproach and ignominy for themselves.
V. It is the destruction of that which is dear to
them; not only of their summer-fruits, and their
vintage, but of their wealth; ( v . 36.) The riches that
he has gotten are perished; though he thought he
had laid them up very safe, and promised himself
a long enjoyment of them, yet they are gone. Note,
The money that is hoarded in the chest, is as liable
to perishing as the summer-fruits that lie exposed
in the open fields. Riches are shedding things, and,
like dust as they are, slip through our fingers then
when we are in most care to hold them fast, and
gripe them hard. Yet this is not the worst; even
th ^se whose religion was false and foolish were fond
of it above any thing, and, such as it was, would not
p irt with it; and therefore, though it was really a
promise, yet to them it was a threatening, (i*. 35.)
th a God will cause to cease him that offers in the
high places, for the high places shall be destroyed,
and the fields of offerings shall be laid waste, and
the priests themselves, who burnt incense to their
gods, shall be slain, or carried into captivity, v. 7.
Note, It is only the true religion, and the worship
and service of the true God, that will stand us in
stead in a day of trouble.
VI. It is a just and righteous destruction, and that
which they have deserved, and brought upon them¬
selves, by sin.
1. The sin which they had been most notoriously
guilty of, and for which God now reckoned with
them, was pride. It is mentioned six times, v. 29.
IVe have all heard of the pride of Moab; his neigh¬
bours took notice of it, it has testified to his face, as
Israel’s did, he is exceeding proud, and grows worse
and worse. Observe his loftiness, his arrogancy,
his pride, his haughtiness; the multiplying of words
to the same purport, intimates in how many in¬
stances he discovered his pride, and how offensive
it was both to God and man. It was charged upon
them, Isa. xvi. 6. but here it is expressed more
largely than there. Since then, they had been un¬
der humbling providences, and yet were unhum¬
bled; nay, they grew more arrogant and haughty,
which plainly marked them for that utter destruc¬
tion of which pride is the forerunner. Two in¬
stances are here given of the pride of Moab: (1.)
He had conducted himself insolently toward God.
He must be brought down with shame, (n. 26.) for
he has magnified himself against the Lord; and
again, ( v . 42.) he shall be destroyed from being a
people, fur this very reason; the Moabites preferred
Chemosh before Jehovah, and thought themselves
a match for the God of Israel, whom they set at
defiance. (2.) He had conducted himself scorn¬
fully toward Israel, particularly in their late trou¬
bles; therefore Mo;ib shall fall into the same trou¬
bles, into the same hands, and be a derision, for
Israel was a derision to him, v. 26, 2 7. The gene¬
rality of the Moabites, when they heard of the ca¬
lamities and desolation of their neighbours the Jews,
instead of lamenting them, rejoiced in them as if
they had been thieves taken in the act of robbing;
as often as they spake of them, they skipped for
joy. Many, in such a case, entertained in their
minds a secret pleasure at the fall of those they had
a dislike to, who yet have so much discretion as to
conceal it, it is so invidious a thing; but the Moab¬
ites industriously proclaimed their joy, and avowed
the enmity they had to Israel, triumphing over
every Israelite they met with in distress, and laugh¬
ing at him; which was as inhuman as it was im¬
pious, and an impudent affront both to man, whose
nature they were of, and to God, whose name they
were called by. Note, Those that deride others in
distress will justly and certainly, sooner or later,
come into distress themselves, and be had in deri¬
sion. Those that are glad at calamities, especially
the calamities of God’s church, shall not long go
unpunished.
2. Beside this, they had been guilty of malice
against God’s people, and treachery in their deal¬
ings with them, v. 30. They made a jest of the
desolations of Judah and Jerusalem, and pretended,
when they laughed at them, that it was but in
sport, and to make themselves merry; but, says
God, “ I know his wrath, I know it comes from tfie
old enmity he has to the seed of Abraham, and the
worshippers of the true God. I know he thinks
these calamities of the Jewish nation will end in their
utter extii-pation. He now tells the Chaldeans
what bad people the Jews are, and irritates them
against them; but it shall not be so as he expects;
his lies shall not so effect it. The nation, whose fall
they triumph in, shall recover itself. ” Some read
it, I know his rage. Is it not so? (Is he not very
furious against the people of God?) And his lies 1
know also. Do they not do so? Do they not belie
them? Note, All the fury and all the falsehood of
536
JEREMIAH, XLIX.
the church’s enemies are perfectly known to God,
whatever the pretences are with which they think
to cuver them, Isa. xxxvii. 28.
VII. It is a complicated destruction, and by one
instance after another will at length be completed;
for those that make their escape from one judgment,
shall perish by another; Fear, and the pit, and the
snare, shall be upon them, v. 43. There shall be
fear to drive them into the pit, and a snare to hold
them fast in it, when they are in it; so that they
shall neither escape from the destruction, nor es¬
cape out of it. What was said of sinners in gene¬
ral, (Isa. xxiv. 17, 18.) that they who Jlee from the
fear shall fall into the pit, and they who come up
out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare, is here
articularly foretold concerning the sinners of
loab, (v. 44. ) for it is the year of their visitation,
when God comes to reckon with them, and will be
known by the judgments which he executes, for he
is the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts; (n.
15.) he is not only the King, who has authority to
give judgment, but he is the Lord of hosts, who is
able to do what he has determined. The figurative
expressions used, x>. 44. are explained in one in¬
stance; (v. 45.) Those that fed out of the villages
for fear of the enemy’s forces, put themselves un¬
der the shadow of Heshbon, stood there, and sup¬
posed they stood safe, as now armies sometimes re¬
tire under the cannon of a fortified city, and it is
their protection; but here they shall be disappoint¬
ed, for when they fee out of the pit they fat! into
the snare; Heshbon, which they thought would
have sheltered them, devours them, as Moses had
foretold long since; (Numb. xxi. 28.) Jf re is gone
out of Heshbon, and a fame from the city of fiihon,
and devours those that come from all the corners of
Moab, and fastens upon the crown of the head of
the tumultuous noisy ones, or of the revellers, or
children of noise; not meant of the rude, clamorous
multitude, but of the great men, who bluster, and
hector, and make a noise; the judgments of God
shall light on them. Shall we hear the conclusion
of this whole matter? We have it; (n. 46.) Wo
be to thee, 0 Moab! thou art undone; the people
that worship Chemosh perish, and are gone; fare¬
well Moab. The sons and daughters, the hopes of
the next generation, are gone into captivity after
the Jews, whose calamities they rejoiced in.
VIII. Yet it is not a perpetual destruction. The
chapter concludes with a short promise of their re¬
turn out of captivity in the latter days. God, who
brings them into captivity, will bring again their
captivity, v. 47. 1 hus tenderly does God deal
with Moabites, much more with his own people!
Even with Moabites he will not contend for ever,
nor be always wroth. When Israel returned Moab
did; and perhaps the prophecy was intended chiefly
for the encouragement of God’s people, to hope for
that salvation which even Moabites shall share in.
Yet it looks further, to gospel-times; the Jews
themselves refer it to the days of the Messiah; then
the captivity of the Gentiles, under the yoke of sin
and Satan, shall be brought back by divine grace,
which shall make them free, free indeed. This
prophecy concerning Moab is long, but here it ends,
it ends comfortably, Thus far is the judgment of
Moab.
CHAP. XLIX.
The cup of trembling still goes round, and the nations
must all drink of it, according to the instructions given
to Jeremiah, ch. xxv. 15. This chapter puts it into the
hands, 1. Of the Ammonites, v. 1 . . 6. II. Of the
F.domites, v. 7 . . 22. III. Of the Syrians, v. 23. .27.
IV. Of the Kcdarencs, and the kingdoms of Hazor, v.
28 . . 33. V. Of the Elamites, v. 34 . . 39. When Israel
was scarcely saved, where shall all these appear?
1. /T CONCERNING the Ammonites,
thus saith the Lord, Hath Israel no
sons ? hath he no heir? why then doth their
king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in
his ciues? 2. Therefore, behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an
alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the
Ampionites; and it shall be a desolate
heap, and her daughters shall be burnt with
fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them
that were his heirs, saith the Lord. 3.
Howl, O Heshbon; for Ai is spoiled: cry,
ye daughters of Rabbah, gird ye will) sack¬
cloth ; lament, and run to and fro by the
hedges: for their king shall go into captivity,
and his priests and his princes together. 4.
Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy
flowing valley, O backsliding daughter ?
that trusted in her treasures, saying , Who
I shall come unto me ? 5. Behold, I will
bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God
of hosts, from all those that be about thee;
and ye shall be driven out every man right
forth; and none shall gather up him that
wandereth. 6. And afterward I will bring
again the captivity of the children of Am¬
mon, saith the Lord.
The Ammonites were next, both in kindred and
neighbourhood, to the Moabites, and therefore are
next set to the bar. Their country joined to that of
the two tribes and a half, on the other side Jordan,
and was but a bad neighbour; however, being a
neighbour, they shall have a share in these circular
predictions.
1. An action is here brought, in God’s name,
against the Ammonites, for an illegal encroachment
upon the rightful possessions of the tribe of Gad,
that lay next them, v. 1. A writ of inquiry is
brought to discover what title they had to those
territories, which, upon the carrying away of the
Gileadites by the king of Assyria, (2 Kings yv. 29.
— 1 Chron. v. 26.) were left almost dispeopled, at
least unguarded, and an easy prey to the next inva¬
der. What! Does it escheat ob defectum sanguinis
— for want of an heir ? Hath Israel no sons? Hath
he no heir? Are there no Gadites left, to whom the
right of inheritance belongs? Or, if there were not,
are there no Israelites, none left of Judah, that are
nearer akin to them than you are? Why then does
their king, as if he were entitled to the forfeited
estates, or Milcom, their idol, as if he had the right
to dispose of it to his worshippers, inherit Gad, and
his people dwell in the cities which fell by let to that
tribe of God’s people. Nay, they were sons and
heirs of their own body, en ventre de sa mere — in
their mother’s womb, and the Ammonites, to pre¬
vent their claim, most barbarously murdered them;
(Amos i. 13.) They ripped up the women with child,
of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border; that,
having seized it, none might rise up hereafter to
recover it from them. Thus they magnified them¬
selves against their border, and boasted it was their
own, Zeph. ii. 8. Note, Though among men might
often prevails against right, yet that might shall be
controlled by the Almighty, who sits in the throne,
judging aright; and those will find themselves
mistaken, who think every thing their own which
they can lay their hands on, or which none yet ap-
I ears to lay claim to. As there is justice owing to
537
JEREMIAH, XLIX.
owners, so also to their heirs, when they are dead,
whom it is a great sin to defraud, though they either
know not their right, or know not how to come at
it. This shall be reckoned for particularly, when
injuries of this kind are done to God’s people.
2. Judgment is here given against them for this
violence.
(1.) Terrors shall come upon them; God w ill
cause an alarm of war to be heard, even in Kab¬
bah, their capital city, and a very strong one, v. 2.
The Lord God of hosts, who has all armies at his
command, will bring a far upon them from all
that be about them, v. 5. Note, God has many
ways to terrify those who have been a terror to his
people.
(2.) Their cities shall be laid in ruins; Kabbah,
the mother-city, shall be a desolate heu/t, and her
daughters, the other cities that have a dependence
upon her, and receive law from her as daughters,
shall be burnt with fire; so that the inhabitants
shall be forced to quit them, and they shall cry,
and gird themselves with sackcloth, as having lost
all they have, and not knowing whither to betake
themselves.
(3. ) Their country, which they were so proud of,
shall be wasted, (x>. 4.) Wherefore gloriest thou in
the valleys, and trustest in thy treasures, 0 back¬
sliding daughter? They are charged with back¬
sliding or turning away from God and from his
worship, for they were the posterity of righteous
Lot. It is true, they had never been so in covenant
with God as Israel was; yet all idolaters may be
called backsliders, for the worship of the true God
was prior to that of false gods. They were unto¬
ward and refractory ; so some read it: and when
they had forsaken their God, they gloried in their
valleys, particularly one that was called the flowing
valley, because it flowed with all good things.
These they had violently taken away from Israel,
and gloried in it when they had done so. They
gloried in the strength of their valleys, so surrounded
with mountains, that they were inaccessible; gloried
in the products of them, gloried in the treasures
they got together out of them, saying. Who shall
come unto me? While they bathed themselves in
the pleasures of their country, they flattered them¬
selves with a conceit that they should never be dis¬
turbed in the enjoyment of them; To-morrow shall
be as this day; therefore they set God and his judg¬
ments at defiance; they are proud, voluptuous, and
secure; but wherefore dost thou do so? Note,
Those who backslide and turn away from God
have little reason either to take complacency, or to
put confidence, in any worldly enjoyments whatso¬
ever, Hos. ix. 1.
(4. ) Their people, from the least to the greatest,
shall be forced out of the country; some shall flee to
seek for shelter, others shall be carried into cap- 1
tivity, so that their land shall be quite evacuated;
Their king and his princes, nay, and Milcom, their
god, and his priests, shall go into captivity, (v. 3.)
and every man shall be driven out right forth, shall
take the next way, and make the best of it in his
flight, (v. 5.) forgetting the valleys, the flowing
valleys, which now fail them. And, to complete j
their misery, none shall gather up him that wan¬
ders, none shall open their doors to them, as Jael to
Sisera, to entertain them; and those that flee shall
be so much in care to secure themselves, that they
shall not take notice of others, no, not of those that
are nearest to them, that wander, and are at a loss j
which way to go, as ch. xlvii. 3.
(5.) Then the country of the Ammonites shall i
fall into the hands of the remaining Israelites; (v.
2.) Then shall Israel be heir to them that were his
heirs, shall possess himself of their land, who had
possessed themselves of his, by way of reprisal.
Vol. iv. — 3 Y
; Note, The equity cf Divine Providence is to be
acknowledged, when the losses of the injured are
recompensed out of the unjust gains of the injurious.
Though the enemies of God’s Israel may make a
prey of them for awhile, the tables will shortly be
turned.
3. Vet there is a prospect giv en them of mercy
hereafter, (v. 6.) as before to Moab. The day will
come, when the captivity of the children of yhnmon
: will be brought again; tor so it is in hum. n affairs,
the wheel goes round.
7. Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord
of hosts, Is wisdom no more in Teman? is
! counsel perished from the prudent? is their
wisdom vanished? 8. Flee ye, turn back,
dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I
will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
the time that I will visit him. 9. If gt ape-
gatherers come to thee, would they not leave
some gleaning-grapes? if thieves by night,
they will destroy till they have enough. 10.
But I have made Esau bare, J have un¬
covered his secret places, and he shall not
be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled,
and his brethren, and his neighbours, and
lie is not. 11. Leave thy fatherless children,
I will preserve them alive; and let thy
widows trust in me. 12. For thus saith the
I/Ord, Behold, they whose judgment was
not to drink of the cup have assuredly
drunken; and art thou he that shall altoge¬
ther go unpunished? thou shalt not go un¬
punished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
13. For 1 have sworn by myself j saith the
Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desola¬
tion, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and
all the cities thereof shall be perpetual
wastes. 1 4. I have heard a rumour from
the Lord, and an ambassador is sent unto
the heathen, saying , Gather ye together, and
come against her, and rise up to the battle.
15. For, lo, I will make thee small among
the heathen, and despised among men. 16.
Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and
the pride of thy heart, O thou that dwellest
in the clefts of the rock, that boldest the
height of the hill: though thou shouldest
make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will
bring thee down from thence, saith the
Lord. 17. Also Edom shall be a desola¬
tion; every one that goeth by it shall be
astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues
thereof. 1 8. As in the overthrow of Sodom
and Gomorrah, and the neighbour cities
thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall abide
there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.
19. Behold, he shall come up like a lion
from the swelling of Jordan against the
habitation of the strong: but 1 w ill suddenly
make him run away from her; and who is
a chosen man , that I may appoint over her?
538
JEREMIAH, XLIX.
for who is like me? and who will appoint |
me the time? who is that shepherd that will i
stand before me? 20. Therefore hear the
counsel of the Lord, that he hath taken
against Edom; and his purposes, that he
hatli purposed against the inhabitants of
Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall
draw them out; surely he shall make their
habitations desolate with them. 21. The
earth is moved at the noise of their fall; at
the cry, the noise thereof was heard in the
Red Sea. 22. Behold, he shall come up
and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings
over Bozrah: and at that day shall the
heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the
heart of a woman in her pangs.
The Edomites come next to receive their doom
from God, by the mouth of Jeremiah; they also
were old enemies to the Israel of God; but their day
will come to be reckoned with, and it is now at
hand, and is foretold, not only for warning to them,
but for comfort to the Israel of God, whose afflic¬
tions were very much aggravated by their triumphs
over them, and joy in their calamity, Ps. cxxxvii. 7.
Manv of the expressions used in this prophecy con- >
corning Edom , are borrowed from the prophecy of
Obadi th, which is concerning Edom; for all the
prophets being inspired by one and the same Spirit,
there must needs be a wonderful harmony and
agreement in their predictions.
Now here it is foretold,
1. That the country of Edom should be all wasted,
and made desolate; that the calamity of Esau should
be brought u/ion him, the calamity "he has deserved,
and God has long designed him, for his old sins, v. 8.
The time is at hand when God will visit him, and
call him to an account, and then they shall flee from
the sword, turn back from the battle, and dwell
deep in some close caverns, where they shall hide
themselves. All they have shall be carried off by
the conqueror: whereas grape-gatherers will leave
some gleanings, and even thieves know when they
have enough, "and will destroy no further, they that
destroy' them shall never be satiated, (v. 9, 10. )
they shall make Esau quite bare, shall strip the
Edomites of all they have, shall find out ways and
means to come at their most hidden treasure, shall
discover even the secret places, where they thought
to secure their wealth, and rifle them, so that they
shall none of them save their wealth, no, nor save
themselves or their children, that might be con¬
cealed in a little room; He shall not be able to hide
himself, and his seed too is spoiled. His brethren
the Moabites, and his neighbours the Philistines,
whom he might have expected succours from, or at
least shelter with, are spoiled as well as he, and j
disabled to do him any service. And he is not, or,
there is not he, there is none to him, none left him,
that may say what follows, (y. 11.) Leave thy fa¬
therless children, I will preserve them alive. When
they are flying, or dying, there shall be none left,
no relation, no friend, no, not so much as any parish-
officers to take care of their wives and children that
they leave behind. Edom is not, he is cut off and
gone; nor is there any to say. Leave me thine or¬
phans. If the master of a family be cut off, or 1
forced away, it is some comfort if he have a friend
to leave his family with, whom he can confide in;
but they shall have none such, for they shall all be
involved in the same calamity'. The Chaldee makes
these to be the words of God to his people, distin¬
guishing them from the Edomites in this calamity;
and they read it, “But you, O house of Israel, you
shall not leave your orphans, I will secure them,
and let your widows rest on my word. Whatever
becomes of the widows and fatherless of the Edom¬
ites, I will take care of yours.” Note, It is an un¬
speakable comfort to the children of God, when
they are dying, that they mav leave their sun iving
relations with God, may, in faith, commit them to
him, and encourage them to trust in him; and
though they cannot promise themselves great things
in the world for them, yet they may hope that he
will preserve them alive, always provided that they
trust m him. Let the Edomites, for their part,
count upon no other than to be made a desolation,
and a reproach, for the decree is gene forth, God
hath sworn it by himself, (v. 13.) that their cities
shall be wasted, nay, they shall be perpetual wastes,
they shall be made mean and despicable; they had
made a mighty figure, but God will make them
small among the heathen; and they that despised
God’s people shall themselves be despised among
I men; (v. 15. Obad. 2.) nay, they shall be made
monstrous, and even a prodigy; (v. 17.) Edom shall
| be such a desolation, that every one who goes by
shall be astonished : nay, worse yet, they shall be
made a terror, Edom shall be made like Sodom and
Gomorrah, none shall care for coming near the
ruins of it, no man shall abide there, (y. 18.) such a
frightful place shall it be made!
2. That the instruments of this de struction sho uld
be very resolute and formidable. They have their
commission from God, he summons them into this
service; [y. 14.) I have heard a rumour, or report,
from the Lord, heard it by the prophecy of Oba-
diah, heard it by a whisper to myself, that an am¬
bassador, or herald, or messenger, is sent to the
Gentiles, who are to lay Edom waste, saying, Ga¬
ther ye together, muster all the forces ye can, and
come against her; for (o'. 20. ) this is the counsel that
he hath taken against Edom : the matter is settled,
the decree is gone forth, and there is no resisting it;
God has determined that Edom shall be laid waste,
and then he that is to be employed in it shall ccme
swiftly and strongly. Nebuchadrezzar is he, of
whom it is here foretold, (1.) That he shall come
up like a lion, with fierceness and fury, like a lion
enraged by the swelling of Jordan overflowing his
banks, which forces him out of his covert by the
water-side, into the higher grounds, v. 19. He
shall come roaring, come to devour all that come
in his way. He shall come against the habitation
of the strong, the forts and castles; and I will cause
him to come suddenly into the land, (so the next
words might well be read,) so as to find them un¬
provided with necessaries for a defence; for I will
look out a chosen man to appoint over her, to do
this execution, a man fit for the purpose, one chosen
out of the people: for when God has work to do, he
will find out the fittest instruments to be employed
in it. “ Who is like me for choosing the instruments,
and spiriting them for the work? And, who wilt
appoint me the time? Who will challenge me, and
fix a time and place to meet me? Who will join
issue with me in battle? And when I send a lion
into the flock. Who is that shepherd, that can, or
dare, stand before me, or against me, to oppose that
lion, and think to rescue any of the flock?” Note,
When God has work to do of any kind, he will soon
find those that are able to engage in it; and all the
\ world cannot find those that are able to engage against
, it. Nay, if God will have Edom destroyed, and their
people dislodged, there needs not a lion, a fierce lien,
to do it; even the least of the flock shall draw them
out,{y. 20.) the meanest servant in Nebuchadrez¬
zar’s retinue, the weakest of all that follow his camp,
J shall draw them out for the slaughter, shall force
I them to flee, or to surrender, and make their habita-
JEREMIAD, XL IX.
tions desolate with them. God can bring to pass
the greatest works by instruments least likely.
When the Chaldean army comes against the Edom¬
ites, all hands shall be employed, and the poorest
soldier in it shall have a pluck at them. (2.) Ne¬
buchadrezzar shall come, not only like a lion, the
king of beasts, but like an eagle, the king of birds,
v. 22. He shall Jly as the eagle upon his prey, so
swiftly, so strongly; shall clap his wings upon Boz-
rah, to secure it for himself, (as before, eh. xlviii.
40.) and immediately the hearts of the mighty men
shall fail them, for they shall see he is an enemy
that it is in vain to struggle with.
3. That the Edomites’ confidences should all fail
them in the day of their distress. (1.) They trusted
to their wisdom, but that shall stand them in no
stead; this is the first thing fastened upon in this
rophecy against Edom, v. 7. That nation used to
e famous for wisdom, and their statesmen were
thought to excel in politics; and yet now they shall
take such wrong measures in all their counsels, and
be so baffled in all their designs, that people shall
ask, with wonder, What is the matter with the
Edomites? Is wisdom no more in Teman ? Are the
wise men of the east country (1 Kings iv. 30.) be¬
come fools? Are those at their wits’ end, that were
thought to have the monopoly of prudence? Is coun¬
sel perished from the understanding men? It is so,
when God is designing the ruin of a people; for
whom he will destroy he infatuates. See Job xii. 20.
Is their wisdom vanished ? Is it tired? So some;
Is it worn out? So others; Is it become useless? So
others. Yes, it will do them no service when God
comes forth to contend with them. (2.) They
trusted to their strength, but neither shall that avail
them, v. 16. They had been a terror to all their
neighbours, every body feared them, and truckled
to them, and this made them proud and conceited
of themselves, and their own strength, and very
secure; because no neighbouring nation durst med¬
dle with them, they thought no nation in the world
durst. Their country was much of it mountainous,
having many passes which they thought themselves
able to make good against any invader; but this ter¬
ribleness of theirs deceived them, and so did their
imaginary inaccessibleness; they did not prove so
strong as they were formidable, nor so safe as they
were secure. High as they are, God will bring
them down; for as there is no wisdom, so there is no
might, against the Lord. See these expressions,
Obad. 3, 4, 8.
4. That their destruction should be inevitable,
and very remarkable. (1.) God hath determined
it; (t>. 12.) he hath said it; nay, (i». 13.) he hath
sworn it, that the Edomites shall not go unpunished,
but they shall drink the cup of trembling, which is
put into the hands of all their neighbours; even
they, whose judgment, or doom, was not to drink
of the cup, who had not so well deserved it as they
had done, nations that had not been such enemies
to Israel as they had been; or, Israel itself, that was
God’s peculiar people, and among whom there
were many, very many, who kept his ordinances,
\ipon which account they might have expected an
exemption, and yet they had been made to drink
of the bitter cup; and shall the Edomites think to
pass it? No; they shall surely drink of it. Note,
When God punishes the less guilty, it is folly for
the more guilty to promise themselves impunity;
and when judgment begins at God’s house, it will
reach the strangers. (2.) All the world shall take
notice of it; (n. 21.) The earth is moved, and all the
nations put into a concern, at the noise of their full;
the news of it shall make them tremble. The noise
of the outcry is heard at the Red sea, which flowed
upon the coasts of Edom. So loud shall be the
shouts of the conquerors, and the shrieks of the
539
conquered, and such a mighty noise shall the news
of this destruction of Idumea make in the nation,
that it shall be heard among the ships that lie in the
Red sea to take in lading, (1 Kings ix. 26. ) and then
they shall carry the news of it to the remotest shore.
Note, The fall of those who have affected to make
a noise with their pomp and power, will make so
much the greater noise.
23. Concerning Damascus. Hamath is
confounded, and Arpad ; for they have heard
evil tidings; they are faint-hearted : there is
sorrow on the sea ; it cannot be quiet. 24.
Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth
herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her:
anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a
woman in travail. 25. How is the city of
praise not left, the city of my joy! 26.
Therefore her young men shall fall in her
streets, and all the men of war shall be cut
off in that day, sailh the Lord of hosts. 27.
And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Da¬
mascus, and it shall consume the palaces
of Ben-hadad.
The kingdom of Syria lay north of Canaan, as
that of Edom lay south, and thither we must new
remove, and take a view of the approaching fate of
that kingdom, which had been often vexatious to
the Israel of God. Damascus was the metropolis
of that kingdom, and the ruin of the whole is sup¬
posed in the ruin of that; yet Hamath and Arpad,
two other considerable cities, are named, (v. 23. )
and the palaces of Ben-hadad, which he built, are
particularly marked for ruin; (r>. 27.) see also
Amos i. 4. Some think Ben-hadad (the son of Ha-
dad, either their idol, or one of their ancient kings,
whence the rest descended,) was a common name
of the kings of Syria, as Pharoah of the kings of
Egypt. Now observe concerning the judgments of
Damascus,
1. It begins with a terrible fright and faint-heart¬
edness. They hear evil tidings, that the king of
Babylon, with all his force, is coming against them,
and they are confounded, they know not what mea¬
sures to take for their own safety, their souls are
melted, they are faint-hearted, they have no spirit
left them, they are like the troubled sea, that cannot
be quiet, (Isa. lvii. 20.) or like men in a storm at
sea; (Ps. evii. 26.) or, the sorrow that begins in the
city shall go to the sea-coast, v. 23. See how easily
God can dispirit those nations that have been most
celebrated for valour! Damascus now waxes feeble;
(v. 24.) a city that thought she could have looked
the most formidable enemy in the face, now turns t
herself to Jlee, and owns it is to no more purpose to'
think of contending with her fate, than for a woman
in labour to contend with her pains, which she can¬
not escape, but must yield to. It was a city of
praise, (v. 25.) not praise to God, but to herself;
a city much commended and admired by all stran¬
gers that visited it. It was a city of joy, where
there was an affluence and confluence ot all the de¬
lights of the sons of men, and abundance of mirth in
the enjoyment of them. We read it, (though there
is no necessity for it,) the city of my joy, which the
prophet himself had sometimes visited with plea¬
sure. Or, it may be tbe speech of the king lament¬
ing the ruin of the city of his joy. But now it is all
overwhelmed with fear and grief. Note, Those
deceive themselves who place their happiness in
carnal joys; for God in his providence can sot n cast
a damp upon them, and put an end to them. He
540
JEREM1/'
can soon make a city of praise to be a reproach,
and a city of joy to be a terror to itself.
S. It ends with a terrible fall and fire. (1.) The
inhabitants are slain; (x. 26.1 The young men, who
should fight the enemy, and defend the city, shall
fall by the sword in her streets; and all the men of
war, mighty men, expert in war, and engaged in
t:ie service of their country, shall be cut of. (2.)
The city is laid in ashes; (v. 27. ) The fire is kin¬
dled by tile besiegers in the wall, but it shall devour
all before it, the palaces of Ben-hadad particularly,
where so much mischief had formerly been hatched
against God’s Israel, for which it is now thus
visited.
28. Concerning Kedar, and concerning
the kingdoms of Razor, which Nebuchad¬
rezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith
the Lord; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and
spoil the men of the east. 29. Their tents
and their flocks shall they take away: they
shall take to themselves their curtains, and
all their vessels, and their camels; and they
shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.
30. Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye
inhabitants of Hazor, saith the Lord; lor
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath ta¬
ken counsel against you, and hath conceived
a purpose against you. 31. Arise, get you
up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth
without care, saith the Lord, which have
neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.
32. And their camels shall be a booty, and
the multitude of their cattle a spoil ; and I
will scatter into all winds them that are in
the utmost corners; and I will bring their
calamity from all sides thereof, saith the
Lord. 33. And Hazor shall be a dwelling
for dragons, and a desolation forever: there
shall no man abide there, nor any son of
man dwell in it.
These verses foretell the desolation that Nebu¬
chadrezzar and his forces should make among the
people of Kedar, (who descended from Kedar the
son of Ishmael, and inhabited a part of Arabia the
Stony,) and of the kingdoms, the petty principali¬
ties of Hazor, that joined to them, who, perhaps,
were originally Canaanites, of the kingdom of Ha¬
zor, in the north of Canaan, which had Jabin for its
king, but, being driven thence, settled in the deserts
of Arabia, and associated themselves with the Ke-
darenes. Concerning this people, we may here
observe,
1. What was their present state and posture.
They dwelt in tents, and had no walls, but curtains,
(v. 29.) no fortified cities; they had neither gates
nor bars, v. 31. They were shepherds, and had no
treasures, but stock upon land, no money, but flocks
and camels. They had no soldiers among them,
for they were in no fear of invaders; no merchants,
for they dwelt alone, v. 31. Those of other nations
neither came among them, nor traded with them;
but they lived within themselves, content with the
products and pleasures of their own country. This
was their manner of living, very different from that
of the nations that were round about them. And,
(1.) They were very rich; though they had no
trade, no treasures, yet they are here said to be a
wealthy nation, (t\ 31.) because they had a suffi-
\H, XLIX.
ciency to answer all the occasions of human life, and
they were content with it. Note, Those are truly
rich who have enough to supply their necessities,
and know when they have enough. We need not
go to the treasures of kings and provinces, or to the
cash of merchants, to look for wealthy people; they
may be found among shepherds that dwell in tents.
(2.) They were very easy, they dwelt without care,
their wealth was such as nobody envied them, or, if
any did, they might come peaceably, and enjoy the
like, and therefore they fear nobody. Note, Those
that live innocently and honestly may live very se-
curelv, though they have neither gates nor bars.
2. The design of the king of Babylon against
them, and the descent he made upon them; He has
taken counsel against you, and has conceived a pur¬
pose against you, v. 30. That proud man resolves
it shall never be said, that he, who had conquered
so many strong cities, will leave those unconquered
that dwell in tents. It was strange that that eagle
would stoop to catch these flies; that so great a
prince should play at such small game; but all is
fish that comes to the ambitious, covetous man’s
net. Note, It will not always secure men from suf¬
fering wrong, to be able to say that they have done
no wrong; not to have given of fence will not be a
defence against such men as Nebuchadrezzar. Yet,
how unrighteous soever he was in doing it, God was
righteous in directing it. These people had lived
inoffensively among their neighbours, as many do,
who yet, like them, are guilty before God; and it
was to punish them for their offences against him,
that God said, (xi. 28.) Arise, go up to Kedar, and
spoil the men of the east. They will do it to gratify
their own covetousness and ambition, but God or¬
ders it for the correcting of an unthankful people,
and for warning to a careless world, to expect
trouble when they seem to be most safe. God says
to the Chaldeans, ( v . 31.) “Arise, get up to the
wealthy nation that dwells without care; go, and give
them an alarm, that none may imagine their moun¬
tain stands so strong, that it cannot be removed.”
3. The great amazement that this put them into,
and the great desolation hereby made among them;
They shall cry unto them, those on the borders shall
send the alarm into all parts of the country, which
shall be put into the utmost confusion by it; they
shall cry, “ Fear is on every side, we are surround¬
ed by the enemy ;” the very terror of which shall
drive them all to their feet, and they shall m ne of
them have any heart to make resistance. The
enemy shall proclaim fear upon them, or against
them, on every side; they need not strike a stroke,
they shall shout them out of their tents, v. 29.
Upon the first alarm, they shall fee, get far off, and
dwell deep, (xc 30.) as the Edomites, v. 8. And
it will be . found that this fear on every side is not
groundless, for their calamity shall be brought from
all sides thereof, v. 32. No marvel there are fears
on every side, when there are foes on every side.
The issue will be, (1.) What they have will be a
prey to the Chaldeans; they shall take to themselves
their curtains and vessels; though they are but
plain and coarse, and they have better of their own,
yet they shall take them for spite, and spoil for
spoiling sake. They shall carry away t/.eir tents
and their flocks, v. 29. Their camels shall be a
booty to those that came for nothing else, xc 32.
(2.) It is not said that any of them shall be si dn,
for they attempt not to make any resistance, and
their tents and flocks are accepted as a ransom for
their lives; but they shall be dislodged and dispersed;
though now they dwell in the utmost corners, out
of the way, and therefore they think out of the
reach, of danger, (by this character those pet pie
were distinguished, ch. ix. 26. — xxv. 23.) vet they
shall from thence be scattered into all wind i, into all
511
JEREMIAH, L.
parts of the world. Note, Privacy and obscurity
are not always a protection and security. Many
that affect to be strangers to the world, may yet by
unthought-of providences be forced into it; and those
that live most retired, may have the same lot with
those that thrust themselves forth, and lie most ex¬
posed. (.".) Their country shall lie uninhabited;
tor, lying remote, and out of all high roads, and
having neither cities nor lands inviting to strangers,
none shall care to succeed them, so that Hazor
shall be a desolation for ever, v. 33. If busy men
be displaced, many strive to get into their places,
because they lived great; but here are easy, quiet
men displaced, and no man cares to abide where
they did, because they lived mean.
34. The word of the Lord that came to
Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the
beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of
Judah, saying, 35. Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, Behold, I will break the bow of
Elam, the chief of their might. 36. And
upon Elam will 1 bring the four winds from
the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter
them toward all those winds; and there
shall be no nation whither the outcasts of
Elam shall not come. 37. Fori will cause
Elam to be dismayed before their enemies,
and before them that seek their life; and J
will bring evil upon them, even my fierce an¬
ger, saith the Lord; and! will send the sword
after them, till 1 have consumed them: 38.
And I will set my throne in Elam, and will
destroy from thence the king and the prin¬
ces, saith the Lord. 39. But it shall come
to pass in the latter days, that I will bring
again the captivity of Elam, saith the Lord.
This prophecy is dated in the beginning of Zede-
kiah’s reign; it is probable that the other prophe¬
cies against the Gentiles, going before, were at the
same time. The Elamites were the Persians, de¬
scended from Elam the son of Shem; (Gen. x.
22.) yet some think it was only that part of Persia
which lay nearest to the Jews, which was called
Elymais, and adjoined to Media-Elam, which, say
they, had icted against God’s Israel, bare the quiver
in an expedition against them, (Isa. xxii. 6.) and
therefore must be reckoned with among the rest.
It is here foretold, in general, that God will bring
evil u/ion them, even his fierce anger, and that is
evil enough, it has all evil in it, v. 37. In par¬
ticular,
1. Their forces shall be disabled, and rendered
incapable of doing them any service. The Elam¬
ites were famous archers, but, Behold, I will break
the bow of Elam, ( v . 35.) will ruin their artillery,
and then the chief of their might is gone. God often
orders it so, that that which we most trust to first
fails us; and that which was the chief of our might
proves the least of our help.
2. Their people shall be dispersed. There shall
come enemies against them from all parts of the
world, and they shall all carry some of them away
captive into their respective countries; while others
shall flee, some one way, and some another, to shift
for themselves, so that there shall be no nation
whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come, v. 36.
The four winds shall be brought upon them; the
storm shall come sometimes from one point, and
sometimes from another, to toss and hurry them
several ways; and we know not from what point
the wind of trouble may blow; but if God compass
us with his favour, »e are safe, and may be easy,
which way soever the storm comes. Fear shall
drive them into other countries; they shall be dis¬
mayed before their enemies ; but, as it that were not
enough, I will send the sword after them, t'. 37.
Note, God can make his judgments fellow thtse
that think by flight to escape them, and to get cut
of the reach of them. Evil /tursues sinners.
3. Their princes shall be destroyed, and the go¬
vernment quite changed; (r>. 38.) I will set my
throne in Elam. The throne ef Nebuchadrezzar
shall be set there, or the throne of Cyrus, who be¬
gan his conquests with Elymais. Or, it may be
meant of the throne on which God sits for judgment;
he will make them know that he reigns, that he
judges in the earth, and that kings and / irinces are
accountable to him, and that high as they are lie is
above them. The king of Elam was famous ef old,
Gen. xiv. 1. Chedorlaomer was king of Elam, and
a mighty man he was in his day; the nations about
him served him; his successes, we mav suppose,
made a great figure; but the king of Elam is nc
more to God than another man. When God sets
hisHhrone in Elam, he will destroy from thence the
king and the princes that are, and set up whom he
pleases.
4. Yet the destruction of Elam shall not be per¬
petual; (y. 39.) In the latter days I will bring again
the captivity of Elam. When Cyrus had destroved
Babylon, brought the empire into the hands of the
Persians, the Elamites, no doubt, returned in tri¬
umph out of all the countries whither they were
scattered, and settled again in their own country.
But this promise was to have its full and principal
accomplishment in the days of the Messiah, when
we find Elamites particularly among those, who,
when the Holy Ghost was given, heard spoken in
their own tongues, the wonderful works of God;
(Acts ii. 9.) and that is the most desirable return of
the captivity. If the Son makes you free, then you
shall be free indeed.
CHAP. L.
In this chapter, and that which follows, we have the judg¬
ment of Babylon, which is put last of Jeremiah’s pro¬
phecies against the Gentiles, because it was last accom¬
plished; and when the cup of God’s fury went round,
(ch. xxv. 17.) the king of Sheshach, Babylon, drank last.
Babylon was employed as the rod in God’s hand for the
chastising of all the other nations, and now at length
that rod shall be thrown into the fire. The destruction
of Babylon by Cyrus was foretold, long before it came
to its height, by Isaiah, and now again, when it is come
to its height, by Jeremiah; for though at this time he
saw that kingdom flourishing like a green bay-tree , yet
at the same time he foresaw it withered and cut down.
And as Isaiah’s prophecies of the destruction of Babylon,
and the deliverance of Israel out of it, seem designed
to typify the evangelical triumphs of all believers over
the powers of darkness, and the great salvation wrought
out by our Lord Jesus Christ; so Jeremiah’s prophecies
of the same events seem designed to point at apocalyptic
triumphs of the gospel-church in the latter days over the
New Testament Babylon, many passages in the Revela¬
tion being borrowed from hence. The kingdom of Ba¬
bylon being much larger and stronger than any other of
the kingdoms here prophesied against, its fall was the
more considerable in itself; and it having been more op¬
pressive to the people of God than any of the others, the
prophet is very large upon this subject, for the comfort
of the captives; and what wTas foretold in general often
before, (ch. xxv. 12. and xxvii. 7.) is here more particu¬
larly described, and with a great deal of prophetic heat
as well as light. The terrible judgments God had in
store for Babylon, and the glorious blessings he had in
store for his people that were captives there, are inter¬
mixed and counterchanged in the prophecy of this chap¬
ter; for Babylon was destroyed to make way for the
turning again of the captivity of God’s people. Here is,
I. The ruin of Babylon, (v. 1 . . 3. ) and again, ( v. 9 . -16.)
and again, (v. 21 . . 32.) and again, v. 35 . . 46. II. The
512
JEREMIAH, I
redemption of God’s people, (v. 4.. 8.) and again, (v.
17. . 20.) and again, v. 33, 34. And these being set the
one against the other, it is easy to say which one would
choose to take one’s lot with, the persecuting Babylo¬
nians, who, though now in pomp, are reserved for so
great a ruin; or the persecuted Israelites, who, though
now in thraldom, are reserved for so great a glory.
1. rpHE word that the Loro spake
I against Babylon, and against the
land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the
prophet. 2. Declare ye among the nations,
and publish, and set up a standard; pub¬
lish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken,
Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in
nieces; her idols are confounded, her images
are broken in pieces. 3. For out of the
north there cometh up a nation against her,
which shall make her land desolate, and
none shall dwell therein: they shall remove,
they shall depart, both man and beast. 4.
In those days, and in that time, saith the
Lord, the children of Israel shall come,
they and the children of Judah together,
going and weeping: they shall go, and seek
the Lord their God. 5. They shall ask the
way to Zion, with their faces thitherward,
saying , Come, and let us join ourselves to
the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall
not be forgotten. 6. My people hath been
lost sheep; their shepherds have caused
them to go astray, they have turned them
away on the mountains: they have gone
from mountain to hill, they have forgotten
their resting-place. 7. All that found them
have devoured them; and their adversaries
said, We offend not, because they have
sinned against the Lord, the habitation of
justice; even the Lord, the hope of their
fathers. 8. Remove out of the midst of
Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the
Chaldeans, and be as the lie-goats before
the flocks.
Here is,
I. A word spoken against Babylon, by him whose
works all agree with his word, and none of whose
words fall to the ground. The king of Babylon had
been very kind to Jeremiah, and yet he must fore¬
tell the ruin of that kingdom; for God’s prophets
must not be governed by favour or affection. Who¬
ever are our friends, if, notwithstanding, they are
God’s enemies, we dare not speak peace to them.
1. The destruction of Babylon is here spoken of as
a thing done, v. 2. Let it be published to the na¬
tion as a piece of news, true news, and great news,
and news they are all concerned in; let them hang
out the flag, as is usual on days of triumph, to give
notice of it; let all the world take notice of it, Baby¬
lon is taken; let God have the honour of it, let his
people have the comfort of it, and therefore do not
conceal it. Take care that it be known, that the
Lord may be known by those judgments which he
executes, Ps. ix. 16.
2. It is spoken of as a thing done thoroughly.
For, (1.) The very idols of Babylon, which the
people would protect with all possible care, and
from which they expected protection, shall be de¬
stroyed. Bel and Merodach were their two princi¬
pal deities, they shall be confounded, and the
images of them broken to /lieccs. (2.) The country
shall be laid waste, (v. 3.) cut of the north; from
Media, which lay north of Babylon, and fr in As¬
syria, through which Cyrus made his descent upon
Babylon; from thence the nation shall come, that
shall make her land desolate. Their land was north
of the countries that they destroyed, who were there¬
fore threatened yvith evil from the north; ( Omne
malum ab acquilone — Every evil comes from the
north;) but God will find out nations yet fmther
north to come upon them. The pomp and power
of old Rome yvere brought down by northern nations,
the Goths and Vandals.
II. Here is a word spoken for the people of God,
and for their comfort, both the children of Israel and
of Judah; for many there were of the ten tribes,
that associated yvith those of the two tribes in their
return out of Baby lon. Now here,
1. It is promised that they shall return to their
God first, and then to their own land; and the pro¬
mise of their conversion and reformation is that
yvhich makes way for all the other promises, v. 4,
5. (1.) They shall lament after the Lord; (as the
yvhole house of Israel did in Samuel’s time, 1 Sam.
vii. 2.) they shall go ivee/iing. These tears flow
not from the sorroyv of the yvorld, as those when
they went into captiy ity, but from godly sorrow;
they are tears of repentance for sin, tears of joy for
the goodness of God, in the dawning of the day of
their deliverance, which, for aught that appears,
does more toyvard the bringing of them to mourn for
sin, than all the calamities of their captivity; that
prevails to lead them to re/ientance, when the other
did not prevail to drive them to it. Note, It is a
good sign that God is coming toyvard a people in
ways of mercy, yvhen they begin to be tenderly af¬
fected under his hand. (2.) They shall inquire
after the Lord; they shall not sink under their sor-
royvs, but bestir themselves to find out comfort
where it is to be had; They shall go weeping to
seek the Lord their God; Those that seek the Lord
must seek him sorrowing, as Christ’s parents sought
him, Luke ii. 48. And those that sorrow must seek
the Lord, and then their sorrow shall soon be turned
into joy, for he will be found of those that so seek
him. They shall seek the Lord as their God, and
shall noyv have no more to do yvith idols. When
they shall hear that the idols of Babylon are con¬
founded and broken, it will be seasonable for them
to inquire after their own God, and to return to Him
yvho lives for ever. Therefore men are deceived in
false gods, that they may depend on the true God
only- (3.) They shall think of returning to their
oyvn country again; they shall think of it not only as
a mercy, but as a duty, because there only is the
holy hill of Zion, on yvhich once stood the house of
the Lord their God, v. 5. They shall ask the way
to Zion, with their faces thitherward. Zion was the
citv of their solemnities, they often thought of it in
the depth of their captivity; (Ps. cxxxvii. 1.) but
noyv that the ruin of Babylon gave them some hopes
of a release, they talk of nothing else but cf going
back to Zion. Their hearts were upon it before,
and noyv they set their faces thitherward; they long
to be there, they set out for Zion, and resolve not
to take up short. The journey is long, they know
not the road, but they shall ask the way, for they
yvill press forward till they come to Zion; and as
they are determined not to turn back, so tbev are in
care not to miss the way. This represents the re¬
turn of poor souls to God : heaven is the Zion they
aim at as their end, on this they have set their
hearts, toyvard this they have set their faces, and
therefore they ask the way thither. They do not
ask the way to heaven, and set their faces toyvard
the yvorld; nor set their faces toyvard heaven, and
543
JEREMIAH, L.
go on at a venture without asking the way. But in
all true converts there are both a sincere desire to
attain the end, and a constant care to keep in the
way; and a blessed sight it is, to see people thus
asking the way to heaven with their faces (.hither¬
ward. (4.) They shall renew their covenant to
walk with God closer for the future; Come, and let
us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual cove¬
nant. They had broken covenant with God, had
in effect separated themselves from him, but now
they resolve to join themselves to him again, by en¬
gaging themselves afresh to be his. Thus, when
backsliders return, they must do their first works,
must renew the covenant they first made; and it
must be a perpetual covenant, that must never be
br ken; and, in order to that, must never be forgot¬
ten; for a due remembrance of it will be the means
of a due observance of it.
2. Their present case is lamented as very sad,
and as h iving been long so; "My people ” (for he
owns them as his, now that they are returning to
him) 'have been lost sheep, (u. 6P) they have gone
from mountain to hill, have been hurried from
place to place, and could find no pasture, they have
forgotten their resting-place in their own country,
and cannot find their way to it.” And that which
aggravated their misery, was, (1.) That they were
led astray by their own shepherds, their own princes
and priests; they turned them from their duty, and
so provoked God to turn them out of their own land.
It is b id with a people when their leaders cause
them to err, when those that should direct and re¬
form them seduce and debauch them; and when
those that should secure and advance their interests
are the betravers ot them. (2.) That in their wan¬
derings they lay exposed to the beasts of prey, who
thought they were entitled to them, as waifs and
strays that have no owner; (v. 7.) it is with them
as with wandering sheep, all that found them have
devoured them, and made a prey of them; and when
they did them the greatest injuries, they laughed at
them, telling them it was what their own prophets had
many a time told them they deserved: that was far
from justifying those who did them wrong, yet they
bantered them with this excuse, IVe offend not, be¬
cause they have sinned against the Lord; but they
could not pretend that they had sinned against them.
And see what notion they had of the Lord they had
sinned against, not as the only true and living God,
but only as the Habitation of justice, and the Hope
of their fathers; they had put a contempt upon the
temple, and upon the tradition of their ancestors,
and therefore deserved to suffer these hard things.
And yet it was indeed an aggravation of their sin,
and justified God, though it did not justify their ad¬
versaries in what was done to them, that they had
forsaken the Habitation of justice, and him that was
the Hope of their fathers.
3. They are called upon to hasten away, as soon
as ever the door of liberty was opened to them;
{v. 8.) “Remove, not only out of the borders, but
out of the midst of Babylon; though you be ever so
well seated there, think not to settle there, but
hasten to Zion, and be as the he-goats before the
J locks , strive which shall be foremost, which shall
lead in so good a work;” a he-goat is comely in
going, (Prov. xxx. 31.) because he goes first. It is
a graceful thing to be forward in a good work, and
to set others a good example.
9. For, lo, I will raise, and cause to come
up against Babylon, an assembly of great
nations from the north country: and they
shall set themselves in array against her;
from thence she shall be taken: their arrows
shall he as of a mighty expert man; none
shall return in vain. 10. And Chaldea
shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall b“
satisfied, saith the Loud. 11. Because y<
were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye de
stroyers of my heritage; because ye are
grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow
as bulls; 12. Your mother shall be sore
confounded; she that bare you shall be
ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the na¬
tions shall be a wilderness, a .dry land, and
a desert. 1 3. Because of the wrath of the
Loan it shall not be inhabited, but it shall
be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by
Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all
her plagues. 14. Put yourselves in array
against Babylon round about: all ye that
bend the bow shoot at her, spare no arrows;
for she hath' sinned against the Lord. 15.
Shout against her round about; she hath
given her hand : her foundations are fallen,
her walls are thrown down; for it is the
vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance
upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.
1 6. Cut off the sower from Babylon, and
him that handleth the sickle in the time of
harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword
they shall turn every one to his people, and
they' shall flee every one to his own land.
1 7. Israel is a scattered sheep, the lions have
driven him away: first the king of Assyria
hath devoured him, and Iasi this Nebuchad¬
rezzar king of Babylon hath broken his
bones. 18. Therefore thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will
punish the king of Babylon and his land, as
I have punished the king of Assyria. 19.
And I will bring Israel again to his habita¬
tion, and he shall feed on Carmel and Ba-
shan, and his soul shall be. satisfied upon
mount Ephraim and Gilead. 20. In those
days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the
iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and
there, shall be none; and the sins of Judah,
and they shall not be found: for I will par¬
don them whom I reserve.
God is fiere, by his prophet, as afterward in his
providence, proceeding in Lis controversy with
Babylon. Observe,
1. The commission and charge given to the in¬
struments that were to be employed in destroying
Babylon. The army that is to do it, is called an as¬
sembly of great nations, (v. 9.) the Medes and Per¬
sians, and all their allies and auxiliaries; it is called
an assembly, because regularly formed by the divine
will and counsel to do this execution. God will
raise them up to do it, will incline them to, and fit
them for, this service, and then he will cause them
to come up, for all their motions are under his con¬
duct and direction: he shall give the word of com¬
mand, shall order them to put themselves in array
against Babylon, (v. 14.) and then they shall put
themselves in array, (y. 9.) for what God appoints
to be done shall be done; and from thence she shall
5 \4
JEREMIAH, L.
bt quickie taken; from tlieir first sitting down be¬
fore it, they shall be still gaining ground against it
till it be taken. God shall bid them shoot at her ,
and s/iare no arrows, (ic 14.) and then their arrows
shall be as of a mighty exfiert man, that has both
skill and strength, a good eye, and a good hand;
(y. 9.) none shall return in vain. When God gives
commission, he 'will give success. Nay, they are
bidden not only to shoot at her, (xn 14.) but to shout
against her, (y. 15.) with a triumphant shout, as
those that are already sure of victory. Those whom
God directs to shoot, may do it with shouting, for
they are sure not to miss the mark.
2. The desolation and destruction itself that shall
be brought upon Babylon. This is set forth here in
a great variety of expressions: (1.) The wealth of
Babylon shall he a rich and easy prey to the con-
uerors; [y. 10.) Chaldea shall be a spoil to all her
estroyers, who shall enrich themselves by plunder¬
ing her, and, which is strange, all that s/ioil her |
shall be satisfied; they shall have so much, that
even they themselves shall say that they have
enough. (2.) The country of B ibyion shall be dis¬
peopled, and lie uninhabited; It shall be wholly de¬
solate, ( v . 13. ) to that degree, that every one suho
goeth by shall tiiumph in her fall, and, instead of
condoling with them, shall hiss at all her j ilagues ,
v. 13. (3.) Their ancestors shall be ashamed of
their cowardice, in fleeing from the first onset; (v.
12.) or. Your mother, Babylon itself, the mother-
city, shall be confounded, when she sees herself de¬
serted by those that should have been her guards.
Thus the first ages of Christians may justly be con¬
founded and ashamed to see how unlike them the
.atter ages are, and how wretchedly they have de¬
generated; and no sin brings a surer and sorer ruin
upon persons, or people, than apostacy. (4.) The
great admirers of B ibylon shall see it rendered very
despicable: the last of kingdoms, the very tail of
the nations, shall it be, a wilderness, a dry land, a
desert, v. 12. Tire country that was populous, shall
be dispeopled, that was enriched with a fertile soil,
shall become barren. (5.) The great city, the head
of it, shall be quite ruined, her foundations are
fallen, and therefore her walls are thrown down;
for how can the walls stand, when divine vengeance
is at the door, and shakes the very foundations? It
is the vengeance of the Lord, which nothing can
contend with either in law or battle. (6.) There
shall not be left in B ibylon so much as the floor of
the land, foY vin'e-d ressers and husbandmen, as there
was in Israel; (x>. 16.) The sower shall be cut off
from Babylon, and he that handles the sickle; the
country shall be so emptied of people, that there
shall be none to till the ground, and gather in the
fruits of it. Harvest shall come, and there shall be
no reapers; seedness shall come, and there shall be
no sower; Gcd will do his part, but there shall be
no men to do theirs. (7.) All their auxiliary forces,
which they have hired into their service, shall de¬
sert them, as mercenary men often do upon the ap¬
proach of danger; (v. 16.) for fear of the ofifiress-
ing sword they shall turn every one to his fieofile.
This was threatened before, concerning Egypt, ch.
xlvi. 16.
3. 'Dae procuring, provoking cause of this de¬
struction. It comes from God’s displeasure; it is
because of the wrath of the Lord, that Babylon
shall be wholly desolate; (an 13. ) and his wrath is
righteous, for, (y. 14.) she hath sinned against the
Lord, therefore sfiare no arrows. Note, It is sin
that makes men a mark for the arrows of God’s
judgments. An abundance of idolatry and immo¬
rality was to be found in Babylon, yet those are not
mentioned as the reason of God’s displeasure against
them, but the injuries they had done to the people
of God, from a principle of enmity to them as his I
people. They have been the destroyers of God’s
heritage; (y. 11.) herein indeed God made use of
them for the necessary correction of his people;
and yet it is laid to their charge as a henious crime,
because they designed nothing but their utter de¬
struction. (l.) What they did against Jerusalem
they did with pleasure; (v. 11.) Ye were glad, ye
rejoiced. God does not afflict his people willingly,
and therefore takes it very ill if the instruments he
employs, afflict them willingly. When Titus Ves¬
pasian destroyed Jerusalem, he wept over it, but
these Chaldeans triumphed over it. (2.) The
spoils of Jerusalem they made use of to feed their
own luxury; “ Ye are grown fat as the heifer at
frass, and bellow as bulls: your having conquered
erusalem has made you very wanton and proud,
easy to yourselves, formidable to all about you, and
therefore you must be a sfioil.” They that have
thus swallowed down riches, must vomit them up
again.' Therefore they have given thxir hand; (v.
15.) they have surrendered themselves to the con¬
queror, have tamely yielded, so that now you may
take vengeance on her, now you may make repri¬
sals, and do unto her as she lia/h done. (3.) They
aimed at nothing less than the utter ruin of God’s
Israel; Israel is a scattered sheefi, as before, ( v . 6.)
that is not only barked at and worried by dogs, but
even lions, the most potent adversaries, have roared
upon him, and driven him away, v. 17. One king
of Assyria carried the ten tribes quite away, and
devoured them; another invaded Judah, and plun¬
dered and impoverished it, tore the fleece and flesh
of this poor sheep; and now at last this Nebuchad¬
nezzar, that is the terror and plague of all his
neighbours, has taken advantage of the low condi¬
tion to which he is reduced, and he has fallen upon
him, and broken his hones, has quite ruined him,
and therefore the king of Babylon must be punished
as the king of Assyria was, v. 18. Note, Those who
pursue and prosecute the sins of their predecessors,
must expect to be pursued and prosecuted by their
plagues; if they do as they did, let them fare as
they fared.
4. The mercy promised to the Israel of God,
which shall not only accompany, but accrue from,
the destruction of Babylon. (1.) God will return
their captivity, they shall be released out of their
bondage, and brought again to their own habita¬
tion, as sheep that were scattered, to their own
fold, v. 19. They still retained a title to the land
of Canaan, it is their habitation still, the discon¬
tinuance of their possession was not the destruction
of their right, but now they shall recover the en¬
joyment of it again. (2.) He will restore their
prosperity; they shall not only live, but live com¬
fortably, in their own land again; they shall feed
ufion Carmel and Bashan, the richest and most
fruitful parts of the country. These sheep shall be
gathered from the deserts to which they were dis¬
persed, and put again into good pasture, which
their soul shall be satisfied with; though they shall
come hungry to it, having been so long stinted, and
straitened, and kept short, yet they shall find
enough to satiate them, and shall have hearts to be
satiated with it. They inquired the way to Zion,
(y. 5.) where God was to be served and worship¬
ped, that was it they chiefly aimed at in their re¬
turn; but God will not only bring them thither, but
bring them also to Carmel and Bashan, where they
shall abundantly feed themselves. Note, They that
return to God and their duty, shall find true satis¬
faction of soul in so doing; and they that seek first
the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof,
that aim to make their habitation in Zion, the ho)v
hill, shall have other things added to them, even all
the comforts of Efihraim and Gilead, the fruitful
hills. (3.) God will pm-don their iniquity; this is
54o
JEREMIAH, L.
thi root of all the rest; (v. 20.) In those days the
ir.i./uity of Israel shall be sought for, and there
shall be none. Not only the punishments of their
iniquity shall be taken off, but the offence which it
gave to God shall be forgotten, and he will be re¬
conciled to them. Their sin shall be before him as
if it had never been, it shall be blotted out as a
cloud, crossed out as a debt, shall be cast behind his
back; nay, it shall be cast into the depth of the sea,
shall be no longer sealed up among God’s treasures,
nor in any danger of appearing again, or rising up
against them. This denotes how fully God forgives
sin; he remembers it no more. Note, Deliverances
out of trouble are then comforts indeed, when they
are the fruits of the forgiveness of sin, Isa. xxxviii.
17. Judah and Israel were so fully forgiven when
they were brought back out of Babylon, that they
are said to have received of the Lord’s hand double
for all their sins, Isa. xl. 2. This may include also
a thorough reformation of their hearts and lives, as
well as a full remission of their sins. If any seek
for idols or any idolatrous customs among them,
after their return, there shall be none, they shall not
find them; their dross shall be purely purged
away, and by that it shall appear that their guilt is
so; for I will pardon them whom I reserve; I will
be propitious to them; (so the word is;) and that
must be through him who is the Great Propitiation.
Note, Those whose sins God pardons, he reserves
for something very great; for whom h e justifies,
’hem he glorifies.
21. Go up against the land of Merathaim,
even against it, and against the inhabitants
of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after
them, saith the Lord, and do according to
all that I have commanded thee. 22. A
sound of battle is in the land, and of great
destruction. 23. How is the hammer of the
whole earth cut asunder and broken! how
is Babylon become a desolation among the
nations! 24. I have laid a snare for thee,
and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and
thou wast not aware : thou art found, and
also caught, because thou hast striven
against the Lord. 25. The Lord hath
opened his armoury, and hath brought forth
the weapons of his indignation : for this is
the work of the Lord God of hosts in the
land of the Chaldeans. 26. Come against
her from the utmost border, open her store¬
houses; cast her up as heaps, and destroy
her utterly: let nothing of her be left. 27.
Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to
the slaughter; wo unto them! for their day
is come, the time of their visitation. 28.
The voice of them that flee and escape out
of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion
the vengeance of the Lord our God, the
vengeance of his temple. 29. Call together
the archers against Babylon: all ye that
bend the bow, camp against it round about:
let none thereof escape : recompense her
according to her work; according to all
that she hath done do unto her: for she hath
been proud against the Lord, against the
Holy One of Israel. 30. Therefore shall
Vol. iv. — 3 Z
her young men fall in the streets, and all her
men of war shall be cut off in that day,
saith the Lord. 31. Behold, T am against
thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God
of hosts : for thy day is come, the time that I
will visit thee. 32. And the most proud
shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise
him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it shall devour all round about him.
Here, 1. The forces are mustered and commis¬
sioned to destroy Babylon, and every thing got
ready for a descent upon that potent kingdom ; Go
up against that land by Merathaim, the country of
the Mardi, that lay part in Assyria, and part in
Armenia; and go among the inhabitants of Pekod,
another country, (mentioned Ezek. xxiii. 23.)
which Cyrus took in his way to Babylon. The
forces of Cyrus are called to go up against Babylon,
{v. 21.) to come against her from the utmost bor
der. Let all come together, for there will be both
work and pay enough for them all, v. 26. Distance
of place must not be their hindrance from engaging
in this work; the archers particularly must be called
together against Babylon, v. 29. Thus the Lord
hath opened his armoury, ( v . 25.) his treasury, (so
the word is,) and hath brought forth the weapons
of his indignation; as great princes fetch out of
their magazines and stores all necessary provisions
for their armies, when they undertake any great
expedition. Media and Persia are now God’s ar¬
moury, thence lie fetches the weapons of his wrath,
Cyrus, and his great officers and armies, whom he
will make use of for the destruction of Babylon.
Note, Great men are but instruments which the
great God makes use of to serve his own purposes.
He has variety of instruments, has them at com¬
mand, has armouries ready to be opened according
as the occasion is. This is the work of the Lord
God of hosts. Note, When God has work to do,
he will make it appear that he is God of hosts, and
will not want instruments to do it with.
2. Instructions are given them what to do. In
general, Do according to all that I have command¬
ed thee, v. 21. It was said of Cyrus, (Isa. xliv. 28.)
He shall perform all my pleasure, in his expedition
against Babylon. They must waste and utterly de¬
stroy after them; when they have destroyed once,
they must go over them again; or destroy their pos¬
terity that should come after them. They must
open her storehouses, (v. 26.) rifle her treasures,
and turn her artillery against herself; they must
cast her up as heaps; let all the wealth and pomp
of Babylon be shovelled up in a heap of ruins and
rubbish. Tread her down as heaps, (so the margin
reads it,) and destroy her utterly. See how little
account the great God makes of those things which
men so much value, and value themselves upon!
Their princes and great men, who are fat and
bulky, shall fall by the sword, not as men of war in
the field of battle, which we call a bed of honour,
but as beasts by the butcher’s hand; ( v . 27.) Slay
all her bullocks, all her mighty men; let them go
down sottishly and insensibly, as an ox to the slaugh¬
ter. Wo unto them! their case is the more sad for
the little sense they have of it; their day is come to
fall, the time when they must be reckoned with,
and they are not aware of it.
3. Assurances are given them of success. Let
them do what God commands, and they shall ac¬
complish what he threatens. A great destruction
shall be made, te 22. Babylon shall become a deso¬
lation; (v. 23.) her young men, and all her men of
war, shall be cut off in that day, that should have
been her defence; (t». 30.) God is against her.
546
JEREMIAH, L.
(k. 31.)lie has laid a snare for her; (v. 24.) he hath
formed this enterprise against her, that she should
be surprised as a bird taken in a snare. Cyrus
shall, no doubt, prevail, for he fights under God;
God will kindle a Jire in the cities of Babylon; (t>.
32.) and who can stand before him when he is an¬
gry, or quench the fire that he has kindled?
4. Reasons are given for these severe dealings
with Babylon. They that are employed in this war,
may, if they please, know the grounds of it, and be
satisfied in the justice of it, which it is fit all should
be, that are called to such work. (1.) Babylon has
been very troublesome, vexatious, and injurious, to
all its neighbours; it has been the hammer of the
whole earth, ( v . 23.) beating, beating down, and
beating to pieces, all the nations far and near. It
has done so long enough; it is time now that it be
cut asunder and broken. Note, He that is the God
of nations will, sooner or later, assert the injured
right of nations against those that unjustly and vio¬
lently invade them. The God of the whole earth
will break the hammer of the whole earth. (2.)
Babylon has bid defiance to God himself; Thou
hast striven against the Lord, (y. 24. ) hast joined
issue with him, (so the word signifies,) as in law or
battle, hast openly opposed him, set up rivals with
him, raised rebellion against him; therefore thou
art now found, and caught, as in a snare. Note,
Those that strive against the Lord will soon find
themselves over-matched. (3.) Babylon ruined Je¬
rusalem, the holy city, and the holy house there,
and must now be called to an account for that.
This is the manifesto published in Zion, in the day
of Babylon’s visitation; it is the vengeance of the
Lord our God, the vengeance of his / leople , v. 28.
The burning of the temple, and the carrying away
of its vessels, were articles in the charge against
Babylon, on which greater stress was laid than upon
its being the hammer of the whole earth; for Zion
was the joy and glory of the whole earth. Note,
Whatever wrong is done to God’s church, (his
temple in the world,) it will certainly be reckoned
for; and no vengeance will be sorer and heavier
than the vengeance of the temple. (4.) Babylon
had been verv haughty and insolent, and therefore
must have a fall, for it is the glory of God to look
upon those that are proud, and to abase them, Job
xl. 12.) I am against thee, 0 thou most proud, v.
31. Thou pride; (so the word is;) and again, v.
32. as proud as pride itself. Note, The pride of
men’s hearts sets God against them, and ripens
them apace for ruin; for God resists the proud, and
will bring them down. The most proud shall stum¬
ble and fall; they shall fall not so much by others
thrusting them down, as by their own stumbling;
for they hold their heads so high, that they never
look under their feet, to choose their way, and
avoid stumbling-blocks, but walk at all adventures.
Babylon’s pride must unavoidably be her ruin; for
she has been proud against the Lord, against the
Holy One of Israel, (v. 29.) has insulted him in
insulting over his people; she has made him her
Enemy, and therefore, when she is fallen, none
shall raise her up, v. 32. Who can help those up
whom God will throw down?
33. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The
children of Israel and the children of Judah
were oppressed together; and all that took
them captives held them fast ; they refused
to let them go. 34. Their Redeemer is
strong; The Lord of hosts is his name; he
shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he
may give rest to the land, tind disquiet the
inhabitants of Babylon. 35. A sword is
upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and
upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon
her princes, and upon her wise men. 36.
A sword is upon the liars; and they shall
dote : a sword is upon her mighty men ; and
they shall be dismayed. 37. A sword is upon
their horses, and upon their chariots, and
upon all the mingled people that are in the
midst of her; and they shall become as
women : a sword is upon her treasures ;
and they shall be robbed. 38. A drought
is upon her waters ; and they shall be dried
up : for it is the land of graven images, and
they are mad upon their idols. 39. There¬
fore the wild beasts of the desert, with the
wild beasts of the islands, shall dwell there ,
and the owls shall dwell therein: and it
shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither
shall it be dwelt in from generation to gene¬
ration. 40. As God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah, and the neighbour cities thereof,
saith the Lord ; so shall no man abide there,
neither shall any son of man dwell there¬
in. 4 1 . Behold, a people shall come from
the north, and a great nation, and many
kings shall be raised up from the coasts of
the earth. 42. They shall hold the bow
and the lance; they are cruel, and will not
shew mercy : their voice shall roar like the
sea, and they shall ride upon horses, evert/
one put in array, like a man to the battle,
against thee, O daughter of Babylon. 43.
The king of Babylon hath heard the report
of them, and his hands waxed feeble; an¬
guish took hold of him, and pangs as of a
woman in travail. 44. Behold, he shall
come up like a lion from the swelling of
Jordan unto the habitation of the strong;
but I will make them suddenly run away
from her: and who is a chosen man, that I
may appoint over her? for who is like me ?
and who will appoint me the time ? and
who is that shepherd that will stand before
me ? 45. Therefore hear ye the counsel of
the Lord that he hath taken against Baby¬
lon, and his purposes that he hath purposed
against the land of the Chaldeans; Surely
the least of the flock shall draw them out ;
surely he shall make their habitation deso¬
late with them. 46. At the noise of the
taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and
the cry is heard among the nations.
We have, in these verses,
I. Israel’s sufferings, and their deliverance out of
those sufferings. God takes notice of the bondage
of his people in Babylon, as he did of their bondage
in Egypt; he hath surely seen it, and has heard
their cry. Israel and Judah were oppressed to¬
gether, v. S3. Those that remained of the captives
of the ten tribes, upon the uniting of the kingdoms
of Assyria and Chaldea, seemed to have come and
547
JEREMIAH, L.
mingled themselves with those of the two tribes,
and to have mingled tears with them, so that they
were oppressed together. They were humble sup¬
plicants for their liberty, and that was all; they
could not attempt any thing towards it, for all that
took them cafitives held them fast, and were too hard
for them. But this is their comfort in distress, that,
though they are weak, their Redeemer is strong;
( v . 34. their Avenger, so the word signifies;) he
that has a right to them, and will claim his right,
and make good his claim; he is stronger than their
enemies that hold them fast; he can overpower all
the force that is against them, and put strength into
his own people though they are very weak. The
Lord of hosts is his name, and he will answer to his
name, and make it to appear that he is what his
people call him, and will be that to them, for which
they depend upon him. Note, It is the unspeak¬
able comfort of the people of God, that, though they
have hosts against them, they have the Lord of
hosts for them; and he shall thoroughly filead their
cause; pleading he shall plead it, plead it with jea¬
lousy, plead it effectually, plead it, and carry it,
that he may give rest to the land, to his people’s
land, rest from all their enemies round about. This
is applicable to all believers, who complain of the
dominion of sin and corruption, and of their own
weakness and manifold infirmities; let them know
that their Redeemer is strong, he is able to keep
what they commit to him, and he will plead their
cause, sin shall not have dominion over them; he
will make them free, and they shall be. free indeed;
he will give them rest, that rest which remains for
the people of God.
II. Babylon’s sin, and their punishment for
that sin.
1. The sins they are here charged with are, idol¬
atry and persecution. (1.) They oppressed the peo¬
ple of God, they held them fast, and would not let
them go; they opened not the house of his ) prisoners ,
Isa. xiv. 17. This was God’s quarrel with them,
as of old with Pharaoh; it cost him dear, and yet
they would not take warning. The inhabitants of
Babylon must be disquieted, ( v . 34. ) because they
have disquieted God’s people, whose honour and
comfort he is jealous for, and therefore will recom¬
pense tribulation to those that trouble them, as well
as rest to them that are troubled, 2 Thess. i. 6, 7.
(2.) They wronged God himself, and robbed him,
giving that glory to others, which is due to him
alone; for, (v. 38.) it is the land of graven images;
all parts of the country abounded with idols, and
they were mad upon them, were in love with
them, and doted on them, cared not what cost and
pains they were at in the worship of them, were
unwearied in paying their respects to them, and in
all this they were wretchedly infatuated, and acted
like men out of their wits; they were carried on in
their idolatry without reason or discretion, like men
in a perfect fury. The word here used for idols,
properly signifies terrors, F.nim, the name given
to giants that were formidable, because they made
the images of their gods to look frightful, to strike
a terror upon fools and children. Their idols were
scarecrows, yet they doted on them. Babylon was
the mother of harlots, (Rev. xvii. 5.) the source of
idolatry. Note, It is the maddest thing in the world
to make a god of any creature; and those who are
proud against the Lord, the true God, are justly
given up to strong delusions, to be mad upon idols
that cannot profit. But this madness is wickedness,
for which sinners will be certainly and severely
reckoned with.
_ 2. The judgments of God upon them for these
sins are such as will quite lay them waste, and ruin
them.
( 1. ) All that should be their defence and support
shall be cut off by the sword. The Chaldeans had
long been God’s sword, wherewith he had done exe¬
cution upon the sinful nations round about; but now,
they being as bad as any of them, or worse, a sword
is brought upon them, even upon the inhabitants of
Babylon, (y. 35.) a sword of war; and, as it is in
God’s hand, sent and directed by him, it is a sword
of justice. It shall be, [1.] Upon their princes;
they shall fall by it, and their dignity, wealth, and
power, shall not secure them. [2.] Upon their
wise men, their philosophers, their statesmen and
privy-counsellors; their learning and policy shall
neither secure themselves, nor stand the public in
any stead. [3.] Upon their soothsayers and astrolo¬
gers, here called the liars, (v. 36. ) for they cheated
with their prognostications of peace and prosperity:
the sword upon them shall make them dote, so that
they shall talk like fools, and be as men that had
lost all their wits. Note, God has a sword that can
reach the soul and affect the mind, and bring men
under spiritual plagues. [4.] Upon their mighty
men; a sword shall be upon their spirits; if they are
not slain, yet they shall be dismayed, and shall be
no longer mighty men; for what stead will their
hands stand them in when their hearts fail them?
[5.] Upon their militia; (x>. 37.) the sword shall be
upon their horses and chariots, the invaders shall
make themselves masters of all their warlike stores,
shall seize their horses and chariots for themselves,
or destroy them. The troops of other nations, that
were in their service, shall be quite disheartened,
1 the mingled people shall become as weak and timor¬
ous as women. [6.] Upon their exchequer; the
i sword shall be upon her treasures, which are the
sinews of war, and they shall be robbed, and made
use of by the enemy against them. See what uni¬
versal destruction the sword makes when it comes
with commission!
(2.) The country shall be made desolate; (v. 38.)
The waters shall be dried up; the water that se¬
cures the city. Cyrus drew the river Euphrates
into so many channels as made it passable for his
army, so that they got with ease to the walls of
Babylon, which were thought, having such a river
before them, to be inaccessible. The water like¬
wise, that made the country fruitful, shall be dried
up, so that it shall be turned into barrenness, and
shall be no more inhabited by the children of men,
but by the wild beasts of the desert, v. 39. 1'his
was foretold concerning Babylon, Isa. xiii. 19. — 22.
It shall become like Sodom and Gomorrah, v. 40.
The same was foretold concerning Edom, ch. xlix.
18. As the Chaldeans had laid Edom waste, so
they shall themselves be laid waste.
(3.) The king and kingdom shall be put into the
utmost confusion and consternation by the enemies’
invading of them, v. 41. — 43. All the expressions
here used, bespeaking the formidable power of the
invaders, the terrors wherewith they should array
themselves, and the fright which both court and
country should be put into thereby, we met with be¬
fore, (ch. vi. 22. — 24.) concerning the Chaldeans
invading the land of Judah. This battle, which
is there said to be against thee, 0 daughter of
Zion, is here said to be against thee, O daughter
of Babylon, to intimate that they should be paid in
their own coin. God can find out such as shall be
for terror and destruction to those that are for ter¬
ror and destruction toothers. And those who have
dealt cruelly, and have showed no mercy, may ex¬
pect to be cruelly dealt with, and to find no mercy.
Only there is one difference between these passages;
there it is said, We have heard the fame thereof,
and our hands wax feeble; here it is said, The king
of Babylon has heard the report, and his hantls
waxed feeble; which intimates that that proud and
daring prince shall, in the day of his distress, be as
548
JEREMIAH, LI.
weak and dispirited as the meanest Israelites were
in the day of their distress.
(4.) That they shall be as much hurt as fright¬
ened, for the invader shall come up like a lion to
tear and destroy, ( v . 44.) and shall make them and
their habitation desolate; ( v . 45.) and the desolation
shall be so astonishing, that all the nations about
shall be terrified by it, v. 46. These three verses
we had before, (c/i. xlix. 19.— 21.) in the prophecy
of the destruction of Edom, which was accomplish¬
ed by the Chaldeans, and they are here repeated,
mutatis mutandis — with a few necessary alterations,
in the prophecy of the destruction of Babylon,
which was to be accomplished upon the Chaldeans,
to show that though the distributions of Providence
may appear unequal for a time, its retributions will
be equal at last; when thou shalt make an end to
spoil, thou shalt be spoiled, Isa. xxxiii. 1. — Rev.
xiii. 10.
CHAP. LI.
The prophet, in this chapter, goes on with the prediction
of Babylon’s fall, to which other prophets also bare wit¬
ness. He is very large and lively in describing the fore¬
sight God had given him of it, for the encouragement of
the pious captives, whose deliverance depended upon it,
and was to be the result of it. Here is, I. The record
of Babylon’s doom, with the particulars of it, intermixed
with the grounds of God’s controversy with her, many
aggravations of her fall, and great encouragements given
from thence to the Israel of God, that suffered such hard
things by her, v. 1..58. II. The representation and rati¬
fication of this, by the throwing of a copy of this pro¬
phecy into the river Euphrates, v. 59. .64.
1. ^ff^HUS saith the Lord, Behold, I will
8 raise up against Babylon, and against
them that dwell in the midst of them that
rise up against me, a destroying wind ; 2.
And will send unto Babylon fanners, that
shall fan her, and shall empty her land : for
in the day of trouble they shall be against
her round about. 3. Against him that bendeth
let the archer bend his bow, and against
him that lifteth himself up in his bngandine:
and spare ye not her young men ; destroy ye
utterly all her host. 4. Thus the slain shall
fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they
that are thrust through in her streets. 5.
For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Ju¬
dah of his God, of the Lord of hosts; though
their land was filled with sin against the
Holy One of Israel. 6. Flee out of the midst
of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul;
be not cut off in her iniquity : for this is the
time of the Lord’s vengeance ; he will ren¬
der unto her a recompense. 7. Babylon
hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
that made all the earth drunken : the nations
have drunken of her wine; therefore the na¬
tions are mad. 8. Babylon is suddenly fallen
and destroyed : howl for her ; take balm for
her pain, if so be she may be healed. 9. We
would have healed Babylon, but she is not
healed : forsake her, and let us go every one
into his own country; for her judgment
reachelh unto heaven, and is lifted up even
to the skies. 10. The Lord hath brought
forth our righteousness : come, and let us de¬
clare in Zion the work of the Lord our
God. 11. Make bright the arrows, gather
the shields: the Lord hath raised up the
spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his de
vice is against Babylon, to destroy it ; be¬
cause it is the vengeance of the Lord, the
vengeance of his temple. 12. Set up the
standard upon the walls of Babylon, make
the watch strong; set up the watchmen, pre¬
pare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both
devised and done that which he spake
against the inhabitants of Babylon. 1 3. O
thou that dwellest upon many waters, abun¬
dant in treasures, thine end is come, and the
measure of thy covetousness. 1 4. The Lord
of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying ,
Surely 1 will fill thee with men as with
caterpillars ; and they shall lift up a shout
against thee. 15. He hath made the earth
by his power, he hath established the world
by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the
heaven by his understanding. 1 6. When he
uttereth his voice there is a multitude of wa¬
ters in the heavens; and he causeth the va¬
pours to ascend from the ends of the earth:
he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth
forth the wind out of his treasures. 17.
Every man is brutish by his knowledge;
eveiy founder is confounded by the graven
image : for his molten image is falsehood,
and there is no breath in them. 1 8. They
are vanity, the work of errors: in the time
of their visitation they shall perish. 1 9. The
Portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is
the F ormer of all things, and Israel is the
rod of his inheritance; The Lord of hosts
is his name. 20. Thou art my battle-axe
and weapons of war: for with thee will 1
break in pieces the nations; and with thee
will I destroy kingdoms; 21. And with thee
will I break in pieces the horse and his
rider ; and with thee will I break in pieces
the chariot and his rider; 22. With thee
also will I break in pieces man and woman;
and with thee will 1 break in pieces old and
young ; and with thee will I break in pieces
the young man and the maid; 23. I will
also break in pieces with thee the shepherd
and his flock; and with thee will I break in
pieces the husbandman and his yoke of
oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces
captains and rulers. 24. And I will render
unto Babylon, and to all the inhabitants of
Chaldea, all their evil that they have done
in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord. 25.
Behold, I am against thee, O destroying
mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest
all the earth; and I will stretch out my
hand upon thee, and roll thee down from
the rocks, and will make thee a burnt moun-
JEREMIAH, LI.
tain. 26. And they shall not take of thee a
stone for a corner, nor a stone for founda¬
tions ; but thou shalt be desolate for ever,
saith the Lord. 27. Set ye up a standard
in the land, blow the trumpet among the na¬
tions, prepare the nations against her, call
together against her the kingdoms of Ararat,
Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain
against her ; cause her horses to come up as
the rough caterpillars. 28. Prepare against
her the nations, with the kings of the Modes,
the captains thereof, and all the rulers there¬
of, and all the land of his dominion. 29.
And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for
every purpose of the Lord shall be per¬
formed against Babylon, to make the land
of Babylon a desolation without an inhabi¬
tant. 30. The mighty men of Babylon have
forborne to fight, they have remained in
their holds : their might hath failed ; they be¬
came as women: they have burnt their
dwelling-places; her bars are broken. 31.
One post shall run to meet another, and one
messenger to meet another, to show the king
of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
32. And that the passages are stopped, and
the reeds they have burnt with fire, and the
men of war are affrighted. 33. For thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-
floor, it is time to thresh her : yet a little
while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
34. Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon
hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he
hath made me an empty vessel, he hath
swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath
filled his belly with my delicates, he hath
cast me out. 35. The violence done to me
and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the
inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood upon
the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusa¬
lem say. 36. Therefore thus saith the Lord,
Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take
vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her
sea, and make her springs dry, 37. And
Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-
place for dragons, an astonishment, and a
hissing without an inhabitant. 38. They
shall roar together like lions: they shall yell
as lions’ whelps. 39. In their heat I will
make their feasts, and I will make them
drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a
perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the
Lord. 40. I will bring them down like
lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-
goats. 41. How is Sheshach taken! and
how is the praise of the whole earth surpris¬
ed! how is Babylon become an astonishment
among the nations ! 42. The sea is come
up upon Babylon: she is covered with the
319
multitude of the waves thereof. 43. Her
cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a
wilderness, a land wherein no man dwell-
eth, neither doth any son of man pass there¬
by. 44. And I will punish Bel in Babylon;
and I will bring forth out of his mouth that
which he hath swallowed up : and the na¬
tions shall not flow together any more unto
him; yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall. 45.
My people, go ye out of the midst of her,
and deliver ye every man his soul from the
fierce anger of the Lord. 46. And lest your
heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that
shall be heard in the land: a rumour shall
both come one year, and after that in another
year shall come a rumour, and violence in the
land, ruler against ruler. 47. Therefore, be¬
hold, the days come, that I will do judgment
upon the graven images of Babylon: and
her whole land shall be confounded, and all
her slain shall fall in the midst of her. 48.
Then the heaven and the earth, and all that
is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the
spoilers shall come unto her from the north,
saith the Lord. 49. As Babylon hath caused
the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall
fall the slain of all the earth. 50. Ye that have
escaped the sword, go away, stand not still :
remember the Lord afar off, and let Jeru¬
salem come into your mind. 51. We are
confounded, because we have heard re¬
proach: shame hath covered our faces; for
strangers are come into the sanctuaries of
the Lord’s house. 52. Wherefore, behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
do judgment upon her graven images; and
through all her land the wounded shall
groan. 53. Though Babylon should mount
up to heaven, and though she should fortify
the height of her strength, yet from me shall
spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord. 54.
A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and
great destruction from the land of the Chal¬
deans: 55. Because the Lord hath spoiled
Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great
voice; when her waves do roar like great
waters, a noise of their voice is uttered: 56.
Because the spoiler is come upon her, even
upon Babylon, and her mighty men are ta¬
ken; every one of their bows is broken: for
the Lord God of recompenses shall surely
requite. 57. And I will make drunk her
princes, and her wise men , her captains, and
her rulers, and her mighty men : and they
shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake,
saith the King, whose name is The Lord
of hosts. 58. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
The broad walls of Babylon shall be ut¬
terly broken, and her high gates shall be
burnt with fire ; and the people shall labour
550
JEREMIAH, LI.
in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they
shall be weary.
The particulars of this copious prophecy are dis¬
persed and interwoven, and the same things left
and returned to so often, that it could not well he
divided into parts, but we must endeavour to collect
them under their proper heads.
Let us then observe here,
1. An acknowledgment of the great pomp and
power that Babylon had been in, and the use that
God in his providence hadmade of it; ( v . 7.) Baby¬
lon hath been a golden cufl, a rich and glorious em¬
pire, a golden city, (Isa. xiv. 4.) a head of gold,
(Dan. ii. 38.) filled with all good things, as a cup
with wine; nay, she had been a golden cup in the
Lord’s hand, he had in a particular manner filled
and favoured her with blessings, he had made the
earth drunk with this cup; some were intoxicated
with her pleasures, and debauched by her; others
intoxicated with her terrors, and destroyed by her.
In both senses, the New Testament Babylon is said
to have made the kings of the earth drunk, Rev.
xvii. 4. — xviii. 3. Babylon had also been God’s battle-
axe; it was so at this time, when Jeremiah prophe¬
sied, and was likely to be yet more so, v. 20. The
forces of Babylon were God’s weapons of war, tools in
his hand, with which be brake in pieces, and knocked
down, nations and kingdoms, horses and chariots,
which are so much the strength of kingdoms; (v.
21.) men and women, young and old, with which
kingdoms are replenished; (y. 22.) the shepherd
and his flock, the husbandman and his oxen, with
which kingdoms are maintained and supplied, v.
23. Such havock as this the Chaldeans had made,
when God employed them as instruments of his
wrath for the chastising of the nations; and yet now
Babylon herself must fall. Note, Those that have
carried all before them a great while, will yet at
length meet with their match, and their day also
will come to fall, the rod will itself be thrown into
the fire at last; nor can any think it will exempt
them from God’s judgments, that they have been
instrumental in executing his judgments on others.
2. A just complaint made of Babylon, and a charge
drawn up against her by the Israel of God. (1.)
They are complained of for their incorrigible
wickedness; (v. 9.) We would have healed Baby¬
lon, but she is not healed. The people of God that
were captives among them, endeavoured, according
to the instructions given them, (Jer. x. 11.) to con¬
vince them of the folly of their idolatry, but they
could not do it; still the Babylonians doted as much
as ever upon their graven images, and therefore the
Israelites resolve to quit them, and go to their own
country. Yet some understand this as spoken by
the forces they had hired for their assistance, de¬
claring that they had done their best to save her
from ruin, but that it was all to no purpose, and
therefore they had as good go home to their respec¬
tive countries; for her judgment reaches unto hea¬
ven, and it is in vain to withstand it, or think to
avert it. (2. ) They are complained of for their in¬
veterate npalice against Israel; other nations had
been hardly used by the Chaldeans, but Israel only
complains to God of it, and with confidence appeals
to him, (v. 34, 35.) “ The king of Babylon has de¬
voured me, and crushed me, and never thought he
could do enough to ruin me ; he has emptied me of
all that was valuable, has swallowed me up, as a
dragon or whale swallows up the little fish by shoals;
he has filed his belly, filled his treasures, with my
delicates, with all my pleasant things, and has cast
me out, cast me away as a vessel in which there is no
pleasure; and now let them be accountable for all
this.” Zion and Jerusalem shall say, “Let the
violence done to me and my children, that are my
I own flesh, and pieces of myself, and all the blood of
my people, which they have shed like water, be
upon them; let the guilt of it lie upon them, and let
it be required at their hand.” Note, Ruin is not
far off from those that lie under the guilt of wrong
done to God’s people.
3. Judgment given upon this appeal by the right¬
eous Judge of heaven and earth, on behalf of Israel
against Babylon. He sits in the throne judging
right, is ready to receive complaints, and answers,
( v . 36.) “I will plead thy cause, leave it with me,
1 will in due time plead it effectually, and take
vengeance for thee; and every drop of Jerusalem’s
blood shall be accounted for with interest.” Israel
and Judah seem to have been neglected and forgot¬
ten, but God has an eye to them, v. 5. It is true,
their land was filled with sin against the Holy One
of Israel, they were a provoking people, and their
sins were a great offence to God, as a holy God,
and as their God, their Holy One; and therefore he
justly delivered them up into the hands of their ene¬
mies, and might justly have abandoned them, and
left them to perish in their hands; but God deals
better with them than they deserve, and, notwith¬
standing their iniquities and his severities, Israel is
not forsaken, is not cast off, though he be cast out,
but is owned and looked after by his God. by the
Lord of hosts; God is his God still, and will act for
him as the Lord of hosts, a God of power. Note,
Though God’s people may have broken his laws,
and fallen under his rebukes, yet it does not there¬
fore follow that they are thrown out of covenant;
but God’s care of them and love to them will flourish
again, Ps. lxxxix. 30, 33. The Chaldeans thought
they should never be called to an account for what
they had done against God’s Israel; but there is a
time fixed for vengeance, v. 6. We cannot expect
it should come sooner than the time fixed, but then
it will come; he will render unto Babylon a recom-
peyise, for the avenging of Israel is the vengeance oj
the Lord, who espouses their cause; it is the ven¬
geance of his temple, (v. 11.) as before, ch. 1. 28. The
Lord of recom/ienses, the God to whom vengeance
belongs, will surely recpiite, (n. 56.) will pay them
home; he will render unto Babylon all the evil they
have done in Zion, (y. 24.) he will return it in the
sight of his people; they shall have the satisfaction
to see their cause pleaded with jealous)-; they shall
not only live to see those judgments brought upoi.
Babylon, but they shall plainly see them to be the
punishment of the wrong they have done to Zion;
and man may see it, and say, Verily there is a Goa
that judges in the earth: for just as Babylon has
caused the slain of Israel to fall, has not only slain
those that were found in arms, but all without dis¬
tinction; even all the land, (almost all were put to
the sword,) so at Babylon shall fall, the slam not
only of the city, but of all the country, v. 49. Cy¬
rus shall measure to the Chaldeans the same that
they measured to the Jews, so that every observer
may discern that God is recompensing them for
what they did against his people; but Zion’s chil¬
dren shall in a particular manner triumph in it; (v.
10.) “ The Lord has brought forth our righteous¬
ness, he has appeared in our behalf against those
that dealt unjustly with us, and has righted us; he
has also made it to appear that he is reconciled to
us, and that we are yet in his eyes a righteous na¬
tion. Let it therefore be spoken of to his praise,
Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the
Lord our God, that others may be inv ited to join
with us in praising him.”
4. A declaration of the greatness and sovereignty
of that God who espouses Zion’s cause, and under¬
takes to reckon with this proud and potent enemy;
(u. 14.) It is the Lord of hosts that had said it, that
has sworn it, has sworn it by himself, for he could
JEREMIAH, LI.
55 J
•
.,wear by no greater, that he will fill Babylon with
vast and incredible numbers of the enemy’s forces,
will fill it with men as with cater/iillars, that shall
overpowei it with multitudes, and need only to lift
up. a shout against it, for that shall be so terrible as
to dispirit all the inhabitants, and make them an
easy prey to this numerous army. But who, and
where, is he that can break so powerful a kingdom
as Babylon? The prophet gives an account ot him
from the description he had formerly given of him,
and of his sovereignty and victory over all pretend¬
ers, (Jer. x. 12. — 16.) which was there intended
for the conviction of the Babylonian idolaters, and
the confirmation of God’s Israel in the faith and
worship of the God of Israel; and it is here repeat¬
ed, to show that God will convince those by his
judgments, who would not be convinced by his
word, that he is God over all. Let not any doubt
but that he who has determined to destroy Babylon,
is able to make his words good, for, (1.) He is the
God that made the world, (t». 15.) and therefore
nothing is too hard for him to do; it is in his name
that our help stands, and on him our hope is built.
(2.) He has the command of all the creatures that
he has made; (n. 16.) his providence is a continued
creation; he has wind and rain at his disposal; if he
speak the word, there is a multitude of waters in the
heavens; and it is a wonder how they hang there,
fed by vapours out of the earth; and it is a wonder
how they ascend thence. Lightnings and rain seem
contraries, as fire and water, and yet they are pro¬
duced together; and the wind, which seems arbi¬
trary in its motions, and we know not whence it
comes, is yet, we are sure, brought out of his trea¬
sures. (3.) The idols that oppose the accomplish¬
ment of his word, are a mere sham, and their wor¬
shippers brutish people, v. 17, 18. The idols are
falsehood, they are vanity, they are the work of
errors; when they come to be visited, to be exa¬
mined and inquired into, they perish, their reputa¬
tion sinks, and they appear to be nothing; and those
that make them are like unto them. But between
the God of Israel and these gods of the heathen
there is no comparison; (u. 19.) The portion of
Jacob is not like them; the God who speaks this,
and will do it, is the Former of all things, and the
Lord of all hosts, and therefore can do what he
will; and there is a near relation between him and
his people, for he is their Portion, and they are his;
they put a confidence in him as their Portion, and
he is pleased to take a complacency in them, and a
particular care of them, as the lot of his inheritance;
and therefore he will do what is best for them. The
repetition of these things here, which were said be¬
fore, intimates both the certainty and the impor¬
tance of them, and obliges us to take special notice
of them; God hath spoken once; yea, twice have we
heard this, that power belongs to God; power to
destroy the most formidable enemies of his church;
and if God thus speak once, yea, twice, we are in¬
excusable if we do not perceive it, and attend to it.
5. A description of the instruments that are to be
employed in this service. God has raised up the
spirits of the kings of the Medes, (v. 11.) Darius
and Cyrus, who come against Babylon by a divine
instinct; for God’s device is against Babylon to de¬
stroy it; they do it, but God devised it, he designed
it; they are but accomplishing his purpose, and act¬
ing as he directed. Note, God’s counsel shall stand,
and according to it all hearts shall move. Those
whom God employs against Babylon are compared
(v. 1.) to a destroying wind, which either by its
coldness blasts the fruits of the earth, or by its
fierceness blows down all before it; this wind is
brought out of God’s treasures, (y. 16.) and it is
here said to be raised up against them that dwell
in the midst of the Chaldeans, those of other nations
that inhabit among them, and are incorporated with
them. The Chaldeans rise up against God by fall¬
ing down before idols, and against them God will
raise up destroyers, for he will be too hard for
them that contest with him. These enemies are
compared to fanners, ( v . 2.) who shall drive them
away, as chaff is driven away by the fan. The
Chaldeans had been fanners to winnow God’s peo¬
ple, ( ch . xv. 7.) and to empty them, and now they
shall themselves be in like manner despoiled and
dispersed.
6. An ample commission given them to destroy,
and lay all waste. Let them bend their bow against
the archers of the Chaldeans, (v. 3.) and not spare
her young men, but utterly destroy them, for the
Lord has both devised and done what he spake
against Babylon, v. 12. This may animate the in¬
struments he employs, by assuring" them of success;
the methods they take are such as God has devised,
and therefore they shall surely prosper; what he
has spoken shall be done, for he himself will do it;
and therefore let all necessary preparations be
made; this "they are called to, v. 27, 28. Let a stan¬
dard be set up, under which to enlist soldiers for
this expedition: let a trumpet be blown to call men
together to it, and animate them in it; let the na¬
tions, out of which Cyrus’s army is to be raised,
prepare their recruits; let the kingdoms of Ararat
and Minni, and Ashkenaz, of Armenia, both the
higher and the lower, and of Ascania, about Phry¬
gia and Bithynia, send in their quota of men for this
service; let general officers be appointed, and the
cavalry advance; let the horses come up in great
numbers, as the caterpillars, and come, like them,
leaping and pawing in the valley; let them lay the
country waste, as caterpillars do, (Joel i. 4. ) espe¬
cially rough caterpillars; let the kings and captains
prepare nations against Babylon, for the service is
great, and there is occasion for many hands to be
employed in it.
7. The weakness of the Chaldeans, and their ina¬
bility to make head against this threatening, de¬
stroying force. When God employed them against
other nations, they had spirit and strength to act
offensively, and went on with admirable resolution,
conquering and to conquer; but now that it comes to
their turn to be reckoned with, all their might and
courage are gone, their hearts fail them, and none
of all their men of might and mettle have found
their hands to act so much as defensively. They
are called upon here to prepare for action, but it is
ironically, and in an upbraiding way; (v. 11.) Make
bright the arrows, which are grown rusty through
disuse; gather the shields, which in a long tin e of
peace and security have been scattered, and thiowt.
out of the way; (x>. 12.) Set up the standard upon
the walls of Babylon, upon the towers on those
walls, to summon all that owed suit and service to
that mother-city, now to come in to her assistance.
Let them make the watch as strong as they can,
and appoint the sentinels to their respective posts,
and prepare ambushes for the reception of the en¬
emy. This intimates that they would be found very
secure and remiss, and would need to be thus quick¬
ened; (and they were so to that degree, that they
were in the midst of their revels when the city was
taken;) but that all their preparations should be to
no purpose; who will may call them to it, but they
shall have no heart to come at the call, v. 29. The
whole land shall tremble and sorrow, a universal
consternation shall seize upon them, for they shall
see both the irresistible arm, and the irreversible
counsel and decree, of God against them; they shall
see that God is making Babylon a desolation, and
therein is performing what he has purposed; and
then the mighty men of Babylon have forborne to
fight, v. 30, God having taken away their strength
552
JEREMIAH, LI.
md spirit, so that they have remained in their holds,
not daring so much as to peep forth, the might both
of their hearts and of their hands fails, they become
as timorous as women, so that the enemy has, with¬
out any resistance, burnt her dwelling-places, and
broken her bars. It is to the same purport with
v. 56 _ 58. When the spoiler comes upon Baby¬
lon, her mighty men, who should make head against
him, are immediately taken, their weapons of war
foil them, every one of their bows is broken, and
stands them in no stead; their politics fail them,
they call councils of war, but their princes and cap¬
tains, who sit in council to concert measures for the
common safety, are made drunk, they are as men
intoxicated through stupidity or despair, they can
form no right notions of things, they stagger, and
are unsteady in their counsels and resolves, and dash
one against another, and, like drunken men, fall out
among themselves; at length they sleep a perpetual
sleep, and never awake from their wine, the wine
of God’s wrath, for it is to them an opiate that lays
them into a fatal lethargy. The walls of their city
fail them, v. 58. When "the enemy had found ways
to ford Euphrates, which was thought impassable,
yet surely, think they, the walls are impregnable,
they are the broad walls of Babylon, or, as the
margin reads it, the walls of broad Babylon; the
compass of the city, within the walls, was 385 fur¬
longs, some say 480, that is, about sixty miles; the
wails were 200 cubits high, and 50 cubits broad, so
that two chariots might easily pass by one another
upon them. Some say that there was a threefold
wall about the inner city, and the like upon the
outer; and that the stones of the wall, being laid in
pitch instead of mortar, (Gen. xi. 3.) were scarcely
separable; and yet these shall be utterly broken,
and the high gates and towers shall be burnt, and
the people that are employed in the defence of the
city shaR labour in vain, in the fire, they shall quite
tire themselves, but shall do no good.
8. The destruction that shall be made of Babylon
by these invaders. (1.) It is a certain destruction,
the doom is past, and it cannot be reversed; a divine
power is engaged against it, which cannot be re¬
sisted; (x>. 8.) Babylon is fallen and destroyed, is
as sure to fall, to fa’ll into destruction, as if it were
fallen and destroyed already; though, when Jere¬
miah prophesied this, and many a year after, it was
in the height of its power and greatness. God de¬
clares, God appears against Babylon; (x>. 25.) Be¬
hold, I am against thee, and those cannot stand
long whom God is against.; he will stretch out his
hand upon it, a hand which no creature can bear
the weight of, or withstand the force of. It is his
purpose which shall be performed, that Babylon
must be a desolation, v. 29. (2.) It is a righteous
destruction; Babylon has made herself meet for it,
and therefore cannot fail to meet with it. For, ( v .
25.) Babylon has been a destroying mountain, very
lofty and "bulky as a mountain, and destroying all
the earth, as the stones that are tumbled from high
mountains spoil the grounds about them; but now it
shall itself be rolled down from its rocks, which
were as the foundations on which it stood; it shall
be levelled, its pomp and power broken. It is now
a burning mountain, like Altna and the other volca¬
noes, that throw out fire, to the terror of all about
them; but it shall be a burnt mountain, it shall at
length have consumed itself, and shall remain a
heap of ashes — so will this world be at the end of
time. Again, (xi. 33.) Babylon is like a threshing-
floor, in which the people of God have been long
threshed, as sheaves in the floor; but now the time
is come that she shall herself be threshed, and her
sheaves in her; her princes and great men, and all
her inhabitants, shall be beaten in their own land,
as in the threshing-floor. The threshing-floor is
prepared, Babylon is by sin made meet to be a seat
of war, and her people, like corn in harvest, are
ripe for destruction, Rev. xiv. 15. Mic. iv. 12. (3.)
It is an unavoidable destruction. Babylon seems to
be well fenced and fortified against it; she dwells
upon many waters; (x>. 13.) the situation of her
country is such, that it seems inaccessible, it is so
surrounded, and the march of an enemy into it so
embarrassed, by rivers. In allusion to this, the
New Testament Babylon is said to sit upon many
waters, to rule over many nations, as the other Ba¬
bylon did, Rev. xvii. 35. Babylon is abundant in
treasures; and yet thine end is come, and neither
thy waters nor thy wealth shall secure thee. This
end that comes shall be the measure of thy covet¬
ousness, it shall be the stint of thy gettings, it shall
set bounds to thine ambition and avarice, which
otherwise had been boundless. God, by the de¬
struction of Babylon, said to its proud waves,
Hitherto shall ye come, and no further. Note, If
men will not set a measure to their covetousness by
wisdom and grace, God will set a measure to it bv
his judgments. Babylon, thinking herself very safe
and very great, was very proud; but she will be de¬
ceived, x'. 53. Though Babylon should mount her
walls and palaces up to heaven, and though (be¬
cause what is high is apt to totter) she should take
care to fortify the height of her strength, yet all
will not do, God will send spoilers against her, that
shall break through her strength, and bring down
her height. (4.) It is a gradual destruction, which,
if they had pleased, they might have foreseen, and
had warning of; for, (xi. 46.) A rumour will come
one year, that Cyrus is making vast preparations
for war, and after that, in another year, shall come
a rumour, that his design is upon Babylon, and he
is steering his course that way; so that when he was
a great way off, they might have sent, and desired
conditions of peace; but they were too proud, too
secure, to do that, and their hearts were hard, ned
to their destruction. (5. ) Yet, when it comes, it is a
surprising destruction; Babylon is suddenly fallen;
(xe 8.) the destruction comes upon them when they
did not think of it, and is perfected in a little time,
as that of the New Testament Babylon in one hour.
Rev. xviii. 17. The king of Babylon, who should
have been observing the approaches of the enemy,
was himself at such a distance from the place where
the attack was made, that it was a great while ere
he had notice that the city was taken; so that they
who were posted near the place, sent one messen¬
ger, one courier, after another, with advice of it,
v. 31. The foot-posts shall meet at the court from
several quarters with this intelligence to the king
of Babylon, that his city is taken at one end, and
there is nothing to obstruct the progress of the con¬
querors, but they will be at the other end quickly.
They are to teU’him that the enemy has seized the
passes, (v. 32.) the forts or blockades upon the
river; and that having got over the river, they set
fire to the reeds on the river-side to alarm and ter¬
rify the city, so that all the men of war arc affright¬
ed, and have thrown down their arms, and surren¬
dered at discretion. The messengers come, like
Job’s, one upon the heels of another, with these
tidings, which are immediately confirmed with a
witness, by the enemies being in the palace, and
slaying the king himself, Dan. v. 30. That profane
feast which they were celebrating at the very time
when their city was taken, which was both an evi¬
dence of their strange security, and a great advan¬
tage to the enemy, seems here to be referred to;
(xi. 38, 39.) They shall roar together like lions, as
men in their revels do, when the wine is got into
their heads; they call it singing, but in scripture-
language, and in the language of sober men, it is
calied yelling like lions' whelps. It is probable that
555
JEREMIAH, LI.
they were drinking confusion to Cyrus and his army
with loud huzzas; Well, says God, in their heat,
when they are inflamed, (Isa. v. 11.) and their
heads are hot with hard drinking, 1 will make their
feasts, I will give them their fiction; they have
passed their cup round, now the cufi of the Lord’s
right hand shall be turned unto them, (Hab. ii. 15,
16.) a cup of fury, which shall make them drunk,
that they may rejoice, or rather that they may revel
it, and sleep a fierfietual sleep; let them be as merry
as they can with that bitter cup, but it shall lay
them to sleep, never to wake more; (as v. 57.) for
on that night, in the midst of the jollity, was Bel¬
shazzar slain. (6.) It is to be a universal destruc¬
tion, God will make thorough work of it; for, as he
will perform what he has purposed, so he will per¬
fect what he has begun. The slain shall fall in
great abundance throughout the land of the Chal¬
deans, multitudes shall be thrust through in her
streets, v. 4. They are brought down like lambs to
the slaughter, (v.40. ) in such great numbers, so easi¬
ly; and the enemies make no more of killing them
titan the butcher does of killing lambs. The strength
of the enemy, and their invading of them, are here
compared to an irruption and inundation of waters;
(it. 42.) The sea is come up upon Babylon, which,
when it has once broken through its bounds, there
is no fence against, so that she is covered with the
multitude of its waves, overpowered by a numerous
army; her cities then become a desolation, an unin¬
habited, uncultivated desert, i>. 43. (7.) It is a de¬
struction that shall reach the gods of Babylon, the
idols and images, and fall with a particular weight
upon them. In token that the whole land shall be
confounded, and all her slain shall fall, and that
throughout all the country the wounded shall groan,
I will do judgment upon her graven images, v. 47,
52. All must needs perish, if their gods perish,
from whom they expect protection. Though the
invaders are themselves idolaters, yet they shall de¬
stroy the images and temples of the gods of Baby¬
lon, as an earnest of the abolishing of all counterfeit
deities. Bel was the principal idol that the Baby¬
lonians worshipped, and therefore that is by name
here marked for destruction; (v. 44.) I will punish
Bel, that great devourer, that image to which such
abundance of sacrifices are offered, and such rich
spoils dedicated, and to whose temple there is such
a vast resort; he shall disgorge what he has so
greedily regaled himself with; God will bring forth
out of his temple all the wealth laid up there, Job
xx. 15. His altars shall be forsaken, none shall re¬
gard him any more, and so that idol which was
thought to be a wall to Babylon, shall fall, and fail
them. (8.) It shall be a final destruction; you may
take balm for her pain, but in vain; she that would
not be healed by the word of God, shall not be healed
by his providence, v. 8, 9. Babylon shall become
heaps, (v. 37.) and to complete its infamy, no use
shall be made even of the ruins of Babylon, so exe¬
crable shall they be, and attended with such ill
omens! v. 26. They shall not take of thee a stone
for a corner, nor a stone for foundations. People
shall not care for having any thing to do with Ba¬
bylon, or whatever belonged to it. Or it denotes
that there shall be nothing left in Babylon, on which
to ground any hopes or attempts of raising it into a
kingdom again; for, as it follows here, it shall be deso¬
late forever. St. Jerome says, thatin his time, though
the ruins of Babylon’s wall were to be soen, yet the
ground enclosed by them was a forest of wild beasts.
9. Here is a call to God’s people to go out of
Babylon. It is their wisdom, when ruin is approach¬
ing, to quit the city, and retire into the country; (i».
6.) “ Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and get into
some remote corner, that you may save your lives,
and may not be cut off in her iniquity.” When
Vol. iv. — 4 A
God’s judgments are abroad, it is good to get as far
as we can from those against whom they are level¬
led, as Israel from the tents of Korah. This agrees
with the advice Christ gave his disciples, with re¬
ference to the destruction of Jerusalem ; Let them,
which be in Judea, fee to the mountains, Matth.
xxiv. 16. It is their wisdom to get out of the midst
of Babylon, lest they be involved, if not in her ruins,
yet in her fears; (u. 45, 46.) Lest your heart faint,
and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard' in the
land. Though God has told them that Cyrus
should be their deliverer, and Babylon’s destruction
their deliverance, vet they had been told also, that in
the peace thereof they should have peace, and there¬
fore the alarms given to Babylon would put them
into a fright, and perhaps they might not have
faith and consideration enough to suppress these
fears; for which reason they are here advised to get
out of the hearing of the alarms. Note, Those who
have not grace enough to keep their temper in
temptation, should have wisdom enough to keep cut
of the way of temptation. But this is not all; it is
not only their wisdom to quit the city when the ruin
is approaching, but it is their duty to quit the coun¬
try too, when the ruin is accomplished, and they are
set at liberty bv the pulling down of the prison" over
their heads. This they are told, v. 50, 51. “ \e
Israelites, who have escaped the sword of the Chal¬
deans your oppressors, and of the Persians their de¬
stroyers, now that the year of release is come, go
away, stand not still, hasten to your own country
again, however you may be comfortablv seated in
Babylon, for this is not your rest, but Canaan is.”
(1.) He puts them in mind of the inducements they
had to return; “Remember the Lord afar off, his
presence with you now, though you are here afar off
from your native soil; his presence with your fathers
formerly in the temple, though you are now afar off
from the ruins of it.” Note, Wherever we are, in
the greatest depths, at the greatest distances, we
may and must remember the Lord our God; and in
the time of the greatest fears and hopes it is season¬
able to remember the Lord. “And let Jerusalem
come into your mind; though it be now in ruins, yet
favour its dust, (Ps. cii. 14.) though few of you
ever saw it, yet believe the report you have had
concerning it, from those that wept when they re¬
membered Zion; and think of Jerusalem until you
come up to a resolution to make the best of vour way
thither.” Note, When the city of cur solemnities
is out of sight, yet it must not be out of mind : and it
will be of great use to us, in our journey through this
world, to let the heavenly Jerusalem come often
into our mind. (2.) He takes notice of the discou¬
ragement which the returning captives labour under;
(ic 51.) being reminded of Jerusalem, they cry out,
“ We are confounded, we cannot bear the thought
of it, shame covers our faces at the mention of it, for
we have heard of the reproach of the sanctuary,
that it is profaned and ruined by strangers; how
can we think of it with any pleasure?” To which
he answers, (v. 52.) that the God of Israel will now
triumph over the gods of Babylon, and so that re¬
proach will be for ever rolled away. Note, The
believing prospect of Jerusalem’s recovery will keep
us from being ashamed of Jerusalem’s ruins.
10. Here is the diversified feeling excited by Ba¬
bylon’s fall, and it is the same that we have with
respect to the JVew Testament Babylon, Rev. xviii.
9, 19. (1.) Some shall lament the destruction of
Babylon. There is the sound of a cry, a great out¬
cry coming from Babylon, (y. 54.) lamenting this
great destruction, the voice of mourning, because
the Lord has destroyed the voice of the multitude, that
great voice of mirth, which used to be heard in Baby¬
lon, v. 55. We are told what they shall say in their
lamentations; (v. 41.) How is Sheshach taken, and
554
JEREMIAH, LI.
how are we mistaken concerning her! How is that
city surprised, and become an astonishment among
the nations, that was the praise, and glory, and ad¬
miration, of the whole earth! See how that may fall
into a general contempt, which has been universally
cried up! (2.) Yet some shall rejoice in Babylon’s
fall, not as it is the misery of their fellow-creatures,
but as it is the manifestation of the righteous judg¬
ment of God, and as it opens the way for the release
of God’s captives; upon these accounts the heaven
and the earth, and all that is in both, shall sing for
Babylon; (v. 48.) the church in heaven and the
church on earth shall give to God the glory of his
righteousness, and take notice of it with thankful¬
ness to his praise. Babylon’s ruin is Zion’s praise.
59. The word which Jeremiah the pro¬
phet commanded Seraiah the son of Ne-
riah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went
with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Baby¬
lon, in the fourth year of his reign. And
this Seraiah ivas a quiet prince. 60. So Jere¬
miah wrote in a book all the evil that should
come upon Babylon, even all these words
that are written against Babylon. 61. And
Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou com-
est to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read
all these words, 62. Then shalt thou say,
O Lord, thou hast spoken against this
place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in
it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be
desolate for ever. 63. And it shall be, when
thou hast made an end of reading this book,
that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast
it into the midst of Euphrates: 64. And
thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink,
and shall not rise from the evil that I will
bring upon her, and they shall be weary.
Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
We have been long attending the judgment of Ba¬
bylon, in this and the foregoing chapter; now here
we have the conclusion of that whole matter.
1. A copy is taken of this prophecy, it should
seem, by Jeremiah himself, for Baruch his scribe is
not mentioned here; ( v . 60.) Jeremiah wrote in a
book all these words that are here written against
Babylon. He received this notice, that he might
give it to all whom it might concent. It is of great
advantage both to the propagating, and to the per¬
petuating, of the word of God, to have it written,
and to have copies taken of the law, prophets, and
epistles.
2. It is sent to Babylon, to the captives there, by
the hand of Seraiah, who went there attendant on,
or ambassador for, king Zedekiah, in the fourth
year of his reign, v. 59. He went with Zedekiah,
or, as the margin reads it, on the behalf of Zedekiah,
into Babylon. The character given of him is ob¬
servable, That this Seraiah was a quiet prince, a
prince of rest; he was in honour and power, but not,
as most of the princes then were, hot and heady,
making parties, and heading factions, and driving
things furiously; he was of a calm temper, studied
the tilings that made for peace, endeavoured to pre¬
serve a good understanding between the king his
master and the king of Babylon, and to keep his
master from rebelling; he was no persecutor of
God’s prophets, but a moderate man. Zedekiah
was happy in the choice of such a man to be his en- I
voy to the king of Babylon, and Jeremiah might
safely intrust such a man with his errand too. Note,
It is the real honour of great men to be quiet men,
and it is the wisdom of princes to put such into
places of trust.
3. Seraiah is desired to read it to his countrymen
that were already gone into captivity ‘ When thou
shalt come to Babylon, and shalt see what a magni¬
ficent place it is, how large a city, how strong, how
rich, and how well fortified, and shalt therefore be
tempted to think, Surely it will stand for ever;”
(as the disciples, when they observed the buildings
of the temple, concluded that nothing would throw
them down but the end of the world, Matth. xxiv.
13.) “ then thou shalt read all these words to thv-
self, and thy particular friends, for their encourage¬
ment in their captivity: let them with an eye of
faitli see to the end of these threatening powers, and
comfort themselves and one another herewith.”
4. He is directed to make a solemn protestation
of the divine authority and unquestionable certainty
of that which he had read; (v. 62.) Then thou shalt
look up to God, and say, O Lord, thou hast spoken
against this /dace, to cut it off. This is like the an¬
gel’s protestation concerning the destruction of the
New Testament Babylon; These are the true say
ings of God. These words are true and faithful,
Rev. xix. 9. — xxi. 5. Though Seraiah sees Baby¬
lon flourishing, having read this prophecy, lie mast
foresee Babylon falling; and by virtue of it, must
curse its habitation, though it be taking root; (Job
v. 3. ) “ O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place,
and I believe what thou Hast spoken, that, as thou
knowest every thing, so thou canst do every thing.
Thou hast passed sentence upon Babylon, and it shall
be executed. Thou hast spoken against this j dace ,
to cut it off, and therefore we will neither envy its
pom]), nor fear its power.” When we see what this
world is, how glittering its shows are, and how flat¬
tering its proposals, let us read in the book of the
Lord that its fashion passes away, and it shall shortly
be cut off, and be desolate for ever, and we shall
learn to look upon it with a holy contempt. Ob¬
serve here, When we have been reading the word
of God, it becomes us to direct to him whose word
it is, an humbling, believing acknowledgment of the
truth, equity, and goodness, of what we have read.
5. He must then tie a stone to the book, and throw
it into the midst of the river Euphrates, as a con¬
firming sign of the things contained in it, saying,
“Thus shall Babylon sink, and not rise; for they
shall be weary, they shall perfectly succumb, as
men tired with a burthen, under the load of the evil
that I will bring upon them, which they shall never
shake off, or get from under, v. 63, 64. In the sign,
it was the stone that sunk the book, which other¬
wise would have swam, but in the thing signified, it
was rather the book that sunk the stone; it was the
divine sentence passed upon Babylon in this pro¬
phecy, that sunk that city, which seemed as firm as
a stone. The fall of the New Testament Babylon
was represented by something like this, but much
more magnificent; (Rev. xviii. 21.) A mighty angel
cast a great millstone into the sea, saying. Thus shall
Babylon fall. Those that sink under the weight
of God’s wrath and curse, sink irrecoverably. The
last words of the chapter seal up the vision and pro¬
phecy of this book; Thus far are the words of Jere¬
miah. Not that this prophecy against Babylon was
the last of his prophecies, for it was dated in the
fourth year of Zedekiah, (y. 59.) long before he
finished his testimony; but this is recorded last of his
prophecies, because it was to be last accomplished
of all his prophecies against the Gentiles, eh. xlvi.
1. And the chapter which remains is purely his¬
torical, and, as some think, was added by some
other hand
555
JEREMIAH, LII.
CHAP. LT1.
History is the best expositor of prophecy; and therefore,
for the better understanding- the prophecies of this book,
which relate to the destruction of Jerusalem and the
kingdom of Judah, we are here furnished with an account
of that sad event. It is much the same with the history
we had, 2 Kings xxiv. 25. and many of the particulars
we had before in that book, but the matter is here re¬
peated, and put together, to give light to the book of the
Lamentations , which follows next, and to serve as a key
to it. That article in the close, concerning the advance¬
ment of Jehoiachin in his captivity, which happened after
Jeremiah’s time, gives colour to their conjecture, who
suppose that this chapter was not written by Jeremiah
himself, but by some man divinely inspired among those
in captivity, for a constant memorandum to those who in
Babylon preferred Jerusalem above their chief joy. In
this chapter, we have, 1. The bad reign ofZedekiah, very
bad in regard both of sin and of punishment, v. 1..3. II.
The besieging and taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans,
v. 4 - .7. III. The severe usaije which Zedekiah and the
princes met with? v. 8.. 11. IV. The destruction of the
temple and the city, v. 12 . . 14. V. The captivity of the
people, (v. 15, 16.) and the numbers of those that were
carried away into captivity, v. 28 . . 30. VI. The carry¬
ing oft' the plunder of the temple, v. 17 . . 23. VII. The
slaughter of the priests, and some other great men, in
cold blood, v. 24 . . 27. VIII. The better days which
king Jehoiachin lived to see in the latter end of his time,
after the death of Nebuchadrezzar, v. 31 . . 34.
t. TM EDEKIAH was one and twenty
ALA years old when lie began to reign; and
he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem : and
his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daugh¬
ter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 2. And he did
that which teas evil in the eyes of the Lord,
according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
3. For through the anger of the Lord it
came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till
he had cast them out from his presence, that
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Ba¬
bylon. 4. And it came to pass, in the ninth
year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the
tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrez¬
zar king of Babylon came, he and all
his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched
against it, and built forts against it round
about. 3. So the city was besieged unto
the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 6. And
in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the
month, the famine was sore in the city, so
that there was no bread for the people of
the land. 7. Then the city was broken up,
and all the men of war fled, and went forth
out of the city by night, by the way of the
gate between the two walls, which teas by
the king’s garden ; (now the Chaldeans were
by the city round about;) and they went by
the way of the plain. 8. But the army of
the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and
overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho;
and all his army was scattered from him.
9. Then they took the king, and carried
him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah,
in the land of Hamath; where he gave
judgment upon him. 10. And the king of
Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before
his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Ju¬
dah in Riblah. 11. Then he put out the
eyes of Zedekiah ; and the king of Babylon
bound him in chains, and carried him to Ba¬
bylon, and put him in prison till the day of
his death.
This narrative begins nn higher than the begin¬
ning of the reign of Zedekiah, though there were
two captivities before, one in the fourth year of Je¬
hoiakim, the other in the first of Jec.oniah; but, pro¬
bably, it was drawn up by some of those that were
carried away with Zedekiah, as a reproach to them¬
selves for imagining that they should not go into cap¬
tivity after their brethren, with which hopes they
had long flattered themselves. We have here,
1. God’s just displeasure against Judah and Jeru¬
salem for their sin, v. 3. His anger was against
them to that degree, that he determined to cast
them out from his presence, his favourable, gracious
presence; as a father, when he is extremely angry
with an undutiful son, bids him get out of his pre¬
sence. He expelled them from that good land that
had such tokens of his presence in providential
bounty, and that holy city and temple that had such
tokens of his presence in covenant-grace and love.
Note, Those that are banished from God’s ordi¬
nances have reason to complain that they are in
some degree cast out of his presence; yet none are
cast out from God’s gracious presence, but those
that by sin have first thrown themselves cut of it.
This fruit of sin we should therefore deprecate
above any thing, as David, (Hs. li. 11.) Cast me not
away from thy presence.
2. Zedekiah’s bad conduct and management, to
which God left him, in displeasure against the peo¬
ple, and for which God punished him, in displea¬
sure against him. Zedekiah was arrived at years
of discretion when he came to the throne; he was
21 years old; (v. 1.) he was none of the worst of
the kings, (we never read of his idolatries,) yet his
character is, that he did evil in the eyes of the Lord,
for he did not do the good he should have done.
But that evil deed of his, which did in a special
manner hasten his destruction, was, his rebelling
against the king, of Babylon, which was both his
sin and his folly, and brought ruin upon his people,
not only meritoriously, but efficiently. God was
greatly displeased with him for his perfidious deal¬
ing with tiie king of Babylon; (as we find, Ezek.
xvii. 15, &c. ) and because he was angry at Judah
and Jerusalem, he put him into the hand of his own
counsels, to do that foolish thing which proved fatal
to him and his kingdom.
3. The possession which the Chaldeans at length
gained of Jerusalem, after eighteen months’ siege.
They sat down before it, and blocked it up, in the
ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, in the tenth month,
(v. 4.) and made themselves masters of it in the
elventh year in the fourth month, v. 6. In remem¬
brance of these two steps towards their ruin, while
they were in captivity, they kept a fast in the fourth
month and a fast in the tenth; (Zech. viii. 19. ) that in
the fifth month was in remembrance of the burning
of the temple, and that in the seventh of the murder
of Gedaliah. We may easily imagine, or rather
cannot imagine, what a sad time it was with Jeru¬
salem, during this year and half that it was besieg¬
ed, when all provisions were cut off from coming to
them, and they were ever and anon alarmed by the
attacks of the enemy, and, being obstinately resolved
to hold out to the last extremity, nothing remained
but a certain fearful looking for of judgment. That
which disabled them to hold out, and yet could not
prevail with them to capitulate, was, the famine in
the city; ( v . 6.) there was no bread for the people
of the land, so that the soldiers could not make
556
JEREMIAH, LII.
good their posts, but were rendered wholly unservice- :
able.: and then no wonder that the city was broken
itfi, v. 7. Walls, in such a case, will not hold
out long without men, any more than men without j
walls; nor will both together stand people in any '
stead without God and his protection.
4. The inglorious retreat of the king and his migh¬
ty men. They got out of the city by night, ( v . 7.)
and made the best of their way, I know not whither,
nor perhaps they themselves; but the king was
overtaken by the pursuers in the plains of Jericho,
and his guards dispersed, and all his army scattered
from him, v. 8. His fright was not causeless, for
where there is guilt there will be fear in time of
danger. But his flight was fruitless, for there is no \
escaping of the judgments of God; they will come
upon the sinner, and will overtake him, let him flee
where he will; (Deut. xxviii. 15.) and these judg¬
ments particularly that are here executed, were
there threatened, v. 52, 53, &c.
5. The sad doom past upon Zedekiahby the king
of Babylon, and immediately put in execution. He
treated him as a rebel, gave judgment upon him, v.
9. One cannot think of it without the utmost vex¬
ation and regret, that a king, a king of Judah, a
king of the house of David, should be arraigned as
a criminal at the bar of this heathen king. But he
humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet;
therefore God thus humbled him. Pursuant to the
sentence passed upon him by the haughty conqueror,
his sons were slain before his eyes, and all the prin¬
ces of Judah; ( v . 10.) then his eyes were put out,
and he was bound in chains, carried in triumph to
Babylon; perhaps they made sport with him as
they did with Samson when his eyes were put out;
however, he was condemned to perpetual imprison¬
ment, wearing out the remainder ot his life (I can¬
not say his days, for he saw day no more) in dark¬
ness and misery; he was kept in prison till the day
of his death, but had some honour done him at his
funeral, ch. xxxiv. 5. Jeremiah had often told him
what it would come to, but he would not take warn¬
ing when he might have prevented it.
12. Now in the fifth month, in the tenth
day of the month, (which was the nine¬
teenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon,) came Nebuzar-adan captain of
the guard, which served the king of Baby¬
lon, into Jerusalem, 13. And burnt the
house of the Lord, and the king’s house;
and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all
the houses of the great men, burnt he with
fire. 14. And all the army of the Chal¬
deans, that were with the captain of the
guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusa¬
lem round about. 15. Then Nebuzar-adan
the captain of the guard carried away cap- j
five certain of the poor of the people, and
the residue of the people that remained in
the city, and those that fell away, that fell
to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the
multitude. 16. But Nebuzar-adan the cap¬
tain of the guard left certain of the poor of
the land, for vine-dressers and for husband¬
men. 17. \lso the pillars of brass that
were in the iiouse of the Lord, and the
bases, and the brazen sea that was in the
house of the Lord, the Chaldeans brake,
and carried all the brass of them to Baby- 1
Ion. 18. The caldrons also, and the shovels,
and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the
spoons, and all the vessels of brass, where¬
with they ministered, took they away. 19.
And the basons, and the fire-pans, and the
bowls, and the caldrons, and the candle¬
sticks, and the spoons, and the cups ; that
which was of gold in gold, and that which
was of silver in silver, took the captain of
the guard away. 20. The two pillars, one
sea, and twelve brazen bulls that were under
the bases, which king Solomon had made
in the house of the Lord : the brass of all
these vessels was without weight. 21. And
concerning the pillars, the height of one pil¬
lar was eighteen cubits, and a fillet of twelve
cubits did compass it ; and the thickness
thereof was four fingers: it teas hollow. 22.
And a chapiter of brass was upon it ; and
the height of one chapiter was five cubits,
with net-work and pomegranates upon the
chapiters round about, all of brass: the se¬
cond pillar also and the pomegranates were
like unto these. 23. And there were ninety
and six pomegranates on aside; and all the
pomegranates upon the net-work were a
hundred round about.
We have here an account of the woful havock
that was made by the Chaldean army, a month
after the city was taken, under the command of
Nebuzar-adan, who was captain of the guard, or
general of the army, in this action. In the margin
he is called the chief of the slaughter-men, or execu¬
tioners; for soldiers are but slaughter-men, and Gcd
employs them as executioners of his sentence
against a sinful people. Nebuzar-adan was chief
of those soldiers, but in the execution he did, we
have reason to fear he had no eye to God, but he
served the king of Babylon and his own designs, now
that he came into Jerusalem, into the very bowels
of it, as captain of the slaughter-men there. And, 1.
He laid the temple in ashes, having first plundered
it of every thing that was valuable; he burnt the
house of the Lord, that holy and beautiful house,
where their fathers praised him, Isa. lxiv. 11. 2.
He burnt the royal palace, probably that which
Solomon built, after he had built the temple, which
was, ever since, the king’s house. 3. He burnt all
the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of
the great men, or those particularly; if any escap¬
ed, it was onlv some sorry cottages for the poor of
the land. 4. He broke doion all the walls of Jeru¬
salem, to be revenged upon them for standing in the
way of his army so long. Thus, of a defenced city
it was made a ruin, Isa. xxv. 2. 5. He carried
away many into captivity, (y. 15.) he took away
certain of 'the poor of the people, of the people in
the city, for the poor of the land, the poor of the
country, he left for vine-dressers and husbandmen.
He also carried off the residue of the people that re¬
mained in the city, that had escaped the sword and
famine; and the deserters, such as he thought fit, or
rather such as God thought fit; for he had already
determined some for the pestilence, some for the
sword, some for famine, and some for captivity, ch.
xv. 2.
But nothing is more particularly and largely re¬
lated here than the carrying away of the app'urtc-
557
JEREMIAH, Lll.
nances of the temple. All that were of great value
were carried away before, the vessels of silver and
gold, yet some of that sort remained, which were
now carried away, v. 19. But most of the temple-
prey that was now seized, was of brass; which, be¬
ing of less value, was carried off last. When the
gold was gone, the brass soon went after, because
the people repented not, according to Jeremiah’s
prediction, ch. xxvii. 19, 8cc. When the walls of
the city were demolished, the pillars of the temple
were pulled down too, and both in token that God,
who was the Strength and Stay both of their civil
and their ecclesiastical government, was departed
from them. No walls can protect nor pillars
sustain those, from whom God withdraws. These
pillars, of the temple were not for support, (for
there was nothing built upon them,) but for orna¬
ment and significancy. They were called Jachin,
He will establish; and Boat, In him is strength; so
that the breaking of these signified that God would
nojonger establish his house, nor be the Strength of
it. These pillars are here very particularly de¬
scribed, ( v . 21. — 23. from 1 Kings vii. 15.) that the
extraordinary beauty and stateliness of them may af¬
fect us the more with the demolishing of them. All
the vessels that belonged to the brazen altar were
carried away; for the iniquity of Jerusalem, like that
uf Eli’s house, was not to be purged by sacrifice or
offering, 1 Sam. iii. 14. It is said, (v. 2C. ) The
brass of all these z’esse/s was without weight; so it
was in the making of them, (1 Kings vii. 47.) the
weight of the brass was not then found out, (2
Chron. iv. 18.)andsoitwasinthedestroyingofthem.
Those that made great spoil of them did not stand to
weigh them, as purchasers do, for whatever they
weighed it was all their own.
24. And the captain of the guard took
Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the
second priest, and the three keepers of the
door: 25. He took also out of the city a
eunuch which had the charge of the men of
war ; and seven men of them that were near
the king’s person, which were found in the
city ; and the principal scribe of the host, who
mustered the people of the land; and three¬
score men of the people of the land, that were
found in the midst of the city. 26. So Ne-
buzar-adan the captain of the guard took
them, and brought them to the king of Ba¬
bylon to Riblah. 27. And the king of Baby¬
lon smote them, and put them to death in
Riblah, in the land of Hamath. Thus J udah
wras carried away captive out of his own
land. 23. This is the people whom Nebu¬
chadrezzar carried away captive : In the
seventh year, three thousand Jews and three I
and twenty: 29. In the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive
from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and
two persons: 30. In the three and twenti¬
eth year of Nabuchadrezzar, Nebuzar-adan
the captain of the guard carried away cap¬
tive of the Jews seven hundred forty and
live persons: all the persons were four thou¬
sand and six hundred.
We have here a very melancholy account,
1. Of the slaughter of some great men, in cold
Dlooa, at Riblah, seventy-two in number, (accord¬
ing to the number of the elders of Israel, Numb,
xi. 26, 27. ) so they are computed, 2 Kings xxv. 18, 19.
We read there of five out of the temple, two out of
the city, five out of the court, and sixty out of the
country. The account here agrees with that, ex¬
cept in one article; there, it is said that there were
five, here, there were seven, of those that were
near the king; which Dr. Lightfoot reconciles thus,
that he took away seven of those that were near the
king, but two of them were Jeremiah himself and
Ebed-melech, who were both discharged, as we have
read before, so that there were only five of them put
to death, and so the number was reduced to seventy-
two; some of all ranks, for they had all corrupted
their way; and it is probable that such were made
examples of, as had been most forward to excite
and promote the rebellion against the king of Baby¬
lon. Seraiah the chief priest is put first, whose
sacred character could not exempt him from this
stroke; how should it, when he himself had profan¬
ed it by sin? Seraiah the prince was a quiet prince,
{ch. lxi. 59.) but perhaps Seraiah the priest was not
so, but unquiet and turbulent, by which he had
made himself obnoxious to the king of Babylon.
The leaders of this people had caused them to err,
and now they are in a particular manner made
monuments of divine justice.
2. Of the captivity cf the rest. Come, and see
how Judah was carried away captive out of his
own land, ( v . 27.) and how it spued them out as it
spued out the Canaanites that went before them,
which God had told them it would certainly do, if
they trod in their steps, and copied out their abomi¬
nations, Lev. xviii. 28. Now here is an account,
(1.) Of two captivities which we had an account
of before, one in the seventh year of Nebuchadnez¬
zar, the same with that which is said to be in his
eighth year, (2 Kings xxiv. 12.) another in his eigh¬
teenth year, the same with that which is said (x\
12. ) to be in his nineteenth year. But the sums
here are very small, in comparison with what we
find expressed concerning the former, (2 Kings
xxiv. 14, 16. ) when there was 18,000 carried captive,
whereas here they are said to be 3023; small too in
comparison with what we may reasonably suppose
concerning the latter; for when all the residue of
the people were carried away, (v. 15.) one would
think there should be more than 832 souls; there¬
fore Dr. Lightfoot conjectures that these accounts
being joined to the story of the putting to death of
the great men at Riblah, all that are here said to be
carried away were put to death as rebels.
(1.) Of a third captivity, not mentioned before,
which was in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrez¬
zar, four years after the destruction of Jerusalem;
(v. 30. ) then Nebuzar-adan came, and carried away
745 Jews; it is probable that this was done in re¬
venge of the murder of Gedaliah, which was
another rebellion against the king of Babylon, and
that those who were now taken, were aiders and
abettors of Ishmael in that murder, and were not
only carried away, but put to death, for it; yet this
is uncertain. If this be the sum total of the cap- *
tives, ( All the persons were 4600, v. 30. ) we may see
how strangely they were reduced from what they
had been, and may wonder as much how they came
to be so numerous again, as afterward we find them;
for it should seem that, as at first in Egypt, so again
in Babylon, the Lord made them fruitful in the land
of their affliction, and the more they were oppressed
the more they multiplied. And the truth is, this
people were often miracles both of judgment and
mercy.
3 1 . And it came to pass, in the seven and
thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin
king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the
JEREMIAH, LIT.
658
five and twentieth day of the month, that
Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in th q first
year of his reign, lifted up the head ol Je-
hoiachin king of Judah, and brought him
forth out of prison, 32. And spake kindly
unto him, and set his throne above the throne
of the kings that were with him in Babylon,
33. And changed his prison-garments; and
he did continually eat bread before him all
the days of his life. 34. And for his diet,
there was a continual diet given him of the
king of Babylon, every day a portion, until
the day of his death, all the days of his
life.
This passage of story concerning the reviving
which king Jehoiachin had in his bondage, we had
likewise before, 2 Kings xxv. 27. — 30. Only there
it is said to be done on the twenty-seventh day of the
twelfth month, here on the twenty-fifth ; but in a
thing of this nature, two days make a very slight
difference in the account. It is probable that the
orders were given for his release on the twenty-fifth
day, but that he was not presented to the king till
the twenty -seventh. We may observe in this story,
1. That new lords make new laws. Nebuchad¬
rezzar had long kept this unhappy prince in prison;
and his son, though well-affected to the prisoner,
could not procure him any favour, not one smile,
from his father; any more than Jonathan could for
David from his father ; but when the old peevish man
was dead, his son countenanced Jehoiachin, and made
him a favourite. It is common for chi'dren (o undo
what their fathers have done; it were well if it were
always as much for the better as this here.
2. That the world we live in is a changing world.
Jehoiachin, in his beginning, fell from a throne into
a prison, but here he is advanced again to a throne
of state, ( v . 32.) though not to a throne of power.
\s, before, the robes were changed into prison-gar¬
ments, so, now, they were converted into robes
again. Such chequer-work is this world; prosperity
and adversity are set the one over against the other,
that we may learn to rejoice as though we rejoiced
not, and weep as though we wept not.
3. That though the night of affliction be very long,
yet we must not despair but that the day may dawn
at last. Jehoiachin was thirty-seven years a prisoner;
in confinement, in contempt, ever since he was
eighteen years old, in which time we may suppose
him so inured to captivity, that he had forgotten the
sweets of liberty; or rather, that after so long an
imprisonment it would be doubly welcome to him.
Let those whose afflictions have been lengthened
out, encourage themselves with this instance; the
vision will at the end speak comfortably, and there¬
fore wait for it. I) mn spiro spero — While there is
life, there is hope. JVon si male nunc, et olim sic erit
— Though now we suffer, we shall not always suffer.
4. That God can make his people to find favour
in the eyes of those that are their oppressors, and
unaccountably turn their hearts to pity them, ac¬
cording to that word, (Ps. cvi. 46. ) Me made them
to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.
He can bring those that have spoken roughly to
speak kindly, and those to feed his people that have
fed upon them. Those therefore that are under
oppression will find that it is not in vain to hope, and
quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord. There¬
fore our times are in God’s hand, because the hearts
of all we deal with are so.
And now, upon the whole matter, comparing the
prophecy and the history of this book together, we
may learn, in general, ( 1. ) That it is no new thing for
churches and persons highly dignified to degenerate,
and become very corrupt. (2.) That iniquity tends
to the ruin of those that harbour it; and if it be not
repented of and forsaken, will certainly end in their
ruin. (3.) That external professions and privileges
will not only not amount to an excuse for sin, and
an exemption from rain, but will be a very great
aggravation of both. (4.) That no word of God
shall fall to the ground, but the event will fully an¬
swer the prediction; and the unbelief of man shall
not make God’s threatenings, any more than his
promises, of no effect. The justice and truth of
God are here written in bloody characters, for the
conviction or the confusion of all those that make a
jest of his threatenings. Let them not be deceived,
God is not mocked.
AN
EXPOSITION,
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
OF THE
LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH.
Since what Solomon says, though contrary to the common opinion of the world, is certainly true, that Sor¬
row is better than laughter, and, It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting,
we should come to the reading and consideration of the melancholy chapters of this book, not only willingly,
but with an expectation to edify ourselves by them; which that we may do, we must compose ourselves
to a holy sadness, and resolve to weep with the weeping prophet. Let us consider,
I. The title of this book; in the Hebrew it has none, but is called, (as the books of Moses are,) from the
first word, Ecah — How; but the Jewish commentators call it, as the Greeks do, and we from them,
Kinoth — Lamentations. As we have sacred odes or songs of joy, so have we sacred elegies or songs of
lamentation; such variety of methods has Infinite Wisdom taken to work upon us, and move our affec¬
tions, and so soften our hearts, and make them susceptible of the impressions of divine truths, as the
wax of the seal. We have not only fiified unto you, but have mourned likewise, Matth. xi. 17.
II. The penman of this book; it was Jeremiah the prophet, who is here Jeremiah the poet, and votes sig¬
nifies both ; therefore this book is fitly adjoined to the book of his prophecy, and is as an appendix to it.
We had there at large the predictions of the desolations of Judah and Jerusalem, and then the history
of them, to show how punctually the predictions were accomplished, for the confirming of our faith :
now here we have the expressions of his sorrow upon occasion of them, to show that he was very sin¬
cere in the protestations he had often made, that he did not desire the woful day, but that, on the con¬
trary, the prospect of it filled him with bitterness. When he saw these calamities at a distance, he
wished his head waters, and his eyes fountains of tears; and when they came, he made it to appear
that he did not dissemble in that wish, and that he was far from being disaffected to his country,
which was the crime his enemies charged him with. Though his country had been very unkind to him,
and though the ruin of it was both a proof that he was a true prophet, and a punishment of them for
prosecuting him as a false prophet, which would have tempted him to rejoice in it, yet he sadly lamented
it, and herein showed a better temper than that which Jonah was of with respect to Nineveh.
III. The occasion of these Lamentations was the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldean
army, and the dissolution of the Jewish state both civil and ecclesiastical thereby. Some of the Rab¬
bins will have these to be the Lamentations which Jeremiah penned upon occasion of the death of Jo-
siah, which are mentioned, 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. But though it is true that that opened the door to all
the following calamities, yet these Lamentations seem to be penned in the sight, not in the ybresight, of
those calamities; when they were already come, not when they were at a distance; and there is nothing
of Josiah in them, and his praise, as was, no question, in the Lamentations for him. No, it is Jerusa¬
lem’s funeral that this is an elegy upon. Others of them will have these Lamentations to be contained
in the roll which Baruch wrote from Jeremiah’s mouth, and which Jehoiakim burnt, and they suggest,
that at first there were in it only the 1st, 2d, and 4th chapters, but that the 3d and 5th were the many
like words that were afterward added; but this is a groundless fancy; that roll is expressly said to be a
repetition and summary of the prophet’s sermons, Jer. xxxvi. 2.
IV. The composition of it: it is not only poetical, but alphabetical, all except the 5th chapter, as some of
David’s psalms are; each verse begins with a several letter in the order of the Hebrew alphabet, the
1st aleph, the 2nd beth, &c. but the third chapter is a triple alphabet, the three first beginning with
aleph, the three next with beth, &c. which was a help to memory, (it being designed that these mourn¬
ful ditties should be got by heart,) and was an elegance in writing then valued, and therefore not now to
be despised. They observe, that in the 2d, 3d, and 4th chapters, the letter fie is put before ajin, which
in all the Hebrew alphabets follows it; for a reason of which Dr. Lightfoot offers this conjecture, That
the letter ajin, which is the numeral letter for LXX., was thus, by being displaced, made remarkable,
to put them in mind of the seventy years, at the end of which God would turn again their captivity.
V. The use of it: of great use, no doubt, it was to the pious Jews in their sufferings, furnishing them with
spiritual language to express their natural grief by; helping to preserve the lively remembrance of Zion
among them, and their children that never saw it, when they were in Babylon; directing their tears
into the right channel; for they are here taught to mourn for sin, and mourn to God; and withal en¬
couraging their hopes, that God would yet return, and have merev upon them; and it is of use to us, to
affect us with godly sorrow for the calamities of the church of God, as becomes those that are living
members of it, and are resolved to take our lot with it.
560
LAMENTATIONS, I.
.CHAP. I.
We have here the first alphabet of this lamentation, twenty-
two stanzas, in which the miseries of Jerusalem are bit¬
terly bewailed, and her present deplorable condition
aggravated by comparing it with her former prosperous
state; and, all along, sin is acknowledged and complained
of as the procuring cause of all these miseries; and God
is appealed to for justice against their enemies, and ap¬
plied to for compassion toward them. The chapter is all
of a piece, and the several remonstrances are interwoven;
but here is, I. A complaint made to God of their cala¬
mities, and his compassionate consideration desired, v.
I. .11. II. The same complaint made to their friends,
and their compassionate consideration desired, v. 12..
17. III. An appeal to God and his righteousness con¬
cerning it, (v. 18.. 22.) in which he is justified in their
affliction, and is humbly solicited to justify himself in
their deliverance.
1 . S | OW doth the city sit solitary that
XX was full of people ! how is she be¬
come as a widow ! she that ivas great among
the nations, and princess among the pro¬
vinces, how is she become tributary ! 2.
She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears
are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she
hath none to comfort her: all her friends
have dealt treacherously with her ; they are
become her enemies. 3. Judah is gone into
captivity, because of affliction, and because
of great servitude ; she dwelleth among the
heathen, she findeth no rest : all her perse¬
cutors overtook her between the straits. 4.
The ways of Zion do mourn, because none
come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are
desolate ; her priests sigh, her virgins are af¬
flicted, and she is in bitterness. 5. Her ad¬
versaries are the chief, her enemies prosper;
for the Lord hath afflicted her for the mul¬
titude of her transgressions : her children
are gone into captivity before the enemy.
6. And from the daughter of Zion all her
beauty is departed : her princes are become
like harts that find no pasture ; and they are
gone without strength before the pursuer.
7. Jerusalem remembered in the days of
her affliction, and of her miseries, all her
pleasant things that she had in the days of
old, when her people fell into the hand of
the enemy, and none did help her : the ad¬
versaries saw her, and did mock at her sab¬
baths. 3. Jerusalem hath grievously sin¬
ned ; therefore she is removed : all that
honoured her despise her, because they have
seen her nakedness : yea, she sigheth, and
turneth backward. 9. Her filthiness is in
her skirts; she remembereth not her last
end ; therefore she came down wonderfully:
she had no comforter. O Lord, behold my
affliction, for the enemy hath magnified him¬
self. 10. The adversary hath spread out
his hand upon all her pleasant things: for
she hath seen that the heathen entered into
her sanctuary, whom thou didst command
that they should not enter into thy congre¬
gation. 11. All her people sigh, they seek
bread ; they have given their pleasant things
for meat to relieve the soul : see, O Lord,
and consider; for 1 am become vile.
Those that have any disposition to weep with them
that weep, one would think, should scarcelv be able
to refrain from tears at the reading these verses, so
very pathetic are the lamentations here.
I. The miseries of Jerusalem are here complained
of as very pressing, and by many circumstances
very much aggravated. Let us take a view cf
these miseries.
1. As to their civil state.
(1.) A city that was populous, is now depopulat¬
ed, v. 1. It is spoken of by way of wonder; Who
would have thought that ever it should come to this!
Or by way of inquiry; What is it that has brought
it to this? Or by way of lamentation; Alas, alas, (as
Rev. xviii. 10, 16, 19.) how doth the city sit solitary,
that was full of people! She was full of her own
people that replenished her, and full cf the people
of other nations that resorted to her, with whom
she had both profitable commerce and pleasant con¬
verse: but now her own people are carried into
captivity, and strangers make no court to her; she
sits solitary. The chief places of the city are not
now, as they used to be, places of concourse,
where Wisdom cried; (Prov. i. 20, 21.) and justlv
are they left unfrequented, because Wisdom’s cry
there was not heard. Note, Those that are ever so
much increased, God can soon diminish. How is
she become as a widow! Her king that was, or
should have been, as a husband to her, is cut off,
and gone; her God is departed from her, and has
given her a bill of divorce; she is emptied of her
children, is solitary and sorrowful as a widow. Let
no family, no state, not Jerusalem, no, nor Babylon
herself, be secure, and say, I sit as a rjueen, and
shall never sit as a widow, Isa. xlvii. 8. Rev. xviii. 7.
(2.) A city that had dominion, is now in subjec¬
tion. She had been great among the nations,
greatly loved by some, and greatly feared by others,
and greatly observed and obeyed by both; some
made her presents, and others paid her taxes; so
that she was really princess among the provinces,
and every sheaf bowed to hers, even the princes of
the people entreated her favour: but now the tables
are turned, she has not only lost her friends, and
sits solitary, but has lost her freedom too, and sits
tributary; she paid tribute to Egypt first, and then
to Babylon. Note, Sin brings a people not only into
solitude but into slavery.
(3.) A city that usefl to be full of mirth, is now
become melancholy, and upon all accounts full of
grief. Jerusalem had been a joyous city, whither
the tribes went up on purpose to rejoice before the
Lord; she was the joy of the whole earth, but now
she weeps sore, her laughter is turned into mourn¬
ing, her solemn feasts are all gone; she weeps in
the night, as true mounters do who weep in secret,
in silence and solitude; in the night, when others
compose themselves to rest, her thoughts are most
intent upon her troubles, and grief then plays the
tyrant. What the prophet’s head was for her,
when she regarded it not, now her head is — as wa¬
ters, and her eyes fountains of tears, so that she
weeps day and night, (Jer. ix. 1.) her tears are con¬
tinually on her cheeks. Though notiiing dries away
sooner than a tear, yet fresh griefs extort fresh
tears, so that her cheeks are never free from them.
Note, There is nothing more commonlv seen under
the sun, than the tears of the oppressed, with whom
the clouds return after the rain, Eccl. iv. 1.
(4. ) Those that were separated from the heathen,
now dwell among the heathen; those that were a
peculiar people, are now a mingled people; (v. 3.)
Judah is gone into captivity, out of her own land
561
LAMENTATIONS, 1.
into tin; land of her enemies, and there she abides,
and is likely to abide, among t(iose that are aliens
to God and the covenants of promise, with whom
she Jindeth no rest, no satisfaction of mind, nor any
settlement of abode, but is continually hurried from
place to place at the will of the victorious, im¬
perious tyrants. And again, (y. 5.) Her children
nre gone into captivity before the enemy; they that
were to have been the seed of the next generation,
are carried off ; so that the land that is no w desolate,
is likely to be still desolate and lost for want of heirs.
Those that dwell among their own people, and that
t free people, and in their own land, would be more
thankful for the mercies they thereby enjoy, if they
would but consider the miseries of those that are
forced into strange countries.
(5.) Those that used in their wars to conquer,
are now conquered and triumphed over; All her
persecutors overtook her between the straits; (v. 3.)
they gained all possible advantages against her, so
that her people unavoidably fell into the hand o f the
enemy, for there was no way to escape, ( v . 7.) they
were hemmed in on every side, and which way so¬
ever they attempted to flee, they found themselves
embarrassed; and when they made the best of their
way, they could make nothing of it, but were over¬
taken and overcome; so that every where her ad¬
versaries are the chief, and her enemies prosper; (xi.
5.) which way soever their sword turns, they get
the better. Such straits do men bring themselves
into by sin! If we allow that which is our greatest
adversary and enemy to have dominion over us,
and to be chief in us, justly will our other enemies
Je suffered to have dominion over us.
(6.) Those that had been not only a distinguished
but a dignified people, on whom God had put honour,
and to whom all their neighbours had paid respect,
are now brought into contempt; (x>. 8.) All that
honoured her before, despise her; those that courted
an alliance with her, now value it not; those that
caressed her when she was in pomp and prosperity,
slight her now that she is in distress, because they
have seen her nakedness. By the prevalency of the
enemies against her they perceive her weakness,
and that she is not so strong a people as they thought
she had been; and by the prevalency of God’s
judgments against her they perceive her wicked¬
ness, which now comes to light, and is every where
talked of. Now it appears how they have vilified
themselves by their sins; the enemies magnify them¬
selves against them, ( v . 9.) they trample upon
them, and insult over them, and in their eyes they
are become vile; the tail of the nations, though
once they were the head. Note, Sin is the reproach
of any people.
(J. ) Those that lived in a fruitful land were
ready to perish, and many of them did perish, for
want of necessary food; (x>. 11.) All her people sigh
in despondency and despair, they are ready to faint
away, their spirits fail, and therefore they sigh, for
they seek bread, and seek it in vain. They were
brought at last to that extremity, that there was no
bread for the people of the land, (Jer. lii. 6.) and in
their captivity they had much ado to get bread, ch.
y. 6. They have given their pleasant things, their
jewels and pictures, and all the furniture of their
closets and cabinets, which they used to please
themselves with looking upon, they have sold these,
to buy bread for themselves and their families, have
parted with them for meat to relieve the soul, or,
as the margin is, to make the soul come again, when
they were ready to faint away. They desired no
other cordial than meat. All that a man has ;uill
he give for life, and for bread which is the staff of
life. Let those that abound in pleasant tilings, not
be proud of them, or fond of them, for the time may
come w'.ien they may be glad to let them go for nc-
Vol. iv. — 4 B
cessary things. And let those that have competent
food to relieve their soul, be content with it, and
thankful for it, though they have not pleasant
things.
2. We have here an account of their miseries in
their ecclesiastical state, the ruin of their sacred in¬
terest, which was much more to be lamented than
that of their secular concerns.
(1.) Their religious feasts were no more observed,
no more frequented; (x\ 4.) The mays of Zion do
mourn, they look melancholy, overgrown with grass
and weeds. It used to be a pleasant diversion to
see people continually passing and repassing in the
high way that led to the temple, but now you may
stand there long enough, and see nobody stir, for
none came to the solemn feasts, a full end is put. to
them by the destruction of that which was the city
of our solemnities, Isa. xxxiii. 20. The solemn
feasts had been neglected and profaned, (Isa. i. 11,
12.) and therefore justly is an end now put to them.
But when thus the ways of Zion are made to mourn,
all the sons of Zion cannot but mourn with them.
It is very grievous to good men to see religious as¬
semblies broken up and scattered, and those re¬
strained from them, that would gladly attend them.
And as the ways of Zion mourned, so the gates of
Zion, in which the faithful worshippers used to
meet, are desolate, for there is none to meet in them.
Time was when the Lord loved the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob, but now he
has forsaken them, and is provoked to withdraw
from them, and therefore it cannot but fare with
them as it did with the temple when Christ quitted
it. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate,
Matth. xxiii. 38.
(2.) Their religious persons were quite disabled
to perform their wonted services, were quite dispi¬
rited; Her priests sigh for the desolations of the
temple, their songs are turned into sighs; they sigh,
for they have nothing to do, and therefore there is
nothing to be had; they sigh, as the people, [y. 11.)
for want of bread, because the offerings of the Lord,
which were their livelihood, failed. It is time to
sigh when the priests, the Lord’s ministers, sigh.
Her virgins also, that used, with their music and
dancing, to grace the solemnities of their feasts, are
afflicted and in heaviness. Notice is taken.of their
service in the day of Zion’s prosperity, (Ps. lxviii.
25. Among them were the damsels playing with
timbrels ,) and therefore notice is taken of the failing
of it now. Her virgins arc afflicted, and therefore
she is in bitterness; all the inhabitants of Zion are
so, whose character it is, that they are sorrowful
for the solemn assembly, and that to them the re
proach of it is a burthen, Zeph. iii. 18.
(3.) Their religious places were profaned; (x>
10.) The heathen entered into her sanctuary, into
the temple itself, into which no Israelite was per¬
mitted to enter, though ever so reverently and de¬
voutly, but the priests only. 'The stranger that
comes nigh, even to worship there, shall be put to
death. Thither the heathen now crowd rudely in,
not to worship, but to plunder. God had com¬
manded that the heathen should not so much as en¬
ter into the congregation, nor be incorporated with
the people of the Jews; (Deut. xxiii. 3.) yet now
they enterinto the sanctuary without control. Note,
Nothing is more grievous to those who’have a true
concern for the glory of God, nor is more lamented,
than the violation of God’s jaws, and the contempt
they see put upon sacred things. What the enemy
did wickedly in the sanctuary, was complained of,
Ps. lxxiv. 3, 4.
(4.) Their religious utensils, and all the rich
things with which the temple was adorned and
beautified, and which were made use of in the wor¬
ship of God, were made a prey to the enemy;
562
LAMENTATIONS, 1.
( v . 10.) The adversary has spread out his hand upon
all her fileasant things, has grasped them all, seized
them all, for himself. What these pleasant things
are, we may learn from Isa. lxiv. 11. where, to the
complaint of the burning of the temple, it is added, All
cur pleasant things are laid waste; the ark and the
altar, and all the other tokens of God’s presence
with them, these were their pleasant things above
any other things, and these were now broken to
pieces, and carried away. Thus from the daughter
of Zion all her beauty is departed, v. 6. The beau¬
ty of holiness was the beauty of the daughter of
Zion; when the temple, that holy and beautiful
house, was destroyed, her beauty was gone; that
was the breaking of the staff of beauty, the taking
away of the pledges and seals of the covenant,
Zech. xi. 10.
(5.) Their religious days were made a jest of; ( v .
7. ) The adversaries saw her, and did mock at her
sabbaths. They laughed at them for their observ¬
ing of one day in seven, as a day of rest from worldly
business. Juvenal, a heathen poet, ridicules the
Jews in his time for losing a seventh part of their
time;
- Cui septima qutpque fuit lux
Ignava et vilce partam non attigit ullam —
They keep their sabbaths to their cost,
For thus one day in seven is lost;
whereas sabbaths, if they be sanctified as they
ought to be, will turn to a better account than all
the days of the week besides. And whereas the
Jews professed that they did it in obedience to their
God, and to his honour, their adversaries asked
them, “ What do you get by it now? What profit
have you in keeping the ordinances of your God,
who now deserts you in your distress?” Note, It is
a very great trouble to all that love God, to hear
his ordinances mocked at, and particularly his sab¬
baths. Zion calls them her sabbaths, for the sab¬
bath was made for men; they are his institutions,
but they are her privileges; and the contempt put
upon sabbaths all the sons of Zion take to them¬
selves, and lay to heart accordingly; nor will they
look upon sabbaths, or any other divine ordinances,
as less honourable, nor value them less for their be¬
ing mocked at.
(6.) That which greatly aggravated all these
grievances, was, that her present state was just the
reverse of what it had been once; ( v . 7.) Now, in
the days of affliction and misery, when every thing
was black and dismal, she remembers all her plea¬
sant things that she had in the days of old, and now
knows how to value them better than formerly,
when she had the full enjoyment of them. God of¬
ten makes us know the worth of mercies by the
want of them : and adversity is most hardly borne
by those that are fallen into it from the height of
prosperity. This cut David to the heart, when he
was banished from God’s ordinances, that he could
remember when he went with the multitude to the
house of God, Ps. xlii. 4.
II. The sins of Jerusalem are here complained
of as the procuring, provoking cause of all these
calamities. Whoever are the instruments, God is
the Author, of all these troubles; it is the Lord that
has afflicted her, (y. 5. ) and he has done it as a
righteous Judge, for she has sinned.
1. Her sins arc for number numberless. Are her
troubles many? Her sins are many more. It is for
the multitude of her transgressions that the Lord
has afflicted her. See Jer. xxx. 14. When the
transgressions of a people are multiplied, we cannot
say, as Job does, in his own case, that wounds are
multiplied without cause, Job ix. 17.
2. They are for nature exceeding heinous; y. 8.)
Jerusalem has grievously sinned; has sinned sin, so
the word is; sinned wilfully, deliberately; ha? sin¬
ned that sin, which of all others is the abominable
thing that the Lord hates, the sin of idolatry. . The
sins of Jerusalem, that makes such a profession, and
enjoys such privileges, are of all others the mos*
grievous sins. She has sinned grievously, (v. 8.)
and therefore (y. 9.) she came down wonderfully.
Note, Grievous sins bring wondrous ruin; there are
some workers of iniquity, to whom there is a
strange punishment, Job xxxi. 3.
3. They are such sins as may plainly be read in the
punishment. (1.) They have been very oppressive,
and therefore are justly oppressed; (v. 3.) Judah
is gone into captivity, and it is because of affliction
and great servitude, because the rich among them
afflicted the poor, and made them serve with rigour,
and particularly (as the Chaldee paraphrases it,)
because they had oppressed their Hebrew servants,
which is charged upon them, Jer. xxxiv. 11. Op¬
pression was one of their crying sins, (Jer. vi. 6, 7.)
and it is a sin that cries loud. (2.) They have
made themselves vile, and therefore are justly vili¬
fied. They all despise her, (y. 8.) for her filthiness
is in her skirts; it appears upon her garments, that
she has rolled them in the mire of sin. None can
stain our glory, if we did not stain it ourselves. (3.)
They have been very secure, and therefore are
justly surprised with this ruin; (v. 9.) She remem¬
bers not her last end; she did not take the warning
that was given her, to consider her latter end, to
consider what would be the end of such wicked
courses as she took, and therefore she came down
wonderfully, in an astonishing manner, that she
might be made to feel what she would not fear;
therefore God shall make their plagues wonderful.
III. Jerusalem’s friends are here complained of
as false and faint-hearted, and very unkind ; They
have all dealt treacherously with her, {v. 2.) so that,
in effect, they are become her enemies. Her deceiv¬
ers have created as much vexation as her destroy¬
ers. The staff that breaks under us, may do us as
great a mischief as the staff that beats us, Ezek.
xxix. 6, 7. Her princes, that should have protect¬
ed her, have not courage enough to make head
against the enemy for their own preservation; they
are like harts, that, upon the first alarm, betake
themselves to flight, and make no resistance; nay,
they are like harts that are famished for want of
pasture, and therefore are gone without strength
before the pursuer, and, having no strength foi
flight, are soon run down, and made a prey of. Her
neighbours are unneighbourly, for, 1. There is none
to help her; [y. 7.) either they could not, or they
would not; nay, 2. She has no comforter, none to
sympathize with her, or suggest any thing to alle¬
viate her griefs; (v. 7, 9. ) like Job’s friends, they
saw it was to no purpose, her grief was so great;
and miserable comforters were they all in such a
case.
IV. Jerusalem’s God is here complained to, con¬
cerning all these things, and all is referred to his
compassionate consideration; (v. 9. ) “ O Lord, be¬
hold my affliction, and take cognizance of it;” and,
(v. 11.) “See, O Lord, and consider, take ordei
about it.” Note, The only way to make ourselves
easy under our burthens, is, to cast them upon God
first, and leave it to him to do with us as seemeth
him good.
1 2. Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass
by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow
like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me,
wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the
day of his fierce anger. 13. From above
hath he sent fire into my bones, and it pre¬
vailed! against them:, he hath spread a net
563
LAMENTATIONS, I.
for my feet; he hath turned me back; he
hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
14. The yoke of my transgressions is
bound by his hand ; they are wreathed, and
come up upon my neck; he hath made my
strength to fall ; the Lord hath delivered me
into their hands, from whom I am not able to
rise up. 15. The Lord hath trodden under
foot all my mighty men in the midst of me;
he hath called an assembly against me to
crush my young men : the Lord hath trod¬
den the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in
a wine-press. 16. For these things I weep :
mine eye, mine eye runneth down with wa¬
ter, because the comforter that should relieve
my soul is far’ from me ; my children are
desolate, because the enemy prevailed. 1 7.
Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is
none to comfort her: the Lord hath com¬
manded concerning Jacob, that his adver¬
saries should be round about him : Jerusa¬
lem is as a menstruous woman among them.
18. The Lord is righteous; for I have re¬
belled against his commandment : hear, I
pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow;
my virgins and my young men are gone into
captivity. 19. I called for my lovers, but
they deceived me; my priests and mine
elders gave up the ghost in the city, while
they sought their meat, to relieve their souls.
20. Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my bowels are troubled : my heart is turned
within me; for I have grievously rebelled:
abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there
is as death. 21. They have heard that I
sigh; there is none to comfort me: all mine
enemies have heard of my trouble; they are
glad that thou hast done it: thou wilt bring
the day that thou hast called, and they shall
be like unto me. 22. Let all their wicked¬
ness Come before thee; and do unto them
as thou hast done unto me for all my trans¬
gressions : for my sighs are many, and my
heart is faint.
The complaints here tire, for substance, the same
with those in the foregoing part of the chapter; but,
in these verses, tire prophet, in the name of the
lamenting church, does more particularly acknow¬
ledge the hand of God in these calamities, and the
righteousness of his hand.
1. The church in distress here magnifies her
affliction; and yet no more than there was cause for;
her groaning was not heavier than her strokes. She
appeals to all spectators; See if there be any sorrow
like unto my sorrow, v. 12. This might, perhaps,
be truly said of Jerusalem’s griefs; but we are apt
to apply it too sensibly to ourselves when we are in
trouble, an.l more than there is cause for. Because
we feel most from our own burthen, and cannot be
persuaded to reconcile ourselves to it, we are ready
to cry out, Surely, never was sorrow like unto our
sorrow; whereas, if our troubles were to be thrown
into a common stock with those of others, and then
an equal dividend made, share and share alike |
rather than stand to that, we should each of us say,
‘ ‘ Pray, give me my own again. ”
2. She here looks beyond the instruments to the
Author of her troubles, and owns them all to be di¬
rected, determined, and disposed of, by him; “It is
the Lord that has afflicted me, and he has afflicted
me because he is angry with me; the greatness of
his displeasure may be measured by the greatness
of my distress; it is in the day of his fierce anger,”
v. 12. Afflictions cannot but be very much our
griefs, when we see them arising from God’s wrath ;
so the church does here. (1.) She is as one in a
fever, and the fever is of God’s sending; He has sent
fre into my bones, (y. 13.) preternatural heat,
which prevails against them, so that they are burnt
like a hearth, (Ps. cii. 3.) pained and wasted, and
dried away. (2.) She is as one in a net, which the
more he struggles to get out of, the more he is en¬
tangled in, and this net is of God’s spreading: “The
enemies could not have succeeded in their stra¬
tagems, had not God spread a net for my feet.” (3.)
She is as one in a wilderness, whose way is embar¬
rassed, solitary, and tiresome; “He has turned me
back, that I cannot go on, has made me desolate,
that I have nothing to support me with, but am faint
all the day.” (4.) She is as one in a yoke, not yoked
for service, but for penance, tied neck and heels
together; (v. 14.) The yoke of my transgressions is
bound by his hand. Observe, We never are en¬
tangled in any yoke but what is framed out of our
own transgressions. The sinner is ho/den with the
cords of his own sins, Prov. v. 22. The yoke of
Christ’s commands is an easy yoke, (Matth. xi. 30.)
but that of our own transgressions is a heavy one,
God is said to bind this yoke, when he charges guilt
upon us, and brings us into those inward and out¬
ward troubles which our sins have deserved; when
conscience, as his deputy, binds us over to his judg¬
ment, then the yoke is bound and wreathed by the
hand of his justice, and nothing but the hand of his
pardoning mercy will unbind it. (5.) She is as one
in the dirt, and he it is that has trodden under foot
all her mighty men, that has disabled them to stand,
and overthrown them by one judgment after an¬
other, and so left them to be trampled upon by their
proud conquerors, i>. 15. Nay, she is as one in a wine¬
press, not only trodden down, but trodden to pieces,
crushed as grapes in the wine-press of God’s wrath,
and her blood pressed out as wine, and it is God that
has thus trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah.
(6.) She is in the hand of her enemies, and it is the
Lord that has delivered her into their hands; (y.
14.) He has made my strength to fall, so that lam
not able to make head against them; nay, not only
not able to rise up against them, but, ?iot able to rise
up from them, and then he has delivered me into
their hands; nay, (x\ 15.) he has called an assembly
against me, to crush my young men, and such an
assembly as it is in vain to think of opposing; and
again, (v. 17.) The Lord has commanded concern¬
ing Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about
him. He that had many a time commanded deliver¬
ances for Jacob, (Ps. xliv. 4.) now commands an in¬
vasion against Jacob, because Jacob had disobeyed
the commands of his law.
3. She justly demands a share in the pity and com¬
passion of those that were the spectators of her
misery; (x'. 12.) “ Is it nothing to you, all ye that
pass by? Can you look upon me without concern?
What! are your hearts as adamants, and your eyes
as marbles, that you cannot bestow upon me one
compassionate thought, or look, or tear? Are not
you also in the body? Is it nothing to you that your
neighbour’s house is on fire?” There are those to
whom Zion’s sorrows and ruins are nothing; they
are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. How
pathetically does she beg their compassion ! (y I R )
664
LAMENTATIONS, I.
“ Hear , I firay you, all people, and behold my sor¬
row: hear my complaints, and see what cause I
have for them.” This is a request like that of Job,
\ch. xix. 21.) Have pity, have pity upon me, 0 ye
my friends l It helps to make a burthen sit lighter,
if our friends sympathise with us, and mingle their
tears with ours, for this is an evidence that, though
we are in affliction, we are not in contempt, which
is commonly as much dreaded in an affliction as any
thing.
4. She justifies her own grief, though it was very
extreme, for these calamities; (v. 16.) “ For these
things I weep, I weep in the night; ( v . 2. ) when
none sees, mine eye, mine eye runs down with
water.” Note, This world is a vale of tears to the
people of God. Zion’s sons are often Zion’s mourn¬
ers. Zion spreads forth her hands, (v. 17.)
which is here an expression rather of despair than
of desire; she flings out her hands as giving up all
for gone. Let us see how she accounts for this pas¬
sionate grief. ( 1. ) Her God is withdrawn from her;
and Micah, that had but gods of gold, when they
were stolen from him, cried out, What have I more?
And what is this that ye say unto me? What aileth
thee? The church here grieves excessively, For,
says she, the comforter that should relieve my soul,
is far from me. God is the Comforter; he used to be
so to her, he only can administer effectual comforts, it
is his word that speaks them, it is his Spirit that
speaks them to us. His are strong consolations, able
to relieve the soul, to bring it back when it is gone, and
we cannot of ourselves fetch it again; but now he is
departed in displeasure, he is far from me, and be¬
holds me afar off. Note, It is no marvel that the
souls of the saints faint away, when God, who is the
only Comforter that can relieve them, keeps at a
distance. (2.) Her children are removed from her,
and are in no capacity to help her: it is for them
that she weeps, as Rachel for hers, because they
were not, and therefore she refuses to be com¬
forted. Her children were desolate, because the
enemy prevailed against them, there is none of all
her sons to take her by the hand; (Isa. li. 18.) they
cannot help themselves, and how should they help
her? Both the damsels and the youths, that were
her joy and hope, are gone into captivity, v. 18. It
is said of the Chaldeans, that they had no compas¬
sion upon young men or maidens, not on the fair
sex, not on the blooming age, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 17.
(3.) Her friends failed her; some would not, and
others could not, give her any relief. She spread
forth her hands, as begging relief, but there is none
to comfort her, (m. 17.) none that can do it, none
that cares to do it; she called for her lovers, and, to
engage them to help her, called them her lovers, but
they deceived her, (v. 19.) they proved like the
brooks in summer to the thirsty traveller, Job vi.
15. Note, Those creatures that we set our hearts
upon and raise our expectations from, we are com¬
monly deceived and disappointed in. Her idols
were her lovers, Egypt and Assyria were her con¬
fidants; but they deceived her. Those that made
court to her in her prosperity, were shy of her and
strange to her in her adversity. Happy they that
have made God their Friend, and keep themselves
in his love, for he will not deceive them ! (4. ) Those
whose office it was to guide her, were disabled to
do her any service. The priests and the elders, that
should have appeared at the head of affairs, die for
hunger, (k. 19.) they gave up the ghost, or were
ready to expire, while they sought their meat; they
went a begging for bread to keep them alive. The
famine is sore indeed in the land, when there is no
bread to the wise, when priests and elders are
starved. The priests and elders should have been
her comforters; but how should they comfort others
when they themselves were comfortless? “ They
have heard that I sigh, which should have summon¬
ed them to mine assistance; but there is none to com¬
fort me. Lover and friend hast thou put far from
me. ” (5. ) Her enemies were too hard for her, and
then insulted over her; they have prevailed, v. 16.
Abroad the sword bereaves, and slays all that comes
in its way, and at home all provisions are cut off by
the besiegers, so that there is as death, famine,
which is as bad as the pestilence, or worse — the
sword without, and terror within, Deut. xxxii. 25.
And as the enemies, that were the instruments of
the calamity, were very barbarous, so were they that
were the standers-by, the Edomites and Ammonites,
that bore ill-will to Israel; They have heard of
my trouble, and are glad that thou hast done it, (y.
21.) they rejoice in the trouble itself, they rejoice
that it is God’s doing, it pleases them to find that
God and his Israel are fallen out, and they act ac¬
cordingly with a great deal of strangeness towards
them: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among
them, that they are afraid of touching, and are shy
of, v. 17. Upon all these accounts, it cannot be
wondered at, nor can she be blamed, that her sighs
are many, in grieving for what is, and that her heart
is faint, ( v . 22.) in fear of what is yet further likely
to be.
5. She justifies God in all that is brought upon
her, acknowledging that her sins had deserved these
severe chastenings. The yoke that lies so heavy,
and binds so hard, is the yoke of her transgressions,
v. 14. The fetters we are held in are of our own
making, and it is with our own rod that we arc
beaten. When the church had spoken here, as if
she thought the Lord severe, she does well to cor¬
rect herself, at least to explain herself, by acknow¬
ledging, (y. 18.) The Lord is righteous. He does
us no wrong in dealing thus with us, nor can we
charge him with any injustice in it; how unright¬
eous soever men are, we are sure that the Lord is
righteous, and manifests his juctice, though they
contradict all the laws of theirs. Note, Whatever
our troubles are which God is pleased to inflict upon
us, we must own that therein he is righteous; we
understand neither him nor ourselves if we do not
own it, 2 Chron. xii. 6. She owns the equity of
God’s actions, by owning the iniquity of her own; I
have rebelled against his commandments, (y. 18.)
and again, (y. 20.) I have grievously rebelled. We
cannot speak ill enough of sin, and we must always
speak worst of our own sin, must call it rebellion,
grievous rebellion; and very grievous sin is to all
time penitents. It is this that lies heavier upon her
than the afflictions she was under; “My bowels are
troubled, they work within me as the troubled sea;
my heart is turned within me, is restless, is turned
upside down;/or I have grievously rebelled.” Note,
Sorrow for sin must be great sorrow, and must affect
the soul.
6. She appeals both to the mercy and to the
justice of God, in her present case. (1.) She ap¬
peals to the mercy of God concerning her own sor¬
rows, which had made her the proper object of his
compassion; ( v . 20.) “Behold, O Lord, for I am
in distress; take cognizance of my case, and take
such order for my relief as thou pleasest.” Note,
It is matter of comfort to us, that the troubles
which oppress our spirits are open before God’s eye.
(2.) She appeals to the justice of God concerning
the injuries that her enemies did her; (z>. 21, 22.)
“ Thou wilt bring the day that thou hast called,
the day that is fixed in the counsels of God, and pub¬
lished in the prophecies, when mine enemies, that
now prosecute me, shall be like unto me, when the
cup of trembling, now put into my hands, shall be
put into theirs.” It may be read as a prayer, “Let
the days appointed come,” and so it goes cn, “Let
their wickedness come before thee, let it come to br
565
LAMENTATIONS, II.
remembered, let it come to be reckoned for; take
vengeance on them, for all the wrong they have done
to me; (Ps. cix. 14, 15.) hasten the time when thou
wilt do to them for their transgression as thou hast
done to me for mine. ” This prayer amounts to a pro¬
testation against all thoughts of coalition with them,
and to a prediction of their ruin, subscribing to that
which God had in his word spoken of it. Note, Our
prayers may and must agree with God’s word; and
what day God has there called, we are to call for,
and no other. And though we are bound in charity
to forgive our enemies, and to pray for them, yet we
may in faith pray for the accomplishment of that
which God has spoken against his and his church’s
enemies, that will not repent to give him glory.
CHAP. II.
The second alphabetical ele^y is set to the same mournful
tune with the former, ana the substance of it is much
the same; it begins with Ecah , as that did, “ How sad
is our case! Alas! for us.” I. Here is the anger of Zion’s
God taken notice of, as the cause of her calamities, v.
1 . . 9. II. Here is the sorrow of Zion’s children taken
notice of, as the effect of her calamities, v. 10. .19. III.
The complaint is made to God, and the matter referred
to his compassionate consideration, v. 20. .22. The hand
that wounded must make whole.
1. XXOW hath the Lord covered the
XX daughter of Zion with a cloud in
his anger, and cast down from heaven unto
the earth the beauty of Israel, and remem¬
bered not his footstool in the day of his an¬
ger! 2. The Lord hath swallowed up all
the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied:
he hath thrown down in his wrath the strong
holds of the daughter of Judah; he hath
brought them, down to the ground : he hath
polluted the kingdom and the princes there¬
of. 3. He hath cut off in his fierce anger
all the horn of Israel : he hath drawn back
his right hand from before the enemy, and
he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire,
ivhich devoureth round about. 4. Pie hath
bent his bow like an enemy: he stood with
his right hand as an adversary, and slew all
that were pleasant to the eye in the taber¬
nacle of the daughter of Zion : he poured
out his fury like fire. 5. The Lord was
as an enemy; he hath swallowed up Israel,
he hath swallowed up all her palaces ; he
hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath
increased in the daughter of Judah mourn¬
ing and lamentation. 6. And he hath vio¬
lently taken away his tabernacle, as if it
were of a garden ; he hath destroyed his
places of the assembly : the Lord hath
caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to
be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised, in
the indignation of his anger, the king and
the priest. 7. The Lord hath cast off his
altar, he hath abhorred his sanctuary, he
hath given up into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces; they have made
a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the
day of a solemn feast. 8. The Lord hath
purposed to destroy the wall of the daugh¬
ter of Zion ; he hath stretched out a line,
he hath not withdrawn his hand from de¬
stroying: therefore he made the rampart and
the wall to lament ; they languished toge¬
ther. 9. Her gates are sunk into the ground ;
he hath destroyed and broken her bars ; her
king and her princes are among the Gentiles:
the law is no more; her prophets also find
no vision from the Lord.
It is a very sad representation which is here made
of the state of God's church, of Jacob and Israel,
of Zion and Jerusalem ; but the emphasis in these
verses seems to be laid all along upon the hand of
God in the calamities which they were groaning un¬
der. The grief is not so much that such and such
things are done, as that God has done them, that he
appears angry with them ; it is he that chastens them,
and chastens them in wrath and in his hot disfl/ea-
sure; he is become tbeir Enemy, and fights against
them; and this, this is the wormwood and the gall
in the affliction and the misery.
I. Time was, when God’s delight was in his
church, and he appeared to her, and for her, as a
Friend; but now his displeasure is against her, he
is angry with her, and appears and acts against her
as an Enemy. This is frequently repeated here,
and sadly lamented. What he has done he has done
in his anger; this makes the present day a melan¬
choly day indeed with us, that it is the day of his
anger , (v. 1.) and again, ( v . 2.) it is in his wrath,
and (t>. 3. ) it is in his fierce anger, that he has thrown
down and cut off; and (y. 6.) in the indignation of
his anger. Note, To those who know how to value
God’s favour, nothing appears more dreadful than
his anger; corrections in love are easily borne, but
rebukes in wrath wound deep. It is God’s wrath
that barns against Jacob like a flaming fire, (v. 3.)
and it is a consuming fire, it devours round about,
devours all her honours, all her comforts. This is
the fury that is floured out like fire, (y. 4.) like the
fire and brimstone which were rained upon Sodom
and Gomorrah: but it was their sin that kindled this
fire. God is such a tender Father to his children,
that we may be sure he is never angry with them
but when they provoke him, and give him cause to
be angry; nor is he ever angry more than there is
cause for. God’s covenant with them was, that if
they would obey his voice, he would be an Enemy
to their enemies, (Exod. xxiii. 22.) and he had been
so, as long as they kept close to him; but now he is
an Enemy to them; at least he is as an Enemy, v.
5. He has bent his bow like an Enemy, v. 4. He
stood with his right hand stretched out against them,
and a sword drawn in it as an Adversary. God is
not really an Enemy to his people, no, not when
he is angry with them, and corrects them in anger.
We may be sorely displeased against our dearest
friends and relations, whom yet we are far from hav¬
ing an enmity to. But sometimes he is as an Enemy
to them, when all his providences concerning them
seem in outward appearance to have a tendency to
their ruin; when every thing makes against them,
and nothing for them. But, blessed be God, Christ
is our Peace, our Peacemaker, who has slain the
enmity, and in him we may agree with our Adver¬
sary, which it is our wisdom to do, since it is in vain
to contend with him, and he offers us advantageous
conditions of peace.
II. Time was when God’s church appeared very
bright and illustrious, and considerable among the
nations; but now the Lord has covered the daughter
of Zion with a cloud, (v. 1.) a dark cloud, which is
very terrible to herself, and through which she can¬
not see his face; a thick cloud, (so the word sigrn-
LAMENTATIONS, II.
lies,) a black cloud, which eclipses all her glory, and
conceals her excellency; not such a cloud as that
under which God conducted them through the wil¬
derness, or that in which God took possession of the
temple, and filled it with his glory : no, that side of the
cloud is now turned toward them, which was turned
toward the Egyptians in the Red sea. The beauty of
Israel is now cast down from heaven to the earth; their
princes, (2 Sam. i. 19.) their religious worship, their
beauty of holiness, all that which recommended
them to the affection and esteem of their neighbours,
and rendered them amiable, which had lifted them
up to heaven, was now withered and gone; because
God had covered it with a cloud. He has cut off all
the horn of Israel, (r>. 3.) all her beauty and ma¬
jesty, (Ps.' cxxxii. 17.) all her plenty and fulness,
and all her power and authority. They had, in their
pride, lifted up their horn against God, and there¬
fore justly will God cut off their horn; he disabled
them to resist and oppose their enemies, he turned
back their right hand, so that they were not dble to
follow the blow which they gave, nor to ward off
the blow which was given them. What can their
right hand do against the enemy, when God draws
it back, and withers it, as he did Jereboam’s? Thus
was the beauty of Israel cast down, when a people
famed for courage were not able to stand their ground,
or make good their post.
III. Time was, when Jerusalem and the cities of
Judah were strong and well fortified, were trusted to
by the inhabitants, and let alone by the enemy as
impregnable; but now the Lord has in anger swal¬
lowed them up, they are quite gone, the forts and
barriers are taken away, and the invaders meet with
no opposition: the stately structures, which were
their strength and beauty, are pulled down and laid
waste. 1. 1 The Lord has in anger swallowed . up all
the habitations of Jacob, {y. 2.) both the cities and
the country-houses; thev are burnt, or otherwise de¬
stroyed, so totally ruined, that they seem to have
been swallowed up, and no remains left of them.
He has swallowed up, and has not pitied; one would
have thought it pity that such sumptuous houses, so
well built, so well furnished, should be quite de¬
stroyed; and that some pity should have been had
for the poor inhabitants that were thus dislodged
and driven to wander; but God’s wonted compas¬
sions seemed to fail; He has swallowed up Israel,
as a lion swallows up his prey, v. 5. 2. He has
swallowed up not only her common habitations, but
her palaces, all her palaces, the habitations of their
princes and great men, {y. 5.) though those were
most stately, and strong, and rich, and well guarded.
God’s judgments, when they come with commission,
level palaces with cottages, and as easily swallow
them up. If palaces be polluted with sin, as theirs
were, let them expect to be visited with a curse,
which shall consume them, with the timber thereof,
and the stones thereof, Zech. v. 4. 3. He has de¬
stroyed not only their dwelling-places, but their
strong holds, their castles, citadels, and places of
delence; these he has thrown down in his wrath,
and brought them to the ground; for shall they stand
in the way of his judgments, and give a check to the
progress of them? No, let them drop like leaves in
autumn, let them be razed to the foundations, and
made to touch the ground, v. 2. And again, (i>. 5.)
He has destroyed his strong holds; for what strength
could they have against God? And thus has he in¬
creased in the daughter of Judah mourning and la¬
mentation, for they could not but be in a dreadful
consternation when they saw all their defence de¬
parted from them. This is again insisted on, v. 7. —
9. In order to the swallowing up of her palaces,
he has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls
of her palaces, which were their security, and when
they are broken down the palaces themselves are
soon broken into. The walls of palaces cannot pro¬
tect them, unless God himself be a Wall of fire
round about them. This God did in his anger, and
yet he has done it deliberately; it is the result of a
previous purpose, and is done by a wise and steady
providence; for the Lord has purposed to destroy
the wall of the daughter of Zion, he brought the
Chaldean army in, on purpose to do this execution.
Note, Whatever desolations God makes in his
church, they are all according to his counsels; he
performs the thing that is appointed for us, even that
which makes most against us. But when it is done,
lie has stretched out a line, a measuring-line, to do
it exactly and by measure: hitherto the destruction
shall go, and no further; no more shall be cut off
than what is marked to be so. Or, it is meant of
the line of confusion, (Isa. xxxiv. 11.) a levelling¬
line; for he will go on with his work, he has not
withdrawn his hand from destroying, that right hand
which he stretched out against his people as an Ad¬
versary; (d. 4. ) as far as the purpose went the per¬
formance shall go, and his hand shall accomplish his
counsel to the utmost, and not be withdrawn. There¬
fore he made the rampart and the wall which the
people had rejoiced in, and upon which, perhaps,
they had made merry, to lament, and they lan¬
guished together; the walls and the ramparts, or
bulwarks upon them, fell together, and were left to
condole with one another on their fall. Her gates
are gone in an instant, so that one would think they
were sunk into the ground with their own weight,
and he has destroyed and broken her bars, those bars
of Jerusalem’s gates which formerly he had strength¬
ened, Ps. cxlvii. 13. Gates and bars will stand us in
no stead when God has withdrawn his protection.
IV. Time was, when their government flourished,
their princes made a figure, and their kingdom was
great among the nations, and the balance of power
was on their side; but now it is quite otherwise; He
has polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof, v.
2. They had first polluted themselves with their
idolatries, and then God dealt with them as with
polluted things, he threw them to the dunghill, the
fittest place for them. He has given up their glory,
which was looked upon as sacred, (that is a charac¬
ter we give to majesty,) to be trampled upon and
profaned ; and no marvel that the king and the
priest, whose characters were always deemed vene¬
rable and inviolable, are despised" by every body,
when God has, in the indignation of ' his anger, de¬
spised the king and the priest, v. 6. He has aban¬
doned them ; he looks upon them as no longer wor¬
thy of the honours conveyed to them by the covenants
of royalty and priesthood, but as having forfeited
both; and then Zedekiah the king was used despite-
fully, and Seraiah the chief priest put to death as a
malefactor. The crown is fallen from their heads,
for her king and her princes are among the Gentiles,
prisoners among them, insulted over by them, (i>. 9.)
and treated not only as common persons, but as the
basest, without any regard had to their character.
Note, It is just with God to debase those by his judg¬
ments, who have by sin debased themselves.
V. Time was, when the ordinances of God were
administered among them in their power and purity,
and they had those tokens of God’s presence with
them; but now those were taken from them, that
part of the beauty of Israel was gone, which was
indeed their greatest beauty.
1. The ark was God’s, footstool, under the mercy-
seat, between the cherubims; this was of all others
the most sacred symbol of God’s presence; (it is
called his footstool, 1 Chron. xxviii. 2. Ps. xeix.
5. — cxxxii. 7. ) there the Shcchinah rested, and with
an eye to this, Israel was often protected and saved:
but now he remembered not his footstool, the ark
itself was suffered, as it should seem, to fall into the
LAMENTATIONS, II. 567
hands oi the Chaldeans. God, being angry, threw
that away, for it shall be no longer his footstool, the
earth shall be so, as it had been before the ark was,
Isa. lxvi. 1. Of what little value are the tokens of
his presence, when his presence is gone! Nor was
this the first time that God gave his ark into cap¬
tivity, Ps. lxxviii. 61. God and his kingdom can
stand without that footstool.
2. They that ministered in holy things had been
/ ileaaant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter
of Zion, (d. 4.) they had been purer than snow,
whiter than milk, (c/i. iv. 7. ) none more pleasant in
the eyes of all good people than those that did the
service of the tabernacle; but now these are slain,
and their blood mingled with their sacrifices: thus
is the priest despised as well as the king. Note,
When those that were pleasant to the eye in Zion’s
tabernacle are slain, God must be acknowledged in
it, he has done it, and the burning which the Lord
has kindled must be bewailed by the whole house of
Israel, as in the case of Nadab and Abilin, Lev. x. 6.
3. The temple was God’s tabernacle, (as the
tabernacle, while that was in being, is called
his tem/ile, Ps. xxvii. 4. ) and this he has violently
taken away, (v. 6.) he has plucked up the stakes
of it, and cut the cords, it shall be no more a taber¬
nacle, much less his; he has taken it away, as the
keeper of a garden takes away his hovel or shade,
when he has done with it, and has no more occa¬
sion for it; he takes it down as easily, as speedily,
and with as little regret and reluctance, as if it were
but a cottage in a vineyard, and a lodge in a garden
of cucumbers, (Isa. i. 8.) but a booth which the
kee/ier makes. Job xxvii. 18. When men profane
God’s tabernacle, it is just with him to take it from
them. God had justly refused to smell in their so¬
lemn assemblies; (Amos v. 21.) they had provoked
him to withdraw from them, and then no marvel
that he has destroyed his ] daces of the assembly;
what should they do with the places when the ser¬
vices were become an abomination? He has now
abhorred his sanctuary; (v. 7.) it has been defiled
with sin, that only thing which he hates, and for
the sake of that he abhors even his sanctuary, which
he had delighted in, and called his rest for ever, Ps.
cxxxii. 14. Thus he had done to Shiloh. Now the
enemies have made as great a noise of revelling and
blaspheming in the house of the Lord, as ever had
been made with the temple-songs and music in the
day of a solemn feast, Ps. lxxiv. 4. Some, by the
/; laces of the assembly, (t>. 6.) understand not only
the temple, but the synagogues, and the schools of
the prophets, which the enemy had burnt up, Ps.
lxxiv. 8.
4. The solemn feasts and the sabbaths had been
carefully remembered, and the people constantly
put in mind of them; but now the Lord has caused
those to be forgotten, not only in the country, among
those that lived at a distance, but even in Zion itself;
for there were none left to remember them, nor
were the places left where they used to be ob¬
served. Now that Zion was in ruins, no difference
was made between sabbath-times and other times;
every day was a dav of mourning, so that all the
solemn feasts were forgotten. Note, It is just with
God to deprive those of the benefit and comfort of
sabbaths and solemn feasts, who have not duly va¬
lued them, nor conscientiously observed them, but
nave profaned them, which was one of the sins that
the Jews were often charged with. They that have
seen the days of the Son of man, and slighted them,
may desire to see one of those days, and not have
them, Luke xvii. 22.
5. The altar that had sanctified their gifts is now
cast off, for God will no more accept their gifts nor
be honoured by their sacrifices, v. 7. The altar was
the table of the Lord, but God will no longer keep
house among them, he will neither feast them, nor
feast with them.
6. They had been blest with prophets, and
teachers of the law; but now the law is no more, (v.
9. ) it is no more read by the people, no more ex¬
pounded by the scribes, the tables of the law are
gone with the ark, the book of the law is taken from
them, and the people are forbidden to have it.
What should they do with Bibles, who had made no
better improvement of them when they had them?
Her prophets also find no vision from the Lord;
God answers them no more by prophets and dreams,
which was the melancholy case of Saul, 1 Sam.
xxviii. 15. They had persecuted God’s prophets,
and despised the visions they had from the Lord,
and therefore it is just with God to say that they
shall have no more prophets, no more visions. Let
them go to the prophets that had flattered and de¬
ceived them with visions of their own hearts, for
they shall have none from God to comfort them, or
tell them how long. They that misuse God’s pro¬
phets justly lose them.
10. The ciders of the daughter of Zion
sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they
have cast up dust upon their heads; they
have girded themselves with sackcloth : the
virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads
to the ground. 11. Mine eyes do fail with
tears, my bowels arc troubled, my liver is
poured upon the earth, for the destruction of
the daughter of my people; because the chil¬
dren and the suckling swoon in the streets
of the city. 12. They say to their mothers,
Where is corn and wine ? when they swoon¬
ed as the wounded in the streets of the city,
when their soul was poured out into their
mothers’ bosom. 13. What thing shall I
take to witness for thee? what thing shall I
liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem?
what shall I equal to thee, that I may com¬
fort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion ? for thy
breach is great like the sea; who can heal
thee? 14. Thy prophets have seen vain and
foolish things for thee ; and they have not
discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy
captivity ; but have seen for thee false bur¬
dens, and causes of banishment. 15. All
that pass by clap their hands at thee; they
hiss and wag their head at the daughter of
Jerusalem, saying , Is this the city that men
call The perfection of beauty, The joy of
the whole earth ? 16. All thine enemies have
opened their mouth against thee : they hiss
and gnash the teeth: they say, We have
swallowed her up : certainly this is the day
that we looked for ; we have found, we have
seen it. 17. The Lord hath done that
which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his
word that he had commanded in the days
of old : he hath thrown down, and hath not
pitied: and he hath caused thitie enemy to
rejoice over thee; he hath set up the horn
of thine adversaries. 18. Their heart cried
unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of
668
LAMENTATIONS, II.
Zion, let tears run down like, a river day
and night; give thyself no rest; let not the
apple of thine eye cease. 19. Arise, cry out
in the night; in the beginning of the watches
pour out thy heart like water before the face
of the Lord : lift up thy hands toward him
for the life of thy young children, that faint
for hunger in the top of every street. 20.
Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom
thou hast done this. Shall the women eat
their fruit, and children of a span long?
shall the priest and the prophet be slain in
the sanctuary of the Lord ? 21. The young
and the old lie on the ground in the streets:
my virgins and my young men are fallen by
the sword ; thou hast slain them in the day
of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not
pitied. 22. Thou hast called, as in a solemn
day, my terrors round about; so that in the
day of the Lord’s anger none escaped nor
remained : those that I have swaddled and
brought up hath mine enemy consumed.
Justly are these called Lamentations, and they
are very pathetic ones; the expressions of grief in
perfection, mourning and wo, and nothing else, like
the contents of Ezekiel’s roll, Ezek. ii. 10.
I. Copies of lamentations are here presented, and
they are painted to the life. 1. The judges and
magistrates, who used to appear in robes of state,
have laid them aside, or rather are stripped of
them, and put on the habit of mourners; ( v . 10.)
the elders now sit no longer in the judgment-seats,
the thrones of the house of David, but they sit upon
the ground, having no seat to repose themselves in,
or in token of great grief, as Job’s friends sat with
him upon the ground. Job ii. 13. They open not
their mouth in the gate, as usual, to give their
opinion, but they keep silence, overwhelmed with
grief, and not knowing what to say. They have
cast dust upon their heads, and girded themselves
With slackcloth, as deep mourners used to do; they
had lost their power and wealth, and that made
them take on thus; Ploratur lachrymis amissci pe-
cunia veris — Genuine are the tears which we shed
over lost property. 2. The young ladies, who used
to dress themselves so richly, and walk with stretch-
ed-forth necks, (Isa. iii. 16.) now are humbled: the
virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the
ground: they are made to know sorrow, who
seemed to bid defiance to it, and were always dis¬
posed to be merry. 3. The prophet himself is a
pattern to the mourners; (r>. 11.) his eyes do fail
with tears, he has wept till he can weep no more,
has almost wept his eyes out, wept himself blind.
Nor are the inward impressions of grief short of the
outward expressions; his bowels are troubled, as
they were when he saw these calamities coming,
(Jer. iv. 19, 20.) which, one would think, might
have excused him now; but even he, to whom they
were no surprise, felt them an insupportable grief,
to that degree that his liver is poured out on the
earth; he felt himself a perfect colliquation; all his
entrails ore melted and dissolved, as Ps. xxii. 14.
Jeremiah himself had better treatment than his
neighbours, better than he had before from his own
countrymen, nay, their destruction was his deliver¬
ance, their captivity his enlargement; the same that
made them prisoners, made him a favourite, and
yet his private interests are swallowed up in a con¬
cern for the public, and he bewails the destruction
of the daughter of his people, as sensibly as if he
himself had been the greatest sufferer in that com
mon calamity. Note, The judgments of God upon
the land and nation are to be lamented by us, though
we, for our parts, may escape pretty well.
II. Calls to lamentation are here given; The heart
of the people cried unto the Lord, v. 18. Some
fear it was a cry, not of true repentance, but of bit¬
ter complaint; their heart was as full of grief as it
could hold, and they gave vent to it in doleful shrieks
and outcries, in which they made use of God’s name;
yet we will charitably suppose that many of them
did in sincerity cry unto God for mercy in their dis¬
tress, and the prophet bids them go on to do so; 0
wall of the daughter of Zion, either ye that stand
upon the wall, ye watchmen on the walls, (Isa. lxii.
6. ) when ye see the enemies encamped about the
walls, and making their approaches towards them,
or because of the wall, (that is the subject of the la¬
mentation,) because of the breaking down of the
wall, which was not done till about a month after
the city was taken, because of this further calamity,
let the daughter of Zion lament still. This was a
thing which Nehemiah lamented long after, Neh. i.
3, 4. Let tears run down like a river day and
night, weep without intermission, give thyself no
rest from weeping, let not the apple of thine eye
cease. This intimates, 1. That the calamities would
be continuing, and the causes of grief would fre¬
quently recur, and fresh occasion would be given
them every day and every night to bemoan them¬
selves. 2. That they would be apt, by degrees, to
grow insensible and stupid under the hand of God,
and would need to be still called upon to afflict their
souls yet more and more, till their proud and hard
h'earts were thoroughly humbled and softened.
III. Causes for lamentation are here assigned, and
the calamities that are to be bewailed are very par¬
ticularly and pathetically described.
1. Multitudes perish by famine; a very sore judg¬
ment, and piteous is the case of those that fall under
it. God had corrected them by scarcity of provi¬
sions through want of rain some time before, (Jer.
xiv. 1.) and they were not brought to repentance by
that lower degree of this judgment, and therefore
now by the straitness of the siege God brought it
upon them in extremity; for, (1.) The children died
for hunger in their mothers’ arms; The children and
sucklings, whose innocent and helpless state entitles
them to relief as soon as any, swoon in the streets,
(v. 11.) as the wounded, (y. 12.) there being no
food to be had for them ; they that are starved die
as surely as they that are stabbed; they lie a great
while crying to their poor mothers for corn to feed
them, and wine to refresh them, for they are such
as had been bred up to the use of wine, and wanted
it now; but there is none for them, so that at length
their soul is poured out into their mothers’ bosom,
and there they breathe their last-. This is mention¬
ed again, (t>. 19.) They faint for hunger in the top
of every street. Yet this is not the worst, (2.)
There were some little children that were slain by
their mothers’ hands, and eaten, v. 20. Such was
the scarcity of provision, that the women ate the
fruit of their own bodies, even their children, when
they were but of a span long, according to the
threatening, Deut. xxviii. 53. The like was done
in the siege of Samaria, 2 Kings vi. 29. Such ex¬
tremities, nay, such barbarities, were they brought
to by the famine. Let us, in our abundance, thank
God that we have food convenient, not only for our¬
selves, but for our children.
2. Multitudes fall by the sword, which devours
one as well as another, especially when it is in the
hand of such cruel enemies as the Chaldeans were.
(1.) They spared no character, no, not the most dis¬
tinguished; even the priest and the prophet, who ot
569
LAMENTATIONS, II.
all men, one would think, might expect protection
from heaven, and veneration on earth, are slain, not
abroad in the field of battle, where they are out of
their place, as Hophni and Phinehas, but in the
sanctuary of the Lord, the place of their business,
and which they hoped would have been a refuge to
them. (2.) They spared no age, no, not those who,
by reason of their tender or their decrepit age, were
exempted from taking up the sword; for even they
fierished by the sword; the young, who were not
yet come to bear arms, and the old, who had had
their discharge, lie on the ground, slam in the
streets, till some kind hand is found that will 'bury
them. (3.) They spared no sex; My virgins and
my young men are fallen by the sword. In the
most barbarous military executions that ever we
read of, the virgins were spared, and made part of
the spoil; (Numb. xxxi. IS. Judges v. 30.) but here
the virgins were put to the sword as well as the
young men. (4. ) This was the Lord’s doing, he
suffered the sword of the Chaldeans to devour thus
without distinction ; Thou hast slain them in the day
of thine anger, for it is God that kills and makes
alive, and saves alive, as he pleases. But that
which follows is very harsh, Thou hast killed, and
not fiitied; for his soul is not grieved for the misery
of Israel. The enemies that used them thus cruelly
were such as he had both mustered and summoned;
(x>. 22.) Thou hast called in, as in a solemn day,
my terrors round about, the Chaldeans, who are
such a terror to me; enemies crowded into Jerusa¬
lem now as thick as ever worshippers used to do on
a solemn festival; so that they were quite over¬
powered with numbers, and none escaped nor re¬
mained; Jerusalem was made a perfect slaughter¬
house. Mothers are cut to the heart to see those
whom they have taken such care of, and pains with,
and whom they have been so tender of, thus inhu¬
manly used, suddenly cut off, though not soon
reared; Those that I have swaddled and brought
up, has mine enemy consumed, as if they were
brought forth for the murderer, like lambs for the
butcher, Hos. ix. 13. Zion, who was a mother to
them all, lamented to see those who were brought
up in her courts, and under the tuition of her oracles,
thus made a prey.
3. Their false prophets cheated them, v. 14.
This was a thing which Jeremiah had lamented long
before, and had observed with a great concern ;
(Jer. xiv. 13.) Ah, Lord God, the prophets say
unto them, Ye shall not see the sword; and here he
inserts it among his lamentations; Thy prophets
have seen vain and foolish things for thee, they pre¬
tended to discover for thee, and then to discover to
thee, the mind and will of God, to see the visions of
the Almighty, and- then to speak his words; but
they were all vain and foolish things, their visions
were all their own fancies, and if they thought they
had any, it was only the product of a crazed head,
or a heated imagination, as appeared by what they
delivered, which was all idle and impertinent: nay,
it is most likely that they themselves knew that the
visions they pretended, were counterfeit, and all a
sham, and made use of only to colour that which
they designedly imposed upon the people with, that
they might make an interest in them for themselves;
they are thy prophets, not God’s prophets, he never
sent them, nor were they pastors after his heart, but
the people set them up, told them what they should
say, so that they were prophets after their hearts. (1. )
Prophets should tell people of their faults, should
show them their sins, that they may bring them
to repentance, and so prevent their ruin; but these
prophets knew that would lose them the people’s
affections and contributions, and knew they could
not reprove their hearers without reproaching them¬
selves at the same time, and therefore they havenot
Vol. IV. — 4 C
discovered thine iniquity, they saw it not themselves,
or, if they did, saw so little evil in it, or danger from
it, that they would not tell them of it, though that
might have been a means, by taking away their
iniquity, to turn away their captivity. (2.) Pro¬
phets should warn people of the judgments rf God
coming upon them, but these saw for them false
burthens; the messages they pretended to deliver
to them from God, they knew to be false, and
falsely ascribed to God; so that by soothing them
up in carnal security, they caused that banish¬
ment which, by plain dealing, they might have pre¬
vented.
4. Their neighbours laughed at them; (x>. 15.)
All that pass by thee clap their hands at thee. Jeru¬
salem had made a great figure, got a great name,
and borne a great sway, among the nations; it was
the envy and terror of all about; and when that
city was thus reduced, they all (as men are apt to
do in such a case) triumphed in its fall, they hissed,
and wagged the head, pleasing themselves to see
how much it was fallen from its former preten¬
sions; Is this the city (said they) that men called the
perfection of beauty? Ps. 1. 2. How is it now the
perfection of deformity! Where is all its beauty
now? Is this the city which was called the joy of the
whole earth? (Ps. xlviii. 2.) which rejoiced in the
gifts of God’s bounty and grace more than any other
place, and which all the earth rejoiced in? Where
is all its joy now, and all its glorying? It is a great
sin thus to make a jest of others miseries, and adds
very much affliction to the afflicted.
5. Their enemies triumphed over them, x’. 16.
Those that wished ill to Jerusalem and her peace,
now vent their spite and malice, which before they
concealed; they now open their mouths, nay, they
widen them, they hiss and gnash their teeth in scorn
and indignation; they triumph in their own success
against her, and the rich prey they have got in
making themselves masters of Jerusalem; “ We
have swallowed her up, it is our doing, and it is our
gain, it is all our own now; Jerusalem shall never
be either courted or feared as she has been; certain¬
ly this is the day that we have long looked for, we
have found it, we have seen it; Aha, so would we
have it.” Note, The enemies of the church are apt
to take its shocks for its ruins, and to triumph in
them accordingly; but they will find themselves de¬
ceived; for the gates of hell shall not prevail against
the church.
6. Their God, in all this, appeared against them,
(xc 17.) The Lord has done that which he had de¬
vised. The destroyers of Jerusalem could have no
power against her, unless it were given them front
above; they are but the sword in God’s hand, it is
he that has thrown down, and has not pitied ; “In
this controversy of his with us, we have not had the
usual instances of his compassion toward us.” He
has caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee; (see
Job xxx. 11.) he has set up the horn of thine adver
saries, has given them power and matter for pride;
this is indeed the highest aggravation of the trouble,
that God is become their Enemy, and yet it is fhe
strongest argument for patience under it; we are
bound to submit to what God does, for, (1.) It is the
performance of his purpose: The Lord has done
that which he had devised; it is done with counsel
and deliberation, not rashly, or upon a sudden re
solve; it is the evil that he has framed, (Jer. xviii.
11.) and we may be sure it is framed so as exactly
to answer the intention; what Gcd devises against
his people is designed for them, and so it will be
found in the issue. (2.) It is the accomplishment of
his predictions; it is the fulfilling of the scripture;
he has now put in execution his word that he had
commanded in the days of old. When he gave them
his law by Moses, he’ told them what judgments he
570
LAMENTATIONS, III.
would certainly inflict upon them if they transgressed
that law; and now that they had been guilty of the
Lrangression of this law, he had executed the sen¬
tence of it, according to Lev. xxvi. 16, &c. Deut.
xxviii. 15. Note, In all the providences of God
concerning his church, it is good to take notice of
the fulfilling of his word; for there is an exact
agreement between the judgments of God’s hand
and the judgments of his mouth; and when they are
compared, they will mutually explain and illustrate
each other.
IV. Comforts for the cure of these lamentations
are here sought for, and prescribed. 1. They are
sought for, and inquired after, v. 13. The prophet
seeks to find out some suitable, acceptable words to
say to her in this case; Wherewith shall I comfort
thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? Note, We should
endeavour to comfort those whose calamities we la¬
ment, and when our passions have made the worst
of them, our wisdom should correct them, and la¬
bour to make the best of them; we should study to
make our sympathies with our afflicted friends turn
to their consolation. Now the two most common
topics of comfort in case of affliction, are here tried,
but are laid by, because they would not hold. We
commonly endeavour to comfort our friends by tell¬
ing them, (1.) That their case is not singular, nor
without precedent; there are many whose trouble is
greater, and lies heavier upon them, than theirs
does; but Jerusalem’s case will not admit this argu¬
ment; “ What thing shall I liken to thee, or what
shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee?
What city, what country, is there, whose case is
parallel to thine? What witness shall I produce to
prove an example that will reach thy present ca¬
lamitous state? Alas, there is none, no sorrow
like thine; because there is none whose honour was
like thine.” (2.) We tell them that their case is
not desperate, but that it may easily be remedied;
but neither will that be admitted here, upon a view
of human probabilities; for thy breach is great, like
the sea, like the breach which the sea sometimes
makes upon the land, which cannot be repaired, but
still grows wider and wider. Thou art wounded,
and who shall heal thee? No wisdom or power of
man can repair the desolations of such a broken,
shattered state. It is to no purpose therefore to ad¬
minister anv of these common cordials; therefore,
2. The method of cure prescribed is, to address
themselves to God, and by a penitent prayer to com¬
mit their case to him, and to be instant and constant
in such prayers; (n. 19.) ‘V drise out of thy dust, out
of thy despondency, cry out in the night, watch unto
raver; when others are asleep, be thou upon thy
nees, importunate with God for merev; in the be¬
ginning of the watches, of each of the four watches
of the night, (let thine eyes prevent them, Ps. cxix.
148.) then pour out thine heart like water before
the Lord, be free and full in prayer, be sincere and
serious in praver, open thy mind, spread thy case
before the Lord; lift up thine hands toward him in
holy desire and expectation; beg for the life of thy
young children; These poor lambs, what have they
clone? 2 Sam. xxiv. 17. Take with you words, take
with you these words, (v. 20.) Behold, O Lord, and
conisder to whom thou hast done this, with whom
thou hast dealt thus! Are thev not thine own, the
seed of Abraham thy friend, and of Jacob thy
chosen? Lord, take their case into thy compassion¬
ate consideration!” Note, Prayer is a salve for
every sore, even the sorest; a remedy for every
malady, even the most grievous. And our business
in prayer is not to pre scribe, but to subscribe to the
wisdom and will of God; to refer our case to him,
and then leave it with him; Lord, behold and con¬
sider, and thy will be done.
CHAP. III.
The scope of this chapter is the same with that of the two
foregoing copters, but the composition is somewhat
different; that was in long verse, this in short; another
kind of metre; that was in single alphabets, this in a tre¬
ble one. Here is, I. A sad complaint of God’s displea*
sure, and the fruits of it. v. 1 . . 20. II. Words of com¬
fort to God’s people when they are in trouble and distress,
v. 21 . . 36. III. Duty prescribed in this afflicted slatej
v. 37 . . 41. IV. The complaint renewed, v. 42 . . 54. V.
Encouragement taken to hope in God, and continue wait¬
ing for his salvation; with an appeal to his justice against
the persecutors of the church, v. 55 . . 66. Some make
all this to be spoken by the prophet himself, when he
was imprisoned and persecuted; but it seems rather to
be spoken in the person of the church now in captivity,
and in a manner desolate; and in the desolations ot
which the prophet did in a particular manner interest
himself. But the complaints here are somewhat more
general than those in the foregoing chapter, being ac¬
commodated to the case as well of particular persons as
of the public; and intended for the use of the closet
rather than of the solemn assembly. Some think Jere¬
miah makes these complaints, not only as an intercessor
for Israel, but as a type of Christ, who was thought by
some to be Jeremiah the weeping prophet, because he
was much in tears; (Matth. xvi. 14.) and to him many
of the passages here may be applied.
1. |T AM the man that hath seen affliction
JL by the rod of his wrath. 2. He hath
led me, and brought me into darkness, but
not into light. 3. Surely against me is he
turned •, he turneth his hand against me all
the day. 4. My flesh and my skin hath he
made old he hath broken my bones, a.
He hath builded against me, and compass¬
ed me with gall and travail. 6. He hath
set me in dark places, as theij that be dead
of old. 7. He hath hedged me about, that
I cannot get out:_ he hath made my chain
heavy. 8. Also when I cry and shout, he
shutteth out my prayer. 9. He hath en¬
closed my ways with hewn stone; he hath
made my paths crooked. 10. He urns unto
me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in
secret places. 11. He hath turned aside
my ways, and pulled me in pieces : he hath
made me desolate. 12. He hath bent his
bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
1 3. He hath caused the arrows of his quiver
to enter into my reins. 14. I was a derision
to all my people, and their song all the day.
15. He hath filled me with bitterness, he
hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16. He hath also broken my teeth with
gravel-stones, he hath covered me with
ashes. 17. And thou hast removed my soul
far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. 18.
And I said, My strength and my hope is
perished from the Lord : 1 9. Remember¬
ing mine affliction and my misery, the
wormwood and the gall. 20. My soul hath
them still in remembrance, and is humbled
in me.
The title of the 102d Psalm .might very fitly lie
prefixed to this chapter; The prayer of the afflicted,
when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his com¬
plaint before the Lord; for it is very feelingly and
571
LAMENTATIONS. III.
fluently that the complaint is here poured out. Let
us observe the particulars of it.
1. The prophet complains that God is angry; this
gives both birth and bitterness to the affliction; (v.
1.) I am the man, the remarkable man, that has
seen affliction, and has felt it sensibly, by the rod of
his ’wrath. Note, God is sometimes angry with his
own people; yet it is to be complained oi', not as a
sword to cut off, but only as a rod to correct; it is to
them the rod of his wrath, a chastening which,
though grievous for the present, will in the issue be
advantageous. By this rod we must expect to see
affliction, and if we be made to see more than ordi¬
nary affliction by that rod, we must not quarrel; for
we are sure that the anger is just, and the affliction
mild, and mixed with mercy.
2. That lie is at a loss, and altogether in the dark;
darkness is put for great trouble and perplexity,
the want both of comfort and of direction; this was
the case of the complainant; (t1. 2.) “He has led
me by his providence, and an unaccountable chain
of events, into darkness, and ?iot into light; the
darkness I feared, and not into the light 1 hoped
for.” And, (r\ 6.) He has set me in dark places,
dark as the grave, like those that be dead of old,
that are quite forgotten, nobody knows who or what
they were. Note, The Israel of God, though chil¬
dren of light, sometimes walk in darkness.
3. That God appears against him as an Enemy,
as a professed Enemy. God had been for him, but
now “Surely against me is he turned, (v. 3.) as far
as I can discern, for his hand is turned against me
all the day, I am chastened every morning,” Ps.
lxxiii. 14. And when God’s hand is continually
turned against us, we are tempted to think that his
heart is turned against us too; God had said once,
(Hos. v. 14.) I will be as a lion to the house of Ju¬
dah, and now he has made his word good; (t>. 10.)
“He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, surprising
me with his judgments, and as a lion in secret
places; so that which way soever I went, I was in
continual fear of being set upon, and could never
think myself safe.” Do men shoot at those they
are enemies to? He has bent his bow, the bow that
was ordained against the church’s persecutors, that
is bent against her sons, v. 12. He has set me as a
mark for his arrow, which he aims at, and will be
sure to hit, and then the arrows of his quiver enter
into my reins, give me a mortal wound, an inward
wound, v. 13. Note, God has many arrows in his
quiver, and they fly swift, and pierce deep.
4. That he is as one sorely afflicted both in body
and mind. The Jewish state may now be fitly com¬
pared to a man wrinkled with age, for which there
is no remedy; ( v . 4.) “My flesh and my skin has
he made old, they are wasted and withered, and I
look like one that is ready to drop into the grave;
nay, he has broken my bones, and so disabled me to
help myself, v. 15. He has filled me with bitter¬
ness, a bitter sense of these calamities.” God has
access to the spirit, and can so imbitter that, as
thereby to imbitter all the enjoyments; as when the
stomach is foul, whatever is eaten, sours in it. “He
has made me drunk with wormwood, so intoxicated
me with the sense of my afflictions, that I know not
what to say or do. He has mingled gravel with my
bread, so that my teeth are broken with it, (it. 16.)
and what I eat, is neither pleasant nor nourishing.
He has covered me with ashes, as mourners are; or,
as some read it, he has fed me with ashes; I have
eaten ashes like bread,” Vs. cii. 9.
5. That he is not able to discern any way of es¬
cape or deliverance; (v. 2. ) “ He has builded
against me, as forts and batteries are built against a
besieged city; where there was a way open, it is
now quite made up; he has compassed me on every
side with gall and travail; I vex, and fret, and tire
myself, to find a way of escape, but can find none,
v. 7. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get
out.” When Jerusalem was besieged, it was said
to be compassed in on every side, Luke xix. 43. “ I
am chained, and as some notorious malefactors are
double-fettered, and loaded with irons, so he has
made my chain heavy. He has also ( v . 9.) enclosed
my ways with hewn stone, not only hedged up my
way with thorns, (Hos. ii. 6.) but stopped it up
with a stone wall, which cannot lie broken through,
so that my paths are made crooked; I traverse to
and fro, to the right hand, to the left, to try to get
forward, but am still turned back.” It is just with
God to make those who walk in the crooked paths
of sin, crossing God’s laws, walk in the crooked
paths of affliction, crossing their designs, and break¬
ing their measures. So, (t. 11.) “ He has turned
aside my ways; he has blasted all my counsels,
ruined my projects, so that I am necessitated to
yield to my own ruin; he has pulled me in pieces,
he has torn, and is gone away, (Hos. v. 14.) and
has made me desolate, has deprived me of all so¬
ciety, and all comfort in my own soul.”
6. That Gcd turns a deaf ear to his prayers; (zt.
8.) “ When I cry and shout, as one in earnest, as
one that would make him hear, yet he shuts out my
prayer, and will not suffer it to have access to him. ”
God’s ear is wont to be open to the prayers of his
people, and his door of mercy to them that knock
at it; but now both are shut, even to one that cries
and shouts. Thus sometimes God seems to be an¬
gry even against the prayers of his people, (Ps.
Ixxx. 4.) and their case is deplorable indeed, when
they are denied not only the benefit of an answer,
but the comfort of acceptance.
7. That his neighbours made a laughing matter
of his troubles; (v. 14.) I was a derision to all my
people; to all the wicked among them, that made
themselves and one another merry with the public
judgments, and particularly the prophet Jeremiah’s
griefs. I am their song, their neginoth, or hand-
instrument of music, their tabret, (Job xvii. 6.) that
they play upon, as Nero on his harp, when Rome
was on fire.
8. That he was ready to despair of relief ana
deliverance; “ Thou hast not only taken peace from
me, but hast removed my soul far off from peace,
(y. 17.) so that it is not only not within reach, but
not within view: I forget prosperity ; it is so long
since I had it, and so unlikely that I should ever re¬
cover it, that I have lost the idea of it; I have been
so inured to sorrow and servitude, that I know not
whnt joy and liberty mean. I have even given up
all for gone, concluding, My strength and my hope
are perished from the Lord, (y. 18.) I can no longer
stay myself upon God as my Support, for I do not
find that he gives me encouragement to do so; nor
can I look for his appearing in my behalf, so as to
put an end to my troubles, for the case seems reme¬
diless, and even my God inexorable.” Without
doubt, it was his infirmity to say thus, (Ps. lxxvii.
10.) for with God there is everlasting strength, and
he is his people’s never-failing Hope, whatever they
may think. •
9. That grief returned, upon every remembrance
of his troubles, and his reflections were as melan¬
choly as his prospects, v. 19, 20. Did he endea¬
vour, as Job did, to forget his complaint? (Job ix.
27.) Alas; it was to no purpose, he remembers
upon all occasions, the affliction and the misery, the
wormwood and the gall; thus emphatically does he
speak of his affliction, for thus did he think of it,
thus heavy did it lie when he reviewed it! It was
an affliction that was misery itself ; My affliction
and my transgression; (so some read it;) my trou¬
ble, and my sin that brought it upon me; that was
the wormwood and the gall in the affliction and the
572
LAMENTATIONS, III.
misery; it is sin that makes the cup of affliction a
bitter cup. My soul has them still in remembrance.
The captives in Babylon had all the miseries of the
siege in their mind continually, and the flames and
ruins of Jerusalem still before their eyes, and we fit
when they remembered Zion; nay, they could never
forget Jerusalem, Ps. cxxxvii. 1, 5. My soul,
having them in remembrance, is humbled in me,
not only oppressed with a sense of the trouble, but
in bitterness for sin. Note, It becomes us to have
humble hearts under humbling providences, and to
renew our penitent humiliations for sin upon every
remembrance of our afflictions and miseries. Thus
we may get good by former corrections, and prevent
further.
21. This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope. 22. It is of the Lord’s mer¬
cies that we are not consumed, because his
compassions fail not. 23. They are new
every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul ;
therefore will I hope in him. 25. The
Lord is good unto them that wait for him,
to the soul that seeketh him. 26. It is good
that a man should both hope and quietly
wait for the salvation of the Lord. 27. It
is good for a man that he bear the yoke in
his youth. 28. He sitteth alone, and keep-
eth silence, because he hath borne it upon
him. 29. He putteth his mouth in the dust,
if so be there may be hope. 30. He giveth
his cheek to him that smiteth him : he is
filled full with reproach. 31. For the Lord
will not cast off for ever: 32. But though
he cause grief, yet will he have compassion
according to the multitude of his mercies.
33. For he doth not afflict willingly, nor
grieve the children of men. 34. To crush
under his feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35. To turn aside the right of a man before
the face of the Most High, 36. To sub¬
vert a man in his cause, the Lord approv-
eth not.
Here the clouds begin to scatter, and the sky to
clear up; the complaint was very melancholy in
the former part of the chapter, and vet here the
tune is altered, and the mourners in Zion begin to
look a little pleasant. But for hope, the heart would
break. To save the heart from being quite broken,
here is something called to mind, which gives
ground for ho/ie, (v. 21.) which refers to what
comes after, not to what goes before. I make to
return to my heart; so the margin words it; what
we have had in our hearts, and have laid to our
hearts, is sometimes as if it were quite lost and
forgotten, till God by his grace make it return to
our hearts, that it may be ready to us when we
have occasion to use it. “ I recall it to mind; there¬
fore have I hope, and am kept from downright
despair.”
Let im see what these things are, which he calls
to mind.
1. That bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy
of God that they are not worse. We are afflicted
by the rod of his wrath, but, it is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed, v. 22. When
we are in distress, we should, for the encourage¬
ment of our faith and hope, observe what makes
for us as well as what makes against us. Things
are bad, but they might have been worse, and
therefore there is hope that they may be better.
Observe here, (1.) T. he streams of mercy acknow¬
ledged; IVe are not consumed. Note, The church
of God is like Moses’s bush burning, yet not con¬
sumed; whatever hardships it has met with, or may
meet with, it shall have a being in the world to the
end of time. It is persecuted of men, but not for¬
saken of God, and therefore, though it is cast down,
it is not destroyed; (2 Cor. iv. 9.) corrected, yet
not consumed; refined in the furnace as silver, but
not consumed as dross. (2.) These streams followed
up to the fountain; It is of the Lord’s mercies.
Here are mercies in the plural number, denoting
the abundance and variety of those mercies; Gcd is
an inexhaustible Fountain of mercy, the Father of
mercies. Note, We all owe it to the sparing mercy
of God, that we are not consumed; others have
been consumed round about us, and we ourselves
have been in the consuming, and yet we are tiot con¬
sumed; we are out of the grave, we are out of hell.
Had we been dealt with according to our sins, we
had been consumed long ago; but we have been
dealt with according to God’s mercies, and we are
bound to acknowledge it to his praise.
2. That even in the depth of their affliction they
still have experience of the tenderness < f the divine
pity, and the truth of the divine promise. They
had several times complained that God had not
pitied {ch. ii. 17, 21.) but here they corrected them¬
selves, and own, (1.) That God’s compassions fail
not; they do not really fail, no, not then when in
anger he seems to have shut up his tender mercies.
These rivers of mercy run fully and constantly, but
never run dry; no, they are new ex<ery morning,
every morning we have fresh instances of God’s
compassion toward us; he visits us with them every
morning, (Job vii. 18.) every morning does he bring
his judgment to light, Zeph. iii. 5. When our com¬
forts fail, yet God’s compassions do not. (2.) That
great is his faithfulness. Though the covenant
seemed to be broken, they own that it still continues
in full force; and though Jerusalem be in ruins, the
truth of the Lord endures for ever. Note, What¬
ever hard things we suffer, we must never entertain
any hard thoughts of God, but must still be ready
to own that he is both kind and faithful.
3. That God is, and ever will be, the all-sufficient
happiness of his people, and they have chosen him,
and depend upon him to be such; ( v . 24.) The
Lord is my Portion, saith my soul; that is, (1.)
“When I have lost all I have in the world, liberty
and livelihood, and almost life itself, yet I have not
lost my interest in God.” Portions on earth are
perishing things, but God is a Portion for ever.
(2.) “While I have an interest in God, therein I
have enough; I have that which is sufficient to
balance all my troubles, and make up all my losses.”
Whatever we are robbed of, our Portion is safe.
(3.) “ That is that which I depend upon, and rest
satisfied with; Therefore will I hope in him. I will
stay myself upon him, and encourage myself in him,
when all other supports and encouragements fail
me.” Note, It is our duty to make God the Por¬
tion of our souls, and then to make use of him as
our Portion, and to take the comfort of it in the
midst of our lamentations.
4. That those who deal with God will find it is
not in vain to trust in him; for, (1.) He is good to
those who do so, v. 25. He is good to all, his ten¬
der mercies are over all his works, all his creatures
taste of his goodness; but he is in a particular man¬
ner good to them that wait for him, to the soul that
seeks him. Note, While trouble is prolonged, and
deliverance is deferred, we must patiently wait for
God, and his gracious returns to us; while we wait
LAMENTATIONS, III. 6"3
for him by faith, we must seek him by prayer; our
souls must seek him, else we do not seek so as to
find; our seeking will help to keep up our waiting;
and to those who thus wait and seek, God will be
fracious, he will show them his marvellous loving-
indness. (2. ) They that do so will find it good for
them ; (v. 26. ) It is good, it is our duty, and will
be our unspeakable comfort and satisfaction, to ho/ie
and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord.
To hope that it will come, though the difficulties
that lie in the way of it seem insupportable; to wait
till it does come, though it be long delayed; and
while we wait to be quiet and silent, not quarrelling
with God, or making ourselves uneasy, but acqui¬
escing in the divine disposals; Father, thy will be
done. If we call this to mind, we may have hope
that all will end well at last.
5. That afflictions are really good for us, and, if
we bear them aright, will work very much for our
good. It is not only good to hope and wait for the
salvation, but it is good to be under the trouble in
the mean time; (v. 27.) It is good for a man that
he bear the yoke in his youth. Many of the young
men were carried into captivity; to make them easy
in it, he tells them that it was good for them to bear
the yoke of that captivity, and they would find it so,
if they would but accommodate themselves to their
condition, and labour to answer God’s ends in laying
that heavy yoke upon them. It is very applicable
to the yoke of God’s commands; it is good for
young people to take that yoke upon them in their
youth; we cannot begin too soon to be religious; it
will make our duty the more acceptable to God,
and easy to ourselves, if we engage in it when we
are young. But here it seems to be meant of the
yoke of affliction; many have found it good to bear
this in youth, it has made them humble and serious,
and has weaned them from the world, who other¬
wise would have been proud and unruly, and as a
bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. But when do we
bear the yoke so that it is really good for us to bear
it in our youth? He answers in the following verses,
(1.) When we are sedate and quiet under our
afflictions; when we sit alone, and keefi silence;
do not run to and fro into all companies with our
complaints, aggravating our calamities, and quar¬
relling with the disposals of Providence concerning
us, but retire into privacy, that we may in a day of
adversity consider, sit alone, that we may converse
with God; and commune with our own hearts,
silencing all discontented, distrustful thoughts, and
laying our hand upon our mouth, as Aaron, who,
under a very severe trial, held his peace. We must
keep silence under the yoke, as those that have
borne it upon us, not wilfully pulled it upon our own
necks, but patiently submitted to it when God laid
it upon us. When those who are afflicted in their
youth accommodate themselves to their afflictions,
fit their necks to the yoke, and study to answer
God’s end in afflicting them, then they will find it
good for them to bear it, for it yields the peaceable
fruit of righteousness to those who are thus exer¬
cised thereby. (2.) When we are humble and
patient under our affliction; he gets good by the
voke, who puts his mouth in the dust, not only lays
his hand upon his mouth, in token of submission to
the will of God in the affliction, but puts it in the
dust, in token of sorrow, and shame, and self-loath¬
ing, at the remembrance of sin, and as one perfectly
reduced and reclaimed, and brought as those that
are vanquished to lick the dust, Ps. lxxii. 9. And
we must thus humble ourselves, if so be there may
be hope, or, as it is in the original, peradventure
there is hope. If there be any wav to acquire and
secure a good hope under our afflictions, it is this
way, and yet we must be very modest in our ex¬
pectations of it, must look for it with an ‘ it may be,’
as those who own ourselves utterly unworthy of it.
Note, Those who are truly humble for sin will be
glad to obtain a good hope, through grace, upon
any terms, though they put their mouth in the dust
for it; and those who would have hope, must do so,
and ascribe it to free grace if they have any encou
ragements, which may keep their hearts from sink
ing into the dust, when they put their mouth there.
(3.) When we are meek and mild toward those
who are the instruments of our trouble, and are of
a forgiving spirit, v. 30. He gets good by the yoke,
who gives his cheek to him that smites him, and
rather turns the other cheek, (Matth. v. 39.) than
returns the second blow. Our Lord Jesus has left
us an example of this, for he gave his back to the
smiters, Isa. 1. 6. He who can bear contempt and
reproach, and not render railing for railing, and
bitterness for bitterness; who, when he is filled full
with reproach, keeps it to himself, and does net re¬
tort it, and empty it again, upon those who filled
him with it, but pours it out before the Lord, (as
those did, Ps. cxxiii. 4. whose souls were exceedingly
filled with the contempt of the proud,) he shall find
that it is good to bear the yoke, and that it shall turn
to his spiritual advantage. The sum is, If tribula¬
tion work patience, that patience will work expe¬
rience, and that experience a hope that makes not
ashamed.
6. That God will graciously return to his people
with seasonable comforts, according to the time that
he has afflicted them, v. 31, 32. therefore the suf¬
ferer is thus penitent, thus patient, because he be¬
lieves that God is gracious and merciful, which is
the great inducement both to evangelical repent¬
ance, and to Christian patience. We may bear
ourselves up with this, (1.) That when we are cast
down, yet we are not cast off; the father’s correct¬
ing of his son is not a disinheriting of him. (2.)
That though we may seem to be cast off for a time,
while sensible comforts are suspended, and desired
salvations deferred, yet we are not really cast off,
because not cast off for ever; the controversy with
us shall not be perpetual. (3.) That whatever
sorrow we are in, it is what God has allotted us,
and his hand is in it: it is he that causes grief, and
therefore we may be assured it is ordered wisely
and graciously; and it is but for a season, and when
need is, that we are in heaviness, 1 Pet. i. 6. (4. )
That God has compassions and comforts in store
even for those whom he has himself grieved; we
must be far frem thinking that, though God cause
grief, the world will relieve and help us; no, the
very same that caused the grief, must bring in the
favour, or we are undone; Una eademque manus
vulnus opemque tulit — The same hand infficted the
wound, and healed it. He has torn, and he will
heal us, Hos. vi. 1. (5.) That, when God returns
to deal graciously with us, it will not be according
to cur merits, but according to his mercies, accord¬
ing to the multitude, the abundance, of his mercies.
So unworthy we are, that nothing but an abundant
mercy will relieve us; and from that what may we
not expect? And God’s causing our grief ought to
be no discouragement at all to those expectations.
7. That, when God does cause grief, it is for wise
and holy ends, and he takes not delight in cur ca¬
lamities, v. 33. He does indeed afflict, and grieve
the children of men, all their grievances and afflic¬
tions are from him, but he does not do it willingly,
not from the heart ; so the word is. (1.) He never
afflicts us but when we give him cause to do it; he
does not dispense his frowns as he does his favours,
ex mero motu—from his mere good pleasure; if he
show us kindness, it is because so it seems good unto
him ; but if he write bitter things against us, it is
because we both deserve it, and need it. (2. ) H-
docs not afflict with pleasure; he delights not in tin
574
LAMENTATIONS, III.
death of sinners, or the disquiet of saints, but pun¬
ishes with a kind of reluctance; he comes out of his
place to punish, for his place is the mercy-seat; he
delights not in the misery of any of his creatures,
but, as it respects his own people, he is so far from
it, that in all their afflictions he is afflicted, and his
soul is grieved for the misery of Israel. (3.) He
retains his kindness for his people even then when
he afflicts them : if he does not willingly grieve the
children of men, much less his own children; how¬
ever it be, yet God is good to them, (Ps. lxxiii. 1.)
and they may by faith see love in his heart even
then when they see frowns in his face, and a rod in
his hand.*
8. That, though he makes use of men as his
hand, or rather instruments in his hand, for the
correcting of his people, yet he is far from being
pleased with the injustice of their proceedings, ant!
the wrong they do them, v. 34. — 36. Though Clod
serves his owii purposes by the violence of wicked
and unreasonable men, yet it does not therefore fol¬
low that he countenances that violence, as his op¬
pressed people are sometimes tempted to think;
(Hab. i. 13.) Wherefore lookest thou u/ion them
that deal treacherously ? Two ways the people of
God are injured and oppressed by their enemies,
and the prophet here assures us that God does not
approve of either of them. (1.) If men injure
them by force of arms, God does not approve of
that. He does not himself crush under his feet the
prisoners of the earth, but he regards the cry of the
prisoners; nor does he approve of men’s doing it;
nay, he is much displeased with it. It is barbarous
to trample on them that are down, and to crush
those that are bound, and cannot help themselves.
(2.) If men injure them, under colour of law, and
m the pretended administration of justice; if they
turn aside the right of a man, so that he cannot
discover what his rights are, or cannot come at
them, they are out of his reach; if they subvert a
man in his cause, and bring in a wrong verdict, or
give a false judgment, let them know, [1.] That
God sees them. It is before the face of the Most
High, (re 35. ) it is in his sight, under his eye, and
is very displeasing to him; they cannot but know it
is so, and therefore it is in defiance of him that they
do it. He is the Most High, whose authority' over
them they contemn by abusing their authority over
their subjects: not considering that he that is higher
than the highest, regardeth, Eccl. v. 8. [2. ] That
God does 'riot approve of them; more is implied
than is expressed; the perverting of justice, and
the subverting of the just, are a great affront to
God; and though he may make use of them for the
correction of his people, yet he will, sooner or later,
severely reckon with those that do thus. Note,
However God may for a time suffer evil-doers to
prosper, and serve his own purposes by them, yet
lie does not therefore approve of their evil doings.
Far be it from God that he should do iniquity, or
countenance those that do it.
37. Who is lie that saith, and it cometh
to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
33. Out of the mouth of the Most High
proceedeth not evil and good? 39. Where¬
fore dotli a living man complain, a.man for
the punishment of his sins? 40. Let us
search and try our ways, and turn again to
the Lord. 41. Let tr lift up our heart
with our hands unto God in the heavens.
That we may be entitled to the comforts adminis¬
tered to the afflicted in the foregoing verses, and
may taste the sweetness of them, we have here the
duties of an afflicted state prescribed to us, in the
performance of which we may expect those com¬
forts.
We must see and acknowledge the hand of God
in all the calamities that befall us at any time,
whether personal or public, v. 37, 38. This is
here laid down as a great truth, which will help to
quiet our spirits under our afflictions, and to sanc¬
tify them to us, (1.) That, whatever men’s actions
are, it is God that overrules them; Who is he that
saith, and it cometh to pass, that designs a thing,
and brings his designs to effect, if the Lord command
it not? Men can do nothing but according to the
counsel of God, nor have any power or success but
what is given them from above. Jl man’s heart de
vises his way; he projects and purposes; he savs
that he will do so and so, (Jam. iv. 13.) but the
Lord directeth his steps far otherwise than he de¬
signed them, and what he contrived and expected
does not come to pass, unless it be what God’s hand
and his counsel had determined before to be done,
Prov. xvi. 9. Jer. x. 23. The Chaldeans said that
they would destroy Jerusalem, and it came to pass,
not because they said it, hut because God com¬
manded it, and commissioned them to do it. Note,
Men are but tools which the great God makes use
of, and manages as he pleases, in the government
of this lower world; and they cannot accomplish
any of their designs without him. (2.) That, what¬
ever men’s lot is, it is God that orders it; Out of the
mouth of the Most High do not evil and good pro¬
ceed? Yes, certainly they do; and it is more em¬
phatically expressed in the original. Do not this
evil, and this good, proceed out of the mouth of the
Most High? Is it not what he has ordained and ap¬
pointed for us? Yes, certainly it is; and for the re¬
conciling of us to our own afflictions, whatever they
be, this general truth must thus be particularly ap¬
plied. This comfort I receive from the hand of
God, and shall not I receive that evil also? so Job
argues, ch. ii. 10. Are we healthful or sickly, rich
or poor? Do we succeed in our designs, or are we
crossed in them? It is all what God orders; every
?nan’s judgment jiroceeds from him. The Lord
gave, and the I^ord has taken away; he forms the
light, and creates the darkness, as he did at first.
Note, All the events of Divine Providence are the
products of a divine counsel; whatever is done God
has the directing of it, and the works of his hands
agree with the words cf his mouth; he speaks, and
it is done; so easily, so effectually are all his pur¬
poses fulfilled!
2. We must not quarrel with God for any afflic¬
tion that he lays upon us at any time; (v. 30.)
Wherefore does a living man complain? The pro¬
phet here seems to check himself for the complaint he
had made in the former part of the chapter, wherein
he seemed to reflect upon God as unkind and se¬
vere; “Do I well to he angry? Why do I fret thus?”
Those who in their haste have chidden with God,
must, in the reflection, chide themselves for it.
From the doctrine of God’s sovereign and universal
providence, which he had asserted in the verses
before, he draws this inference, Wherefore does a
living man complain? What God does we must not
open our mouths against, Ps. xxxix. 9. They thn'
blame their lot, reproach him that allotted it to
them. The sufferers in the captivity must submit
to the will of God in all their sufferings. Note,
Though we may pour out our complaints before
God, we must never exhibit any complaints against
God. What! Shall a living man complain, a man
for the punishment of his sins? The reasons here
urged are very cogent. (1.) We are men; let us
herein show ourselves men. Shall a man complain?
And again, a man! We are men, and not brutes,
reasonable creatures, who should act with reason,
576
LAMENTATIONS, III.
«h> should look upward, and look forward, and
bol li ways may fetch considerations enough, to si¬
lence our complaints. We are men, and not chil¬
dren that cry tor every tiling that hurts them ; we
are men, and not gods, subjects, not lords; we are
not our own masters, not our own carvers, we are
bound, and must obey, must submit; we are men,
and not angels, and therefore cannot expect to be
free from troubles as they are; we are not inhabi¬
tants of that world where there is no sorrow, but this
where there is nothing but sorrow; we are men, and
not devils, are not in that deplorable, helpless, hope¬
less state that they are in, but have something to com¬
fort ourselves with, which they have not. (2.) We
are living men; through the good hand of our God
upon us we are alive yet, though dying daily; and
shall a living man complain? No, he has more rea¬
son to be thankful for life than to complain of any
of the burthens and calamities of life. Our lives are
frail and forfeited, and yet we are alive; now the
living, the living, they should praise, and not com¬
plain; (Isa. xxxviii. 19.) while there is life there is
hope, and therefore, instead of complaining that
things are bad, we should encourage ourselves with
the hope that they will be better. (3.) We are
sinful men, and that which we complain of is the
just punishment of our sins; nay, it is far less than
our iniquities have deserved; we have little reason
to complain of our trouble, for it is our own doing,
we may thank ourselves, our own wickedness cor¬
rects us; (Prov. xix. 3.) we have no reason to quar¬
rel with God, for he is righteous in it, he is the Go¬
vernor of the world, and it is necessary that he
should maintain the honour of his government by
chastising the disobedient. Are we suffering for
our sins? Then let us not complain, for we have
other work to do; instead of repining, we must be
repenting; and as an evidence that God is reconciled
to us, we must be endeavouring to reconcile our¬
selves to his holy will. Are we punished for our
sins? It is our wisdom then to submit, and to kiss
the rod; for if we still walk contrary to God, he
will punish us yet seven times more, for ivhen he
judges he wilt overcome; but if we accommodate
ourselves to him, though we be chastened of the
Lord, we shall not be condemned with the world.
3. We must set ourselves to answer God’s inten¬
tion in afflicting us, which is, to bring sin to our re¬
membrance, and to bring us home to himself, v. 40.
These are the two things which our afflictions should
put us upon. (1.) A serious consideration of our¬
selves, and a reflection upon our lives past; Let us
search and try our ways, search what they have
been, and then try whether they have been right
and good or no; search as for a malefactor in dis¬
guise, that flies, and hides himself, and then try
whether guilty or not guilty. Let conscience be
employed both to search and to try, and let it have
leave to deal faithfully, to accomplish a diligent
search, and to make an impartial trial. Let us try
our ways, that by them we may try ourselves, for
we are to judge of our state not by our faint wishes,
but by our steps; not by one particular step, but by
our ways; the ends we aim at, the rules we go by,
and the agreeableness of the temper of our minds
and the tenour of our lives to those ends and those
rules. When we are in affliction, it is seasonable to
consider our ways, (Hag. i. 5.) that what is amiss
may be repented of, and amended for the future,
and so we may answer the intention of the affliction.
We are apt, in times of public calamity, to reflect
upon other people’s ways, and lay blame upon them,
whereas our business is to search and try our own
ways; we have work enough to do at home: we
must each of us say, “What have I done? What
have I contributed to the public flames?” That we
may each of us mend one, and then we should all be
mended. (2.) A sincere conversion to God; “Let
us turn again to the Lord, to him who is turned
against us, and whom we have turned from; to him
let us turn by repentance and reformation, as to our
Owner and Ruler: we have been with him, and it
has never been well with us since we forsook him,
let us therefore now turn again to him.” This must
accompany the former, and be the fruit of it; there¬
fore we must search and try our ways, that we may
turn from the evil of them to God; this was the
method David took; (Ps. cxix. 59.) I thought on
my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
4. We must offer up ourselves to God, and cui
best affections and services, in the flames of devo¬
tion, v. 41. When we are in affliction, (1.) We
must look up to God, as a God in the heavens, in¬
finitely above us, and who has an incontestable do¬
minion over us; for the heavens do rule, and are
therefore not to be quarrelled with, but submitted
to. (2.) We must pray to him, with a believing
expectation to receive mercy from him; for that is
implied in our lifting up our hands to him, (a ges¬
ture commonly used in prayer,) and sometimes'put
forit, as, (Ps. cxli. 2.) Let the lifting up of my hands
be acceptable in thy sight. It signifies our request¬
ing mercy from him, and our readiness to receive
that mercy. (3.) Our hearts must go along with
our prayers; we must lift up our hearts with our
hands, as we must pour out our souls with out
words. It is the heart that God looks at in that,
and every other service; for what will a sacrifice
without a heart avail ? If inward impressions be not
in some measure answerable to outward expressions,
we do but mock God, and deceive ourselves. Pray¬
ing is lifting up the soul to God, (Ps. xxv. 1.) as to
our Father in heaven; and the soul that hopes to be
with God in heaven for ever, will thus, by frequent
acts ot devotion, be still learning the way thither,
and pressing forward in that way.
42. We have transgressed, and have re¬
belled: thou hast not pardoned. 43. Thou
hast covered with anger, and persecuted us:
thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. 44.
Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud,
that our prayer should not pass through.
45. Thou hast made us os the offscouritig
and refuse' in the midst of the people.
46. All our enemies have opened their
mouths against us. 47. Fear and a snare
is come upon us, desolation and destruction
48. Mine eye runneth down with rivers of
water for the destruction of the daughter of
my people. 49. Mine eye trickleth down,
and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
50. Till the Lord look down, and behold
from heaven. 51. Mine eye affected] my
heart, because of all the daughters of my
city. 52. Mine enemies chased me sore,
like a bird, without cause. 53. They have
cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a
stone upon me. 54. Waters flowed over
my head; then I said, I am cut off.
It is easier to chide ourselves for complaining than
to chide ourselves out of it: the prophet had owned
that a living man should not complain, as if he
checked himself for his complaints in the former
part of the chapter; and yet here the clouds return
afterthe rain, and the wounds bleed afresh; for great
576
LAMENTATIONS, III.
pains must be taken with a troubled spirit, to bring
it into temper.
I. They confess the righteousness of God in af¬
flicting them; (y. 42.) We have transgressed and
have rebelled. Note, It becomes us, when we are
in trouble, tq justify God, by owning our sins, and
laying the load upon ourselves for them. Call sin
a transgression, call it a rebellion, and you do not
miscall it. This is the result of their searching and
trying their ways; the more they inquired into them,
the worse they found them.
II. Yet they complain of the afflictions they are
under, not without some reflections upon God,
which we are not to imitate, but, under the sharpest
trials, must always think and speak highly and
kindly of him.
1. They complain of his frowns, and the tokens
of his displeasure against them. Their sins were
repented of, and yet, ( v . 42.) Thou hast not /par¬
doned. They had not the assurance and comfort
of the pardon; the judgments brought upon them
for their sins were not removed, and therefore they
thought they could not say the sin was pardoned,
which was a mistake, but a common mistake with
the people of God when their souls are cast down,
and disquieted within them. Their case was really
pitiable, vet they complain, Thou hast not fiitied,
v. 43. Their enemies persecuted and slew them,
but that was not the worst of it, they were but the
instruments in God’s hands; “ Thou hast /persecuted
us, and thou hast slain us, though we expected
thou shouldest have protected and delivered us.”
They complain that there was a wall of partition
between them and God, and, (1.) This hindered
God’s favours from coming down upon them: “The
reflected beams of God’s kindness to them, used to
be the beauty of Israel; but now thou hast covered
us with anger, so that our glory is concealed and
gone; now God is angry with us, and we do not ap- i
pear that illustrious people that we have formerly '
been thought to be.” Or, “ Thou hast covered us
up as men that are buried or covered up and forgot¬
ten.” (2.) It hindered their prayers from coming
up unto God; {v. 44.) “ Thou hast covered thyself
with a cloud;” not like that bright cloud in which
he took possession of the temple, which enabled the
worshippers to draw near to him, but like that in
which he came down upon mount Sinai, which
obliged the people to stand at a distance. “ This
cloud is so thick, that our firayers seem as if they
were lost in it, they cannot pass through, we cannot
obtain an audience.” Note, The prolonging of
troubles is sometimes a temptation, even to praying
people, to question whether God be what they have
always believed him to be, a prayer-hearing God.
2. They complain of the contempt of their neigh¬
bours, and the reproach and ignominy thev were
under; (it. 45. ) Thou hast made us as the off-scour¬
ing , or scrapings of the first floor, which are thrown
to the dunghill. This St. Paul refers to, in his ac¬
count of the sufferings of the apostles; (1 Cor. iv.
13.) We are made as the filth of the world, and are
the off-scouring of all things. “ We are the refuse,
or dross, in the midst of the people, trodden upon by
every body, and looked upon as the vilest of the na¬
tions, and good for nothing but to be cast out as salt
which has lost its savour. Our enemies have opened
their mouths against us, (v. 46. ) have gaped upon
us as roaring lions, to swallow us up; or made
mouths at us; or have taken liberty to say what
they please of us:” these complaints we had before,
ch. ii. 15, 16. Note, It is common for base and ill-
natured men to run upon, and run down, those that
are fallen into the depths of distress from the height
of honour. But this they brought upon themselves
by sin; if they had not made themselves vile, their
enemies could not have made them so; but there¬
fore men call them reprobate silver, because the
Lord has rejected them for rejecting him.
3. They complain of the lamentable destruction
that their enemies made of them; (y. 47.) Fear and
a snare are come upon us; the enemies have not
only terrified us with those alarms, but prevailed
against us by their stratagems, and surprised us
with the ambushes they laid for us; and then follows
nothing but desolation and destruction, the destruc
tion of the daughter of my people, ( v . 48. ) of all the
daughters of my city, v. 51. The enemies having
taken some of them like a bird in a snai e, chased
others as a harmless bird is chased by a bird of
prey; (t\ 52.) Mine enemies chased me sore like a
bird which is beaten from bush to bush, as Saul
hunted David like a partridge. Thus restless was
the enmity of their persecutors, and yet causeless;
They have done it without cause, without any pro¬
vocation given them; though God was righteous,
they were unrighteous. David often complains of
those that hated him without cause; and such are
the enemies of Christ and his church, John xv. 25.
Their enemies chased them till they had quite pre¬
vailed over them; (n. 53.) They have cut off my
life in the dungeon. They have shut up their cap¬
tives in close and dark prisons, where they are, as it
were, cut off from the land of the living; (as v. 6.)
or, the state and kingdom are sunk and ruined, the
life and being of them are gone, and they are, as it
were, thrown into the dungeon or grave, and a stone
cast upon them, such as used to be rolled to the door
of the sepulchres. They look upon the Jewish na¬
tion as dead and buried, and that there is no possi¬
bility of its resurrection. Thus Ezekiel saw it, in
vision, a valley full of dead and dry bones. Their
destruction is compared not only to the burying c f a
dead man, but to the sinking of a living man into
the water, who cannot long be a living man there,
v. 54. Waters of affliction flowed over niine head;
the deluge prevailed and quite overwhelmed them,
the Chaldean forces broke in upon them as the
breaking forth of waters, which rose so high as to
fiow over their heads; they could not wade, they
could not swim, and therefore must unavoidably
sink. Note, The distresses of God’s people some¬
times prevail to that degree, that they cannot find
any footing for their faith, nor keep their head above
water, with any comfortable expectation.
4. They complain of their own excessive grief
and fear upon this account (1.) The afflicted
church is drowned in tears, and the prophet for her;
(y. 48, 49.) Mine eye runs down xvith rivers of wa¬
ter; so abundant was their weeping: it trickles
down and ceases not; so constant was their weeping,
without anv intermission, there being no relaxation
of their miseries. The distemper was in continual
extremity, and they had no better day. It is added,
( v . 51.) “ Mine eye affects my heart; my seeing
eye affects my heart; the more I look upon the de¬
solations of the city and country, the more I am
grieved; which way soever I cast mine eye, I see
that which renews my sorrow, even because of all
the daughters of my city;” all the neighbouring
towns, which were as daughters to Jerusalem the
motlier-citv. Or, My weeping eye affects my heart;
the venting of tlie grief, instead of easing it, did but
increase and exasperate it. Or, Mine eye melts my
soul; I have quite wept away my spirits; not only
mine eye is consumed with grief but my soul and
my life are spent with it, rs. xxxi. 9, 10. Great
and long grief exhausts the spirits, and brings not
only many a grey head, but many a green head
too, to the grave. " I weep, says the prophet, more
than all the daughters of my city; so the margin
reads it; he outdid even those of the tender sex in
the expressions of grief. And it is no diminution
to anv to be much in tears for the sins of sinners and
57?
LAMENTATIONS, III.
the sufferings of saints; our Lord Jesus was so; for
when he came near, he beheld this same city, and
wept over it, which the daughters of Jerusalem did
not. (2.) She is overwhelmed with fears; not only
grieves for what is, but fears worse, and gives up all
forgone; (y. 54.) “Then I said, lam cutoff, ruined,
and see no hope of recovery; I am as one dead.”
Note, Those that are cast down, are commonly
tempted to think themselves cast off, Ps. xxxi. 22.
Jon. ii. 4.
5. In the midst of these sad complaints here is one
word of comfort, by which it appears that their case
was not altogether so bad as they made it, v. 50.
We continue thus weeping till the Lord look down
and behold from heaven. This intimates, (1.) That
they were satisfied that God’s gracious regard to
them in their miseries would be an effectual redress
of all their grievances; “ If God, who now covers
himself with a cloud, as if he took no notice of our
troubles, (Job xxii. 13.) would but shine forth, all
would be well; if he look upon us, we shall be saved,”
Ps. lxxx. 19. Dan. ix. 17. Bad as the case is, one
favourable look from heaven will set all to lights.
(2.) That they had hopes that he would at length
look graciously upon them, and relieve them; nay,
they take it for granted that he will; “ Though he
contend long, he will not contend for ever, though
we deserve that he should.” (3.) That while they
continued weeping they continued waiting; and nei¬
ther did nor would expect relief and succour from
any hand but liis; nothing shall comfort them but
his gracious returns, nor shall any thing wipe tears
from their eyes tillhelook down. Their eyes, which
now run down with water, shall still wait upon the
Lord their God until that he have mercy upon
them, Ps. xii. 2.
55. I called upon thy name, O Lord, out
of the low dungeon. 56. Thou hast heard
my voice; hide not thine ear at my breath¬
ing, at my cry. 57. Thou drevvest near in
the day that 1 called upon thee: thou saidst,
Fear not. 58. O Lord, thou hast pleaded
the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed
my life. 59. O Lord, thou hast seen my
wrong; judge thou my cause. 60. Thou
hast seen all their vengeance, and all their
imaginations against me. 61. Thou hast
heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their
imaginations against me ; 62. The lips of
those that rose up against me, and their de¬
vice against me all the day. 63. Behold
their sitting down, and their rising up ; I am
their music. 64. Render unto them a re¬
compense, O Lord, according to the work
of their hands. 65. Give them sorrow of
heart, thy curse unto them. 66. Persecute
and destroy them in anger from under the
heavens of the Lord.
We may observe throughout this chapter a strug¬
gle in the prophet’s breast between sense and faith,
fear and hope; he complains and then comforts him¬
self, yet drops his comforts, and returns again to his
complaints, as Ps. xlii. But as there, so here, faith
gets the last word, and comes off a conqueror, for
in these verses he concludes with some comfort.
And here are two things with which he comforts
himself.
I. His experience of God’s goodness even in his
affliction. This may refer to the prophet’s personal
Vol. iv. — 4 D
| experience, with which he encourages himself in
j reference to the public troubles. He that has sea¬
sonably succoured particular saints, will not fail the
church in general. Or, it may include the remnant
of good people that were among the Jews, who had
found it was not in vain to wait upon God. In three
things the prophet and his pious friends had found
God good to them. 1. He had heard their prayers;
though they had been ready to fear that the cloud
of wrath was such as their prayers could not pass
through, (v. 44.) yet, upon second thoughts, or at
least upon further trial, they find it otherwise, and
that God had not said unto them, Seek ye me in
vain. When they were in the low dungeon, as
free among the dead, they called upon Goa’s name;
(v. 55. ) their weeping did not hinder praying. Note,
Though we are cast into ever so low a dungeon, we
may from thence find a way of access to God in the
highest heavens; Out. of the depths have I cried
unto thee, (Ps. exxx. 1.) as Jonah out of the whale’s
belly. And could God hear them out of the low
dungeon, and would he? Yes, he did; Thou hast
heard my voice: and some read the following words
as carrying on the same thankful acknowledgment;
Thou didst not hide thine ear at my breathing, at
mu cry: and the original will bear that reading.
We read it as a petition for further audience; Hide
not thine ear. God’s having heard cur voice when
we cried to him, even out of the low dungeon, is an
encouragement for us to hope that he will not at any
time hide his ear. Observe how he calls prayer his
breathing; for in prayer we breathe toward God.
we breathe after him; though we be but weak in
prayer, cannot cry aloud, but only breathe in groan-
ings that cannot be uttered, yet we shall not be ne¬
glected, if we be sincere. Prayer is the breath of
the new man, sucking in the air of mercy in peti¬
tions, and returning it in praises; it is both the evi¬
dence and the maintenance of the spiritual life.
Some read it, at my gasping; “When I lay gasping
for life, and ready to expire, and thought I was
breathing my last, then thou tookest cognizance
of my distressed case.” 2. He had silenced their
fears, and quieted their spirits; (v. 57.) “ Thou
drewest near in the day that I called upon thee;
thou didst graciously assure me of thy presence with
me, and give me to see thee nigh unto me, whefeas
I had thought thee to be at a distance from me.”
Note, When we draw nigh to God in a way of duty,
we may by faith see him drawing nigh to us in a
way of mercy; but this was not all; Thou saidst.
Fear not. This was the language of God’s pro¬
phets preaching to them not to fear, (Isa. xli. 10,
13. ) of his providence preventing those things which
they were afraid of, and of his grace quieting their
minds, and making them easy, by the witness of his
Spirit with their spirits, that they were his people
still, though in distress, and therefore ought not to
fear. 3. He had already begun to appear for them;
(v. 58.) “ O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of
my soul ,” (that is, as it follows,) “thou hast re¬
deemed my life, hast rescued that out of the hands
of those who would have taken it away, hast saved
that when it was ready to be swallowed up, hast
given me that for a prey.” And this is an encou¬
ragement to them to hope that he would yet further
appear for them; “Thou hast delivered my soul
from death, and therefore wilt deliver my feet from
falling; thou hast pleaded the causes of my life, and
therefore wilt plead my other causes.”
II. He comforts himself with an appeal to God’s
justice, and (in order to the sentence of that) to his
omniscience.
1. He appeals to God’s knowledge of the matter
of fact, how very spiteful and malicious his enemies
were; (u. 59.) “ O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong,
that I have done no wrong at all, but suffer a great
578
LAMENTATIONS, fV
deal.” He that knows all things, knew, (1.) The
malice they had against him; 'Thou hast seen all
' their vengeance ; how they desire to do me a mis¬
chief, as if it were by way of reprisal for some great
injury I had done them.” Note, We should consi¬
der, to our terror and caution, that God knows all
the revengeful thoughts we have in our minds
against others, and therefore we should not allow
of those thoughts, or harbour them: and that he
knows all the revengeful thoughts others have
causelessly in their minds against us, and therefore
we should not be afraid of them, but leave it to him
to protect us from them. (2.) The designs and
projects they had laid to do him a mischief; Thou
hast seen all their imaginations against me, [y. 60.)
and again, (n. 61.) “Thou hast heard all their
imaginations against me, both the desire and the
device they have to ruin me; whether it show itself
in word or deed, it-is known to thee; nay, though
the products of it are not to be seen or heard, yet
their device against me all the day is perceived and
understood by him to whom all things are naked
and open. ” Note, The most secret contrivances of
the church’s enemies are perfectly known to the
church’s God, from whom they can hide nothing.
(3.) The contempt and calumny wherewith they
loaded him, all that they spake slightly of him, and
all that they spake reproachfully; “Thou hast
heard their reproach, ( v . 61.) all the bad charac¬
ters they give me, laying to my charge things that
I know not; all the methods they use to make me
odious and contemptible, even the lifts of those that
rose lift against me, (to 62.) the contumelious lan¬
guage they use whenever they speak of me; and that
at their sitting down and rising up, when they lie
down at night, and get up in the morning, when
they sit down to their meat, and with their com¬
pany, and when they rise from both, still 1 am their
music, they make themselves and one another merry
with my miseries, as the Philistines made sport
with Samson.” Jerusalem was the tabret they
played upon; perhaps they had some tune or play,
some t pera or interlude, that was called the destruc¬
tion oj Jerusalem, which though in the nature of a
tragedv, was very entertaining to those who wished
ill to the holy city. Note, God will one day call
sinners to an account for all the hard speeches which
they have spoken against him and his people,
Jude 15.
2. He appeals to God’s judgment upon this fact,
“ Lord, thou hast seen my ivrong; there is no need
of any evidence to prove it, or any prosecutor to en¬
force and aggravate it, thou seest it in its true co¬
lours; and now I leave it with thee, judge thou my
cause, v. 59. Let them be dealt with,” (1.) “As
they deserve; (v. 64.) Render to them a recomftense
according to the work o f their hands. Let them lie
dealt with as they have dealt with us; let thv hand
be against them as their hand has been against us.
They have created us a great deal of vexation;
now, Lord, give them sorrow of heart : {v. 65.) per¬
plexity of heart;” (so some read it;) “let them be
surrounded with threatening mischiefs on all sides,
and not be able to see their way out: give them des¬
pondency of heart;” (so others read it;) “ let them
lie driven to despair, and give themselves up for
gone. ” God can entangle the head that thinks it¬
self clearest, and sink the heart that thinks itself
stoutest. (2.) “ Let them be dealt with according
to the threatenings; Thy curse unto them; let thy
curse come upon them, all the evils that are pro¬
nounced in thy word against the enemies of thy peo¬
ple, v. 65. They have loaded us with curses; as
they loved cursing, so let it come unto them, thy
curse which will make them truly miserable. Theirs
is causeless, and therefore fruitless, it shall not
come; but thine is just, and shall take eflect; those
whom thou cursest are cursed indeed. Let the
curse be executed, v. 66. Persecute and destroy
them in anger, as they persecute and destroy us in
their anger. Desti oy them from under the heavens
of the Lord, let them have no benefit of the light
and influence of the heavens. Destroy them in such
a manner, that all who see it may say, It is a de¬
struction from the Almighty, who sits in the heavens
and laughs at them, (Ps. ii. 4.) and may own that
the heavens do rule,” Dan. iv. 26. What is said
of the idols is here said of their worshippers, (who
in this also shall be like unto them,) They shall
fterish from under these heavens, Jer. x. 11. They
shall be not only excluded from the happiness of the
invisible heavens, but cut off from the comfort even
of these visible ones; which are the heavens of the.
Lord, (Ps. cxv. 16.) and which they therefore are
unworthy to be taken under the protection of, who
rebel against him.
CHAP. IV.
This chapter is another single alphabet of Lamentation#
for the destruction of Jerusalem, like those in the two
first chapters. I. The prophet here laments the injuries
and indignities done to those to whom respect used to be
showed, v. 1, 2. II. He laments the direful effects of the
famine to which they were reduced by the siege, v. 3. . 10.
111. He laments the taking and sacking of Jerusalem,
and its amazing desolations, v. 11, 12. IV. He acknow¬
ledges that the sins of their leaders were the cause of all
these calamities, v. 13 . . 16. V. He gives up all as doom¬
ed to utter ruin, for their enemies were every way too
hard for them, v. 17 . . 20. VI. He foretells the destruc¬
tion of the Edomites who triumphed in Jerusalem’s fall,
v. 21. VII. He foretells the return of the captivity of
Zion at last, v. 22.
1. 1| OW is the gold become dim! how is
JOl the most fine gold changed! the
stones of the sanctuary are poured out in
the top of every street. 2. The precious
sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how
are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the
work of the hands of the potter! 3. Even
the sea-monsters draw out the breast, they
give suck to their young ones: the daughter
of my people is become cruel, like the os¬
triches in the wilderness. 4. The tongue
of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of
his mouth for thirst; the young children ask
bread, rind no man breaketh it unto them.
5. They that did feed delicately are desolate
in the streets; they that were brought up in
scarlet embrace dunghills. 6. For the pun¬
ishment of the iniquity of the daughter ol my
people is greater than the punishment of the
sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a
moment, and no hands stayed on her. 7.
Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they
were whiter than milk, they were more
ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing
was of sapphire: 8. Their visage is blacker
than a coal; they are not known in the
streets : their skin cleaveth to their bones
it is withered, it is become like a stick. 9.
They that be slain with the sword are better
than they that be slain with hunger : for these
pine away, stricken through for leant of the
fruits of the field. 10. The hands of the
pitiful women have sodden their own chil
57:)
LAMENTATIONS, IV.
dren, they were (heir meat in the destruc¬
tion of the daughter of my people. 1 1. The
Lord hath accomplished his fury; he hath
poured out his tierce anger, and hath kin¬
dled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured
the foundations thereof. 12. The kings of
the earth, and all the inhabitants ol the
world, would not have believed that the ad¬
versary and the enemy should have entered
into the gates of Jerusalem.
The elegy in this chapter begins with a lamenta¬
tion of the very sad and doleful change which the
judgments of God had made in Jerusalem. The
citv that had been as gold, as the most fine gold,
so "rich and splendid, the perfection of beauty, and
the joy of the whole earth, is become dim, and is
changed, has lost its lustre, lost its value, is not
what it was, it is become dross. Alas, what an
alteration is here!
1. The temple is laid waste, which was the glory
of Jerusalem and its protection; it is given up into
the hands of the enemy. As some understand the
gold spoken of, (i>. 1.) to be the gold of the temple,
the fine gold with which it was overlaid; (1 Kings
vL 22. ) when the temple was burned, the gold of it
was smoked and sullied, as if it had been of little
value; it was thrown among the rubbish, it was
changed, converted to common uses, and made no¬
thing of. The stones of the sanctuary, which were
curiously wrought, were thrown down by the Chal¬
deans, when they demolished it, or were brought
down by the force of the fire, and were poured out,
and thrown about in the top of every street, they
lav mingled without distinction among the common
ruins. When the God of the sanctuary was by sin
prr.\ ked to withdraw, no wonder that the stones
of the sanctuary were thus profaned.
2. Tlie princes and priests who were in a special
manner the sons of Zion, were trampled upon and
abused, v. 2. Both the house of God and the house
of David were in Zion; the sons of both those houses
were upon this account precious, that they were
heirs to the privileges < f those two covenants of
priesthood and royalty; they were comparable to
fine gold; Israel was more rich in them than in
treasures of gold and silver; but now they are es¬
teemed as earthen pitchers; they are broken as
earthen pitchers, thrown by as vessels in which
there is no favour. They are grown poor, and
brought into captivity, and thereby are rendered
mean and despicable, and every one treads upon
them, and insults over them. Note, The contempt
put upon God’s people ought to be matter of lamen¬
tation to us.
3. Little children were starved for want of bread
and w iter, v. 3, 4. The nursing-mothers, having
no meat for themselves, had no milk for the babes
at their breast, so that though in disposition they
Were really compassionate, yet in fact they seemed
to be cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness, that
leave their eggs in the dust; (Job xxxix. 14, 15.)
having no food for their children, they were forced
to neglect them, and do what they could to forget
them, because it was a pain to them to think of
them when they had nothing for them; in this they
were worse than the seals, or sea-monsters, or
whales, (as some render it,) for they drew out the
breast, and gave surk to their young, which the
daughter of my people will not do. Children can¬
not shitt for themselves as grown people can; and
therefore it was the more painful to see the tongue
of the sucking-child cleave to the roof of his mouth
for thirst, because there was not a drop of water
to moisten it; and to hear the young children, that
could but just speak, ask bread of their parents, who
had none to give them, no, nor any friend that could
supply them. As doleful as our’thoughts are of this
case, sorthankful should our thoughts be of the great
plenty wc enjoy, and the food convenient we havt
for ourselves and for our children, and for those oj
our own house.
4. Persons of good rank were reduced to extreme'
poverty, v. 5. They who were well-born and well-
bred, and had been accustomed to the best, both for
food and clothing, who had fed delicately, had
every thing that was curious and nice, (they call it
eating well, whereas those only eat well, who eat
to the glory of God,) and fared sumptuously emery
day; they had not only been advanced to the scarlet,
but from their beginning were brought up. in scar¬
let, and were never acquainted with any thing mean
or ordinary; they were brought up upon scarlet,
(so the word is,) their foot-cloths, and the carpets
they walked on, were scarlet, yet these, being stript
of all by the war, are desolate in the streets, have
not a house to put their head in, not a bed to lie
on, nor clothes to cover them, nor fire to warm
them. They embrace dunghills, on them they are
glad to lie, to get a little rest; and perhaps raked
in the dunghills for something to eat, as the prodi¬
gal son who would fain have filled his belly with
the husks. Note, Those who live in the greatest
pomp and plenty, know not what straits they may
be reduced to before they die; as sometimes the
needy are raised out of the dunghill, (Ps. cxiii. 7.)
so there are instances of the wealthy being brought
to the dunghill. Those who were full, have hired out
themselves for bread, 1 Sam. ii. 5. It is therefore
the wisdom of those who have abundance, not to
use themselves too nicely, for then hardships, when
they come, will be doubly hard, Deut. xx' iii. 56.
5. Persons who were eminent for dignity, nay,
perhaps for sanctity, shared with others in the com¬
mon calamity, v. 7, 8. Her Nazarites are ex¬
tremely changed. Some understand it only of her
honourable ones, the young gentlemen, who were
very clean, and neat, and well-dressed, washed and
perfumed; but I see not why we may not understand
it of those devout people among them, who sepa¬
rated themselves to the Lord by the JYazarites’ vow,
Numb. vi. 2. That there were such among them
in the most degenerate times, appears, Amos ii. 11.
I raised up of your young men for Arazarites.
These JVazarites, though they were not to cut their
hair, yet, by reason of their temperate diet, their
frequent washings, and especially the pleasure they
had in devoting themselves to God, and conversing
with him, which made their faces to shine as Mo¬
ses’s, were purer than snow, and whiter than milk;
drinking no wine nor strong drink, they had a more
healthful complexion and cheerful countenance than
those who regaled themselves daily with the blood
of the grape, as Daniel and his fellows with pulse
and water. Or, It may denote the great respect
and veneration which all good people had for them;
though perhaps to the eye they had no form or
comeliness, yet, being separated to the Lord, they
were valued as if they had been more ruddy than
rubies, and their polishing had been as sapphire.
But now their visage is marred, (as is said of Christ,
Isa. lii. 14.) it is blacker than a coal, they look mi¬
serably, partly through hunger, and partly through
grief and perplexity; they are not known in the
streets, they who respected them now take no notice
of them, and they who had been intimately ac¬
quainted with them now scarcely knew them, their
countenance was so altered by the miseries that at¬
tended the long siege. Their skin cleaves to their
bones, their flesh being quite consumed and wasted
away; it is withered, it is become like a stick, as dry
and hard as a piece of wood. Note, It is a thing to
580
LAMENTATIONS, IV.
be much lamented, that even those who are sepa¬
rated to God, are .yet, when desolating judgments
are abroad, often involved with others in the com¬
mon calamity.
6. Jerusalem comes down slowly, and dies a lin¬
gering death, for the famine contributes more to her
destruction than any other judgment whatsoever.
Upon this account, the destruction of Jerusalem was
greater than that of Sodom, ( v . 6.) for that was
overthrown in a moment, one shower of fire and
brimstone despatched it, no hand stayed on her, she
did not endure any long siege, as Jerusalem has
done, she fell immediately into the hands of the
Lord, who strikes home at a blow, and did not fall
into the hands of man, who, being weak, is long in
doing execution, Judg. viii. 21. Jerusalem is kept
m my months upon the rack, in pain and misery,
and dies by inches, dies so as to feel herself die.
And when the iniquity of Jerusalem is more ag¬
gravated than that of Sodom, no wonder that the
punishment of it is so. Sodom never had the means
of grace that Jerusalem had, the oracles of God, and
his prophets, and therefore the condemnation of Je¬
rusalem will be more intolerable than that of Sodom,
M itth. xi. 23, 24.
The extremity of the famine is here set forth by
two frightful instances of it. (1.) The tedious
deaths that it was the cause of; (v. 9.) many were
slain with hunger, were famished to death, their
stores being spent, and the public stores so nearly
spent, that they could not have any relief out of
them; they were stricken through, for want of the
fruits of the field; they who were starved were as
sure to die as if they had been stabbed and stricken
di rough; only their case was much more miserable;
they who are slain with the stvord, are soon rid out
of their pain, in a moment they go down to the
•■rave; (Job xxi. 13.) they have not the terror of
seeing death make its advances toward them, and
scarcely feel it when the blow is given; it is but one
sharp struggle, and the work is done. And if we be
mdy for another world, we need not be afraid of a
short passage to it; the quicker the better. But
they who die by famine pine away, hunger preys
upon their spirits, and wastes them gradually, nay,
ind it frets their spirits, and fills them with vexa-
ti in, and is as great a torture to the mind as to the
i >dv. There are bands in their death, Ps. lxxiii.
4. (2.) The barbarous murders that it was the
occasion of; (n. 10.) The hands of the pitiful wo¬
men have first slain, and then sodden, their own
children. This was lamented before; (rA. ii. 20.)
and it was a thing to be greatly lamented, that any
should be so wicked as to do it, and that they should
be brought to such extremities as to be tempted to
it. But this horrid effect of long sieges had been
threatened in general, (Lev. xxvi. 29. Deut. xxviii.
53.) and particularly against Jerusalem in the siege
of the Chaldeans, Jer. xix. 9. Ezek. v. 10. The
case was sad enough that they had not wherewithal
to feed their children, and make meat for them,
(v. 4.) but much worse that they could find in their
hearts to feed upon their children, and make meat
of them. I know not whether to make it an in¬
stance of the power of necessity, or of the power
of iniquity; but as the Gentile idolaters were justly
f'iven up to vile affections, (Rom. i. 26.) so these
ewish idolaters, and the women particularly, who
had made cakes to the queen of heaven, and taught
their children to do so too, were stript of natural
affection, and that to their own children. Being
thus left to dishonour their own nature, was a righ¬
teous judgment upon them for the dishonour they
nad done to God.
7. Jerusalem comes down utterly and wonder¬
fully. (1.) The destruction of Jerusalem is a com¬
plete destruction; ( v . 11.) The Lord has accom¬
plished his fury, he has made thorough work of
it, has executed all that he purposed in wrath
against Jerusalem, and has remitted no part of the
sentence. He has poured out the full vials of his
fierce anger, poured them out to the bottom, even
the dregs of them. He has kindled a fire in Zion,
which has not only consumed the houses, and le¬
velled them with 'the ground, but, beyond what
other fires do, has devoured the foundations thereof,
as if they were to be no more built upon. (2. ) It
is an amazing destruction, v. 12. It w .s a surprise
to the kings of the earth, who are acquainted with,
and inquisitive about, the state of their neighbours;
nay, it was so to all the inhabitants of the world,
who knew Jerusalem, or had ever heard or read of
it; they could not have believed that the adversary
and enemy should ever have entered into the gates
of Jerusalem; for, [1.] They knew that Jerusalem
was strongly fortified, not only by walls and bul¬
warks, but by the numbers and strength of its inha¬
bitants; the strong hold of Zion was thought to be
impregnable. [2.] They knew that it' was the
city of the great King, where the Lord of the whole
earth had in a more peculiar manner his residence;
it was the holy city, and therefore they thought
that it was so much under the divine protection,
that it would be in vain for any of its enemies to
make an attack upon it. [3.] They knew that
many an attempt made upon it had been baffled,
witness that of Sennacherib. They were therefore
amazed when they heard of the Chaldeans making
themselves masters of it, and concluded that it was
certainly by an immediate hand of God that Jerusa¬
lem was given up to them; it was by a commission
from him that the enemy broke through, and enter¬
ed the gates of Jerusalem.
13. For the sins of her prophets, and the
iniquities of her priests, that have shed the
blood of the just in the midst of her. 14.
They have wandered as blind men in the
streets, they have polluted themselves with
blood, so that men could not touch their
garments. 15. They cried unto them, De¬
part ye ; it is unclean ; depart, depart, touch
not: when they fled away and wandered,
they said among the heathen, They shall no
more sojourn there. 16. The anger of the
Lord hath divided them ; he will no more
regard them: they respected not the per¬
sons of the priests, they favoured not the
elders. 1 7. As for us, our eyes as yet failed
for our vain help : in our watching we have
watched for a nation that could not save us.
1 8. They hunt our steps, that we cannot go
in our streets: our end is near, our days are
fulfilled ; for our end is come. 1 9. Our perse¬
cutors are swifter than the eagles of the hea¬
ven: they pursued us upon the mountains,
they laid wait for us in the wilderness. 20.
The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of
the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom
we said, Under his shadow we shall live
among the heathen.
We have here,
1. The sins they are charged with, for which
God brought this destruction upon them, and which
serve to justify God in it; (v. 13, 14.) It is for the
sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests ;
LAMENTATIONS, IV.
St: I
not 'Sat the people were innocent, no, they loved
tu have it so, (Jer. v. 31.) and it was to please them
that the prophets and priests did as they did; but
the fault is chiefly laid upon them who should have
taught them better, should have reproved and ad¬
monished them, and told them what would be in the
end hereof; of the hands of those watchmen who
did not give them warning, will their blood be re¬
quired. Note, Nothing ripens a people more for
ruin, nor fills the measure faster, than the sins of
their priests and prophets. The particular sin
charged upon them is, persecution; the false pro¬
phets and corrupt priests joined their power and
interest to shed the blood of the just in the midst of
her , the blood of God’s prophets, and of those that
adhered to them: they not only shed the blood of
their innocent children, whom they sacrificed to
Moloch, but the blood of the righteous men that
were among them, whom they sacrificed to that
more cruel idol of enmity to the truth and true reli¬
gion. This was that sin which the Lord would not
p irdon, (2 Kings xxiv. 4.) and which brought the
l ist destruction upon Jerusalem; (Jam. v. 6.) Ye
have condemned and killed the just. And the
priests and prophets were the ringleaders in perse¬
cution, as in Christ’s time the chief priests and
scribes were the men that incensed the people
against him, who otherwise would have persisted
in their hosannas. Now these are they that wan¬
dered as blind men in the streets; (n. 14.) they
strayed from the paths of justice, were blind to
every thing that is good, but to do evil they were
quick-sighted. God says of corrupt judges, They
know not, neither do they understand, they walk in
darkness; (Ps. lxxxii. 5.) and Christ says of the cor¬
rupt teachers, They are blind leaders of the blind,
M itth. xv. 14. They have so polluted themselves
with innocent blood, the blood of the saints, that men
could not touch their garments; they made them¬
selves odious to all about them, so that good men
were as shy of touching them as of touching a dead
body, which contracted a cerelTionial pollution; or
of touching the bloody clothes of one slain, which
tender spirits eare not to do. There is nothing that
will make prophets and priests to be abhorred so
much as a spirit of persecution.
2. The testimony of their neighbours produced in
evidence against them, both to convict them of sin,
and to show the equity of God’s proceedings against
them. Some that are grown very impudent in sin,
boast that they care not what people say of them;
but God, by the prophet, would have the Jews to
take notice’of what people said of them, and what
was the opinion of the standers-by concerning them;
(x’. 15, 16.) what they said, nay, what they cried
unto them, especially to the corrupt priests and pro¬
phets, among the heathen. (1.) They upbraided
them with their pretended purity, while they lived
in all manner of real iniquity. They cried to them,
Defiart ye, it is unclean. You were so precise, you
would not touch a Gentile, but cried, Depart, de¬
part, stand by thyself, I am holier than thou, Isa.
lxv. 5. Thus the prosecutors of Christ would not
go into the judgment-hall, lest they should be de¬
fied. But can you now keep the Gentiles from
touching you, when God has delivered you into
th-ir h inds? When you flv away and wander, you
will bid them stand off, and not touch you, because
they are unclean; but in vain, these serpents will not
be charmed or enchanted thus, no, they will not
respect the persons of the priests, nor favour the
elders; the most venerable persons will to them be
despicable. (2.) They upbraided them with their
sins, 'lid the anger of God against them for their
sins, and the direful effects of that anger. They
cried to them, Depart ye, it is unclean; they all
cried out shame on them, and could easily foresee J
that God would not long suffer so p invoking a people
to continue in so good a land. They knew their sta -
tutes and judgments were righteous, and expected
they should be a wise and understanding people ,
Deut. iv. 6. But when they saw them quite other ¬
wise, they cried, Depart, depart; they scon read
their doom, that the land would spue them out, as
it had done their predecessors, and when they saw
the dispersed of Jacob fleeing and wandering, they
told them of it. They said, Now the anger of the
Lord has divided them, has dispersed them into all
countries, because they respected not the persons of
the priests, the pious priests that were among them,
such as Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, Jeremiah,
and others; neither did they favour the elders, but
despised them and their authority, when they went
about to check them for their vicious courses; the
very heathen foresaw this would ruin them. (3.)
They triumph in their ruin as irrecoverable. They
said, when they saw them expelled out of their own
land, “Now they shall no more sojourn there, they
have bidden it a final farewell, never more to return
to it, for God will no more regard them; and how
then can they help themselves?” Herein they were
mistaken, God had not cast them off, for all this;
yet thus much is intimated, that all about them ob¬
served them to be so very provoking to their God,
that there was no reason to expect any other, than
that they should be quite abandoned.
3. The despair which they themselves were almost
brought to, under their calamities. Having heard
what they said concerning them among the heathen,
let us now hear what they say concerning them¬
selves; (x\ 17.) “As for us, we look upon our case
to be in a manner helpless. Our end is near, (x>.
18.) the end both of our church and of our state;
we are just at the brink of the ruin of both; nav,
our end js come, we are utterly undone, a fatal, final
period is put to all our comforts, the days of our
prosperity are fulfilled, they are numbered and fin¬
ished. ” Thus their fears concurred with the hopes
of their enemies, that the Lord would no more re¬
gard them. For, (1.) The refuges they fled to dis¬
appointed them. They looked for help from this and
the other powerful ally, but to no purpose, it proved
vain help, the succours they expected did not come
in, or at least they had not the success they ex¬
pected, and their eyes failed with looking for that
which never came; {y. 17.) they watched in watch¬
ing, they watched long, and with a great deal of
earnestness and impatience, for a nation that pro¬
mised them assistance, but failed them, and frus¬
trated their expectations, they could not save them,
they were too weak to contend with the Chaldean
army, and therefore retired. Help from creatures
is vain help, (Ps. lx. 11.) and we may look for it
till our eyes fail, till our hearts fail, and come short
of it at last. (2.) The persecutors they fled from
overtook them, and overcame them; (x>. 18.) They
hunt our steps, that we cannot go into our streets.
When the Chaldeans besieged the city, they raised
their batteries so high above the walls, that they
could command the town, and shoot at people
as they went along the streets; they hunted them
with their arrows from place to place. When the
city' was broken up, and all the men of war fled,
their persecutors were swifter than the eagles of
heaven when they' fly upon their prey, (y. 19. ) there
was no escaping them; they pursued them upon the
mountains, and when they thought they had got
clear of them, they fell into the hands of those that
laid wait for them in the wilderness, to cut off their
retreat, and to pick up stragglers; nav, the king
himself, though he may be supposed to have all the
advantages the exigence of the case would admit tf
favour his flight, yet he cannot escape, for divine
vengeance pursues him with them, and then, (x>.
582
LAMENTATIONS, V.
20.) The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the
Lord, was taken in their pits. Some apply it to
Josiah, who was killed in battle by the king of Egypt;
but it is rather to be understood of Zedekiah, who
was the last king of the house of David, and who
was pursued by the Chaldeans, and seized in the
plains of Jericho, Jer. xxxix. 5. He was the anoint¬
ed of the Lord, heir of that family which God had
appointed to the government; he was very much
confided in by the Jewish state; they said, Under
his shadow we shall live among the heathen-, they
promised themselves that the remnant which were
left after Jeconiah’s captivity, should, under the
protection of his government, yet again take root
downward, and bear fruit upward. They thought,
though they were so reduced that they could not
think of reigning over the heathen, as they had
done, yet they might make a shift to live among
them, and not be insulted and pulled to pieces by
them. Thus apt are sinking interests not only to
catch at every twig, but to think it will recover
them. Jerusalem died of a consumption, a flattering
distemper; even when she was ready to expire she
formed some hopeful symptoms to herself, and on
them grounded a hope that she should recover; but
what came of it? The shadow, under which they
thought they should live, proved like that of Jonah’s
gourd, which withered in a night. He that was
the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, as
if he had been but a beast of prey; so little account
did they make of a person deemed sacred, and not
to be violated! Note, When we make any creature
the breath of our nostrils, and promise ourselves that
we shall live by it, it is just with God to stop that
breath, and deprive us of the life we expected by
it, for God will have the honour of being himself
alone our Life, and the Length of our days.
21. Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of
Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz: the
cup also shall pass through unto thee; thou
shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself
naked. 22. The punishment of thine ini¬
quity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion;
he will no more carry thee away into
captivity : he will visit thine iniquity, O
daughter of Edom ; he will discover thy sins.
David’s psalms of lamentation commonly conclude
with some word of comfort, which is as life from
the dead, and light shining out of darkness; so does
this lamentation here in this chapter. The people
of God are now in great distress, their aspects all
doltful, their prospects all frightful, and their ill-
natured neighbours the Edomites insult over them,
and do all they can to exasperate their destroyers
against them; such was their violence against their
brother Jacob, (Obad. 10.) such their spleen at Je¬
rusalem, of which they cried, Raze it, raze it, Ps.
cxxxvii. 7. Now it is here foretold, for the encou¬
ragement of God’s people,
1. That an end shall be put to Zion’s troubles;
(r>. 22.) The punishment of thine iniquity is ac¬
complished, 0 daughter of Zion; not the fulness of
that punishment which it deserves, but of that which
God has designed and determined to inflict, and
which was necessary to answer the end, the glori¬
fying of God’s justice, and the taking away of their
sin. The captivity, which is the punishment of
'bine iniquity, is accomplished, (Isa. xl. 2.) and he
will no longer keep thee in captivity; so it may be
read, as well as, he will no more carry thee into cap¬
tivity; he will turn again thy captivity, and work a
glorious release for thee. Note, The troubles of
God’s people shall be continued no longer than till
they have done their work for which they were sent.
2. That an end shall be put to Edom's triumphs.
It is spoken ironically ; (y. 21.) “Rejoice and be
glad, O daughter of Edom, go on to insult over Zion
m distress, till thou hast filled up the measure of
thine iniquity; do so, rejoice in thy own present ex¬
emption from the common fate of thy neighbours.”
This is like Solomon’s upbraiding the young man
with his ungovemed mirth, (Eccles. xi. 9.) “ Re¬
joice, O young man, in thy youth; rejoice, if thou
canst, when God comes to reckon with thee, and
that he will do ere long; the cup‘ of trembling, which
it is now Jerusalem’s turn to drink deep of, shall pass
through unto thee, it shall go round till it comes to
be thy lot to pledge it.” Note, This is a good rea¬
son why we should not insult over any who are in
misery, because we ourselves also are in the body,
and we know not how soon their case may be ours.
But those who please themselves in the calamities
of God’s church, must expect to have their doom,
as aiders and abettors, with them that are instru¬
mental in those calamities. The destruction of the
Edomites was foretold by this prophet; (Jer. xlix.
7, &c.) and the people of God must encourage
themselves against their present rudeness and inso¬
lence with the prospect of it. (1.) It will be a
shameful destruction ; “ The cup that shall pass
unto thee shall intoxicate thee;” (and that is shame
enough to any man;) “ thou shalt be drunken, quite
infatuated, and at thy wits’ end, shalt stagger in all
thy counsels, and stumble in all thy enterprises, and
then, as Noah, when he was drunk, thou shalt make
thyself naked, and expose thyself to contempt.”
Note, Those who ridicule God’s people, will justly
be left to themselves to do that, some time or other,
by which they will be made ridiculous. (2.) It will
be a righteous destruction; God will herein visit thine
iniquity, and discover thy sins; he will punish them,
and, to justify himself therein, he will discover
them, and make it to appear that he has just cause
thus to proceed against them. Nay, the punish¬
ment of the sin shall so exactly answer the sin, that
it shall itself plainly discover it. Sometimes God
does so visit the iniquity, that he that runs may
read the sin in the punishment. But, sooner or late, r,
sin will be visited and discovered, and all the hidden
works of darkness brought to light.
CHAP. V.
This chapter, though it has the same number of verses with
the 1st, 2nd, and 4th, is not alphabetical, as they were,
but the scope of it is the same with that of all the fore¬
going elegies. We have in it, I. A representation of
the present calamitous state of God’s people in their
captivity, v. 1 . . 16. II- A protestation of their concern
for God’s sanctuary, as that which lay nearer their heart
than any secular interest of their own, v. 17, 18. III. A
humble supplication to God, and expostulation with him,
for the returns of mercy; (v. 19.. 22.) for they that la¬
ment, and do not pray, sin in their lamentations. Some
ancient versions call this chapter, The Prayer of Jeremiah.
1. T® EMEMBER, O Lord, what is
come upon us : consider, and be¬
hold our reproach. 2. Our inheritance is
turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
3. We are orphans and fatherless, our mo¬
thers are as widows. 4. W e have drunken
our water for money ; our wood is sold un¬
to us. 5. Our necks are under persecution :
we labour, and have no rest. 6. We have
given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the
Assyrians, to be satisfied w ith bread. 7.
Our fathers have aincd, and are not : and
we have borne their iniquities. 8. Servants
have ruled over us; there is none that, doth
583
LAMENTATIONS, V.
deliver us out of their hand. 9. We gat
our bread with the peril of our lives, be¬
cause of the sword of the w ilderness. 10.
Our skin was black like an oven, because
of the terrible famine. 11. They ravished
the women in Zion, and the maids in the
cities of Judah. 12. Princes are hanged
up by their hand: the faces of elders were
not honoured. 13. They took the young
men to grind, and the children fell under
the wood. 14. The elders have ceased
from the gate, the young men from their
music. 15. The joy of our heart is ceased ;
our dance is turned into mourning. 16.
The crown is fallen from our head: wo
unto us that we have sinned!
Is any afflicted? Let him pray; and let him in
raver pour out his complaint to God, and make
nown bef re him his trouble; the people of God do
so here; being overwhelmed with grief, they give
vent to their sorrows at the footstool of the throne
of grace, and so give themselves ease; they com¬
plain not of evils feared, but of evils felt; “ Re¬
member what is come upon us; (v. 1.) what was of
old threatened against us, and was long in the com¬
ing, is now at length come upon us, and we are ready
to sink under it. Remember what is past, consider
and behold what is present, and let not alt the trou¬
ble we are in seem little to thee, and not worth taking
n tice of,” Nell. ix. 32. Note, As it is a .great com¬
fort to us, so it ought to be a sufficient one, in our
tr ubles, that God sees, and considers, and remem¬
bers, all that is come upon us; and in our prayers we
need only to recommend our case to his gracious and
compasionate consideration. The one word in which
all their grievances are summed up, is, reproach;
Consider, and behold our reproach. The troubles
thev were in, compared with their former dignity
and plentv, were a greater reproach to them than
they would have been to any other people, especi-
ally considering their relation to God, and depend¬
ence upon him, and his former appearances for
them; and therefore this they complain of very
sensible, because, as it was a reproach, it reflected
upon the name and honour of that God who had
owned them for his people. And what wilt thou do
unto thy great name?
I. They acknowledge the reproach of sin which
thev bear, the reproach of their youth, (which
Ephraim bemoans himself for. Jer. xxxi. 19.) of the
early davs of their nation. This comes in, in the
midst of their c mpLints, (r. 7.) but may well be
put in the front of them; Our fathers have sinned,
and are not, they are dead and gone, but we have
borne their iniquities. This is not here a peevish
c mplaint, or an imputation of unrighteousness to
God, like that which we have, Jer. xxxi. 29. Ezek.
xviii. 2. The fathers did eat sour grapes, and the
children’s teeth are set on edge, and therefore the
wans of the Lord are not equal; but it is a penitent
confession of the sins of their ancestors, which they
themselves also had persisted in, for w nich they
now justlv suffered; the judgments God brought
upon them were so very great, that it appeared that
God h 'din them an eve to the sins of their ances¬
tors, (because they had not been remarkably punish¬
ed in this world,) as well as to their own sins; and
thus God was justified both in his connivance at
their ancestors, (he laid up their iniquity for their
children,') and in his severity with them, on whojn
he visited that iniquity, M itth. xxiii. 35, 36. Thus
they do here, 1. Submit themselves to the divine
justice; “Lord, thou art just in all that is brought
upon us, for we are a seed of evil-doers, children
of wrath, and heirs of the curse; we are sinful, and
we have it by kind.” Note, The sins which God
looks back upon in punishing we must look back
upon in repenting, and must take notice of all that
which will help to justify God in correcting us. 2.
They refer themselves’to the divine pity; “Lord,
our fathers have sinned, and we justly smart for
their sins; but they are not, they were taken away
from the evil to come, they lived not to see and share
in these miseries that are come upon us, and we are
left to bear their iniquities; now, though herein God
is righteous, yet it must be owned that our case is pi¬
tiable, and worthy of compassion.” Note, If we be
penitent and patient under what we suffer for the
sins of our fathers, we may expect that he who
punishes will pity, and will soon return in mercy to us.
II. They represent the reproach of trouble which
they bear, in divers particulars, which tend much
to their disgrace.
1. They are disseized of that good land which
God gave them, and their enemies have got posses¬
sion of it, v. 2. Canaan was their inheritance, it
was theirs by promise, God gave it to them and
their seed, and they held it by grant from his crown;
(Ps. cxxxvi. 21, 22.) but now, “It is turned to
strangers, they possess it, who have no right to it,
who are strangers to the commonwealth of Israel,
and aliens to the covenants of promise, they dwell in
the house that we built, and this is our reproach.”
It is the happiness of all God’s spiritual Israel, that
the heavenly Canaan is an inheritance that they
cannot be disseized of, that shall never be turned to
strangers.
2. Their state and nation are brought into a con¬
dition like that of widows and orphans; ( y . 3.) “ We
are fatherless, helpless, we have none to protect us,
to provide for us, to take any care of us: our king
who is the father of the country, is cut off; nay, God
our Father seems to have forsaken us and cast us
off; our mothers, our cities, that were as fruitful
mothers in Israel, are now as widows, are as wives
whose husbands are dead, destitute of comfort, and
exposed to wrong and injury-, and this is our re¬
proach; for we who made a figure, are now looked
on with contempt.”
3. They are put hard to it to provide necessaries
for themselves and their families, whereas once
thev lived in abundance, and had plenty of every
thing. Water used to be free and easily come bv,
but now, (v. 4.) We have drunk our water for
money, and the saying is no longer true, Usus com¬
munis aquarum — Water is free to all. So hardly
did their oppressors use them, that they could not
hav e a draught of fair water but they must purchase
it either with money or with work! Formerly they
had fuel too for the fetching; but now, “Our wood
is sold to us, and we pay dear for every faggot.”
Now were they punished for employing their chil¬
dren to gather wood for fire, with which to bake
cakes for the queen of heaven, Jer. vii. 18. They
were perfectly proscribed by their oppressors, were
forbidden the use both of fire and water, according
to the ancient form, Interdico tibi aqual et igni — 1
forbid thee the use of water and fre. But what
must they do for bread? Truly that was as hard to
come by as any thing, for, (1.) Some of them sold
their liberty for it; (i'. 6.) “ We have given the hana
to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians, have made
the best bargain we could with them, to serve them,
that we might be satisfied with bread. We were
glad to submit to the meanest employment, upon
the hardest terms, to get a sorry livelihood; we have
yielded ourselves to be their vassals, have parted
with all to them, as the Egyptians did to Pharaoh in
i the years of famine, that we might have something
i«4 LAMENTATIONS, V.
tor ourselves and families to subsist on.” The
neighbouring nations used to trade with Judah for
wiieat, (Ezek. xxvii. 17.) for it was a fruitful land;
out now it eats up the inhabitants, and they are
glad to make court to the Egyptians and Assyrians.
(2.) Others of them ventured their lives for it; (x>.
9. ) We got our bread with the fieril of our lives;
when, being straitened by the siege, and all pro¬
visions cut off, they either sallied or stole out of the
city, to fetch in some supply, they were m danger
of falling into the hands ot the besiegers, and being
put to the sword, the sword of the wilderness it is
called, or of the plain, (for so the word signifies,)
the besiegers lying dispersed every where in the
plains that were about the city. Let us take occa¬
sion from hence to bless God for the plenty that we
enjoy, that we get our bread so easily, scarcely witli
the sweat of our face, much less with the peril of
our lives; and for the peace we enjoy, that we can
go out, and enjoy not only the necessary produc¬
tions, but the pleasures, of the country, without any
fear of the sword of the wilderness.
4. They are brought into slavery who were a free
people, and not only their own masters, but masters
of all about them, and this is as much as any thing
their reproach; (x>. 5.) Our necks are under the
grievous and intolerable yoke of persecution; (the
iron yoke which Jeremiah foretold should be laid
upon them, Jer. xxviii. 24. ) we are used like beasts
■ n the yoke, that wholly serve their owners, and are
it the command of their drivers. That which ag¬
gravated the servitude, was, (1.) That their labours
were incessant, like those of Israel in Egypt, who
were daily tasked, nay, overtasked; We labour, and
'mve no rest, neither leave nor leisure to rest. The
oxen in the yoke are unyoked at night and have rest,
so they have, by a particular provision of the law,
on the sabbath-day; but the poor captives in Baby¬
lon, who were compelled to work for their living,
laboured, and had no rest, no night’s rest, no sab¬
bath-rest; they were quite tired out with continual
toil. (2.) That their masters were insufferable; (it.
8.) Servants have ruled over us; and nothing is
more vexatious than a servant when he reigns, Prov.
xxx. 22. They were not only the great men of the
Chaldeans that commanded them, but even the
meanest of their servants abused them at pleasure,
and insulted over them; and they must be at their
beck too. The curse of Canaan is now become the
doom of Judah; A servant of servants shall he be.
They would not be ruled by their God, and by his
servants the prophets, whose rule was gentle and
gracious, and therefore justly are they ruled with
rigour by their enemies and their servants. (3.)
That they saw no probable way for the redress of
their grievances; There is none that doth deliver us
out of ther hand; not only none to rescue us out of
our captivity, but none to check and restrain the in¬
solence of the servants that abuse us, and trample
upon us;” which one would think their masters
should have done, because it was an usurpation of
their authority; but, it should seem, they connived
at it, and encouraged it, and as if they were not wor¬
thy of the correction of gentlemen, they are turned
over to the footmen to be spurned by them. Well
might they pray, Lord, consider, and behold our
reproach.
5. They who used to be feasted, are now famished;
(v. 10.) Our skin was black like an oven, dried and
parched too, because of the terrible famine, the
storms of famine; (so the word is;) for though fa¬
mine comes gradually upon a people, yet it comes
violently, and bears down all before it, and there is
no resisting of it; and this also is their disgrace;
hence we read of the reproach of famine, wliich in
captivity they received among the heathen, Ezek.
xxxvi. 30.
6. All sorts of people, even they whose persons
and characters were most inviolable, were abused
and dishonoured. (1.) The women were ravished,
even the women in Zion, that holy mountain, v. 11.
The committing of such abominable wickedness
there is very justly and sadly complained of. (2.)
The great men were not only put to death, but put
to ignominious deaths; Princes were hanged, as it
they had been slaves, by the hands of the Chaldeans,
(x1. 12.) who took a pride in doing this barbarous
execution with their own hands. Some think that
the dead bodies of the princes, after they were slain
with the sword, were hung up, as the bodies of
Saul’s sons, in disgrace to them, and as it were to
expiate the nation’s guilt. (3.) No respect was
showed to magistrates, and those in authority; The
faces of elders; elders in age, elders in office, were
not honoured; this will be particularly remembered
against the Chaldeans another day; (Isa. xlvii. 6.)
Upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy
yoke. (4. ) The tenderness of youth was no more
considered than the gravity of old age; (v. 13.)
They took the young men to grind at the hand-mills,
nay, perhaps at the horse-mills. The young men
have carried the grist; so some; have carried the
mill, or mill-stones, so others. They loaded them
as if they had been beasts of burthen, and so broke
their backs when they' were young, and made the
rest of their lives the more miserable. Nay, they
made the little children carry their wood home for
fuel, and laid such burthens upon them, that they
fell down under them. So very inhuman were these
cruel taskmasters!
7. An end was put to all their gladness, and their
joy was quite extinguished; (x>. 14.) The young
men, who used to be disposed to mirth, have ceased
from their music, have hung their harps upon the
willow-trees. It does indeed well become old men
to cease from their music, it is time to lay it by with
a gracious contempt, when all the daughters of mu¬
sic are brought low; but it speaks some great ca¬
lamity upon a people, when their young men are
made to cease from it. It was so with the body of
the people; ( v . 15.) The joy of their heart was
ceased, they never knew what |oy was since the
enemy came in upon them like a flood, for ever since
deep called unto deep, and one wave flowed in upon
the neck of another, so that they were quite over¬
whelmed; Our dance is turned into mourning; in¬
stead of leaping for joy, as formerly, we sink and lie
down in sorrow. This may refer especi illy to the
joy of their solemn feasts, and the dancing used in
them, (Judg. xxi. 21.) which was not only modest,
but sacred dancing; this was turned into mourning,
which was doubled on their festival days, in remem¬
brance of their former pleasant tilings.
8. An end was put to all their glory. (1.) The
public administration of justice was their glory, but
that was gone; The elite «•- have ceased from the
gate; (y. 14.) the course of justice, which used to
run down like a river, is now stopped; the courts
of justice, which used to be kept with so much so¬
lemnity, are put down; for the judges are slain, or
carried captives. (2.) The royal dignity was their
glory, but that also was gone; The crown is fallen
from our head; not only the king himself fallen
into disgrace, but the crown; he has no successor;
the regalia are all lost. Note, Earthly crowns are
fading, falling things; but, blessed be God, there is
a crown of glory that fades not away, that never
f ills; a kingdom that cannot be moved. Upon this
complaint, but with reference to all the foregoing
complaints, they make that penitent acknowledg¬
ment, “ Wo unto us that we have sinned! Alas for
us! Our case is very deplorable, and it is all owing
to ourselves; we are undone, and, which aggravates
the matter, we are undone by our own hands; God
585
LAMENTATIONS. V.
is righteous, for we have sinned.” Note, All our
woes are owing to our own sin and folly. If the
crown of our head be fallen, (for so the words run,)
if we lose our excellency, and become mean, wi
may thank ourselves, we have by our own iniquity
profaned our crown, and laid our honour in the dust.
1 7. For this our heart is faint ; for these
things our eyes are dim, 18. Because of
the mountain of Zion, which is desolate,
die foxes walk upon it. 19. Thou, O Lord,
remainest for ever ; thy throne from genera¬
tion to generation. 20. Wherefore dost thou
forget us for ever, and forsake us so long
time? 21. Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord,
and we shall be turned ; renew our days as
of old. 22. But thou hast utterly rejected
us ; thou art very wroth against us.
Here, 1. The people of God express the deep
concern they had for the ruins of the temple, more
than for any other of their calamities; the interests
of God’s house lay nearer their hearts than those
of their own; (v. 17, 18.) For this our heart is
faint, and sinks under the load of its own heaviness;
for these things our eyes are dim, and our sight is
gone, as is usual in a deliquium, or fainting fit; “ It
is because of the mountain of Zion, which is deso¬
late, the holy mountain, and the temple built upon
that mountain. For other desolations our hearts
grieve, and our eyes weep; but for this our hearts
faint, and our eyes are dim.” Note, Nothing lies
so heavy upon the spirits of good people as that
which threatens the ruin of religion, or weakens its
interests; and it is a comfort if we can appeal to
God, that that afflicts us more than any temporal
affliction to ourselves. The people had polluted the
mountain of Zion with their sins, and therefore God
has justly made it desolate, to that degree, that the
foxes walk upon it, as freely and commonly as they
do in the woods. It is sad indeed when the moun¬
tain of Zion is become a portion for foxes; (Ps.
lxiii. 10.) but sin had first made it so, Ezek. xiii. 4.
2. They comfort themselves with the doctrine of
God’s eternity, and the perpetuity of his govern¬
ment; (v. 19.) But thou , O Lord, remainest for
ever. This they are taught to do bv that Psalm
which is entitled, A Prayer of the afflicted, Ps. cii.
27, 28. When all our creature-comforts are re¬
moved from us, and our hearts fail us, we may then
encourage ourselves with the belief, (1.) Of God’s
eternity; Thou remainest forever. What shakes
the world gives no disturbance to him who made it;
whatever revolutions there are on earth, there is no
change in the Eternal Mind; God is still the same,
and remains for ever infinitely wise and holy, just
and good; with him there is no variableness nor
shadow of turning. (2.) Of the never-failing con¬
tinuance of his dominion; Thy throne is from gene¬
ration to generation ; the throne of glory, the throne
of grace, and the throne of government, are all un¬
changeable, immovable: and this is matter of com¬
fort to us when the crown is fallen from our head.
When the thrones of princes, that should be our
protectors, are brought to the dust, and buried in it,
God’s throne continues still; he still rales the world,
and rules it for the good of his church. The Lord
reigns, reigns for ever, even thy God, 0 Zion.
3. They humbly expostulate with God concern¬
ing the low condition they were now in, and the
frowns of heaven they were now under; (v. 20.)
“ Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, as if we
were quite cast out of mind? f Therefore dost thou
forsake us so long time, as if we were quite de¬
prived of the tokens of thy presence? Wherefore
Vol. iv. — 4 E
dost thou defer our deliverance, as if thou hadst ut¬
terly abandoned us ? Thou art the same, and,
though the throne of thy sanctuary is demolished,
thy throne in heaven is unshaken. But wilt thou
not be the same to us?” Not as if they thought God
had forgotten and forsaken them, much less feared
his forgetting and forsaking them for ever; but thus
they express the value they had for his favour and
presence, which they thought it long that they were
deprived of the evidence and comfort of. The last
verse may be read as such an expostulation, and so
the margin reads it; “ For wilt thou utterly reject
us? Wilt thou be perpetually wroth with us; not
only not smile upon us, and remember us in mercy,
but frown upon us, and lay us under the tokens of
thy wrath; not only not draw nigh to us, but cast us
out of- thy presence, and forbid us to draw nigh unto
thee? How will this be reconciled with thy good¬
ness and faithfulness, and the stability of thy cove¬
nant?” We read it, “ But thou hast rejected us;
thou hast given us cause to fear that thou hast. Lord,
how long shall we be in this temptation?” Note,
Though we may not quarrel with God, yet we may
plead with him; and though we may not conclude
that he has cast us off, yet we may (with the pro¬
phet, Jer. xii. 1.) humbly reason with him concern¬
ing his judgments, especially the continuance of the
desolations of his sanctuary.
4. They earnestly pray to God for mercy and
grace; “Lord, do not reject us for ever, but turn
thou us unto thee, renew our days,” v. 21. Though
these words are not put last, yet the Rabbins, be¬
cause the}’ would not have the book to conclude
with those melancholy words, (k. 22.) repeat this
prayer again, that the sun may not set under a cloud,
and so make these the last words, both in writing
and reading this chapter. They here pray, (1.)
For converting grace, to prepare and qualify them
for mercy; Turn us to thee, 0 Lord. They had
complained that God had forsaken and forgotten
them, and then their prayer is not. Turn thou to us,
but, Turn us to thee; which implies an acknowledg¬
ment that the cause of the distance was in them¬
selves. God never leaves any till they first leave
him, nor stands afar off any longer than while
they stand afar off frcm him; if therefore he turn
them to him in a way of duty, no doubt but he will
quickly return to them in a way of mercy. This
agrees with that repeated prayer, (Ps. lxxx. 3, 7,
19.) Turn us again, and then cause thy face to
shine. Turn us from our idols to thyself, by a sin¬
cere repentance and reformation, and then we shall
be turned. This implies a further acknowledgment
of their own weakness and inability to turn them¬
selves. There is in our nature a bent to backslide
from God, but no disposition to return to him till his
grace works in us both to will and to do. So neces¬
sary is that grace, that we may truly say, Turn us,
or we shall not be turned, but shall wander end¬
lessly; and so powerful and effectual is that grace,
that we may as truly say, Turn us, and we shall be
turned; for it is a day of power, almighty power,
in which God’s people are made a willing people,
Ps. cx. 3. (2.) For restoring mercy; Turn us to
thee, and then renew our days as of old, put us into
the same happy state that our ancestors were in long
ago, and that they continued long in; let it be with
us as it was at the first, and at the beginning, Isa. i.
26. Note, If God by his grace renew cur hearts,
he will by his favour renew our days, so that we
shall renew our youth as the eagle, Ps. ciii. 5. Thev
that repent, and do their first works, shall rejoice,
and recover their first comforts. God’s mercies to
his people have been ever of old; (Ps. xxv. 6.) and
therefore they may hope, even then when he seems
to have forsaken and forgotten them, that the mercy
which was from everlasting will be to everlasting.
AN
EXPOSITION,
WITH
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS,
OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
EZEKIEL.
When we entered upon the writings of the Prophets, which speak of the things that should be hereafter, we
seemed to have the same call that St. John had, (Rev. iv. 1.) Come up. hither ; but when we enter upon
the prophecy of this book, it is as if the voice said, Come up higher, as we go forward in time; for
Ezekiel prophesied in the captivity', as Jeremiah prophesied just before it; so we soar upward in dis¬
coveries yet more sublime of the divine glory. 1 hese waters of the sanctuary still grow deeper; so
far are they from being fordable, that in some places they are scarcely fathomable; yet, deep as they
are, out of them flow streams which make glad the city of our God, the holy place of the tabernacles oj
the Most High. As to this prophecy now before us, we may inquire,
I. Concerning the penman of it — it was Ezekiel; his name signifies, The strength of God; or one girt
or strengthened of God. He girded up the loins of his mind to the service, and God put strength into
him. Whom God calls to any service he will himself enable for it; if he gives commission, he will
give power to execute it. Ezekiel’s name was answered when God said, (and no doubt did as he said,)
I have made thy face strong against their faces. The learned Selden, in his book De Diis Syris, says
that it was the opinion of some of the ancients, that the prophet Ezekiel was the same with that Naza-
ratus Assvrius, whom Pythagoras (as himself relates) had for his tutor for some time, and whose lec¬
tures he attended; and it is agreed that they lived mucli about the same time. We have reason to
think that many of the Greek philosophers were acquainted with the sacred writings, and borrowed
some of the best of their notions from them. If we may credit the tradition of the Jews, he was put to
death by the captives in Babylon, for his faithfulness and boldness in reproving them; it is stated that
they dragged him upon the stones till his brains were dashed out. An Arabic historian says that he
was put to death, and was buried in the sepulchre of Shem the son of Noah. So Hottinger relates,
Thesaur. Philol. lib. ii. cap. 1.
II. Concerning the date of it — the place whence it is dated, and the time when. The scene is laid in
Babylon, when it was a house of bondage to the Israel of God; there the prophecies of this book were
preached, there they were written, when the prophet himself, and the people to whom he prophesied,
were captives there. Ezekiel and Daniel are the only writing prophets of the Old Testament who
lived and prophesied any where but in the land of Israel, except we add Jonah, who was sent to Nineveh
to prophesy. Ezekiel prophesied in the beginning of the captivity, Daniel in the latter end of it; it was
an indication of God’s good will to them, and his gracious designs concerning them in their affliction,
that he raised up prophets among them, both to convince them, when, in the beginning of their troubles,
they were secure and unhumbled, which was Ezekiel’s business, and to comfort them, when, in the
1 utter end of their troubles, they were dejected and discouraged. If the Lord had been pleased to kill
them, he would not have used such apt and proper means to cure them.
III. Concerning the mutter and scope of it; 1. There is much in it that is very mysterious, dark, and hard
to be understood; especially in the beginning and the latter end of it; which therefore the Jewish
rabbins forbade the reading of to their young men, till they came to be thirty years of age, lest by the
difficulties they met with there they should be prejudiced against the scriptures; but if we read these
difficult parts of scripture with humility and reverence, and search them diligently, though wemay not be
able to untie all the knots we meet with, no more than we can solve all the phxnomena in the book
of nature, vet we may from them, as from the book of nature, gather a great deal for the confirming
of our faith, and the encouraging of our hope, in the God we worship. 2. Though the visions here
be intricate, such as an elephant may swim in, yet the sermons are mostly plain, such as a lamb
may wade in; and the chief design of them is to show God’s people their transgressions, that in their
captivity they might be repenting, and not repining. It should seem, he was constantly attended, for
we read of their sitting before him as God’s people sat to hear his words; ( ch . xxxiii. 31.) and that he
was occasionally consulted, for we read of the elders of Israel who came to inquire of the Lord by him,
( ch . xiv. 1, 3.) And as it was of great use to the oppressed captives themselves to have a prophet with
them, so it was a testimony to their holy religion against their oppressors, who ridiculed it and them.
3. Though the reproofs and the threatenings here be very sharp and bold, yet toward the close of the
book very comfortable assurances are given of great mercy God had in store for them; and there, at
length, we shall meet with something that has reference to gospel-times, and. which was to have its ac¬
complishment in the kingdom of the Messiah, of whom indeed this prophet speaks less than almost any
of the prophets. But by opening the terrors of the Lord he prepares Christ’s way; by the law is the
knowledge of sin, and so it becomes our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The visions, which weie
587
EZEKIEL, 1.
the prophet’s credentials, we have, ch, i. — iii. the reproofs and threatenings, ch. iv. — xxiv. and betwixt
the comforts we have in the latter part of the book we have messages sent to the nations that bordered
upon tlie land of Israel, whose destruction is foretold, {ch. xxv. — xxxv. ) to make way for the restoration
of God’s Israel, and the re-establishment of their city and temple, which are foretold, ch. xxxvi. to the
end. Those who would apply the comforts to themselves, must apply the convictions to themselves.
The Book of the Prophet EZEKIEL.
CHAP. I.
In this chapter, we have, I. The common circumstances
of the prophecy now to be delivered, the time when it
was delivered, (v. 1.) the place where, (v. 2.) and the
person by whom, v. 3. II. The uncommon intro¬
duction to it by a vision of the glory of God; 1. In
his attendance and retinue in the upper world, where his
throne is surrounded with angels, here called living
creatures, v. 4 . . 14. 2. In his providences concerning
the lower world, represented by the wheels and their
motions, v. 15. . 26. 3. In the face of Jesus Christ sit¬
ting upon the throne, v. 26 . . 28. And the more we are
acquainted, and the more intimately we converse, with
the glory of God in these three branches of it, the more
commanding influence will divine revelation have upon
us, and the more ready shall we be to submit to it,
which is the thing aimed at in prefacing the prophecies
of this book with these visions. When such a God of
glory speaks, it concerns us to hear with attention and
reverence; it is at our peril if we do not.
1. l^TOW it came to pass in the thirtieth
year, in the fourth month , in the fifth
day of the month, as I was among the cap¬
tives by the river of Chebar, that the hea¬
vens were opened, and I saw visions of
God. 2. In the fifth day of the month,
(which teas the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s
captivity,) 3. The word of the Lord came
expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son
of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans, by
the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord
was there upon him.
The circumstances of the vision which Ezekiel
saw, and in which he received his commission and
instructions, are here very particularly set down,
t’.iat the narrative may appear to be authentic, and
not romantic. It may be of use to keep an account
when and where God has been pleased to manifest
himself to our souls in a peculiar manner, that the
return of the day, and our return to the place of the
altar, (Gen. xiii. 4.) may revive the pleasing,
grateful remembrance of God’s favour to us. “ Re¬
member, O my soul, and never forget what commu¬
nications of divine love thou didst receive at such a
time, at such a place; tell others what God did for
thee.”
I. The time when Ezekiel had this vision, is here
recorded. It was in the thirtieth year, v. 1. Some
make it the thirtieth year of the prophet’s age;
being a priest, he was at that age to enter upon the
full execution of the priestly office, but being de¬
barred from that by the iniquity and calamity of
the times, now that they had neither temple nor
altar, God at that age called him to the dignity of a
prophet. Others make it to be the thirtieth year
from the beginning of the reign of Nabopolasser, the
father of Nebuchadnezzar, from which the Chal¬
deans began a new computation of time, as they had
done from Nabonassar one hundred and twenty-
three years before. Nabopolasser reigned nineteen
years, and this was the eleventh of his son, which
makes the thirty. And it was proper enough foi
Ezekiel, when he was in Babylon, to use the com¬
putation they there used; as we in foreign countries
date bv the new style; and he afterwards uses the
melancholy computation of his own countn', ob¬
serving, {v. 2.) that it was the fifth year of Jehoia¬
chin’s captivity. But the Chaldee Paraphrase fixes
upon another era, and says that this was the thir¬
tieth year after Hilkiah the / iriest found the book of
the law in the house of the sanctuary, at midnight,
after the setting of the moon, in the clays of Josiah
the king. And it is true, that this was just thirty
years from that time; and that was an event so re¬
markable, (as it put the Jewish state upon a new
trial,) that it was proper enough to date from it;
and perhaps therefore the prophet speaks indefinite¬
ly of thirty years, as having an eye both to that
event, and to the Chaldean computation, which
were coincident.
It was in the fourth month, answering to our
June, and in ihe fifth day of the month, that Ezekiel
had this vision, v. 2. It is probable that it was cn
the sabbath-day, because we read {ch. iii. 16.) that
at the end of seven days, which we may well sup¬
pose to be the next sabbath, the word of the Lord
came to him again. Thus John was in the Sfiirit on
the Lord's day, when he saw the visions of the Al-
mighty. Rev. i. 10. God would hereby put an
honour upon his sabbaths, then when the enemies
mocked at them, Lam. i. 7. And he would here
thus encourage his people to keep up their attend¬
ance on the ministry of his prophets every sabbath-
day, by the extraordinary manifestations of himself
on some sabbath-days.
II. The melancholy circumstances he was in
when God honoured him, and thereby favoured his
people, with this vision. He was in the land of the
Chaldeans, among the cafitives, by the river of
Chebar, and it was in the fifth year of king Jehoia¬
chin’s cafitivity. Observe,
1. The people of God were now, some of them,
cafitives in the land of the Chaldeans. The body
of the Jewish nation yet remained in their own land,
but these were the first-fruits of the captivity, and
they were some of the best: for in Jeremiah’s vision
these were the good Jigs, whom God had sent into
the land of the Chaldeans for their good ; (Jer. xxiv.
5.) and that it might be for their good, God raised
up a prophet among them, to teach them out of the
law, then when he chastened them, Ps. xciv. 12.
Note, It is a great mercy to have the word of God
brought us, and a great duty to attend to it diligently
when we are in affliction. The word of instruction
and the rod of correction may be of great service to
us, in concert and concurrence with each ether;
the word to explain the rod, and the rod to enforce
the word; both together give wisdom. It is happy
for a man, when he is sick and in pain, to have a
messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a
thousand, if he have but his ear open to discipline.
Job. xxxiii. 23. One of the quarrels God had with
the Jews, when he sent them into captivity, was
for mocking his messengers and misusing his pro¬
phets; and yet when they were suffering for this
sin, he favoured them with this forfeited mercy.
It were ill with us if God did not sometimes gra¬
ciously thrust upon us those means of grace and
salvation which we have foolishly thrust from us.
In their captivity they wanted ordinary' helps for
their souls, and therefore God raised them up these
extraordinary ones; for God’s children, if they be
588
EZEKIEL, J.
hindered in their education one way, shall have it
made up another way. But observe, It was in the
fifth year of the captivity that Ezekiel was raised
up among them, and not before. So long God left
them without any prophet, till they began to lament
after the Lord, and to complain that they saw not
their signs, and there was none to tell them how
long; (Ps. lxxiv. 9.) and then they would know how
to value a prophet, and God’s discoveries of himself
to them by him would be the more acceptable and
comfortable. The Jews that remained in their own
land had Jeremiah with them, those that were gone
into captivity had Ezekiel with them; for wherever
the children of God are scattered abroad he will
find out tutors for them.
2. The prophet was himself among the captives,
those of them that were posted by the river Chebar;
for it was by the rivers of Babylon that they sat
down, and on the willow-trees by the rivers’ side
that they hanged their harps, Ps. cxxxvii. 2. The
planters in America keep along by the sides of the
rivers, and perhaps those captives were employed
by their masters in improving some parts of the
country by the rivers’ sides that were uncultivated,
the natives being generally employed in war; or
they employed them in manufactures, and there¬
fore chose to fix them by the sides of rivers, that
the goods they made might the more easily be con¬
veyed by water-carriage. Interpreters agree not
what river this of Chebar was, but among the cap-
tives by that river Ezekiel was, and himself a
captive.
Observe here, (1.) The best men, and those that
are ’dearest to God, often share, not only in the
common calamities of this life, but in the public and
national judgments that are inflicted for sin; they
feel the smart who contributed nothing to the guilt;
by which it appears that the difference between
good and bad arises not from the events that befall
them, but from the temper and disposition of their
spirits under them. And since not only righteous
men, but prophets, share with the worst in present
punishments, we may infer thence, with the great¬
est assurance, that there are rewards reserved for
them in the future state. (2.) Words of conviction,
counsel, and comfort, come best to those who are in
affliction from their fellow-sufferers. The cafitives
will be best instructed by one who is a cafitive
among them, and experimentally knows their sor¬
rows. (3.) The spirit of prophecy was not confined
to the land of Israel, but seme of the brightest of
divine revelations were revealed in the land of the
Chaldeans, which was a happy presage of the car¬
rying of the church, with that divine revelation upon
which it is built, into the Gentile world; and as now,
so afterward, when the gospel-kingdom was to be
set up, the dispersion of the Jews contributed to the
spreading of the knowledge of God. (4.) Wherever
we are, we may keep up our communion with God.
Undique ad ccelos tantundem est vise — From the
remotest corners of the earth we may find a way
ofien heavenward. (5.) When God’s ministers are
bound, the word of the Lord isnot bound, 2 Tim. ii.
9. When St. Paul was a prisoner, the gospel had
a free course. When St. John was banished into
the Isle of Patmos, Christ visited him there; nay,
God’s suffering servants have generally been treated
as favourites, and their consolations have much
more abounded then when affliction has abounded,
2 Cor. i. 5.
III. The discovery which God was pleased to
make of himself to the prophet, when he was in
these circumstances, to be by him communicated to
his people. He here tells us what he saw what he
heard, and what he felt.
1. He saw visions of God, v. 1. No man can
see God, and live; but many have seen visions of
j God, such display’s of the divine glory as have both
instructed and affected them; and commonly when
i God first revealed himself to any prophet, he did
it by an extraordinary vision, as to Isaiah, (c/i. 6.)
to Jeremiah, ( ch . 1.) to Abraham; (Acts vii. 2.) to
settle a correspondence and a satisfactory way of
intercourse, so that there needed not afterward a
vision upon every revelation. Ezekiel was employ¬
ed in turning the hearts of the people to the Lord
their God, and therefore he must himself see the
visions of God. Note, It concerns those to be well
acquainted with God themselves, and much affected
with what they know of him, whose business it is to
bring others to the knowledge and love of him.
That he might see the visions of God, the heavens
were opened; the darkness and distance which hin¬
dered his visions were conquered, and he was let
into the light of the glories of the upper world, as
near and clear as if heaven had been opened to
him.
2. He heard the voice rf God; (r>. 3.) The word
of the Lord came exfiressly to him, and what he
saw was designed to prepare him for what he was
to hear. The expression is emphatical, Essendo
fuit verbum Lei — The word of the Lord was
really as it was to him; there was no mistake in it;
it came to him in the fulness of its light and power,
in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit; it
came close to him, nay, it came into him, took pos¬
session of him, and dwelt in him richly: it came ex¬
firessly, or accurately, to him; he did himself
clearly understand what he said, and was abun¬
dantly satisfied of the truth of it. The essential
Word, (so we may take it,) the Word who is, who
is what he is, came to Ezekiel, to send him on his
errand.
3. He felt the power of God opening his eyes to
see the visions, opening his< ear to hear the voice,
and opening his heart to receive both; The hand oj
the Lord was there ufion him. Note, The hand oj
the Lord goes along with the word of the Lord, and
so it becomes effectual; those only understand and
believe the report, to whom the arm of the Lord is
revealed. The hand of God was ufion him, as upon
Moses to cover him, that he should not be over¬
come by the dazzling light and lustre of the visions
he saw, Exod. xxxiii. 22. It was ufion him, (as
upon St. John, Rev. i. 17.) to revive and support
him, that he might bear up, and not faint, under
these discoveries. That he might neither be lifted
up nor cast down with the abundance of the revela¬
tions, God’s grace is sufficient for him, and, in token
of that, his hand is ufion him.
4. And I looked, and, behold, a whirl¬
wind came out of the north, a great cloud,
and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness
teas about it, and out of the midst thereof,
as the colour of amber, out of the midst of
the fire: 5. Also out of the midst (hereof
came the likeness of four living creatures.
And this was their appearance; they had
the likeness of a man. 6. And every one
had four faces, and every one had four
wings. 7. And their feet were straight feet,
and the sole of their feet was like the sole of
a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like the co¬
lour of burnished brass. 8. And they had
the hands of a man under their wings, on
their four sides; and they four had their
faces and their wings. 9. Their wings were
joined one to another; they turned not
589
EZEKIEL, I.
when they went; they went every one
straight forward. 10. As for the likeness
of their faces, they four had the face of a
man, and the face of a lion on the right side;
and they four had the face of an ox on the
left side; they four also had the face of an
eagle. 11. Thus were their faces: and their
wings were stretched upward; two icings
of every one were joined one to another, and
two covered their bodies. 12. And they
went everyone straight forward: whither
the spirit was to go, they went; and they
turned not when they went. 13. As for the
likeness of the living creatures, their ap¬
pearance was like burning coals of fire, and
iike the appearance of lamps: it went up
and down among the living creatures; and
the fire was bright, and out of the fire went
forth lightning. 14. And the living crea¬
tures ran and returned as the appearance
of a flash of lightning.
The visions of God which Ezekial here saw,
were very glorious, and had more particulars than
those which other prophets saw. It is the scope
and intention of these visions,
1. To possess the prophet’s mind with verv great
and high and honourable thoughts of that God by
whom he was commissioned, and for whom he was
employed. It is the likeness of the glory of the
Lord that he sees, (n. 28.) and from hence he may
infer that it is his honour to serve him, for he is one
whom angels serve; he may serve him with safetv,
for he has power sufficient to bear him out in his
work; it is at his peril to draw back from his service,
for he has power to pursue him, as he did Jonah;
so great a God as this must be served with reve¬
rence and godly fear; and with assurance may
Ezekiel foretell what this God will do, for he is able
to make his words good.
2. To strike a terror upon the sinners who re¬
mained in Zion, and those who were already come
to Babylon, who were secure, and bid defiance to
the threatenings of Jerusalem’s ruin, as we have
found in Jeremiah’s prophecy, and shall find in this,
many did; “Let those who said, We shall hax’e
peace, though we go on, know that our God is a
consuming Fire, whom they cannot stand before. ”
That this vision had a reference to the destruction
of Jerusalem, seems plain from ch. xliv. 3. where
he says that it was the vision which he saw when he
came to destroy the city, to prophesy the destruction
of it.
3. To speak comfort to those that feared God,
and trembled at his word, and humbled themselves
under his mighty hand; “Let them know that
though they are captives in Babylon, yet they have
God nigh unto them; though they have not the
place of the sanctuary to be their glorious high
throne, they have the God of the sanctuary.” Dr.
Lightfoot observes, “ Now that the church is to be
planted for a longtime in another country, the Lord
shoals a glory in the midst of them, as he had done
at their first constituting into a church in the wil¬
derness, and out of a cloud and fire, as he had done
there, he showed himself, and from between living
creatures, as from between the cherubims, he gives
his oracles.” This put an honour upon them, by
which they might value themselves when the Chal¬
deans insulted over them; and this might encourage
-heir hopes of deliverance in due time.
Now, to answer these ends, we have in these
verses the first part of the vision, which represents
God as attended and served by an innumerable c< m
pany of angels, who are all his messengers, . .is
ministers, doing his commandments, and hearken¬
ing to the voice of his word; this denotes his gran¬
deur; as it magnifies an earthly prince to have a
splendid retinue, and numerous armies at his com
mand; thus his allies are led to trust in him, and
his enemies to fear him.
I. l'he introduction to this vision of. the angels is
very magnificent and awakening, v. 4. The pro¬
phet, observing the heavens to open, looked, looked
up, (as it was time,) to see what discoveries God
would make to him. Note, When the heavens are
opened, it concerns us to have our eves open. To
clear the way, behold, a whirlwind came out of the
north, which would drive away the interposing
mists of this lower region; fair weather comes out
of the north, and thence the wind comes that drives
away rain. God can by a whirlwind clear the sky
and air, and produce that serenity of mind wh ch is
necessary to o.ur communion with Heaven. Yet
this whirlwind was attended with a great cloud;
when we think that the clruds which arise from
this earth are dispelled, and we can see beyond
them, yet still there is a cloud which heavenly
things are wrapt- in, a cloud from above, so that we
cannot order our speech concerning them by reason
of darkness. Christ here descended, as he ascend¬
ed, in a cloud. Some by this whirlwind and cloud
understand the Chaldean army coming out of the
north against the land of Judah, bearing down all
before them as a tempest; and so it agrees with
that which was signified by one of the first of Jere¬
miah’s visions, (Jer. i. 14.) Out of the north an evil
shall break forth; but I take it here as an introduc¬
tion rather to the vision than to the sermons. This
whirlwind came to Ezekiel, as that to Elijah, (1
Kings xix. 11.) to prepare the way of the Lord, and
to demand attention. He that has eyes, that has
ears, let him see, let him hear.
II. The vision itself. A great cloud was the ve¬
hicle of this vision, in which it was conveyed to the
prophet; for God’s pavilion in which he rests, his
chariot in which he rides, is darkness and thick
clouds; (Ps. xviii. 11. — civ. 3.) thus he holds back
the face of his throne, lest its dazzling light and lus¬
tre should overpower us, by spreading a cloud upon
it. Now,
1. The cloud is accompanied with a fire, as upon
mount Sinai, where God resided in a thick cloud;
but the sight of his glory was like dex’ouring fire,
(Exod. xxiv. 16, 1”.) and his first appearance to
Moses was in a flame of fire in the bush; for our
God is a consuming Fire. This was a fire infold¬
ing itself; a globe, or orb, or wheel, of fire; G< d
being his own Cause, his own Rule, and his own
End, if he be as a fire, he is as a fire infolding it¬
self or as some read it, kindled by itself. The Hie
of God’s glory shines forth, but it quickly infolds it¬
self, for he lets us know but part of his ways; the
fire of God’s wrath breaks forth, but it also quickly
infolds itself, for the divine patience suffers not all
his wrath to be stirred up. If it were not a fire
thus infolding itself, O Lord, who shall stand?
2. The fire is surrounded with a glory; A bright¬
ness was about it, in which it infolded itself, yet it
made some discovery of itself. Though we camv t
see into the fire, cannot by searching find out God
to perfection, yet we see *4-e brightness that is round
about it, the reflection ot this fire from the thick
cloud. Moses might see God’s back parts, but not
his face; we have some light concerning the nature
of God, from the brightness which encompasses it,
though we fiave not an insight into it, by reason of
the cloud spread upon it. Nothing is more easy
590
EZEKIEL, I
than to determine that God is; nothing more diffi
cult than to describe what he is. When God dis¬
plays his wrath as fire, yet there is a brightness
about it; for his holiness and justice appear very
illustrious in the punishment of sin and sinners: even
about the devouring Jire there is a brightness,
which glorified saints will for ever admire.
.1. Out ut this fire there shines the colour of am¬
ber; we are not told who or what it was that had
this colour of amber, and therefore I take it to be
the whole frame of the following vision, which came
into Ezekiel’s view out of the midst of the fire and
brightness; and the first thing he took notice of be¬
fore he viewed the particulars, was, that it was of
the colour of amber, or the eye of amber; it looked
as amber does to the eye, of a bright flaming fiery
colour, the colour of a burning coal; so some think
it should be read. The living creatures which he
saw coming out of the midst of the Jire, were sera-
fihims — burners, for he maketh his angels spirits,
his ministers a Jlamingfire.
4. That which comes out of the fire, of a fiery
amber colour, when it comes to be distinctly viewed,
is the likeness of four living creatures; not the liv¬
ing creatures themselves, (angels are spirits, and
cannot be seen,) but the likeness of them, such a
hieroglyphic, or representation, as God saw fit to
make use of for the leading of the prophet, and us
with him, into some acquaintance with the world of
angels, (a matter purely of divine revelation,) so
far as is requisite to possess us with an awful sense
of the greatness of that God who has angels for his
attendants, and the goodness of that God who has
appointed them to be attendants on his people; The
likeness of these living creatures came out of the
midst of the Jire; for angels derive their being and
power from God, they are in themselves, and to us,
what he is pleased to make them; their glory is a
ray of his. The prophet himself explains this
vision, (ch. x. 20.) I know that the living creatures
•were the cherubims, which is one of the names by
which the angels are known in scripture. To Daniel
was made known their numbers, ten thousand times
ten thousand, Dan. vii. 10. But though they are
m my, yet they are one, and that is made known to
Ezekiel here; they are one in nature and operation,
as an army, consisting of thousands, is yet called a
body of men. We have here an account of,
(i.) Their nature; they are living creatures, they
are the creatures of God, the work of his hands,
their being is derived, they have not life in and of
themselves, but receive it from him who is the
Fountain of life. As much as the living creatures
of this lower world excel the vegetables that are the
ornaments of the earth, so much do the angels, the
living creatures of the upper world, excel the sun,
moon, and stars, the ornaments of the heavens.
The sun, say some, is aflame of Jire infolding itself,
but it is not a living creature, as angels, those flames
of fire, are. Angels are living creatures, living be¬
ings, emphatically so; men on earth are dying crea¬
tures, dying daily, (in the midst of life we are in
death,) but angels in heaven are living creatures,
they live indeed, live to good purpose, and when
saints come to be eyual unto the angels, they shall
not die any more, Luke xx. 36.
(2.) Their number; they are four, so they ap¬
pear here, though they are innumerable; not as if
these were four particular angels set up above the
rest, as some have fondly imagined, Michael and
Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel, but for the sake of the
four faces they put on, and to intimate their being
sent forth toward the four winds of heaven; (Matth.
xxiv. 31.) Zechariah saw them as four chariots
going forth, east, wrst, north, and south, Zech. vi. 1.
God has messengers to send each way; for his king¬
dom is universal, and reaches to all parts of the world.
I (3.) Their qualifications, by which they are fitted
for the service of their Maker a" 1 Master. These
are set forth figuratively and b) similitude, as is
proper in visions, which are parables to the eye.
Their description here is such, and so expressed,
that, I think, it is not possible by it to torm an ex¬
act idea of them in our fancies, or with the pencil,
for that would be a temptation to worship them;
but the several instances of their fitness for the
work they are employed in, are intended in the se¬
veral parts of this description. Note, It is the
greatest honour of God’s creatures to be in a ca¬
pacity of answering the end of their creation; and
the more ready we are to every good work, the
nearer we approach to the dignity of angels.
These living creatures are described here,
[1.] By their general appearance; They had the
likeness of a man, they appeared, for the main, in a
human shape. First, To signify that these living
creatures are reasonable creatures, intelligent be¬
ings, who have that spirit of a man, which is the
candle of the Lord. Secondly, To put an honour
upon the nature of man, who is made lower, yet but
a little lower than the angels, in the very next rank
of beings below them; when the invisible intelli¬
gences of the upper world would make themselves
visible, it is in the likeness of man. Thirdly, To
intimate that their delights are with the sons of
men, as their Master’s are, (Prov. viii. 31.). that
they do service to men, and men may have spiritual
communion with them by faith, hope, and holy love.
Fourthly, The angels of G(d appear in the likeness
of man, because in the fulness of time the Son of
God was not only to appear in that likeness, but to
assume that nature; they therefore show this love
to it. •
[2.] By their faces; every one had four faces,
looking four several ways. In St. John’s vision,
which has a near affinity with this, each of t(ie four
living creatures has one of these faces here mention¬
ed; (Rev. iv. 7.) here each of them has all four, to
intimate that they have all the same qualifications
for service; though, perhaps, among the angels of
heaven, as among the angels of the churches, some
excel in one gift, and others in another, but all for
the common service* Let us contemplate their
faces till we be in some measure changed into the
same image, that we may do the will of God as the
angels do it in heaven. They all four had the face
of a man; (for in that likeness they appeared, v. 5.)
but, beside that, they had the face of a lion, an ox,
and an eagle, each masterly in his kind; the lion
among wild beasts, the ox among tame ones, and
the eagle among fowls, v. 10. Docs God make use
of them for the executing of judgments upon his
enemies? They are fierce and strong as the lion
and the eagle in tracing their prey. Does he make
use of them for the good of lus people? They are
as oxen, strong for labour and inclined to serve.
And in both they have the understanding of a man.
The scattered perfections of the living creatures on
earth meet in the angels in heaven. They have
the likeness of a man; but, because there are some
things in which man is excelled even by the inferior
creatures, they are therefore compared to some of
them; they have the understanding of a man, and
such as far exceeds it; they also_ resemble man in
tenderness and humanity; but, First, A lion excels
man in strength and boldness, and is much more
formidable; therefore the angels, who in this resem¬
ble them, put on the face of a lion. Secondly, yin
ox excels man in diligence and patience, and pains¬
taking, and an unwearied discharge of the work he
has to do; therefore the angels, who are constantly
employed in the service of God and the church, pu-'
on the J'ace of an ox. Thirdly, An eagle excels
man in quickness and piercingness of sight, and ii
591
EZEKIEL, 1.
soaring high; and therefore the angels, who seek
things above, and see far into divine mysteries, put
on the face of a fiying eagle.
[3. ] By their wings; Every one had four wings,
v. 6. In the vision Isaiah had of them, they ap¬
peared with six, now with four; for they appeared
^bove the throne, and had occasion for two to
cover their faces with. The angels are fitted with
wings, to fly swiftly on God’s errands: whatever
business God sends them upon, they lose no time.
Faith and hope are the soul’s wings, upon which it
soars upward; pious and devout affections are its
wings on which it is carried forward, with vigour
and alacrity. The prophet observes here, concern¬
ing their wings, First, That they were joined one
to another, (t>. 9.) and again, v. 11. They did not
make use of their wings for fighting, as some birds
do, there is no contest among the angels, God makes
f trace, perfect peace, in his high /daces; but their
wings were joined in token of their perfect unity
and unanimity, and the universal agreement there
is among them. Secondly, That they were stretched
upward, extended and ready for use, not folded up
or flagging. Let an angel receive the least intima¬
tion of the divine will, and he has nothing to seek,
but is upon the wing immediately; while our poor,
dull souls are like the ostrich, that with much diffi¬
culty lifts up herself on high. Thirdly, That two
of their wings were made use of in covering their
bodies, the spiritual bodies they assumed. '1 he
clothes that cover us, are our hinderance in work;
angels need no other covering than their own wings,
which are their furtherance. They cover their bo¬
dies from us, so forbidding us needless inquiries con¬
cerning them; ask not after them, for they are won¬
derful, Judg. xiii. 18. They cover them before
God, so directing us, when we approach to God, to
see to it that we be so clothed with Christ’s righte¬
ousness, that the shame of our nakedness may not
appear.
[4. ] By their feet, including their legs and thighs;
They were straight feet; {v. 7.) they stood straight,
and firm, and steady, no burthen of service could
make their legs to bend under them. The spouse
makes this part of the description of her beloved,
that his legs were as /ullars of marble set upon
sockets of fine gold; (Cant. v. 15. ) such are the an¬
gels’ legs. The sole of their feet was like that of a
calf’s foot, which divides the hoof, and is therefore
clean; as it were the sole of a round foot, (as the
Chaldee words it,) they were ready for motion any
way. Their feet were winged; (so the Seventy;)
they went so swiftly, that it was as if they flew.
And their very feet sparkled like the colour of bur¬
nished brass; not only their faces, but the very feet,
of those are beautiful, whom God sends on his er¬
rands; (Isa. lii. 7.) every step the angels take is glo¬
rious. In the vision John had of Christ, it is said,
His feet were like unto fine brass, as if they burned
in a furnace. Rev. i. 15.
[5.] By their hands; {v. 8.) They had the hands
of a man under their wings on their four sides; an
arm and a hand under every wing. They had not
only wings for motion, but hands for action. Many
are quick, who are not active; they hurry about a
great deal, but do nothing to purpose, bring nothing
to pass; they have wings, but no hands; whereas
God’s servants, the angels, not only go when he
sends them, and come when he calls them, but do
what he bids them. They are the hands of a man,
which are wonderfully made, and fitted for service;
which are guided by reason and understanding; for
what angels do, they do intelligently and with judg¬
ment. They have calves’ feet; this denotes the
swiftness of their motion; (the cedars of Lebanon
are said to skip like a calf, Ps. xxix. 6.) but they
nave a man’s hand; this denotes the niceness and
exactness of their performances; as the heavens are
said to be the work of God’s fingers. Their hands
were under their wings, which concealed them as
they did the rest of their bodies. Note, The agency
of angels is a secret thing, and their work is carried
on in an invisible way. In working for God, though
we must not, with the sluggard, hide our hand in
our bosom, yet we must, with the humble, not let
our left hand know what our right hand doeth.
We may observe, that where these wings were,
their hands were under their wings; wherever their
wings carried them, they carried hands along with
them, to be still doing something suitable, something
that the duty of the place requires.
(4.) Their motions. The living creatures are
moving; angels are active beings; it is not their hap¬
piness to sit still, and do nothing, but to be always
well employed, and we must reckon ourselves then
best, when we are doing good; doing it as the angels
do it, of whom it. is here observed,
[1.] That whatever service they went about,
they went every one straight forward, (v. 9, 12.)
which intimates, First, That they sincerely aimed
at the glory of God, and had a single eye to that,
in all they did; their going straight forward sup¬
poses that they looked straight forward, and never
had any sinister intentions in what they did. And
if thus our eye be single, our whole body will be full
of light; the singleness of the eye is the sincerity of
the heart. Secondly, That they were intent upon
the service they were employed in, and did it with
a close application of mind; they went forward with
their work; for what their hand found to do, they
did it with all their might, and did not loiter in it.
Thirdly, That they were unanimous in it; they went
straight forward, every one about his own work,
they did not thwart or justle one another, did not
stand in one another’s light, in one another’s way.
Fourthly, That they perfectly understood their bu¬
siness, and were thoroughly apprized of it, so that
they needed not to stand still to pause or hesitate,
but they pursued their work with readiness, as
those that knew what they had to do, and how to
do it. Fifthly, They were steady and constant in
their work; they did not fluctuate, did not tire, did
not vary, byt were of a piece with themselves;
they moved in a direct line, and so went the near¬
est way to work, in all they did, and lost no time.
When we go straight, we go forward, when we
serve God with one heart, we rid ground, we rid
work.
[2.] They turned not when they went, v. 9, 12.
First, They made no blunders or mistakes, which
would give them occasion to turn back to rectify
them ; their work needed no correction, and there¬
fore needed not to be gone over again. Secondly,
They minded no diversions; as they turned not back,
so they turned not aside, to trifle away with any
thing that was foreign to their business.
[3.] They went whither the Spirit was to go: (v.
12. ) either, First, Whither their own spirit was dis¬
posed to go: thither they went, having no bodies, as
we have, to clog or hinder them. It is our infelicity
and daily burthen, that, when the spirit is willing
yet the flesh is weak, and cannot keep pace with it,
so that the good which we would do, we do it not;
but angels and glorified saints labour under no such
impotency, whatever they incline or intend to do,
they do it, and never come short of it. Or. rather.
Secondly, Whithersoever the Spirit of God would
have them go thither they went; though they had
so much wisdom of their own, yet in all their mo¬
tions and actions they subjected themselves to the
conduct and government of the divine will; whith¬
ersoever the divine providence was to go, they went,
to serve its purposes, and to execute its orders. The
Spirit of God (says Mr. Greenhill) is the grea*
592
EZEKIEL, I.
Agent that sets angels to work, and it is their honour
that they are led, they are easily led, by the Spirit.
See how tractable and obsequious these noble crea¬
tures arc! Whithersoever the Spirit is to go, they
o immediately, with all possible alacrity. Note,
hose that ivalk after the Spirit, do the will of God
as the angels do it.
• [4-] They ran and returned like a flash of light¬
ning, v. 14. This intimates, First, That they made
haste; they were quick in their motions, as quick as
lightning: whatever business they went about, they
despatched it immediately, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye. Happy they that have no bo¬
dies to retard their motion in holy exercises! And
happy shall we be when we come to have spiritual
bodies for spiritual work ! Satan falls like lightning
into his own ruin, Luke x. 18. Angels flv like light¬
ning in their Master’s work; the angel Gabriel flew
swiftly. Secondly, That they made haste back;
they ran, and returned; ran to do their work, and
execute their orders, and then returned to give an
account of what they had done, and receive new
instructions, that they might be always doing. They
ran into the lower world, to do what was to be done
there; but when they had done it, they returned
like a flash of lightning tc the upper world again,
to the beatific vision of their God, which they could
not with any patience be lunger from than their ser¬
vice did require. Thus we should be in the affairs
of this world as out of our element; though we run
into them, we must not repose in them, but our souls
must quickly return like lightning to God their Rest
and Centre.
Lastly, W e have an account of the light by which
the prophet saw these living creatures, or the look¬
ing-glass in which he saw them, v. 13. [1.] He
saw them bv their own light, for their appearance
was like burning coals of fire; they are seraphims
-burners; denoting the ardour of their love to God,
their fervent zeal in his service, their splendour and
brightness, and their terror against God’s enemies.
When God employs them to flght his battles, they
are as coals office, (Ps. xviii. 12.) to devour the
adversaries as lightnings shot out to discomfit them.
[2. ] He sa w them by the light of some lamps, which
went up and down among them, the shining where¬
of was wry bright. Satan’s works are works of
darkness, he is the ruler of the darkness of this
world; but the angels of light are in the light, and
though they conceal their working, they show their
work, for it will bear the light. But we see them
and their works only by candle-light, by the dim
light of lamps that go up and down among them;
when the day breaks, and the shadows flee away,
we shall see them clearly. Some make the appear¬
ance of these burning coals, and of the lightning that
issues out of the fire, to signify the wrath of God,
and his judgments, that were 'now to be executed
upon Judah and Jerusalem for their sins, in which
angels were to be employed: and accordingly we
find afterward coals office scattered upon the city
to consume it, which were fetched from between
the cherubims, ch. x. 2. But by the appearance of
the lamps then, we may understand the light of com¬
fort which shone forth to the people of God in the
darkness of this present trouble. If the ministry of
the angels is as a consuming fire to God’s enemies,
it is as a rejoicing light to his own children. To
the one this fire is bright, it is very reviving and
refreshing: to the other, out of the fire comes
fresh lightning to destroy them. Note, Good an¬
gels are our friends, or enemies, according as God is.
15. Now, as I beheld the living creatures,
behold, one wheel upon the earth by the
living creatures, with his four faces. 16.
The appearance of the wheels and the-r
work was like unto the colour of a beryl;
and they four had one likeness: and their
appearance and their weak was as it were
a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 1 7. When
they went, they went upon their four sides;
and they turned not when they went. 1 8.
As for their rings, they were so high, that
they were dreadful; and their rings were
full of eyes round about them four. 19. And
when the living creatures w ent, the wheels
went by them ; and when the living crea¬
tures were lifted up from the earth, the
wheels were lifted up. 20. Whithersoever
the spirit was to go, they went, thither was
their spirit to go ; and die wheels w ere lifted
up over against them : for the spirit of thp
living creature teas in the wheels. 2 1 . When
those went, tlw&e went ; and when those
stood, these stood ; and when those were
lifted up from the earth, the wheels were
lifted up over against them: for the spirit
of the living creature was in the wheels. 22.
And the likeness of the firmament upon the
heads of the living creature was as the co¬
lour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth
over their heads above. 23. And under the
firmament icere their wings straight, the one
toward the other: every one had two, which
covered on this side, and every one had*
two, which covered on that side, their bo¬
dies. 24. And when they went, I heard
tire noise of their wings, like, the noise of
great waters, as the voice of the Almighty,
the voice of speech, as the noise of a host:
when they stood, they let dow n their wings.
25. And there w as a voice from the firma¬
ment that was over their heads, when they
stood, and had let down their wings.
The prophet is very exact in making and record¬
ing, his •observations concerning this vision. And
here we have, 1
I. The notice he took of the wheels, v. 15. — 21.
The glory of God appears not only in the splendour
of his retinue in the upper world, hut in the steadi¬
ness of his government here in this lower world.
Having seen how God doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven, let us now see how he
doeth according to it among the inhabitants of the
earth; for there, on the earth, the prophet saw the
wheels, y. 15. As he beheld the living creatures,
and was contemplating the glory of that vision, and
receiving instruction from it, this other vision pre¬
sented itself to his view. Note, Those who make
a good use of the discoveries God has favoured them
with, may expect further discoveries; for to him
that hath shall be given. We are sometimes tempt¬
ed to think there is nothing glorious but what is in
the upper world, whereas, could we with an eye
of faith discern the beauty of Providence, and the
wisdom, power, and goodness, which shine in the
administration of that kingdom, we should see, and
sav, Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth,
and acts like himself. There are many things in
i
593
EZEKIEL, I.
this vision which give us some light concerning the
Di vine Providence.
1. The dispensations of Providence are compared
to wheels, either the wheels of a chariot, in which
the conqueror rides in triumph, or, rather, the
wheels of a clock or watch, winch all contribute to
the regular motion of the machine. We read of the
course or wheel of nature, (James iii. 6.) which is
here set before us as under the direction of the God
of nature. Wheels, though they move not of them¬
selves, as the living creatures do, are yet made
moveable, and are almost continually kept in action.
Providence, represented by these wheels, produces
changes; sometimes one spoke of the wheel is up¬
permost, and sometimes another; but the motion of
the wheel on its own axle-tree, like that of the orbs
above, is very regular and steady. The motion of
the wheels is circular; by the revolutions of provi¬
dence things are brought to the same posture and
pass which they were in formerly; for the thing that
is, is that which has been, and there is no new thing
under the sun, Eccl. i. 9, 10.
2. The wheel is said to be by the living creatures,
who attended it to direct its motion; for the angels
are employed as the ministers of God’s providence,
and have a greater hand in directing the motions of
second causes to serve the divine purpose than we
think they have. Such a close connexion is there
between the living creatures and the wheels, that
they moved and rested together. W ere angels busily
employed? Men were busily employed, as instru¬
ments in their hand, whether of mercy or judgment,
though they themselves were not aware of it. Or,
Are men active to compass their designs? Angels at
the same time are acting to control and overrule them.
This is much insisted on here; (v. 19.) When the
living creatures went, to bring about any business, the
wheels went by them; when God has work to do by
the ministry of angels, second causes are all found,
or made, ready to concur in it; and (x\ 21.) when
those stood, these stood; when the angels had done
their work, the second causes had done theirs. If
the living creatures were lifted u/i from the earth,
were elevated to any service above the common
course of nature, and out of the ordinary road, as
supposed in the working of miracles, the dividing
of the water, the standing still of the sun, the
wheels, contrary to their own natural tendency,
which is toward the earth, move in concert with
them, and are lifted up over against them; this is
thrice mentioned, v. 19. — 21. Note, All inferior
creatures are, and move, and act, as the Creator,
by the ministration of angels, directs and influences
them. Visible effects are managed and governed
by invisible causes.
The reason given of this, is, because the s/iirit of
the living creatures was in the wheels; the same
wisdom, power, and holiness of God, the same
will and counsel of his, that guides and governs the
angels, and all their performances, does, by them,
order and dispose of all the motions of the creatures
in this- lower world, and the events and issues of
them. God is the Soul of the world, and animates
the whole, both that above, and that beneath, so
that they move in perfect harmony, as the upper
and lower parts of the natural body do; so that
whithersoever the Spirit is to go, whatever God
wills and purposes to be done and brought to pass,
thither their spirit is to go; the angels, knowingly
and designedly, set themselves to bring it about, and
their spirit is in the wheels, which are therefore
lifted up over against them; both the powers of
nature and the wills of men, are all made to serve
the intention, winch they infallibly and irresistibly
effect, though perhaps they mean not so, neither
doth their heart think so, Isa. x. 7. Mic. iv. 11, 12.
Vol. iv. — 4 F
Thus, though the will of God’s precept be not dont
on earth, as it is done in heaven, yet the will of his
purpose and counsel is, and shall be.
3. The wheel is said to have four faces, looking
four several ways, (i>. 15.) denoting that the pro¬
vidence of God exerts itself in all parts of the world,
east, west, north, and south, and extends itself to
the remotest corners of it. Look which way you
will upon the wheel of Providence, and it has a face
toward you, a beautiful one, which you may admire
the features and complexion of; it looks upon you as
ready to speak to you, if you be but read); to heat
the voice of it; like a well-drawn picture, it has an
eye upon all that have an eye upon it.
The wheel had so four faces, that it had in it four
wheels, which went upon their four sides, v. 17. At
first, Ezekiel saw it as one wheel, ( v . 15.) one
sphere; but afterward, he saw it was four, but they
four had one likeness; (y. 16.) not only they were
like one another, but they were as if they had been
one. This intimates, (1.) That one event of pro¬
vidence is like another; what happens to us is that
which is common to men, and what we are not to
think strange. (2.) That various events have a
tendency to the same issue, and concur to answer
the same intention.
4. Their appearance and their work are said to be
like the colour of a beryl, ( v . 16.) the colour of
Tarshish, (so the word is,) that is, of the sea; the
beryl is of that colour, sea-green; blue J\reptune we
call it. The nature of things in this world is like
that of the sea, which is in a continual flux, and yet
there is a constant coherence and succession of its
parts. There is a chain of events which is always
drawing one way or other. The sea ebbs and
flows, so does providence in its disposals, but always
in the stated, appointed times and measures. The
sea looks blue, as the air does, because of the short¬
ness and feebleness of our sight, which can see but
a little way of either; to that colour therefore are
the appearance and work of Providence fitly com¬
pared, because we cannot find out that which God
does from the beginning to the end, Eccl. iii. 11.
We see but parts of his ways, (Job xxvi. 14.) and all
beyond looks blue, which gives us to understand no
more concerning it, but that in truth we know it
not, it is far above out of our sight.
5. Their appearance and their work are likewise
said to be as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
Observe here again, Their appearance to the pro¬
phet is designed to set forth what their work really
is; men’s appearance and their work often differ,
but the appearance of God’s providence and its
work agree; if they seem to differ, it is through our
ignorance and mistake. Now both were as a wheel
in a wheel, a lesser wheel moved by a greater; we
pretend not to give a mathematical description of it;
the meaning is, that the disposals of Providence
seems to us intricate, perplexed, and unaccountable,
and yet that they will appear in the issue to have
been all wisely ordered for the best; so that though
what God does we know not now, yet we shall know
hereafter, John xiii. 7.
6. The motion of these wheels, like that of the
living creatures, was steady, regular, and constant;
They returned not when they went, (n. 17.) because
they ntver went amiss, nor otherwise than they
should do. God, in his providence, takes his work
before him, and he will have it forward; and it is
going on even then when it seems to us to be going
backward. They went as the Spirit directed them,
and therefore returned not. We should not hav ;
occasion to return back as we have, and to undo that
by repentance which we have done amiss, and to do
it over again, if we were but led by the Spirit, and
followed his conduct. The Spirit of life (so some
594
read it) was in the wheels, which carried them on
with ease and evenness, and then they returned not
when they went.
7. The rings, or rims, of the wheels were so high,
that they were dreadful, v. 18. They were of a
vast circumference, so that when they were reared,
and put in motion, the prophet was even afraid to
look upon them. Note, The vast compass of God’s
thought, and the vast reach of his design, are really
astonishing; when we go about to describe the cir¬
cle of Providence, we are struck with amazement,
and are even swallowed up. O the height and
depth of God’s counsels! The consideration of them
should strike an awe upon us.
8. They were full of eyes round about. This
circumstance of the vision is most surprising of all,
and yet most significant, plainly denoting that the
motions of Providence are all directed by infinite
wisdom. The issues of things are not determined
by a blind fortune, but by those eyes of the Lord,
which run to and fro through the earth, and are
in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Note, It is a great satistaction to us, and ought to
be so, that, though we cannot account for the springs
and tendencies of events, yet they are all under the
cognizance and conduct of an all- wise, all-seeing God.
II. The notice he took of the firmament above,
over the heads of the living creatures. When he
saw the living creatures moving, and the wheels by
them, he looked up, as it is proper for us to do when
we observe the various motions of providence in this
lower world; looking up, he saw the firmament
stretched forth over the heads of the living creatures,
v. 22. What is done on earth is done under the
heaven, (as the scripture often speaks,) under its
inspection and influence.
Observe, 1. What he saw; The firmament was
as the colour of the terrible crystal, truly glorious,
but terribly so; the vastness and brightness of it put
the prophet into an amazement, and struck him
with an awful reverence. The terrible ice, or frost;
(so it may be read;) the colour of snow congealed,
or as mountains of ice in the northern seas, which
are very frightful. Daring sinners ask, Can God
judge through the dark cloud? Job xxii. 13. But
that which we take to be a dark cloud, is to him
transparent as crystal, through which, from the
place of his habitation, he looks upon all the inha¬
bitants of the earth, Ps. xxxiii. 14. Under the fir-
mamen' he saw the wings of the living creatures
erect; ( v . 23.) when they pleased, they used them
either f >r flight or for covering, or two for flight,
and two for covering. God is on high, above the
firmament, the angels are under the firmament,
which denotes their subjection to God’s dominion,
and their readiness to fly on his errands in the open
firmament of heaven, and to serve him unanimously.
2. What he heard.
(1.) He heard the noise of the angels’ wings,
v. 24. Bees and other insects make a great noise
with the vibration of their wings; here the angels do
so, to awaken the attention of the prophet to that
which God was about to say to him from the firma¬
ment, v. 25. Angels, by the providences they are
employed in, sound God’s alarms to the children of
men, and stir them up to hear his voice; for that is
it that cries in the city, and is heard and understood
by the men of wisdom. The noise of their wings
was loud and terrible as the noise of great waters,
like the rout or roaring of the sea; and as the noise
of a host, the noise of war; but it was articulate and
intelligible, and did not give an uncertain sound;
for it was the voice of speech; nay it was as the
voice of the Almighty ; for God, by his providences,
sfieaks once, yea twice; if we could but perceive it;
(Job xxxiii. 14. ) the Lord’s voice cries, Mic. vi. 9.
IEL, 1.
(2.) He heard a. voice from the firmament, from
him that sits upon the throne there, v. 25. When
the angels moved, they made a noise with their
wings; but when with that they had roused a care¬
less world, they stood still, and let down their wings,
that there might be a profound silence, and so Gcd’s
voice might be the better heard. The voice of
Providence is designed to open men’s ears to the
voice of the word, to do the office of the crier, who
with a loud voice charges silence while the judge
asses sentence. He that has ears to hear, let him
ear. Note, Noises on earth should awaken our
attention to the voice from the firmament ; for how
shall we escape, if we turn away from him that
speaks from heaven!
26. And above the firmament that was
over their heads was the likeness of a throne,
as the appearance of a sapphire-stone: and
upon the likeness of the throne rocs the like¬
ness as the appearance of a man above upon
it. 27. And 1 saw as the colour of amber, as
the appearance of fire round about within
it; from the appearance of his loins even
upward, and from the appearance of his
loins even downward, I saw it as it were the
appearance of fire, and it had brightness
round about. 28. As the appearance of the
bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain,
so was the appearance of the brightness
round about. This was the appearance of
the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And
when 1 saw it, 1 fell upon my face, and J
heard a voice of one that spake.
All the other parts of this vision were but a pre¬
face and introduction to this. God in them had
made himselfknown as Lord of angels, and supreme
Director of all his affairs of this lower world,
whence it is easy to infer that whatever God by his
prophets either promises or threatens to do, he is
able to effect it; angels are his servants, men are his
tools. But now that a divine revelation is to be
given to a prophet, and by him to the church, we
must look higher than the living creatures of the
wheels, and must expect that from the eternal
Word, of whom we have an account in these verses.
Ezekiel, hearing a voice from the firmament, looked
up, as John did, to see the voice that spake with him,
and he saw one like unto the Son of man, Rev. i.
12, 13. The second Person sometimes tried the
fashion of a man, occasionally, before he clothed
himself with it for good and all ; and the spirit of pro¬
phecy is called the Spirit of Christ, (1 Pet. i. 11.)
and the Testimony of Jesus, Rev. xix. 10.
1. This glory of Christ that the prophet saw,
was above the firmament that was over the heads
of the living creatures, v. 26. Note, The heads of
angels themselves are under the feet of the Lord
Jesus; for the firmament that is over their heads, is
under his feet; angels, principalities, and powers,
are made subject to him, 1 Pet. iii. 22. This dignity
and dominion of the Redeemer before his incarna¬
tion magnify his condescension in his incarnation,
when he was made a little lower than the angels,
Heb. ii. 9.
2. The first thing he observed, was a throne; for
divine revelations come backed and supported with
a royal authority: we must have an eye of faith to
God and Christ as upon a throne. The first thing
that John discovered in his visions was a throne set
in heaven, (Rev. iv. 2.) which commands reverence
69 6
EZEKIEL, II.
and subjection. It is a throne of glory, a throne of
grace, a throne of triumph, a throne of government,
a throne of judgment. The Lord has prepared his
throne in the heavens, lias prepared it for his Son,
whom he has set King on his holy hill of Zion.
3. On the throne he saw the appearance of a man.
This is good news to the children of men, that the
throne above the firmament is filled with one that is
not ashamed to appear, even there, in the likeness
of man. Daniel, in vision, saw the kingdom and
dominion given to one like the Son of man, who
therefore has authority given him to execute judg¬
ment, because he is the Son of man, (John v. 27.) so
appearing in these visions.
4. The prophet sees him as a Prince and Judge
upon this throne; though he appear in fashion as a
man, yet he appears in more than human glory, v.
27. (1.) Is God a shining Light? So is he: when
the prophet saw him, he saw as the colour of am¬
ber, that is, a brightness round about; for God
dwells in light, and covers himself with light as with
a garment. How low did the Redeemer stoop for
us, when, to bring about our salvation, he suffered his
glory to be eclipsed by the veil of his humanity!
(2.) Is God a consuming Fire? So is he: from his
loins, both upward and downward there was the
a/i/iearance of fire. The fire above the loins was
round about within the amber, it was inward and
involved; that below the loins was more outward
and open, and yet that also had brightness round
about. Some make the former to signify Christ’s
divine nature, the glory and virtue of which are
hidden within the colour ■ of amber; it is what no
man has seen, or can see; the latter they suppose to
be his human nature, the glory of which there were
those who saw; the glory as of the Only-begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth, John i. 14.
He had rays coming out of his hand, and yet there
was the hiding of his power, Hub. iii. 4. The fire
in which the Son of roan appeared here, might be
intended to signify the judgments that were ready to
be executed upon Judah and Jerusalem, coming
from that fiery indignation of the Almighty, which
devours the adversaries. Nothing is more "dreadful
to the most daring sinners than the wrath of him
that sits upon the throne, and of the Lamb, Rev.
vi. 16. The day is coming, when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed in flaming fire, 2 Tliess. i. 7, 8.
It concerns us therefore to kiss the Son, lest he be
angry.
5. The throne is surrounded with a rainbow; ( v .
28. ) it is so in St. John’s vision; (Rev. iv. 3.) the
brightness about it was of divers colours, as the bow
that is in the cloud in the day of rain; which, as it
is a display of majesty, and looks very great, so it is a
pledge of mercy, and looks very kind; for it is a
confirmation of the gracious promise God has made,
that he will not drown the world again; and he has
said, I will look upon the bow, and remember the
covenant, Gen. ix. 16. This intimates that he who
sits upon the throne, is the Mediator of the cove¬
nant; that his dominion is for our protection, not
our destruction; that he interposes between us and
the judgments our sins have deserved; and that all
the promises of God are in him yea and amen. Now
that the fire of God’s wrath was breaking out against
Jerusalem, bounds should be set to it, and he would
not make an utter destruction of it, for he would
look upon the bow, and remember the covenant, as
he promised in such a case, Lev. xxvi. 42.
Lastly, We have the conclusion of this vision:
(1.) What notion the prophet himself had of it;
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory
of the Lord. Here, as all along, he is careful to
guard against all gross, corporeal thoughts of God,
which might derogate from the transcendant purity
of his nature. He does not say, This was the Lora,
(for he is invisible,) but, This was the glory of the
Lord, in which he was pleased to manifest himself
a glorious Being; yet it is not the glory of the Lord,
but the likeness of that glory, some faint resem¬
blance of it; nor is it any adequate likeness of that
glory, but only the appearance of that likeness, a
shadow of it, and not the very image of the thing,
Heb. x. 1.
(2.) What impressions it made upon him;
I saw it, I fell upon my face. [1.] He was ovei
powered by it, the dazzling lustre of it conquered
him, and threw him upon his face; for who is able
to stand before this holy Lord God? Or, rather,
[2.] He prostrated himself, in an humble sense of
his own unworthiness of the honour now done him,
and of the infinite distance which he now, more
than ever, perceived to be between him and God;
he fell upon his face, in token of that holy awe and
reverence of God which his mind was possessed
and filled with. Note, The more God is pleased to
make known of himself to us, the more low we
should be before him. He fell upon his face, to
adore the majesty of God, to implore his mercy,
and to deprecate the wrath he saw ready to break
out against the children of his people.
(3.) What instructions he had from it; all he saw
was only tc prepare him for that which he was to
hear, {nr faith comes by hearing: he therefore heard
a voice of one that spake; for we are taught by
words, not merely by hieroglyphics. When he fell
on his face, ready to receive the word, then he
heard the voice of one that spake; for God delights
to teach the humble.
CHAP. II.
What our Lord Jesus said to St. Paul, {Jlcls xxvi. 16.)
may fitly be applied to the prophet Ezekiel, to whom
the same Jesus is here speaking-, Rise, and stand upon
tliy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to
make tliee a minister. We have here Ezekiel’s ordina¬
tion to his office which the vision was designed to fit him
for; not to entertain his curiosity with uncommon specu¬
lations, but to put him into business. Now here, I.
He is commissioned to go as a prophet to the house of
Israel, now captives in Babylon, and to deliver GocPs
messages to them from time to time, v. 1..5. II. He is
cautioned not to be afraid of them, v. 6. III. He is in¬
structed what to say to them, and has words put into his
mouth, signified by the vision of a roll, which he was
ordered to eat, (v. 7 . . 10.) and which, in the next chap¬
ter, we find he did eat.
1. A ND he said unto me, Son of man,
-TjL stand upon thy feet, and I will speak
unto thee. 2. And the spirit entered into
me when he spake unto me, and set me
upon my feet, that I heard him that spake
unto me. 3. And he said unto me, Son of
man, I send thee to the children of Israel,
to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled
against me: they and their fathers have
transgressed against me, even unto this very
day. 4. For they are impudent children,
and stiff-hearted: I do send thee unto them;
and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord God. 5. And they, whether they
will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for
they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know
that there hath been a prophet among them.
The title here given to Ezekiel, as often after¬
wards, is very observable; God, when he speaks to
him, calls him, Son of man, (v. 1, 3.) Son of Mam,
Son of the earth. Daniel is once called so, (Dan.
viii. 17. ) and but once; the compellation is usee' to
EZEKIEL, II.
no other of the prophets, but to Ezekiel all along.
We may take it, 1. As an humble, diminishing
title; lest Ezekiel should be lifted up with the
abundance of the revelations, he is put in mind of
this, that still he is a son of man, a mean, weak,
mortal creature. Among other tilings made known
to him, it was necessary he should be made to know
this, that he was a son of man, and therefore that
it was wonderful condescension in God, that he was
pleased thus to manifest himself to him. Now he is
among the living creatures, the angels; yet he must
remember that he is himself a man, adying creature.
What is man, or the son of man, that he should be
thus visited, thus dignified? Though God had here
a splendid retinue of holy angels about his throne,
who were ready to go on his errands, yet he passes
them all by, and pitches on Ezekiel, a son of man,
to be his messenger to the house of Israel, for we
have this treasure in earthen vessels, and God’s
messages sent us by men like ourselves, whose ter¬
ror shall not make us afraid, nor their hand be heavy
upon us. Ezekiel was a priest, but the priesthood
was brought low, and the honour ot it laid in the
dust: it therefore became him, and all of his order,
to humble themselves, and to lie low, as sons of
men, common men. He was now to be employed
as a prophet, God’s ambassador, and a ruler over
the kingdoms, (Jer. i. 10.) a post of great honour,
but he must remember that he is a son of man, and
whatever good he did, it was not by any might of
his own, for he was a son of man, but in the strength
of divine grace, which must therefore have all the
glory. Or, 2. We may take it as an honourable,
dignifying title; for it is one of the titles of the
Messiah in the Old Testament; (Dan. vii. 13.) /
saw one like the Son of man come with the clouds
of heaven, from whence Christ borrows the title he
often calls himself by, The Son of man. The pro¬
phets were types of him, as they had near access
to God, and great authority among men; and there¬
fore as David the king is called the Lord’s anointed,
or Christ, so Ezekiel the prophet is called son of
man.
I. Ezekiel is here set up, and made to stand,
that he might receive his commission, v. 1, 2. He
is set up,
1. By a divine command; Son of man, stand
upon thy feet. His lying prostrate was a posture
of great reverence, but his standing up would be a
posture of greater readiness and fitness for business.
Our adorings of God must not hinder, but rather
quicken and excite, our actings for God. He fell
on his face in a holy fear and awe of God, but he
was quickly raised up again; for they that humble
themselves shall be exalted. God delights not in
the dejections of his servants, but the same that
brings them low, will raise them up; the same that
is a Spirit of bondage will be a Spirit of adoption.
Stand, and I will speak to thee. Note, We may
then expect that God will speak to us, when we
stand ready to do what he commands us.
2. By a divine power going along with that com¬
mand, v. 2. God bid him stand up, but because he
had not strength of his own to recover his feet, nor
courage to face the vision, the Spirit entered into
him and set him upon his feet. Note, God is gra¬
ciously pleased to work that in us which he requires
of us, and raises those whom he bids rise. We
must stir up ourselves, and then God will put
strength into us; we must work out our salvation,
and then God will work in us. He observed that
the Spirit entered into him then when Christ spake
to him; for Christ conveys his ’Spirit by his word as
the ordinary means, and makes the word effectual
by the Spirit. The Spirit set the prophet upon his
feet, to raise him up from his dejections, for he is
the Comforter. Thus, in the like case, Daniel was
strengthened by a divine touch, (Dan. x. 18.) and
John was raised by the right hand of Christ laid
upon him, Rev. i. 17. The Spirit set him upon his
feet, made him willing and forward to do as he was
bidden, and then he heard him that spake to him.
He heard the voice before, ( ch . i. 28.) but now he
heard it more distinctly and clearly, heard it, and
submitted to it. The Spirit sets us upon our feet,
by inclining our will to our duty, and thereby dis¬
poses the understanding to receive the knowledge
of it.
II. Ezekiel is here sent, and made to go, with a
message to the children of Israel; (r. 3.) I send
thee to the children of Israel. God had for many
ages been sending to them his servants the prophets,
rising up betimes, and sending them, but to little
purpose, they were now sent into captivity for
abusing God’s messengers; and yet even there God
sends this prophet among them, to try if their ears
were open to discipline, now that they were holden
in the cords of affliction. As the supports of life,
so the means of grace, are continued to us after
they have been a thousand times forfeited. Now
observe,
1. The rebellion of the people to whom this am¬
bassador is sent; he is sent to reduce them to their
allegiance, to bring back the children of Israel to
the Lord their God; let the prophet know that
there is occasion for his going on this errand, for
they are a rebellious nation, (t>. 3.) a rebellious
house, v. 5. They are called children of Israel:
they retain the name of their pious ancestors, but
they are wretchedly degenerated, they are become
Goim — Yations, the word commonly used for the
Gentiles; the children of Israel are become as the
children of the Ethiopian, (Amos ix. 7.) for they
are rebellious; and rebels at home are much more
provoking to a prince than enemies abroad. Their
idolatries and false worships were the sins which,
more than any other, denominated them a rebellious
nation; for thereby they set up another prince in
opposition to their rightful Sovereign, and did ho¬
mage and paid tribute to the usurper, which is the
highest degree of rebellion that can be.
(1.) They had been all along a rebellious genera¬
tion, and had persisted in their rebellion; They and
their fathers have transgressed against me. Note,
Those are not always in the right, that have anti¬
quity and the fathers on their side; for there arc
errors and corruptions of long standing: and it is so
far from being an excuse for walking in a bad way,
that our fathers walked in it, that it is really an
aggravation, for it is justifying the sin of those that
have gone before us. They have continued in their
rebellion even unto this very day; notwithstanding
the various means and methods that have been
made use of to reclaim them, to this day, when they
are under divine rebukes for their rebellion, they
continue rebellious; many among them, like Ahaz,
even in their distress, trespass yet more; they are
not the better for all the changes that have befallen
them, hut still remain unchanged.
(2. ) They were now hardened in their rebellion.
They are impudent children, brazen-faced, and can¬
not blush; they arc stiff-hearted, self-willed, and can¬
not bend, cannot stoop; neither ashamed nor afraid to
sin; they will not be wrought upon by the sense either
of honour or duty. We are willing to hope this was
not the character of all, but of many, and those
perhaps the leading men. Observe, [1.] God
knew this concerning them, how inflexible, how
incorrigible, they were. Note, God is perfectly
acquainted with every man’s true character, what¬
ever his pretensions and professions maybe. [2.]
He told the prophet this, that he might know the
better how to deal with them, and what handle to
take them by. He must rebuke such men as those
597
EZEKIEL, II.
sharply, cuttingly; must deal plainly with them,
though they call it dealing roughly. God tells him
this, that it might be no surprise or stumbling-block
to him, if he found that his preaching should not
make that impression upon them, which he had
reason to think it would.
2. The dominion of the Prince by whom this
ambassador is sent. (1.) He has authority to com¬
mand him whom he sends; “ I do send thee unto
them , and therefore thou shall say thus and thus
unto them,” v. 4. Note, It is the prerogative. of
Christ to send prophets and ministers, and to enjoin
them their work. St. Paul thanked Christ Jesus
who put him into the ministry; (1 Tim. i. 12.) for
as he was sent of the Father, ministers are sent by
him; and as he received the Spirit without mea¬
sure, he gives the Spirit by measure, saying, Re¬
ceive ye the Holy Ghost. They are impudent and
rebellious, and yet I send thee unto them. Note,
Christ gives the means of grace to many who he
knows will not make a good use of those means;
puts many a price into the hand of fools who have
not only no heart to it, but have their hearts turned
against it. Thus he will magnify his own grace,
justify his own judgment, leave them inexcusable,
and make their condemnation more intolerable. (2.)
He has authority by him to command those to
whom he sends him; Thou shall say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord God. All he said to them
must be spoken in God’s name, enforced by his au¬
thority, and delivered as from him. Christ deliver¬
ed his doctrines as a Son; Verily, verily, Isay unto
you; the prophets, as servants. Thus saith the
Lord God, our Master and yours. Note, The
writings of the prophets are the word of God, and
so are to be regarded by every one of us. (3.) He
has authority to call those to an account, to whom
he sends his ambassadors. Whether they will hear,
or whether they will forbear, whether they will at¬
tend to the word, or turn their backs upon it, they
shall know that there has been a prophet among
them, shall know by experience. [1.] If they hear
and obey, they will know by comfortable expe¬
rience, that the word which did them good was
brought them by one that had a commission from
God, and a divine power going along with him in
the execution of it. Thus they who were converted
by St. Paul’s preaching, are said to be seals of his
apostleship, 1 Cor. ix. 2. When men’s hearts are
made to bum under the word, and their wills to
bow to it, then they know and hear the witness in
themselves, that it is not the word of men, but of
God. [2.] If they forbear, if they turn a deaf ear
to the word, (as it is to be feared they will, for they
are a rebellious house,) yet they shall be made to
know that he whom they slighted was indeed a
prophet, by the reproaches of their own consciences,
and the just judgments of God upon them for refus¬
ing him; they shall know it to their cost, know it to
their confusion, know it by sad experience, what a
pernicious, dangerous thing it is to despise God’s
messengers. They shall know by the accomplish¬
ment of the threatenings, that the prophet who
denounced them was sent of God; thus the word
will take hold of men, Zech. i. 6. Note, First,
Those to whom the word of God is sent, are upon
their trial, whether they will hear, or whether they
will forbear, and accordingly their doom will be.
Secondly, Whether we be edified by the word or
no, it is certain that God will be glorified, and his
word magnified and made honourable. Whether it
be a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death,
either way it will appear to be of divine original.
6. And thou, son of man, be not afraid
of them, neither be afraid of their words,
though briers and thorns be. with thee, and
thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not.
afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at
their looks, though they be a rebellious
house. 7. And thou shalt speak my words
unto them, whether they will hear, or whe¬
ther they will forbear: for they are most
rebellious. 8. But thou, son of man, hear
what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebel¬
lious like that rebellious house: open thy
mouth, and eat that I give thee. 9. And
when I looked, behold, a hand was sent
unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was
therein ; 1 0. And he spread it before me :
and it teas written within and without ; and
there was written therein lamentations, and
mourning, and wo.
The prophet, having received his commission,
here receives a charge with it. It is a post of ho¬
nour to which he is advanced, but withal it is a post
of service and work, and it is here required of him,
I. That he be bold. He must act in the discharge
of this trust with an undaunted courage and resolu¬
tion, and not be either driven off from his work, or
made to drive on heavily, by the difficulties and op¬
positions that he would be likely to meet with in it;
Son of man, be not afraid of them, v. 6. Note,
Those that will do any thing to purpose in the ser¬
vice of God, must not'be afraid of the face of man;
for the fear of men will bring a snare, which will
be very entangling to us in the work of God. 1.
God tells the prophet what was the character of
those to whom he sent him, as before, v. 3, 4.
They are briers and thorns, scratching, and tearing,
and "vexing a man, which way soever he turns.
They are continually teazing God’s prophets, and
entangling them in their talk; (Matth. xxii. 15.)
they are pricking briers and grieving thorns. The
best of them is as a brier, and the most upright
shar/ier than a thorn-hedge, Mic. vii. 4. Thoms
and briers are the fruit of sin and the curse, and of
equal date with the enmity between the seed of the
woman and the seed of the serpent. Note, Wicked
men, especially the persecutors of God’s prophets
and people, are as briers and thorns, which are
hurtful to the ground, choke the good seed, hinder
God’s husbandry, are vexatious to his husbandmen;
but they are nigh unto cursing, and their end is to
be burned: yet God makes use of them sometimes
for the correction and instruction of his people, as
Gideon taught the men of Succoth with thorns and
briers, Judg. viii. 16. Yet this is not the worst of
their character, they are scor/iions, venomous and
malignant; the sting of a scorpion is a thousand
times more hurtful than the scratch of a brier.
Persecutors are a generation of vipers, are of the
serpent’s seed, and the poison of asps is under their
tongue; and they are more subtle than any beast of
the field. And, which makes the prophet’s case the
more grievous, he dwells among these scorpions;
they are continually about him, so that he cannot be
safe or quiet in his own house; these bad men are
his bad neighbours, who thereby have many oppor¬
tunities, and will let slip none to do him a mischief.
God takes notice of this to the prophet, as Christ to
the angel of one of the churches; (Rev. ii. 13.) I
know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even
where Satan’s seat is. Ezekiel had been, in vision,
conversing with angels, but when he comes down
from this mount, he finds he dwells with scorpions.
2. He tells him .what would be their conduct to¬
wards him, that they would do what they could to
frighten him with their looks and their words; they
69 8
EZEKIEL, III.
would hector him and threaten him, would look
scornfully and spitefully at him, and do their utmost
to face him down, and put him out of countenance,
that they might drive him off from being a prophet,
or at least from telling them of their faults, and
threatening them with the judgments of God; or,
if they could not prevail in this, that they might
vex and perplex him, and disturb the repose of his
mind. They were now themselves in subjection,
divested of all power, so that they had no other way
of persecuting the prophet than with their looks and
their words ; and so they did persecute him. Be¬
hold, thou hast spoken, and done evil things as thou
couldest, Jer. iii. 5. If they had had more power
they would have done more mischief. They were
now in captivity, smarting for their rebellion, and
particularly their misusing of God’s prophets; and
yet they are as bad as ever. Though thou bray a
fool in a mortar, yet will not his foolishness depart
from him ; no providences will of themselves hum¬
ble and reform men, unless the grace of God work
with them. But, how malicious soever they were,
Ezekiel must not be afraid of them, nor dismayed,
he must not be deterred from his work, or any part
of it, nor be disheartened or dispirited in it by all
their menaces, but go on in it with resolution and
cheerfulness, assuring himself of safety under the
divine protection.
II. It is required that he be faithful, v. 7. 1. He
must be faithful to Christ who sent him; Thou sha/t
speak my words unto them. Note, As it is the ho¬
nour of prophets, that they are intrusted to speak
God’s words, so it is their duty to cleave closely to
them, and to speak nothing but what is agreeable to
the words of God; ministers must always speak ac¬
cording to that rule. 2. He must be faithful to the
souls of those to whom he was sent; whether they
will hear, or whether they will forbear, he must de¬
liver his message to them as he received it. He
must bring them to comply with the word, and not
study to accommodate the word to their humours.
“ It is true, they are most rebellious, they are rebel¬
lion itself; but, however, speak my words to them,
whether they are pleasing or unpleasing.” Note,
The untractableness and unprofitableness of people
under the word, are no good reasons why ministers
should leave off preaching to them; nor must we de¬
cline an opportunity by which good may be done,
though we have a great deal of reason to think no
good will be done.
III. It is required that he be observant of his in¬
structions.
1. Here is a general intimation what the instruc¬
tions were, that were given him, in the contents of
the book which was spread before him, v. 10. (1.)
His instructions were large, for the roll was written
within and without, on the inside and on the outside
of the roll; it was as a sheet of paper written on all
the four sides. One side contained their sins, the other
side contained the judgments of God coming upon
them for those sins. Note, God has a great deal to say
to his people when they are degenerated and be¬
come rebellious. (2. ) His instructions were melan¬
choly, he was sent on a sad errand; the matter con¬
tained in the book was, lamentations, and mourning,
and wo. The idea of his message is taken from
the impression it would make upon the minds of
those 
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American Libraries
TV News
Understanding 9/11